Thanksgiving in the city is amazing! The Holiday was so great here. My only regret is that there was no snow. I figured moving this far north I would see a ton of snow by now but no such luck. I am super stressed out right now. Between school here schedule for L-R and actually trying to have a life its not going so well. I can’t concentrate for one class in particular to save my life!! I am still convinced that this teacher hates me. I have three papers due for her on Sunday. She is so vague in what she wants that she is going to spend the entire class tomorrow answering questions! I am so busy this week in fact that I won’t be able to go to yoga more than likely and that just makes me even more stressed out! BLAH! But next week will be much better I will busy packing and working and leaving to go back to Charleston. Today the lead council for the Environment and Public Works Committee had a meeting with the other intern and myself. It was very insightful. He had a lot of words of advice for getting my foot in the door for my eventual return to DC. These next 13 days are going to fly by. I can’t believe its almost over it felt like it just started.
Pardon my lack of updates however I have been slightly busy with all the hype of the election. So lets start out with the Wednesday field trips. November 5th we attended a press conference at the National Press Club and heard the head of the RNC and DNC speak. Howard Dean 2004 candidate for the Democratic nominee for President and Mike Duncan RNC chairman from Kentucky. My Kentucky friends say he is a good guy. But I don’t really know that much about him. Wednesday October 29th we atteneded a talk given by the Dean of the Political Managment Graduate Program at George Washington. He was very whitty and had a delightful insight to how the campaigning was going. He spoke so well infact I will be checking out the graduate degree program here before I leave. Wednesday October 22nd we went to the Department of State to hear our speaker talk about counter terrorism. He specified in the east coast branch of counter terrorism. Guess what he thinks one day we will be nuked. Isn’t that encouraging?!?! Not!! So those were the couple of fielf trips we have had since my last blog.
I finally got a project to work on! I was so excited. I am currently helping our Sea fellow go through appropriatoins bills from the past eight years and pulling out the language that deals with the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund. Once I collected all the langue I had to create a figure/ table so it could be included in a multimedia presentation to be used later. Work is pretty ordinary well except if you take into account the election of Barack Obama as our President-elect. To be in DC during the election was so surreal. We were at a bar with hundreds of other politicos cheering and ranting for both sides. By the end of the night, begining of the day, tons of people had congregated outside the Whitehouse. A friend said he was singing at the top of his lungs with the crowd trying to keep W up as late as possible.
Today I went to a green festival at the convention center. There were vendors there from hollistic medice, to green food, clothes, housing, alternative pet food, and alternative lifestyles. I made a ton of connections That could hopefully help me in the future. Right now I am looking for a job back in Hickory for when I get back to school. But it is always a good thing to make connections for when I return back to DC.
While most people this wee are on fall break and or cramming for exams I am have a pretty leisurely week on the hill. So far this week I took one quiz. Other than that I haven’t done much of anything out of the ordinary. Being in recess is very calm. Today it gave me the opportunity to look up apartments in Hickory and some job opportunities for when I return. Yesterday was one of the best “me” days I have had in a while. For my photo journalism class we went exploring around the national mall. I throughly enjoyed this because it gave me a chance to wander around on my own. After my little excursion on the mall the class met up with the rest of our program to attend the National Holocaust Museum. The museum was it’s own experience. I am not sure I can completely describe it and give it justice. It is just something that you need to witness for yourself.
After last weeks devastating stock performance people are still angry about the bailout. Not to mention AIG has the audacity to spend thousands of dollars to go to a spa!! Something is not right here! Regardless of what is going on in the outside world I am still here to do a job and go to class. Last Wednesday we had a speaker come and talk about the ethics involved with being a lobbyist. He also had some information on how to get a scholarship for grad school in regards to government relations, public relations, and public administration. That was encouraging!! The rest of the week was pretty boring actually. Senate is in recess right now so things have dramatically slowed down. It was much needed for me personally so I can actually concentrate on some school work. On Sunday we went to the Duke Ellington jazz festival that was held on the National Mall. It was awesome. I am not the biggest fan of jazz but it was definitely a worth while experience.
