Alaskan bloggers come together.

Last night found a number of prominent Alaskan bloggers sharing a little wine, eating some delicious food, and discussing with amusement the bizarre turn their lives have taken in the last two weeks. For many who have labored in near anonymity it was a little overwhelming to discover ourselves thrust into the national spotlight by the nomination of Sarah Palin as the Republican VP candidate.

Our host last night was the webmaster for Progressive Alaska, a man with vast experience working with the progressive community in Alaska and a wonderful host.

Shannon Moore was there with stories aplenty about the local media personalities that she has interviewed or worked with in the past. The Celtic Diva was also sharing stories of her work over the years with women's issues and gay rights in and around Anchorage.

And then there was the newest phenom in Alaska blogging, Ak Muckraker , whose website Mudfalts has exploded onto the scene in recent weeks in a way that is both exhilarating and a little overwhelming. In person Muckraker is a private soft spoken woman, with a great sense of humor and a real passion for revealing the lies and obfuscation that pours out the Palin administration locally, and out of the McCain/Palin campaign nationally.

It was extremely gratifying to spend the evening with so many energized, intelligent, and passionate Alaskans. And I would like to point out that there were NO mean spirited or nasty remarks directed at Sarah Palin. As a matter of fact the phrase that I heard the most often was "We are just working hard to keep her as our Governor here in Alaska".

Before closing out this post I would like to share my favorite part of the evening, which was when a visiting BBC television crew suddenly realized that the pretty lady who had been sitting off to the side for the last hour talking to yours truly was the infamous AK Muckraker, who they had been wanting to interview all evening long. That, and the "deer in headlights" look she had on her face as they led her away to interview her.

Just like Michele Obama I have not had many reasons to feel pride in my country for the last eight years. But last night, while surrounded by so many talented and inspiring Alaskans, I absolutely felt pride. And I also felt really good about the future of our state and the future of our country.