Aspen goes birding⛸️

Lust for life
Crippling addiction to competitive birding
Political Organizer
Policy Expertise: Agriculture, Land Management, Tax and Revenue

[Aspen goes birding⛸️ @birdmoder]

On working in politics:

Earlier in life, I read a book about a kid who served as a Congressional Intern. It inspired me so much that I immediately sent an Gmail to my local senator office to see if he had a position. I was of course told I was too young. This only amplified by desire to serve my community and country.

I continued to study and learn and eventually got a gig at the Utah House of Representatives, even sitting on the voting floor during session writing briefs and analysis for the legislator I was serving. Helping her (freshman Rep) do her job to the best of her ability. I sat in on several subcommittees:namely Tax/Revenue, and Policing/Law Enforcement. Places where I was able to learn more on those topics than I could imagine. Paired with having formerly been an aquarium Educator and Keeper I was able to help the legislator on issues revolving around the Great Salt Lake.

That experience solidified my desire to work for Congress. And so I did, off a cold Gmail to a congressperson in Oregon-I scored a job. I learned how to interact with constituents, to help people in their interactions with federal agencies, to hear out their concerns. I learned how to properly write about different policy groups. It’s here I got really involved in agricultural and land management policy. I learned about water rights, about loggings, wildfires, and about housing. I learned the levers federal politicians have to influence those sectors.

I carried that experience into me working on the Dan Schwartz campaign in Maryland’s 1st congressional district, where we lost a few nights ago, but I was able to use my experience to help flip two of the four rural counties I managed the field program for. We ran a phenomenal campaign, with a field program unlike any the Eastern Shore had seen before.

As with most other staffers, I am of course looking for Staff Assistant/Legislative Correspondent roles in the new Congress. If you’re an incoming Rep; or needing to fill those roles I’d be happy to connect.

But for everyone else, if you’re interested in politics I highly recommend getting involved. I’ve learned more about our country, about how America functions, about helping local communities, and I’ve met so many amazing people who care as much as anyone can.

[cassie b. @PeaceLANBread]

best depiction I've ever seen of the three types of 'cities' in the U.S.

[david crowley stan @davidcrowleyfan]

People are going to hate me saying this but I really dislike what they did here.

[Aspen goes birding⛸️ @birdmoder]

This is going to look even better once Peltola is on it too

[Democrats @TheDemocrats]

THE BLUE TSUNAMI IS SWEEPING THE U.S. SENATE 🌊

[Violet @VioletFlame23]

DC mutuals: If you support autonomous vehicles, please call Councilmembers Parker & Silverman TOMORROW before 1 pm

Parker: 202-724-8076
Silverman: 202-724-7772

This will be our last chance to allow AVs in DC for at least 4 years, so let's take a stand for a safer, cleaner city!

[Aspen goes birding⛸️ @birdmoder]

This isn’t necessarily an attack on her, I’m not wading into that discourse, but it’s just a fun bit. And I wanted to mention cicadas

[Aspen goes birding⛸️ @birdmoder]

Midterms over, right on cue. Like a cicada in the summer

[Dr. Jill Stein🌻 @DrJillStein]

It has never been more clear that the people need a new party. This is unacceptable.

[Aspen goes birding⛸️ @birdmoder]

@frogkenny Honestly I may start reaching out to some folks to see if they’d like to go birding

[Aspen goes birding⛸️ @birdmoder]

Chief of staff, congressperson, journalist, lobbyist, etc. I don’t care-you are coming with me to the dump, we are going to scan thousands of gulls, and we are going to find a Slaty Backed Gull-and you are going to have a blast

[Silent || CEO of NeedleAlder @Suslent]

@birdmoder you WILL stand in the plowed corn feild looking for sandhills and killdeers

[Chaz Nuttycombe @ChazNuttycombe]

David Chappell (D) is a Democratic Socialist and will represent one of the most Mormon/LDS areas of the country. I'm briefly writing about this race as part of my "Top 10 State Legislative Upsets" article.

Something that I've never seen before in my 9 years of watching state legislative elections that is remarkable is that he discloses his campaign's finances on his website. This is an incredible, never-before-seen level of transparency that helps build trust with voters. It's pretty well designed too.

https://t.co/7IJ4IONi2S

[Aspen goes birding⛸️ @birdmoder]

There’s probably so many White Throated Sparrows in those leaves on the ground

[Samuel Littauer @swlittauer]

A beautiful Veterans Day in Rock Creek Park

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Democrat Scott Colom has defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi Senate race.

He will become Mississippi's first Black senator since 1881 and the first Democratic senator since 1982.

[Aspen goes birding⛸️ @birdmoder]

@esotericbuilder @Chicago2100 "just very violent and unsafe"
Bro what???? I don't think I've ever felt unsafe wandering around at night in DC

[lex @lexisoupertramp]

Big Landscaping has boomers in such an ironclad chokehold, I tried explaining to my mom that it's actually better for nature not to rake the leaves and she looked at me like I was trying to tell her fairies are real

[Tzvi Gedalya 🌐🇺🇸🇵🇱🇺🇦🇹🇼🇮🇱 @veetenheimer]

@umichvoter The one guy who mailed in an Alaska ballot from a windswept military outpost halfway around the world only to vote for the fake Dan Sullivan

[Aspen goes birding⛸️ @birdmoder]

@OrganizerMemes Ayoo

[Joaquin Soto 🦅🇺🇸🇻🇦 @WalkerwarriorX]

Bro all our legislators get paid poverty wages, I do not care if my taxes go up to help sustain a mother with 2 kids that has to drive from Tucson to the stage capitol twice a week

[Larin (gullmaxer) @LarinaeYVR]

Shifting focus (heron edition)

[Ken @Ken67547214]

@PokeMarr We've found their weakness

[Ben McAdams @BenMcAdams]

This Veterans Day, I've been thinking about my grandpa, Delmon Erickson, who spent his last years emailing our family stories he titled "Such is Life." Many were about the war.

After Pearl Harbor, he tried to enlist in the Navy and was turned down for his eyesight. His boss at the Ogden Arsenal had quietly asked for a deferment, so the Army wouldn't take him as an enlistee either. He told his dad he didn't want to look like he was avoiding service while his friends went. So he went to the draft board and asked them to draft him. They did. He was sworn in on November 7, 1942, and served three years and one month.

In France with the 70th Infantry Division, he volunteered to drive a wrecker. Night after night, under blackout lights, he towed damaged vehicles back from the front. One night the jeep he was towing had hit a land mine, and the name on the front read "Erickson." It was his brother's. The next morning he found him in a field hospital: hurt, but alive.

Years later, a group of middle schoolers in a D.C. hotel asked if he was a WWII veteran. One by one, every kid lined up to shake his hand and thank him. He wrote that it made the day even more memorable.

Grandpa is gone now, but I'm still grateful. Today I'm thanking him and everyone who has worn the uniform, and the families who waited for them to come home. If you know a veteran, take a minute today to shake their hand.

Such is life. 🇺🇸

[Nikolaj🇺🇦🇵🇸 @nikicaga]

Mailing in your ballot from a military base across the world to vote for the fake Dan Sullivan

[maddy @catgirlprostate]

#noticing that Brazil, a country that has over the counter hrt access, is also the one most accepting of trans people

Maybe removing barriers to transition is a good thing