The Washington Center Internship Program

2011-12-07T21:55:00.008-06:00

The Man, The Myth, The Legend Himself

Getting Closer!

I have had another amazing week in DC! I probably say that every time I post but it's the God Honest Truth. We had an awesome C-Span class on Monday and I was able to attend three separate events which were equally awesome. Before I share any related details, please indulge me for a moment as I share my feelings on leaving TWC.

I have somewhat of a bittersweet feeling about going home next Saturday. Sweet because I am coming home to my amazing wife, who I have missed dearly. Bitter because of a nagging question I have. How do I take full advantage of the contacts I have made at the RNC and NRCC when I am finally able to enter the job market, which is still a year away! Here's how it plays out in my head.

I return to Oklahoma, after leaving a positive impression with those who could facilitate a political job in Washington, which is of course my ultimate dream. Yet, when I finally finish school next fall, Good Lord Willing, I no longer have immediate access to these gatekeepers. I will likely not even be able to get a return phone call.

"Trevor who? Take a message, I'm busy." Back to the machine shop and power plants I go, like an old high school quarterback, constantly imagining what could of been. I know this is somewhat dramatic and that I am responsible for my future. I guess I always try and prepare for the worst and strive for the best.

Okay, I'm done now, on to the past weeks events.

As I mentioned previously, some of us attended a round-table discussion held at The Aspen Institute. It was really awesome. While I was there, I was able to meet Mickey Edwards. I am still not positive who Mr. Edwards actually is but he wrote for a couple of papers in Oklahoma and seems like a big deal.

Here is another cool pic from an event I was able to attend at Charlie Palmer Steak. It was the National Journal's Cook Political Preview. That is me and Charlie. The really neat thing is that all these events are free.

I am getting ready to turn in my TWC portfolio and final research paper for the C-SPAN class, the apartment building is super busy and the computer lab looks like a war zone! It is full all hours of the day with people rushing to finish their projects. I am starting to get sad now, so I better finish this post before I get tear stains on it.

Here is another pretty picture.....

Here We Go

2011-11-28T12:14:00.008-06:00

Me and my buddy Chuck Todd from NBC News

I hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving day break, I know I did. My wonderful wife and the rest of her family all came to stay with me over the break. We all ventured into Virginia to see the sites. Here is how it went down.

On Friday we rented a Ford Flex, which was pretty cool, and drove to Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate. I could not believe the amount of people there, it was like going to Disney World. It was a huge complex and was very interesting. We did not tour his home though, as I was not able to convince anyone else to stand in that line.

We then went to the home of our nation's third president and personal hero of mine, Thomas Jefferson. It was awesome!

The week before last I was extremely busy with the Republican National Committee's Campaign Management College. We would start class at 8:00 am and finished up with our homework in the evening at around midnight. The final day I arrived at eight in the morning and did not leave until noon the next day. I do not think anyone slept that night. We had to write a complete Campaign Plan and present it to a panel of judges, which was really neat because they provided us with lots of good feedback.

I started my class up again on Monday at the C-Span building. Our guest was Tiffany Dufu who works at the White House. It will air in two weeks on the C-Span network and I was able to ask a lot of questions. I really enjoyed her.

Our evening session was held at George Washington University in the School of Media and Public Affairs. They hosted a discussion with Chuck Todd, who is the White House correspondent for NBC news. I was able to get in the first question at the event, naturally asking him why the media is scared to cover the Ron Paul campaign. I was not to thrilled with his answer, but until I hear someone tell me that they have all agreed to not cover him because they are afraid of his "On with Liberty" message, I guess I never will be.

On Friday of this week I am going to the Bipartisan Policy Center for a round-table discussion with the president of the Pew Research Center, a columnist from The Washington Post, and the editor of the Atlantic-Journal Constitution. My Professor, Mr. Steve Scully, was able to purchase tickets for four of his students and I was fortunate enough to receive one of them. Plus, a buffet lunch will be served which should be really tasty!

