Because “Yearnings for Justice” Never Die…

…this aptly titled blog (if I don’t say so myself) is coming back.  As for my long absence, I offer the sincerest of apologies.  It’s been an unyielding school year.  I also wanted to do some local writing in a more widely read forum, so I switched over to the blog of Brenda Konkel/Lukas Diaz (both admirable political comrades and even better friends), where I wrote mostly on the noble Manski campaign for State Assembly.  Then, I declared for Common Council a few weeks ago…and here we are today.

And Yearnings for Justice is back and better than before.

I intend to use this blog to continue commenting on campus and local political affairs.  Inevitably, the upcoming spring elections will be highlighted.  I am a candidate running in close solidarity with several others running in various other districts; I share with them an unflinching, proactive progressivism for our local politics which we believe is especially necessary given the rightward shift on both the local, and now national, level.  So, due to these circumstances, this will likely be my focus.

But because I’m a grassroots activist, I know that electoral politics is only part of the picture.  There are so many inspiring issue-based campaigns going on right here at the university.  SLAC, for instance, is taking leadership in defending public-sector employees at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery; their jobs are being threatened by Biddy’s privatization efforts.  And so many wonderful students and student organizations have organized themselves to demand a fair funding model and accountability from our student government.  At the Student Council meeting less than two weeks ago, I couldn’t help but feel so hopeful from seeing 70-100 students turn out and listening to good people like Lena Marx, Colin Bowden and Ismael Cuevas speak.  Hearing from them and others from MEChA, MCSC and CWC was a powerful reminder of the simmering potential of the student body.

Ultimately, as long as there is creative and collective – or individual, though we can’t win alone! – resistance to the injustice which defines the system under which we currently reside, there will always be a place for projects like these.  I’m excited for what the future holds!

Oh, and I suppose I should make this disclosure.  I hate having to do this because it seems to attach an undeserved importance to my blog and I, but I feel compelled lest people criticize me later.  So, I should mention a few things about Yearnings and its relationship to my candidacy.  First, the opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.  Though I am a proud member of several organizations (like Progressive Dane) and consider myself a close (and even prouder) political comrade of several other activists and community leaders (like Sam Stevenson), the views of this blog may be the complete opposite of what such groups and individuals believe – though this is, admittedly, unlikely.  Finally, I do not intend to make this blog an attachment of my candidacy in any official capacity (for that, visit my website at kyleformadison.com).  The style and content of my posts will, as I stated above, continue to focus on local politics and activist struggles and will most likely bear similarity to other writings on this blog and stuff I’ve written in other places.

A long-time critic of both myself and the local left in general recently called my writing “inflammatory,” a claim which I find highly tendentious, if not slightly ridiculous.  However, perhaps he is right; I suppose it depends upon your definition of the word.  Even if this writer’s vocabulary is more accurate than mine in this instance, that will still not be an incentive for me to alter any of my beliefs as expressed on this blog.  Though a highly flawed person in about 1.7 billion ways, I am nonetheless very firm in my political ideals and would not be running if I felt it necessary to conceal any of my true intentions as a candidate.  I am quite proud of my views and values; not only will I not conceal them here, but I will do my best to make them as lucid as possible.  Thus, from at least one person’s perspective, one thing you can count on here at Yearnings is NOT the droll talking points of a politician, but the “inflammatory” words of one who won’t change his style just because he has decided to seek a new position in his lifelong journey as a community activist.

Hopefully, I’ll have something up by later today discussing my reasons for running in D8 and other specifics about campus activism and how it relates to electoral politics.  And one final thought: You should start a blog!  I can’t help but feel at least slightly egotistical in keeping a blog all to myself (as if my life is SO important).  Then perhaps I am a bit egotistical; I’ll work on that.  But I would love to read more about the type of political work, including the behind-the-scenes details that might be less easily conveyed through other means, that you or other people you’re working with are involved in.  A lot of people I know talk about how they would love to start a blog, but never get around to doing it.  The sad thing is that it’s so easy to create and sustain!  If you’re still really intimidated, send me an email and perhaps I can give you some encouragement, if not help.

Otherwise thanks for reading, and do stop by again soon!

Peace!