Krista and Gina are Common Ills community members. Once a week they do an e-mail available to members that they've dubbed "the round-robin" (lowercase in honor of Rebecca).
"It's a newsletter," Gina explains. "We provide action alerts for topics discussed at The Common Ills and elsewhere, we provide some gossip, we usually note what's going on with The Apprentice because we're both obsessed with that show. That's why we have put it out on Friday every week but one."
The round-robin started at the end of February when Krista wasn't sure that she ever wanted to share on The Common Ills again.
Krista offers the back story as this, "There was a serious issue and I'd been focusing on a person and not the issue. I found him hot, I still think he's hot. But when I realized that I'd focused so much on a person and ignored the issue, I just felt really stupid. I felt like I owed the community an apology for distracting and wasting time."
"Which I disagreed with and I asked C.I. to pass an e-mail on to her," Gina picks up. "It's like C.I. said the first time Krista commented on the man in January, I believe -- whatever gets your focus and acts as your in on an issue, use it. And that was an in, a hottie. And it did get the community to focus on an area they might have otherwise ignored. So it was ridiculous for Krista to feel bad and I told her that and C.I. told her that and members told her that."
Krista still feels embarrassed by the entire thing. When she got Gina's e-mail, they began exchanging e-mails.
"It was more like talking and that's what it's like when you get something posted at The Common Ills but I just felt a lot of pressure, like I had to footnote and research everything. So we were e-mailing on topics and discussing issues the way you would if you were sitting across from a friend. I sent one to C.I. and was surprised that it was considered worthy of posting. I wasn't ready for that. But I was okay with passing it on to Eli and Liang whom I knew from their comments that had been posted."
From those two, it continued to grow. Currently on Fridays, it goes out to 512 members.
"Krista and I e-mail back and forth all week. On Fridays, we pick what we think were our best discussions and grab some of that. It's another way to look at the issues. And we include inside gossip like Ruth's son's getting married Saturday morning. Or KeShawn's new baby. It's a way for members to get another view about each other."
"And The Apprentice!" Krista adds laughing.
"It's such trash," Gina picks up, "but we are obsessed with that show. Our headline for our two paragraph review of the episode this week was 'nbc to bully boy, you're fired!' So it's just our back and forth. And currently we're arguing over who's going to win."
Each round-robin ends with resources for issues and activism. That's as much "footnoting" as they intend to do "because this is just us talking."
They also do sneak peaks of upcoming items. Rebecca might explain what her upcoming themes will probably be for the next week. Betty will answer questions about the outline she's working from. We'll usually let them know what we'll be reviewing here.
"Because it's an e-mail and not a blog," Gina says, "we're able to go over things that we wouldn't post. So when the threatening mail started pouring in over Ava and C.I.'s TV reviews, we were able to inform people what was going on there. We really, really wanted a statement from C.I. about the attack on the community. C.I. gave us this, 'No comment.' Rebecca and Jim were much more forthcoming and we were able to go with that and explain to members what was going on."
Asked what the criteria for signing up is, Krista replied, "You have to be a member that's posted. If we wanted just anyone to have access to it, we'd post it. The attacks on C.I. and Rebecca have really bothered all of us. We did a thing with Betty that we ran Friday about how she feels trepidation about blogging now because of the attitude of some men that they can beat up on you and bully you. This is a private space for members. We've only turned down one person and that was this week when the round-robin suddenly got some attention due to disclosure reasons. C.I. passed on an e-mail from a guy requesting to be added to the list. C.I. noted that the guy had never written before. Like C.I., we wondered about the guy. Since he'd never had anything posted at The Common Ills, not even a 'Mr. Blank e-mails to get us to note . . .' we turned him down. Liang is an example of someone who worries about posting at The Common Ills because she's adamentally pro peace and during the attacks, she noted, and we printed, that she wouldn't have said half the things she'd been saying if they had to go up at the site because some people were real dicks and she didn't want to be attacked for it. We also included a response to the community from three female bloggers who aren't Common Ills community members but had been told about the round-robin by Rebecca and wanted to say something to us about how disgusting they found the whole thing. It's a way to speak directly to members and not have to worry about a retaliation attack."
The Sudan has been an issue they've addressed via the round-robin. Gina feels that's been the best way.
"What's the answer? It appears that there's movement on the issue. But we can say in our round-robin that ___'s is full of shit and that there's got to be an answer other than war, war, war all the time."
"Like that Thursday song!" Krista interjects. "In the old days, or the early days, of The Common Ills, C.I. could reply to every e-mail and that's no longer the case. Especially when asshole bloggers are taking up the limited time for e-mails. So we can find resources or e-mail C.I. for some and we can talk about peace and not worry that some snotty little asshole who apparently just stumbled onto the Sudan is going to scream, 'Pie in the sky!' We're trying to find alternative ways of dealing with things at a time when we're under an administration that only knows how to launch bombs and go to war. We can address and question so-called peace keeping activities. Liang can share horror stories about her extended family. We don't have to censor ourselves for any reason. It keeps the community strong and I guess 'tribal.'"
Gina add to that, "Look at Eli this week at The Common Ills. He'd weighed in on Ireland but otherwise had stuck to private e-mails until this week. C.I. had told Eli he was a good writer and by sharing a thought here and there in the round-robin, he was able to get more feedback. Wally told him, 'No one but you can write this. The rest of us are too angry and it will come across.' So Eli wrote the entry and it was beautiful."
"And we can use words like 'beautiful' without fear of being mocked!" Krista adds laughing.
Community members who haven't yet signed up for the round-robin should do so. Wally contributed two paragraphs that went into details on how the panel deliberates links this week.
Third Party explained why he doesn't trust the two party system. As an attachment, a photo of Ruth's infant grandson was offered. It's a personal look at the community that allows members to say "Closed door meeting, everybody that's not a member, out."
And they have no interest in turning it into a blog?
No, both say. This was always intended as a private conversation to allow people to speak freely and the attacks of the last two weeks on The Common Ills have only made them more firm in their decision.
"We really admire women bloggers who blog," Gina says. "But what we saw this week and what we heard from the three female bloggers made us sure that our alternative course of action was the way to go. Some people are strong enough for that nonsense. I've got enough battles in my own life without worrying about someone easing into my life posing as a friend and then attacking me left and right."
"You know what I think it is?" Krista asks. "I think we're dealing with frustrated males who either think it's a way for them to get attention, by beating up on women and starting a feud, or else they realize that they have no weight to throw around because their blogs aren't getting the audience they wanted so they decide to attack and they're more comfortable beating up on women."
"Which ever, it sucks," Gina adds.
gina & krista's round-robin goes out each Friday afternoon barring a need for an earlier appearence. Those interested should notify Rebecca or C.I. and they will pass your interest onto Gina and Krista.