Week of October 6
Monday was the start of what is shaping up to be another relaxed week on the hill. The buzz was mainly around the debate on Tuesday. Speaking of the debate, oh McCain. I know it must be difficult to articulate a quick and accurate response during a nationally televised debate but referring to Obama as “that one” is frankly beneath him. He should quit launching attack adds and get back to the basics of calming the fears of the American people as to what the economic crisis means to them.
Wednesday. Have you ever been to the Pentagon? Well on Wednesday our group was scheduled for a tour. Unfortunately this is how it went down. I read the sign at the Metro station wrong, meaning we went in the wrong direction. At the next available stop we sprinted up to the surface street to hail a cab. The cabbie was amazing with getting us to the Pentagon just a mere 10 minutes after we were supposed to be. However, it is the Pentagon which means that everything ran on time so we were very late according to them. Even though we were separated from our entire group with no real identification of who we belonged with, apparently we are lucky because they let us in regardless. Dr. Joyner said we should thank our parents for giving us good genes, because if we were ugly or boys they probably wouldn’t have let us in. hahaha. Just another reason why being a girl is better than being a boy.
The remainder of the week was pretty uneventfully. The next thing I knew it was Friday and my roommate and I were off to New York. New York City was so amazing. We saw an off Broadway play, went shopping on 5th Ave, pointed and laughed at Wall St. What more could you ask for in a trip to NYC? A few short sentences can not do justice to the experiences we had over the three day weekend. New York I will definitely be back soon.
With the event of the financial crisis that over took the country the past week has been a little hectic. Monday wasn’t that exciting unfortunately I was sick so work sent me home so that I wouldn’t get anyone else sick. I needed the rest I got on Monday because the rest of the week was full steam ahead. Tuesday was pretty routine. I attended a briefing on Alzheimer’s. I think I would have retained more information on the briefing if the room wasn’t smaller than my living room. It was so cramped and tight that even some of the presenters had to stand. Tuesday evening I had my political communications class where we analyzed the “stump” speeches of Obama, McCain, and Palin. We used the different speech writing strategies of famous speech writers such as Sorenson, to help break them down. Wednesday I had my photo journalism class where we went over some front pages of national papers. Our teacher then had us play around on photoshop so we can try and fix what the camera captures. The field trip this week was at N Street Village. N Street Village used to be the epicenter for all things drug, sex, and money related. The N Street area is struggling to over come it’s shady past. The village was created to help support homeless and struggling women. It goes from as far as providing shelter during the night to rehabilitating women to rejoin the work force. The work they do there is very hard but very rewarding. Thursday is when things really started to get amped up. I saw my first protest. There was a group of probably 30 adults wearing bright yellow shirts. They walked through all the Senate and House buildings. Eventually they made their way to the capitol building and went as far as to harass some staff members in their offices. The best part was the chant they made up. “Stop the bailout. What about us?” They used the mantra to help get their point across of their general dissatisfaction of the bailout proposal. Friday was a lot of fun. I went on another tour with a staffer so I can hopefully test soon and start giving my own tours. There was a buzz around the Capitol because of all the big name senators that came to the Hill to save America. By the time the hype started it had already ended with the departure of the senators to a certain southern university to participate in a debate. The debate was amazing. I thoroughly appreciated the thoroughness of the moderator. I think that both candidates did a good job and provided further insight into what makes their political minds tick. It was a good week. Week of September 29
The start of this week is not so hot. The bailout proposal, which members of congress worked on relentlessly all weekend, was defeated in the House. The Dow dropped a record low 777 points. What is next? Why is partisan politics overshadowing the horrid situation that has now become our country? Chicken Little. . . the sky is falling
Good evening. So this past week has been super crazy!! Friday was my second day in the office and it was amazing. First I went to a briefing on new poverty data then wrote a memo for the Legislative assistants. I ran some errands around the Capitol including going to the Senate Majority and Minority Leader’s offices. Needless to say that was intimidating. Friday was also my first run in with some people who are not always particularly happy with the American Government. Never a dull moment. The weekend was interesting. It was a whole lot of just hanging out and getting to know the area that we live in.
