- Heck Yes! Loam!
- Nov 15, 2004
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a rich, friable soil containing a relatively equal mixture of sand and silt and a somewhat smaller proportion of clay.
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I didnt see this posted yet
http://www.boykotx.org/the-candidate/
quote:The (Former) Candidate
Posted on July 27, 2013 by Brian Boyko — No Comments ↓
Proud to be a Geek
Flag-editI think everyone has a little bit of geek in them. Our quirks and differences define us, and even those of us who have never thought of themselves as geeks might have one or two things about them that set them apart. Things that make them different.
In our youth, some of us hid those differences, out of fear of being outcast. Some of us couldn’t.
It is not until we leave the schoolyard that we start to realize that what makes us different also makes us strong. Our differences allow us to realize greatness. We all have different knowledge, different expertise, different experiences, different preferences, different strengths and weaknesses. And we all have different ideas about how to move Texas forward.
But we share the same values – a belief that Texas can do better for our people. That we can educate our youth better, that we can treat our sick better, that we can manage our budget better, that we can fight so that the struggle to raise a family in this state is just a little bit easier.
And while our commonalities bring us together, it is truly our differences that make Texas spectacular. Texas is ranching, but it’s also rocket science. It’s the home of financiers and filmmakers, miners and musicians, engineers and energy industry workers. The reason that Texas is bigger is because we are the people whose uniqueness make us larger than life.
Now, as you meet with me in person, or talk with me on the phone, you’ll probably realize that you’re talking to someone very unique. And there’s an explanation for that. I’m a geek. It’s a part of who I am. It’s where I came from, and even though I didn’t realize it when I was a child, it’s who I want to be.
My Story:
I can’t say enough how amazing my parents are, and how much work it took to raise a geek, but then again, they’ve always been amazing people.Candidate's-Family
I grew up in northern New Jersey. When I was a kid, Mom was a homemaker while my sister and I were young children, and returned to teach elementary special education when we were old enough. Today, she’s retired but spends her time volunteering at the local Catholic church, helping people in crisis navigate the labyrinth of social services and private and parochial charities in order to get the help they need.
My father is a Vietnam Army veteran who met Mom when going to college on the Vietnam-era GI bill. He also worked in education as an administrator and has two M.A degrees – one in education, and one in education administration. He served in the Army National Guard until the 1990s, where he retired with the rank of 1st Sgt. Today, like Mom, he’s retired but spends his spare time helping Iraq War veterans get the support that they need from the V.A.
They were both educators, and they encouraged me to indulge my love of learning. They also placed a premium on my education, going so far as to move to a better school district for my education – even though that meant leaving a home they put a lot of love and work into for a fixer-upper that they could afford in a higher-income neighborhood that didn’t even have working heaters when we first moved in.
They gave up so much for me and my sister. I’ve tried to pay them back by being the kind of person they would be proud of.
Early 20’s
In 2004, I was under a misapprehension – one borne of youth and inexperience – that voters decided elections the same way that newspapers decided endorsements. You analyze who has the best stance on the issues.
What I’m only starting to realize now is that voters really look for someone who shares their values.
People are busy; they have jobs to work at, families to raise, and the avocations that they care about. Becoming a policy expert on every issue takes up more time than they have. Instead, by voting for a candidate with similar values, you understand that the candidate at least will do what he or she can while in office to support those values, and hopefully come to the right decision that way.
But I didn’t come to understand that until much later in life. So 2004 was a large disappointment for me.
Combined with the defeat I felt after the 2004 election, I also knew that my vote wouldn’t count statistically in other races as well. The year earlier, under the leadership of Tom DeLay, the Texas State Legislature created new district maps that were designed to waste the votes of Democrats. It was a defeat of epic proportions, and I felt that there was literally nothing I could do to change things.
When I graduated from grad school, I couldn’t find a job in my field, journalism. Newspapers were dying out, and even the newspapers who had survived were not hiring. My entire profession had become obsolete.
I was barely scraping by doing freelance work. And I was always worried about how to make next months’ rent payment. I only got through that time due to the support of good friends who helped me through.
I was lucky enough to get a fellowship to U.T., but it didn’t pay for everything. Nor did the money I saved up by working for a year before going to grad school. I still had to take out loans, and when the payments started taking effect, I was forced to do the one thing that every parent fears more than anything else. I moved back in with them.
I love my parents, greatly. But neither they nor I ever want to go through those four months again.
