Week 8

I am having a hard time remembering what the heck I did this week. Time went by super quickly, and, if for no other reason, I'm glad I'm writing this blog so that I can preserve some of the details of my life before they slip through the cracks in my brain. To future Washington Center interns, I highly recommend keeping a record of all the exciting affairs in which you will surely take part. For posterity's sake.

I started off my week by speaking with the legislative advisor to whom I report. My purpose for the meeting was to attempt to persuade him to think of me when substantive projects come up. It didn't take much persuading, and he was happy to hook me up with some interesting things going on in my office, almost immediately. The ancient adage, "An internship is what you make of it," is, I hate to admit, true. That saying should not only suggest that hard work is necessary, but should also convey the importance of making your internship into what you want. Although it made me a little uncomfortable to sit down with my supervisor and tell him that I wanted some more stimulating projects, that discomfort was well worth it. I feel like I can communicate more openly with my supervisor now, which is a big plus, and I am also learning more by getting the opportunity to help out on wider variety of tasks. So, the moral to the story is: Tell your boss what's up (in a respectful, appreciative, duteous, obeisant, deferential, nonrude manner, of course)!!!

So yaaaa... This week at work went well. We also got a new (non-TWC) intern this week, and that's fun to have another person my age. Plus the new guy is assigned to work the front desk, which means that I don't have to show up early to open the office. Booya. Since he covers the front, now the three TWC interns in my office (including myself) get to sit together in the back office, which is nice. It feels more team-ish and it's fun to talk throughout the day. These details may seem insignificant, but let me just tell you, they have made my work week much more enjoyable!!

I am beginning to feel as if the semester is running away from me. Working full-time, it is easy for me to forget that I also have a class and TWC assignments to stay on top of. I need to get shaking on a big research paper and boy it sure seems hard to get started. But that is one of the things I like about this semester, there is such a mix of things going on and it keeps me on my toes. There isn't enough time for anything to become banal and routine. Super!

Here I am with one of my best friends, Mr. Billy Blake de Oskaloosa, Iowa. He came to visit me because he thinks I'm cool. I know I'm slacking in the picture category again this week, and I feel terribly guilty. Please don't be mad at me.

Week 7

I previously mentioned that I was attending my roommate's "Peace Studies: A Solution to Violence" class. Well, as a fake member of that class, I was able to take the day off work last Wednesday to accompany the other students on a field trip. We first listened to Joseph Brown, who was exonerated from Death Row, speak about his experience. At one point he came within thirteen hours of being executed. During his speech, Colman McCarthy (the Peace Studies professor) passed around a collection for Mr. Brown, to help him out with his rent. It is sad that a man who served over a decade of his life for a crime he did not commit is still experiencing hardships. For all the wrongs that have been done to him, Joseph Brown was amazingly positive. I get mad if I get blamed for a mistake at work for which I'm not responsible...I can't imagine trying to be calm in a situation like his.

After he spoke, we stayed to listen to a former drug addict give a motivational speech to a group of homeless men. It is amazing the lives that people can lead. It is hard to understand how people function with the obstacles and addictions they have. It was good to hear the man's story because it is easy for me to see things only from my perspective, forgetting about all the different versions of life that are possible.

We rounded out the day with two more speakers, coauthors of a book on the United States' asylum process. One of the authors is a Georgetown Law professor, and the other is a Jeff, originally from Kenya, who was denied asylum in the United States. The Kenyan man is another excellent example of a version of life that is extremely unlike my own. After leading a protest, Jeff was imprisoned and tortured by his government. Upon his release, he managed to escape the country by coming to the United States on a basketball scholarship. Although he had never played basketball, a junior college was willing to take a chance on him simply because he is around 7 feet tall. His story was very interesting because I previously knew nothing about the amnesty process or the involvement of lawyers in the process.

So, as you can see, I had a very stimulating field trip experience. I wish I could go on a field trip every day. A field trip intern, I would be.

Yesterday my crazy old principal John invited me to accompany him, a few other people from mCapitol and a client to the GOP Presidential Trust Dinner. I liked getting to see John interact with a client. A lot of lobbying is built simply on relationships, and that seems to be what John does best. The dinner was fabulous and I got to hear Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Fred Thompson speak. I wanted to go harass them all to take pictures with me, but I didn't think that would be the cool kid thing to do. But in retrospect, I think it would be worth being the annoying kid if it would have gotten me a picture with the future President.

Sometimes it's better to lay your pride aside and just go all out obnoxious.The event was held in the National Building Museum, where the offices of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial also happen to be. I got to go up and see all the plans for the memorial and it was super cool. The amount of planning that goes into such a large project is staggering. Here is one of the models of the memorial... the original is going to be over 30 feet tall.

We have had two Washington Center speakers this week, first of which was Bill Greener, who is the founder of a communications and political consulting firm. He showed us some political commercials that his firm made, which were entertaining. Political commercials are certainly their own breed. We also woke up early yesterday morning to journey to the Capitol for the privilege of hearing Representative Honda speak. While Bill Greener was animated and boisterous, Representative Honda was much quieter and subdued.

