Erik Moe Art & Design

The erosion of our civil liberties under this administration has been well documented and alarming, but did any of us ever foresee a day when we would lose our right to dance to our iPod at the Jefferson Memorial. What would old Thomas have to say?

TechPresident sent a belated valentine card yesterday to our disbanded cohort of digital Dodd Squad-ers. Joshua Levy critiques Maverick McCain’s emails and thinks the Republican frontrunner should call us up for advice. Somehow I don’t think that would work out well for any of us, but the sentiment is appreciated.

So, after an extended settling-in period, I’m finally starting the good habit of frequenting my neighborhood’s sole Minneapolis-worthy coffeeshop, Big Bear Cafe. I haven’t had a neighborhood coffeeshop to call my own in years, as the indie coffeeshops I lived near in Philly and Chicago suffered from any one of the many fatal flaws coffeeshops fall prey to (too claustrophobic, too much pressure to buy a $12 lunch, cigarette smoke, kitchen grease fumes, bad coffee, etc.). Big Bear does it right. It is spacious, filled with diverse neighborhood folk, has nice windows open to the outdoors, and (of course) good coffee. On Sunday morning the street outside was filled with a lovely farmers market and the only problem was a premature shortage of breakfast substantials.

Chicago, I hardly knew you. I already miss your irrationally exuberant municipal elections, your lovable but flailing transit system, and of course all of your amazing food. For those keeping score at home, my departure from Chicago and my most recent extended blogging lull is due to a very sudden move to Washington, where I’ve taken the position of lead graphics and web designer at Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd’s Presidential campaign. I’m excited to be working on a team doing some innovative things on the web and to be using my design skills to fight the good fight in support of a candidate with strong progressive credentials. To get a feel for the pulse of my new day-to-day and an introduction to Chris Dodd, might I suggest our campaign blog led by my colleague Matt Browner-Hamlin. As for Washington… So far so good. I haven’t even had cause to write an angry letter to D.C.’s Senator yet. Oh wait… D.C. doesn’t have a Senator.