On Monday morning of next week I get to attend a discussion with Charlie Cook, who is a National Journal political analyst and editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report. He plans to discuss the current political environment, his outlook on the 2012 presidential race and the challenges and opportunities he sees for the major candidates moving forward. It should be really cool.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Words of Wisdom: Getting Your Ideal Internship

2011-11-08T12:58:00.011-06:00

Fox News asking for my take on Herman Cain's Speech at the National Press Club

Like I had mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to share my experiences with future TWC interns regarding how TWC Program works. The following is an account detailing how I was able to land my “dream” internship. It’s some very basic tips that I feel can be of use to future interns when they first navigate this amazing opportunity.

When I first filled out my TWC packet, they asked me to list a few organizations I hoped to intern with. From the beginning, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) was always at the top of that list. The NRCC is the “nerve center” of the Republican Party’s campaigning operation for the House of Representatives. Since I know that working on a federal level campaign is one of my short term goals, this is as good an internship as it could get.

My first piece of advice to future interns is to have a general idea of what you want to do professionally, before the process begins. TWC will send your resume packet to sites they think may interest you, but they are extremely busy and cannot read your mind. Reach out and ensure they know where you want to end up exactly, and then follow up with calls and emails until you know your resume was sent to those locations.

I emailed TWC a list of House and Senate members that I would have liked to intern with, plus some other organizations, and then called to check that my packet was sent to them. My experience with the process was nerve racking, but my persistence paid off.

In July, I began doing phone interviews with various offices and organizations. One was with an Arizona Congressman’s office; working in Congress was my second “dream” internship site. I interviewed that morning over the phone. At the end, I was told they had twelve more people to interview and I might hear back. I was then offered the position that afternoon.

I attributed this, and the six other offers I eventually received, to the multiple mock interviews Kimberly Lopez conducted with me in the career services office at Rogers State. TWC offered a class by telephone-conference over the summer as well: How to Conduct Effective Phone Interviews. Take advantage of these resources.

Anyway, I did a few more interviews, some offered, some never called back, and some I declined.

The AZ Congressional offer was the only one, thus far, I had seriously considered. What if I turned it down and no more offers came along? Where else did they send my resume? What about the NRCC? These questions were all going through my head in early August. My advice in this area is to let TWC know exactly what you want and bug them until your satisfied.

I declined the AZ offer thinking that if I was going to intern in the House, I should do it with a member from Oklahoma. TWC actually guaranteed they would place me with an OK office after I called to express my concerns. An offer did come and I accepted, even though it wasn’t the NRCC, but time was running short and I had gotten my second choice.

The second week of August I was listed as “placed” by TWC. Their effort on my behalf was completed and I was complacent. Then the NRCC call came, asking for a good time to contact me for an interview. I emailed my available times and a message about how passionate I was to intern with them; always include a few lines on what a great intern you would be. The next week came and went, with no call! What to do, I wondered?

Email them again! I reminded them of their interview offer, another set of times for the next week, and another note about how great an asset I would be. Getting no reply I was disappointed, but at least I had gotten my second choice, interning with Congress.

Out of the blue the following week, I got the NRCC call and did an interview; I was completely unprepared and didn’t feel great about my performance. I sent a follow up email that evening, listing what an asset I could be if offered the position. They offered and I accepted!

It all came down to letting TWC know what I wanted and following up with them. The same goes for everyone else who may have a hand in determining where you end up. It has been my experience that most everyone will go out of their way to help you, just don’t be afraid to ask!

Me & My Buddy Herman

2011-11-02T15:50:00.003-05:00

I felt the need to post this real quick, more to follow.................

2011-10-20T20:09:00.002-05:00

Changing Directions: Informative and Informational Posts Upcoming

In an effort to provide this blog more direction, usefulness, and frequency, I am going to begin detailing what the entire TWC program entails, start to finish. My inspiration for doing so came Tuesday of this past week, when I became absolutely, 100%, would not change a thing satisfied with every aspect of my experience thus far. I hope my subsequent posts will be a helpful reference for future TWC interns, as each will detail what has worked for me. Bottom line, be proactive. But first, what have I been up to?