All the speakers seem to reiterate the message that passion, hard work and integrity are the integral components necessary in order to achieve career success, although they all have their unique way of delivering the message. It's good to have that message continually emphasized, but the aspect I enjoy most in listening to the speakers is learning about the different career paths they have taken that have led to their current position. Many people have had extremely varied careers, jumping around a lot before they settled down in one area, or before they even decided to enter politics. So maybe there is hope for my undecided soul yet. Here are a couple pictures of my roommate Michelle and me messing around, just for my own personal entertainment.

Week 6

Since I have been enjoying my social life so much, I haven't yet written in great detail about my internship. So this week is going to be a catch-up update on some of the projects I have been working on thus far. To help everyone fully understand my intern responsibilities, I will first roughly explain how my office is set up. There are 9 principal lobbyists in the firm and 4 legislative assistants. The legislative assistants work primarily with 2 principals, supporting them and doing whatever they ask. Further down the food chain, there are 3 interns, all from The Washington Center. We have each been assigned to a legislative assistant, so we support their support of the principals.

mCapitol Management is trying to guide their future business development by focusing on a few select areas in which they have an expertise. To this end, the interns here have been tasked with researching the trends in those areas of expertise. This has been a good challenge for me because, through my research, I've gained a solid understanding of a broad topic, which I previously knew nothing about. I started my research by checking out Senate and House committees that are relevant to the business development areas. The committee websites have valuable information on recent legislation and hearings. I have also learned to use various political publications, such as The Hill and Roll Call, which provide good background. It took awhile to wrap my brain around the whole issue, but after some time and a lot of reading, I started to get a feel for the issues that future legislation might address, and the priority of the legislation. We interns have completed the first research stages of the issues, and the next step is to investigate potential clients that could be affected by future legislation. This is a whole new set of research that will require a whole new set of sources.... Good for keeping interns on their toes!! It is interesting to see how a business manages its growth and steers that growth in a specific direction. There certainly is a lot of research that goes into making business decisions.

Anther project I have been working on that involves the whole office is the expansion of mCapitol's National Network. mCapitol wants to develop a large affiliate program with other firms across the U.S. to help when their clients need local representation. I and my fellow interns are facilitating this process by meeting with the principals to discuss expanding the list of potential affiliates. So those are some of my work details! I will try harder to stay on top of my internship updates from now on.

And even though this is my work-focused blog, I will still sneak in a little social news! I don't have very many good pictures from this week, except one from the Common concert that I attended with two of my roommates last Friday. My roommate, Liz, somehow managed to get us in VIP and we stood right in front of the stage. It was FABULOUS!! I was taking a picture of Common during the show when he took my camera and took a picture of my roommates and me in the audience. So here is that picture:

Week 5

Through one of my principals at work, I got the opportunity to volunteer at the Financial Services Roundtable dinner last Wednesday. My principal told me that she likes to volunteer for events like that because they are a great opportunity to network. I thought it was interesting that someone in her position would still bother volunteering, but after seeing how many Senators and Representatives attended the event, I can understand how it would be well worth her time.

The dinner was at the Ritz, and it must have cost an arm and a leg. Guests helped themselves to an open bar, snacked on lamb and artichoke appetizers, and enjoyed a supper of filet and scallops. Luckily, my roommate and I were also able to ride the gravy train and consume some of the delicacies. We sat at a spare table that was set for 10 people. However, only three other people joined our table, so my roommate took the opportunity to eat an extra three deserts that were left at the table. She's no dummy!

The Ritz event was probably exceptionally extravagent because it was finance-related. Around 400 guests were present, representing the leadership of some of the largest financial institutions in the world. I would guess that 25% of the world's wealth was assembled there. I, personally, did not contribute to this statistic, although the great state of Iowa was represented by John Deere Credit.

Here's Michelle and me earning our supper by handing out nametags to some high rollers. Also pictured is a lovely bouquet of flowers.

It was a good week for me, because not only did I eat for free on Wednesday, I also ate on someone else's dime Thursday. My work hosted a Happy Hour at Tortilla Coast, and I again perfected my nametag-handing-out abilities. I really am a virtuoso of my craft. I am also an authority, a phenom, a pundit, a maven, a ringer and a guru regarding nametag-handing-out. I like all those words. I think you should now have a fuller comprehension of my abilities.

Here I am pretending to be an adult. My other coworkers probably aren't faking it.

Here I am with my principal, John Milne, who is quite the character. He continues to call me the "anti-Iraq protester girl."

In social news, I went to hear Emily King perform at the Black Cat last Friday. I saw her open for John Legend this spring in Dallas, and those tickets set me back about $70. So I was overjoyed to find that tickets were only $20 for the show I attended. Plus, I got to stand right in front of the stage. Booya! Maybe I wasn't paying attention when I was in Texas, but it seems like there is a lot more going on music-wise here, which is just fabulous. Last weekend I also walked around Chinatown and visited the Dupont farmer's market. All in all it was a successful weekend, nothing to wild to report.