Jake Gellar-Goad's blog

10 Years on OrangePolitics

After 10 years as a registered user on OrangePolitics I thought it might be time for some reflection. After all, a lot has happened since the 2008 presidential election year that brought me to OrangePolitics. I signed up for Blue NC around the same time and have viewed these two progressive blogs in similar lights, just with different scopes. I recently wrote a 10-year reflection piece there too.

NC Pride 2013 photoblog

The annual NC Pride festival and parade happened today with a lot of folks from Chapel Hill, the triangle, and throughout the state in attendance. Here's a little of what I saw.

Ever wondered what an organizer does?

You're not alone. Growing up, none of the adults in my life were organizers. In college, no one majors in "organizing." I sometimes still struggle myself to explain to relatives at Thanksgiving or friends over coffee what I do for a living as "Eastern NC Organizer." And yet organizing is an incredibly important part of building grassroots power in our democracy. My hope is that through contributions to this blog I can share glimpses into the world of organizing and the issues facing Democracy North Carolina and our state. I'll start by sharing about my past few days on the job!

Many here will know exactly what I mean when I say organizer, but I wrote this day of a life in an organizer more for a lay audience. I'm sure some of you can commiserate in the struggles of explaining to friends and family that organizing is a real job, and in explaining what it means. Though I've been blogging on political sites for years, this was my first go at blogging on the job. Here's another snippet:

Orange County delegation photoblog

Here are a few photos of and by the Orange County delegation at the DNC here in North Carolina. Enjoy!

HKonJ 2012 photoblog

Thousands of people took to the streets today in North Carolina’s capital city. HK on J (Historic Thousands on Jones Street) is an annual civil rights and progressive issue-based march in Raleigh, NC. The 6th annual march happened yesterday morning. It was really empowering to see so many people there supporting equality, voting rights, and social justice. And it was great to see Rep. Miller marching too.