I finally started to work on my own professional development, outside of the TWC program. I feel like if someone sat me down on day one and said, “This is what you should be doing,” I would not have wasted the first month and a half being so timid. Anyway, last Friday I went in to an Oklahoma Congressional office and asked to speak with their Chief of Staff. I wanted to impress upon them how motivated I was to be part of a Congressional Campaign next year, but was told they were busy and I left with a business card. A few emails later landed me an informational interview on Monday of this week. We spoke about possible options and I left much better informed and optimistic about my possibilities

I also made some inroads with Headcount. They are an organization which conducts voter registration drives at concert events across the country. I volunteered to help and will be doing so in the near future.

I also will be a volunteer at the 30th annual Turkish-American Business Council event, being held at the Ritz-Carlton in DC. Why not, I thought, it sounded pretty interesting and I should be able to meet some very interesting people.

On Tuesday I was able to move from the finance department over to the political department in the NRCC. This is where I have supposed to of been all along, I can feel the intensity in the room and it’s very refreshing. Right now I am compiling information on all the Republican Candidates for House seats across the country. It is a really interesting project and I love going to work every day. This is the event that put my TWC experience into the “it doesn’t get any better than this” category.

I will provide details on how I think future TWC interns can achieve this as well in the coming days, beginning with TWC internship placement process.

PS: Did anyone else feel embarresed for Rick Perry in the last debate like I did? I don't really like or dislike the guy all that much, but I did find myself feeling sorry for him. I mean, what do you say to him when he comes off the stage after something like that if your a consultant? Maybe......"say the sentence in your head first, then, when you feel confident in the delivery, write it down and read the words." I don't know who's telling him to engage Romney like that but keep up the good prep work!

Oh one last thing, VOTE RON PAUL 2012!

2011-10-09T17:53:00.005-05:00

Goodness Gracious!

I have had another amazing week. I was able to get out of the city for a while, receive some amazing training, and I met my personal hero who just happens to be our nation’s next President. Things are going great!

Last Saturday I had a case of the blues. My wife had gone home and I was content to just sit and sulk, but I remembered that I had secured a spot on the bus to Atlantic City for the day. TWC had put the trip together and around 40 or so interns were lucky enough to go. We left at 8:00 am and got home at around 11:00 pm. I had no idea it was a 4-hour drive, but it was a nice change of scenery. I do not enjoy gambling so much but I was able to get a haircut and eat some crab cakes, so I ended up having a good time.

Beginning last Monday, I and another intern from the NRCC started a week long Campaign Manager School that was conducted by The Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia. There were around 30 or so political activist from across the country in attendance, which made it a great networking opportunity.

I can definitely say that I was completely ignorant of what a well-run, legitimate political campaign looks like and needs to have to win. We had experts ranging from Congressional Chiefs of Staff, who had previously run high-dollar campaigns, to industry leaders dealing in everything from direct mail to the newest internet ads giving lectures.

We also had a 3-hour class which was titled: Advanced New Media Workshop. It mostly dealt with how to effectively manage a candidates Facebook and Twitter accounts. It is all a little overwhelming right now, but I have another Campaign Manager School in November that is being conducted by the Republican National Committee. It is supposed to be more hands on with many situational exercises. I’ll do my best to hone my skills then.

On Wednesday of last week, I met Congressman Ron Paul who is a candidate for President! He was in town for a lunch which was held at the National Press Club. My Professor Steve Scully knew the lady who was coordinating the event, and was able to get me and 3 other students in, to stand in the back during his speech and the question and answer segment which followed.

The day got progressively better which each passing hour though. At around 10:00 am we got an email from Steve indicating his friend was able to get us all tickets to the lunch. Then, almost 30 minutes after that great news, another email arrived. We were now being allowed to participate in the VIP reception being held prior to the lunch with Rep. Paul.

