About Living Liberally

Living Liberally is dedicated to creating communities around progressive politics. Through social networks and events, we promote political engagement, and facilitate collaboration among progressive organizations. In your everyday routine and social life, you can be Living Liberally.

We believe that our political identity should be part of our regular lives. Too often politics is restricted to one day every four years, or too long, uninviting meetings in fluorescent-lit, linoleum-floored rooms.

Instead, we take our politics where we gather, socialize, learn, love and live. We create easy entryways into progressive political involvement, where you can find a community that shares your values.

In-person contact is the key to cultivating this social capital. Living Liberally is built upon networks of local gatherings -- from weekly meetings in bars to groups screenings of progressive films. These projects include:

Drinking Liberally - our national network of social clubs

Laughing Liberally - our political comedy project

Screening Liberally - our politically-conscious film series

Eating Liberally - our gatherings of good gab and great grub

Reading Liberally - our book tours of progressive authors

We have also had special events including: Rocking Liberally (music), Singing Liberally (karaoke), Podcasting Liberally (online radio shows),Loving Liberally (Valentine's Day), Bowling Liberally (better than "Bowling Alone"), Cycling Liberally and more...

And more recently, Crafting Liberally kicked off in New York, and Shooting Liberally invited First Amendment enthusiasts to try their hands at the Second.

Have an idea for an activity you want to do Liberally? Let us know.

Who is behind Living Liberally?

Living Liberally is a New York-based LLC, fueled by the volunteer energy of hundreds of friends and partners around the country.

Its national leadership, headquartered in New York includes Directors Katrina Baker, Justin Krebs and Matthew O'Neill and a Leadership Team of David Alpert, Mary Bruch, Wendy Cohen, Katie Halper, Kombiz Lavasany, Greg Rae, Matt Rosenberg and Kerry Trueman.

Living Liberally formed from a marriage between Cosmopolity and Drinking Liberally, and used to be known simply as Cosmopolity. The previous Cosmopolity -- which created the online calendar and organized social events to create easy access into political egnagement -- was founded by David Alpert and Justin Krebs in 2004. Drinking Liberally began as a gathering in the backyard of a Hell's Kitchen dive bar in 2003, founded by Justin Krebs and Matthew O'Neill.

Justin Krebs is a national director of Living Liberally and creative director of Laughing Liberally. He is a political organizer in New York City, and a founder and Artistic Director of The Tank, a non-profit venue for performance and public affairs. Past projects include managing a parks advocacy campaign and serving as Intern Coordinator for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Justin is a New Jersey native and graduate of Harvard University.

Katrina Baker is a Living Liberally national director and partnered with Justin and Matt in the fall of 2003 to expand Drinking Liberally outside of New York City. Katrina served as the first national organizer for the organization while working and then studying law at Fordham University School of Law. At Fordham, she was a Stein Public Interest Scholar and received the NYS Bar Association Law Student Legal Ethics Award. She practices law in Manhattan. Prior to entering law school, Katrina produced international documentaries focusing on youth. She was raised in Western New York and graduated from Ithaca College.

Josh Bolotsky is National Program Coordinator for Living Liberally. When not working with chapters around the country to promote liberal thinking at the grassroots, he's a regular contributor on the politics of cinema and popular culture for OpenLeft.com, and has also written for The Huffington Post, AlterNet.org and Future Majority. Previously, he served as a Leadership Academy Fellow with Young People For, and as President of College Democrats of New York, where his efforts were covered by The Nation magazine as an example of effective campus organizing during the Bush years. He currently lives and works in New York City.

Matthew O'Neill is a Living Liberally national director and Emmy-award-winning journalist and filmmaker. Formerly the programming director of Downtown Community Television Center, he has produced documentaries for PBS and HBO including the acclaimed Baghdad ER in spring 2006. He also produced Turkey's Tigers about the rising capitalist class in Turkey, and Venezuela: Revolution in Progress covering the Chavez recall election.

David Alpert is a member of the Living Liberally National Leadership and built and maintains the online tools for Living Liberally. He uses the power of democracy to foster technological innovation, and the power of innovation to improve democracy. He is also the founder and President of IPac (http://ipaction.org/), a political action committee dedicated to supporting the freedom to create and innovate. He was a Google Product Manager from 2001 to 2007, grew up in Acton, Mass. and is a graduate of Harvard University.

Mary Bruch is leader of Living Liberally's fundraising efforts ("Giving Liberally"). As a student at Barnard College, she chaired Columbia University Dance Marathon, one of the most successful student-run benefits in the country for pediatric AIDS research and treatment. She is now a non-profit development professional. During the last ten years, Mary has worked on political campaigns everywhere from Palm Beach County to Harlem.

Wendy Cohen co-founded the monthly film series Screening Liberally. Before joining the Huffington Post family in November 2006, Wendy was Outreach Coordinator at Arts Engine and programmer of the Media That Matters Film Festival. She was a Creative and Research assistant on the book The Art of the Documentary (Peachpit Press), guest curator at the IMPACT festival, and co-chair of Urban Pathways Young Professionals Board.

Katie Halper, a Laughing Liberally co-founder, performs in Laughing Liberally and in comedy shows across the country. Born and raised in New York, Katie is also an Artistic Director and Comedy Curator at The Tank. Her award-winning documentary La memoria es vaga, based on her undergraduate thesis at Wesleyan University, premiered at the Amnesty International Firefly Festival and has been screened in Spain and the U.S.