Coming to terms with the fact that I am now a working woman is rough. I had to be at a briefing Monday first thing yikes. The briefing was on the need for reform of child welfare legislation. Then for the remainder of the day I performed office duties. Tuesday was the one of the most exciting days of my life! At 8 o’clock I went to a briefing on climate change. It was hosted by the organization Clean Air-Cool Planet. The presentation has been posted on their website. http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/ However, the briefing started late so I had to leave before it was over to attend a Senate Committee Hearing. The hearing was called for by the Environment and Public Works Committee to oversee efforts by the EPA for Children’s Health Protection. Some of the more notable committee members were Senator Boxer and Senator Clinton. It was so amazing to see two powerful women do business. Definitely a good time!
Tuesday night I had political communication class we learned about different styles of speeches. One of the best orators of the night was Huey P. Long. He was one of the most powerful speakers of his time. Wednesday we went to the Newseum. The top floor had the front page of every state paper. So it was fun to be able to see what news was going on back home. While we were visiting the September 11th memorial the fire alarm went off. My roommate and I thought it was part of the exhibit. It wasn’t. Someone pulled the fire alarm. After sitting outside for 30 mins we were able to go back in and continue on with our visit. My favorite part of the entire day was the Pulitzer Prize photos. The emotion that can be conveyed with a single picture is heart wrenching. Some of the most horrific events in human history were captured on film and displayed there for everyone to witness. It turned my stomach.
The past two days have been very calm. I am starting to get into the swing of things at the office. Answering the phone has proven to be quite the challenge. It is so difficult to remember every little thing. Thursday afternoon my roommate and I attended a hearing on the US India Nuclear Cooperation. I am still trying to figure out what was the purpose. Today, I went on a tour of the capitol (again) so I could start learning how to give the tour to constituents who visit the office. I have a booklet I have to learn and then be tested on before I can give a tour solo.
The past two days have been amazing! Yesterday we went to the Heritage foundation which is a conservative think tank. There the old ambassador to Hungary who is now the Chief of Political Protocol, also known as the founder of the Susan G. Komen Foundation!! She was an amazing speaker! Basically she talked about the program that she had her staff have helped develop to insure the overall satisfaction of our ambassador relations. Then she introduced the ambassador for Afghanistan. He was the best dressed person in the entire room. You can see the entire program @ www.heritage.com
Today was my first day at my internship. Needless to say I hit the ground running. Today I ran back and forth between the office of my Senator and to the Hill. Amazing I got my own Senate ID so I could run back and forth and escort different people to their meetings. There is not much else that I did other than running around back and forth to the Cloak room and the Senate Reception Room. Tomorrow is going to be so awesome! I am attending a briefing on Lessons from the New Poverty Data then, I have to write a memo and submit it to the entire office. Super exciting.
Tonight we went to the opening of the Pentagon Memorial. It was beautiful. Seeing it on the news does not give it justice. The Navy band and chorus gave a very touching performance. Obviously it was a very moving experience. More adventures to come. . .
This fall semester I am attending the Lutheran College Washington Semester. I am living in a condo in Arlington, VA. I was supposed to move in on Saturday but the train was canceled due to Tropical Storm Hannah. So needless to say travel plans were changed and I moved to D.C on Monday. I got into Union Station late last night. Immediately I was in total awe of the beautiful architecture inside the station. So beautiful. Just as I was taking it all in we walked across the street to load up the car and, bam, there was a homeless person sleeping on the base of the flag pole. Welcome to Washington D.C! Today has been a lot of unpacking and trying to settle in. Tonight is my first class, political communications. Should be a fun time. Tomorrow I have my second class, photojournalism. What I’m really excited about is the two field trips planned for tomorrow afternoon. The first is the Briefing at the Heritage Foundation, the second, a tour of the Capitol building. And yes it does get even better. Thursday I start my internship with Senator Barbara Boxer! Amazing!!
My hopes and aspirations for this semester would be to use what I have already learned in my studies of Conservation, the work experience that I will receive here to help further my goals of a career later on. I can’t imagine a more exciting time to learn and work in the capitol than during an election year. So here’s to a new year, a new semester, a new world of opportunities.