Throughout this time we all met the Congressman, took multiple pictures with him, spoke with him individually, and I was able to get my pocket Constitution signed. It goes without saying that I was on Cloud 9 for the rest of the day. I even made a side trip to the National Archives, on the way back to my campaign class, to see the original Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Just caught up in the moment I guess.

Next week it’s back to my internship at the NRCC. So far there isn’t anything that really stands out about the week. But if this last one is any guide, I know that could change on a whim!

An Amazing Third Week!

2011-09-25T15:22:00.004-05:00

I have had an awesome time this past week. My days were full of experiences I once thought unimaginable just a short semester ago. My internship is going great, my class at TWC is such a unique and rewarding opportunity, and I have learned that being a political junkie is not so lonely after all!

On Monday, all Washington Center interns (around 320 students) were required to attend a discussion and question and answer segment moderated by Steve Scully with former Senators Lott and Dorgan on the issue of bipartisanship. The event was recorded for CSPAN and aired at 7:55 central time on CSPAN-1. This gave me the chance to make my national television debut, asking the second question during the Q&A segment about 22 minutes into the broadcast. Though I did not realize it, this would be only my first interaction of the day with former elected officials.

That evening during my class, which is also taped for television and airs on CSPAN-3 Fridays at around 4:30 central time, our guest was Gerald Rafshoon. He was the Media Strategist for the '76 Carter for President Campaign and a former White House Communications Director. A surprise came when around ten minutes into the class former President Jimmy Carter called in to discuss the campaign and take questions.

There are only 24 Washington Center students in this particular class and since our professor/ moderator of the program Steve Scully is still learning everyone’s name, he surprised me by saying, "President Carter I think some of our students have questions at this point. Trevor, I believe you have a question, go ahead." I thought of something relevant to campaigns and came out all right. Then again, when it came time for the Q&A segment with Mr. Rafshoon, and because at that point in time I believe he could only remember the name "Trevor", Steve said, "Go ahead Trevor." Though I was caught off guard twice that evening, it was a very enjoyable class and I am grateful for the opportunity.

The next day at work, the Republican National Committee organized a field trip for the interns in the building, around 20 in all. We walked to the Daily Caller, an online publication started by the man with the bowtie, Tucker Carlson. He has worked for CBS, ABC, CNN, and now is a consultant for Fox News. He came in and sat directly across the table from me for almost an hour, discussing his past, giving advice, and answering any questions we asked. He was very down to earth and extremely personable, making it another amazing day.

On Wednesday I was back to my duties with the NRCC. Mainly stuffing envelopes, calling potential NRCC donors, and doing some research on various people the NRCC is interested in. No matter how small the task, I am happy to be part of the team.

That evening they did let me help with a reception for Congressman Mike Scully of Pennsylvania. It was a small gathering and I was able to speak with a lot of interesting people who make their living on the hill. Then on Friday morning I volunteered to help with a breakfast for the Texas State Society held at the Capitol Hill Club, again affording me the opportunity to meet people who openly describe themselves as fellow “political junkies”.

Perhaps the most exciting day for me came late Thursday evening, when my beautiful wife Leslie flew in for her first visit since I left. We have been enjoying each other’s time together and I will hate seeing her leave early next Tuesday morning.

Besides my wife leaving, I look forward to my fourth week in DC. I love every second and know all too well that the time is flying by. I try not to think about that too much and make the most out of every experience. I’ll let you know how it goes.

2011-09-18T16:37:00.004-05:00

My Second Week Working on the Hill

Well, I finished up my second week at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). It was pretty awesome at some points and pretty boring at others. I’ll focus on the awesome. I also would like to speak to my course and some of the upcoming events that I am looking forward to this week.

Beginning on Tuesday of last week all the interns at the Republican National Committee (RNC), of which I am included, had lunch in the Reagan Room of the RNC. The RNC Communications Director came in and we all got to question him for over an hour. It was very interesting as he is the man behind the scenes of every media appearance the RNC makes and the framing of the RNC’s message whenever they issue a statement to the media.

