By Brad Swanson and Karen Kirk: After more than two years and almost 400 articles, this is the last story that we will post as editors of The Blue View. We’ve reached almost 80,000 of you in northern Virginia, and covered topics as diverse as you are — immigration, education, labor, environment, criminal justice, culture, history… Oh, and a bit…
By Billy Bates: The author is a rising senior at Fairfax High School and president of the school’s Young Democrats chapter The year was 2016. I had just woken up and was preparing to leave for school when my mom told me that Donald Trump had won the election. A lump started forming in my throat. How had this happened?…
By Brad Swanson: My son’s text decided me. “If you wanted to go, I would say today’s the day.” The previous night, he had been caught in the unprovoked rush of police out of Lafayette Square to clear a space for Trump’s photo op at St. John’s Church. He had not been injured but shared the outrage of millions at…
By Karen Kirk: At first the memes were amusing, sort of. Then they started being somewhat irritating. Now, calling white women behaving a certain way “Karen” is meandering toward dangerous. A Tweet calling the woman who lied to police, saying that an innocent African-American man was threatening her, did just that in an intro to a video: “Oh, when Karens take…
By Steve Verdier: As I first-time phone banker, I am finding much the same satisfaction as canvassing – and often with a higher response rate, as so many voters are at home these days. I used to say about canvassing, “There’s a new friend behind every door.” Phone banking is similar, but without the chance of rain or overly excited…
By Brandon Thurner: Isn’t it amazing how our past is often prologue, and in very unexpected ways? I never thought that being laid off a few times during the Great Recession a decade and more ago would have the advantage of providing top-notch training in social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak. But in fact being laid off not only gave…
Meet Jack Kiraly, the new Executive Director of Fairfax County Democratic Committee. As FCDC’s only paid employee, Jack is in charge of making the complex machinery of this large (900+ members) volunteer organization run smoothly. With elections every year, FCDC is constantly planning or executing on strategies to contact, register and educate voters, to get out the vote on election…
Editor’s Note: Another in our series of personal statements of support from readers for Democratic presidential candidates By Mike Sandler: The media and the top 1% wish Sen. Bernie Sanders would just go away. He doesn’t seem to follow the rules. He has a dedicated following; some would say too passionate. But no matter how you feel about him, at…
By Tom Goodwin: Natasha McKenna died five years ago this past weekend, February 8, 2015 — naked, cold, frightened, shackled, muzzled, and black — after a rough afternoon at Fairfax County jail. The social and racial inequities that contributed to her death still loom as the OneFairfax policy is extended throughout county government. I wasn’t thinking about racial inequity when I…
By Susan Boggs: Some of you may know me from my Thursday morning shifts at the Fairfax County Democratic Committee. Others of you have handed out sample ballots and back-to-school-night literature with me. I’d like you to see my other side—that of a former Foreign Service spouse. I spent 14 years living in India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal with my…
By Steve Aoki: The international reputation of the United States is at a post-World War II low, according to a former senior diplomat. But instead of passively complaining, Tom Countryman is doing something about it – working on voter registration drives to counteract Republican voter suppression efforts. Countryman, who held the top arms control and nonproliferation job at the State…
By Susan Laume: Laura Jane Cohen worked hard to protect children long before she decided to run for elected office. Cohen, the Democratic endorsed candidate for Springfield District’s seat on the Fairfax County School Board, heard the terrible news of a mass school shooting in Connecticut one day seven years ago as she was substitute teaching at her local elementary…
By Brad Swanson: Sean Perryman has only been president of the Fairfax County NAACP for a month, but he already has his priorities clear. “My plan is to focus on fewer issues, but go deeper,” he said. The top three topics for him are cannabis legalization, school name changes, starting with Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, and more…
By Brad Swanson: What motivates a man to spend more than two decades – and counting – as a volunteer running a farmers market? In the case of John Lovaas, a manager of the award-winning Reston Farmers Market, the answer is self-evident. “I doubt anyone would work at a volunteer job for 22 years unless it was wildly satisfying and…