Greg Rae first imbibed at a Drinking Liberally in the summer leading up to the 2004 election. He is currently one of the leaders of Drinking Liberally Steps Out, the gay and lesbian themed chapter in Manhattan. In early 2005, he founded 22 by 7 Labs, an internet technology company. He is also a member of the Harvey Mudd College Board of Trustees and Alumni Association Board of Governors. He is a native of Napa, California.

Kerry Trueman co-founded Eating Liberally to extend her professional work as a food writer into activism after she got sick of getting chastised for being "too political" as the food editor for Lime, a "healthy living" website launched by AOL founder Steve Case. A San Fernando Valley childhood in a Christian Science household left her an agnostic with an aversion to cars. Kerry was educated liberally at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville.

Matt Rosenberg runs a technology consulting business and is co-founder/co-chef of Eating Liberally as well as Hudson River Valley community preservation site rhinecliff.org. A lifelong foodie, he ran a charcuterie business while studying journalism at NYU; his clients include Annie Leibovitz and Mario Batali. Matt and Kerry constructed a garden on the roof of their West Village apartment which was featured in Garden Design magazine.

John Erhardt coordinates the Colorado Living Liberally chapters and co-hosts the Denver chapters of Drinking Liberally and Shooting Liberally. When he's not working to surpass California's number of Living Liberally chapters, or at his day job, he's writing and editing at the state political blog SquareState.net. He's also a weekly contributor on Colorado politics to the Mario Solis-Marich progressive radio show.

Jesse Rubin lives with his wife and two sons in San Diego, CA. He became interested in politics after the birth of his first son and realized he needed to be more involved in the world his son was inheriting. He runs one of the San Diego Drinking Liberally chapters and visits as many chapters as he can while on the road selling software. Jesse has done some work for local congressional campaigns and when he grows up he wants to be Justin Krebs.

Amie Hollis started DL Nashville in the summer of 2005, after reading about DL on a liberal blog and discovering Tennessee was without a chapter. Her sneaking suspicion that there were other lefties in the Southeast having been confirmed, she now helps out as a DL field organizer.

Bill Nothstine is Living Liberally Field Organizer for the Pacific Northwest Region (OR, WA, AK, and HI). He's a writer, editor, former consultant for nonprofits, and a renegade professor who began blogging on politics and the media the same month he joined the Portland OR chapter of Drinking Liberally, December 2004. He was the chapter host from 2006 to 2008.

John McClelland started the Addison TX chapter of DL in 2005, deciding that drinking with like minded liberals in George W Bush's home red state was a great idea. It has become the longest continuously running chapter in the Dallas-Ft Worth metro area. With a BA in Political Science and Geography from the Univ of NC, he has since become a more active Democrat with the local county party, and even the 2008 nominee for the state house in his home district. John is currently President of Stonewall Democrats of Denton County. He is helping promote democracy, one Shiner Bock at a time.

Adam Bartel came to visit the Cincinnati DL chapter to write about it for a local blog, and liked it so much he kept coming back. He now acts as the host of the chapter and as the regional field organizer for the Upper Midwest. He volunteers for several local and national campaigns, and is one of the main contributors to the Cincinnati chapter blog.

Jeremiah Roth was born and raised in Utah, but it didn't take him long to realize his thoughts and ideas didn't fit in with the majority of other Utahn's. Feeling like he was the only liberal in Utah, he helped found the Salt Lake City chapter of Drinking Liberally to see if there were indeed other liberals, and he's happy to have discovered that there are many. Jeremiah works for DharmaTech, a small nonprofit that provides technology solutions to other nonprofits who align with DharmaTech's values of social justice and activism.

Linda Nelson is Field Organizer for the Upland South region which includes Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland and her home state of South Carolina. Linda started the Hilton Head/Bluffton Chapter in 2006 and enjoys bringing liberals together in the very conservative area of the country. Currently, Linda works for a healthcare software company in Marketing and Training. After raising four children, Linda now spends most of her free time volunteering for Drinking Liberally, Unitarian Universalist Association and local charity and political events.

Dan Henry founded the Idaho Falls chapter in April of 2006 after hearing about Drinking Liberally on Eschaton. Idaho Falls is a very red area of the country, and the Idaho Falls chapter takes that as a challenge. The chapter's accomplishments include running a soup kitchen one day per month, hosting an annual Loving Day Celebration and Progressive Awards Banquet, creating a Drinking Liberally float in the Independence Day parade, and fundraising at the state fair with a Dunk-a-Liberal tank. Dan is an engineer at the Idaho National Laboratory when he's not a drunken moonbat.

Tom Holland is a lifelong Democrat who campaigned for JFK when he was 12 years old. His parents were strong supporters of unions and believed that Republicans were only taking care of the rich. His parents are gone now, but he is still doing his best to fight the fight. He is the host for the Oklahoma City chapter, and Field Organizer for the Great Plains Region.

Bill Poorman is the Drinking Liberally field organizer for the state of Illinois. He's also the host of the Drinking Liberally chapter in Peoria. Bill is a stay-at-home dad who works part-time at keeping his journalism and media production career going until the kids are in school all day. ("One more year!") Drinking Liberally is his first venture into politically oriented organizing. Bill is a life-long resident of the Great Lakes region, having lived in the Akron, Ohio, area; the Detroit area; the Chicago area; and in downstate Illinois. Bill currently lives in Morton, Ill., with his wife and two children.