This upcoming Tuesday, all RNC interns and there are only around 15 of us, get to take a tour of the Daily Caller and then chat with its founder, Tucker Carlson. I realize few if any know who these people are that I have and will be referring to, besides the other political junkies out there, so I’ll try and get a picture to spur your memory, think bowtie.

Mainly this past week I have been stuffing envelopes and making a lot of phone calls back to Oklahoma, the NRCC has an event in Tulsa on the 29th of this month. If anyone wants to attend please let me know, it would really make me look good if I could sell a few tickets. I actually did get one person to RSVP with me over the phone. She paid $1,000 for a general reception ticket to the event. When I told my superiors and gave them her credit card info, they acted like I had done something amazing. I felt like this is what the goal of all these calls had been all along and wondered what the big deal was. If I was in charge I would have been disappointed in my interns only getting one RSVP out of 8 pages of phone calls.

On Thursday of this past week the Director of the Finance Department, who is also from Oklahoma, took me to the Oklahoma State Society Congressional Reception that was held in the Capitol building. All of Oklahoma’s Congressmen, along with Governor Mary Fallin where present at the event and I got to meet them all. I also ran into the President of the Bank of Stillwater who was my father's best man in his wedding and graduated from OSU with him, talk about a small world.

Friday I was able to attend a NRCC PAC meeting where the Director of the Political Department gave an overview of all the seats they were targeting in the up-coming 2012 Congressional election. There were around 20 people there and I assume they were big money donors because he kept talking about them being excited to write checks to the NRCC. The meeting began with a speech from Rob Barker, who recently won the special election in New York 9 and Ahmeday, who won the special election in Nevada. The NRCC feels pretty confident in adding seats to the current Republican Majority in the House in 2012.

Well RSU, I’m getting ready for the Dallas game and have to start on my Political Leadership homework which is due tomorrow. Oh, my wife is visiting this week, so if anyone has any ideas of something romantic I can do for her while she is here please let me know. I have no clue when it comes to things like that. Tomorrow we go to a panel discussion featuring former Senator Trent Lott, and then our guest at the CSPAN class is going to be Jimmy Carters campaign manager. A little birdie told me after last week’s class to have a question ready for President Carter himself, so we’ll see.

My First Week

2011-09-12T22:23:00.005-05:00

The US Capitol on a Sunny Saturday Afternoon

Well students of Rogers State, I would like to begin this blog with a piece of humble advice. Do not fly in to Dulles International Airport when flying into Washington D.C. I arrived on the 31st of August and because of a cheap ticket from Southwest, I ended up spending $80 dollars on a taxi and one hour in traffic. It wasn’t worth it! Now to my actual post…….

Wow! So far my entire experience at The Washington Center (TWC) has been absolutely amazing! I know I have only been here just short of a week and a half now, but wow! I am interning at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), I have my own apartment just eight blocks from Capitol Hill, I have been an arm’s length away from Speaker of the John Boehner, and I have taken a cruise on the Potomac River. Please allow me start at the beginning.

On the 1st of September we had an orientation where many different speakers came to address us. One was the President of the Washington Center program, the very top of the totem pole here so to speak. There were 320 students from around the world all seated in the auditorium and he began to pick individuals out, asking them where they were from, what they were majoring in, how they heard of the program, etc. The last student he picked out was yours truly.

I began by telling him I hailed from the thriving metropolis of Nowata, Oklahoma. I then said that I had heard of TWC program after asking one of my professors, Dr. Carolyn Taylor, how to become more active in politics or where to even begin. Upon hearing the name he immediately knew exactly where I went to school. He informed the entire student body that Stratton Taylor, Dr. Taylor’s husband, was an alumnus of TWC and then gave us all a brief history of Stratton’s accomplishments. He then went on to say how Stratton Taylor truly encompassed the three pillars of TWC; civic engagement, leadership, and giving back to the community. It made me very proud to be a student at Rogers State University.