Mid 20’s
Me with co-worker and friend Ben Erwin, creating a video: "The Anatomy of a TCP connection"
Me with co-worker and friend Ben Erwin, creating a video: “The Anatomy of a TCP connection”
I eventually found my way into a career. I was lucky – while newspapers were dying, the new media – blogs and online – were growing. And NetQoS, a tech company in Austin, was looking for someone with solid writing skills who was a fast learner and understood this new technology. And I was successful there. I started as a blog copywriter but expanded my skills into the growing fields of viral video.
While working at NetQoS, I came across a story that I thought might be of interest to network engineers. A substitute schoolteacher named Julie Amero was convicted of child endangerment – she was accused of showing pornographic pictures to schoolchildren in the classroom where she was teaching for the day. She was awaiting sentencing, which could have been up to 40 years in prison.
But nothing about the case made any sense. She certainly didn’t fit the profile of a child predator.
So I used my skills as an investigative journalist to find out exactly what happened. I interviewed the investigating officer and expert witness for the prosecution and the defense witness, a computer forensics expert. The two interviews convinced me that Amero was wrongfully convicted.
The story was picked up by the mainstream media, and the judge in the case ordered a new trial. I felt good about that – and I felt that I could continue to do more good by focusing on what I could change in the tech industry than battering my head against the wall on political issues. So my interest in the tech industry grew as my interest in politics waned.
The Obama Administration
In 2008, we had a new President, Barack Obama. And I had supported him in the 2008 Democratic primary because I felt he would stand up to corporate interests – the then Senator was then campaigning on reforming our campaign finance system.
But when he was elected, President Obama only had a limited amount of political capital. And he decided to spend it on bringing affordable healthcare to every American.
I do not doubt his intentions were noble, and I cannot imagine the immense pressure of that office. But in choosing to fight for healthcare for every citizen, Obama had to concede the fight on campaign finance reform. The result is Obamacare.
Don’t get me wrong. Obamacare allowed me to start my own business without having to worry that I wouldn’t be able to find health coverage. It will save money and lives. But most would agree that it gives far too much away to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.
So while I certainly believe that President Obama has done a good job and was a far better person for the Presidency than Gov. Romney, I also believe that by 2010, he was not living up to some of the hopes I had for his campaign back in 2008.
Once again, I felt powerless to affect change.
New Zealand
It’s because of this powerlessness to affect change at home that I began to get interested in “comparative politics.” And to one country in particular: New Zealand.
Posing for a picture on the summit of Mt. Mauao, overlooking the town of Mt. Maunganui, in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
Posing for a picture on the summit of Mt. Maunganui (Mauao), overlooking the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, 2010
New Zealand seemed to have all the problems figured out. Reporters without Borders, Transparency International, the Economist Democracy Index all pointed to New Zealand as having one of the world’s best democracies. What was it about this tiny little island nation that made democracy thrive there?
I moved there in 2010 for a period of six months in order to find out. And what I found surprised me. I had thought maybe there was something different about the New Zealand character, compared to Americans. But it turns out, they’re just like us. We both want the same thing for our societies and our families. We both love to spend time with our friends and family, we want good paying jobs and well educated students. Hell, we even watch the same reality TV shows.
The difference between democracy in New Zealand and in the United States wasn’t that our politicians were more corrupt or our voters more apathetic – indeed, people in New Zealand seemed to care less about politics on a day-to-day basis than we do. The difference was systemic. New Zealand put laws and systems into place to make sure that the politicians of New Zealand had to listen to the people. Their systems rewarded politicians when they did, and punished them when they didn’t.
If we can change the system – truly make it so that the incentives of the people and the politicians are one and the same – then we can accomplish great things. But I didn’t know where to start.
I really liked New Zealand, but it wasn’t home. And good friends can help you through bad governments. It doesn’t work the other way around. So I came back to my friends here in Texas.
Despite having a good idea of what needed to be changed, I still felt that I had no power to change things. The money in politics was too powerful, the vote was not powerful enough, and the “powers that be,” it seemed, wanted to keep it that way.
Why get my hopes up? So I kept focusing on the technology industry.
The Filibuster That Changed Texas
It wasn't just about the issue. It was about participating in democracy.
It wasn’t just about the issue. It was about participating in democracy.
But friends of mine from the Austin improv comedy community told me that there was a woman who needed support at the state capitol during the 2013 special session. They convinced me to see the Wendy Davis filibuster. And I realized that there were still good people standing up (no pun intended) for what they believed in.
More than that, there was a gallery of motivated, excited people just itching for a chance to participate in democracy. For once, the doors were wide open and the people embraced it. That’s when I decided to run. I want a Texas where everyone feels empowered to fix the things they see that need fixing. We can do better, here in Texas, and the reason we can do better is because we can give Texans the tools to make sure we do better.
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May 15, 2014 18:54