I began my internship the following Tuesday in the financial department of the NRCC. This is basically the fund raising arm of the NRCC. I really lucked out here because the Director of this department is actually from Norman. He was excited that another “Okie” was working in his area and I am excited to be working for him. Something everyone keeps saying again and again is how important networking is and I see this as an important contact to have.

The most exciting thing I was included in this past week was a welcome back reception for Republican members of Congress at The Capitol Hill Club. I was only giving out name tags to lobbyists but the room was so small that I was literally, at different points in the evening, standing right next to Speaker Boehner, Rep. Darrell Issa, Rep. John Sullivan, Rep. Frank Lucas, and many others, I do not believe the smile ever left my face that night.

We also have to take a course in addition to our internship and I believe I lucked out here as well. I enrolled in a course that is being done with C-SPAN. It was open to twenty-five students and will be broadcast on C-SPAN 3 every Friday evening. Every week we will have different guests and we will be able to ask them whatever questions we may have related to Presidential politics. Just tonight I was able to get in a couple of questions with Jonathan Martin from Politico.

The most exciting aspect however is that our Professor for the three hour class, held every Monday, is none other than Steve Scully! If anyone, besides myself, ever watches C-Span one or two on the weekends then you should know who he is. He hosts different programs and has interviewed nearly every political figure you could imagine. He is also a really great teacher and super easy to talk to. Its the picture at the top.

Everything is like a dream come true so far. The way everything is shaping up I hope to be able share still more awesome experiences that Rogers State has made possible for me in the days and weeks to come, so be sure to check out this blog at least once a week to hear all about them.

Shutdown Showdown

2011-04-14T16:31:00.001-05:00

I believe it was Socrates who said it is good to live in interesting times. Although Wikipedia says it's a Chinese curse, I can't that seriously because I've seen them run some misinformation on Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for three years, notably that his oil and natural gas lease business was based in Oklahoma instead of Arkansas.

Regardless of who said it, this past week was a very interesting time in our nation's capital, and if you get to be a Washington Center intern, then certainly you may experience such interesting times.

I intern for Voice of America, which is an arm of the federal government. It's not like the Social Security Administration or some of the other bureaucratic agencies in Washington, but it still would have had some employees furloughed because of the government shutdown. In my case, I didn't know what was going to happen because I was an intern. Although I wasn't being paid, my transit subsidies could be considered payment and for that reason, I might have been furloughed. I didn't want to be; I wanted to keep coming to work. I love working on VOA 60 every day and get disappointed on days that I don't. So, if the government shut down, I was going to keep going to work until the security guards drove me away.

Of course, even if that would have happened, I still would have been figuring a way to better my career. I would have devoted more time to finding material for my radio show and building my portfolio. I wasn't going to sit around and wait to die of Dutch Elm Disease if the government shut down.

Some of the other interns at federal agencies were looking forward to it. You know, they could take their time off and go sight-see or whatever they do. I wouldn't know; I actually wouldn't know. I'm so engrossed in my work here in Washington, D.C. and also with graduating that I am numb to a great many things. I'm so focused on getting out of college that I can't feel anything right now.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the city isn't an exciting place to see. It is, but I saw it before when I was 12, 13 years old. So, I'm not missing out on anything, and what I did miss out on when I was 12 and 13 can be supplemented in a relatively short amount of time when I break on through to the other side of this capstone project.

Did I tell you about that? Yeah, I did from last week. Well, the good news is this week I was able to round up my final panelist. He's not from a think tank, but he is a well-read professor at George Washington University and I think he matches the credibility of the conservative panelist I chose. So, everything is fine on that front. My capstone project will be completed when conduct the panel discussion at Voice of America's radio studios this Thursday the 14th. I can't wait; I'm very excited.

It almost didn't happen because of the government shutdown. If the government would have shut down, I'm not sure what would have happened to my studio time because I'm not sure if I could have gotten into the building. But that wasn't stopping me from carrying out my capstone project; I called around town to see if there were any free radio studios I could use for thirty minutes. I wasn't going to let my capstone project get swept up the political machinery.

But let's do a recap of last week. On Monday, we had programming and Dr. Lawrence Korb, a former administrator in the Reagan administration, spoke to us on foreign policy, notably Libya. I liked the guy's approach. He stood out in front of the podium and engaged us like a Pentecostal preacher. I mean, look at these photos I took. Parts of them are blurry because the guy wouldn't stay still.

Of course, I was sitting next to the same crazino who told me to put my camera away, even though I cleared it with one of the supervisors of the event. Remember that one? Remember the photographic fief from the last discussion panel three weeks ago? Oh, he looked over at my camera phone like your best friend's crazy cocker spaniel when a 1991 Chevy Caprice would drive down the street. He was ready to strike; I can guarantee it. That's why I made sure to snap a few quick pictures and put my camera away.

And, like always, they opened up the microphone to ask questions and some people gave lectures instead. TWC really ought to invest in a vaudeville hook. I don't want to knock on the foreign students because it really takes a lot of moxie to ask a question in front of 100 students in a language not your own. So, I accept their rambling. I don't like it when homegrown students get up there and do the ol' two-for-one. Oh, and another one they did was right when we thought the last of the students had asked a question, another one would jump up to get in line. This happened about three times. Finally, the administrators cut 'em off and we could leave.

What does that make me? A mean guy for telling you about that? No, I think it's what you'll feel too whenever you become a student at The Washington Center. There will be days when you're interesting in the programming and the lectures, but you really don't have the patience for the questions because A) they're the final event before you can leave, B) you're hungry enough to eat a boot, and C) you're tired enough to beat the band.

Anyway, whatever.

So this week was all about the cherry blossoms. Actually, the past two weeks were. This weekend, I had a chance to go out and see some of them across town:

I also got to see people enjoying the temperate weather out on the National Mall. There was some kickball tournament going on.

I don't know about you, but just witnessing scenes like this makes me feel more patriotic and proud of my country than any piece of legislation Congress passes or executive order the President signs. There's just something reassuring and timeless about scenes like that. The day you don't see scenes like that on the National Mall is the day you know America's in trouble.

Good gravy -- I don't mean to sound like a prophet of doom! I don't know. Maybe it's the work; it's getting to me. I'm just so focused on graduating and getting out of school that I've become numb to certain things and I'm starting to revert back to my sarcastic self. But I don't know if it's even my sarcastic self that's seeping through. It's more like a chilled logical persona that has no time for games and frivolity. I just want to bust through this week like a brick wall and come out the other side ready to bust a move. I'm so ready to get this capstone project over with.

Before I forget, I want to warn you about the vast size of the National Mall. It's something that gets lost when you're down there in the National Mall or looking at a map planning your Saturday afternoon with the blue fanny pack and the white sneakers and the Polaroid camera from 1993. You think it's all so close together, but you really don't know until you've walked a good hour and a half to get to these sites. So, let this picture instructional for you:

Look to the houses on the right, just above them. That's the Capitol. Now, look over to your left before you get to the air traffic control tower. That's the Washington Monument. DO YOU SEE HOW FAR IT IS BETWEEN THE TWO SITES? That's an incredible distance, and you really do put a burden on yourself and that chick in the floor above you that you try to impress every day by timing your "coincidental" meetings in the elevator when you two get off work. So, don't be afraid to take a cab or the Metro. You know, there won't be a Needles there to call you a chicken.

All right, before we get out of here, let's close up shop with another one of my dad's famous sayings:

"like a fat girl at a fricassee"

Definition: a natural pairing

Usage: I'm always working on VOA 60 like a fat girl at a fricassee."

By Inferno's Light

2011-04-05T09:48:00.000-05:00

I know; I know. It has been two weeks since my last blog post. And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking I'm not that committed to this thing anymore or that I'm running out of ideas or that I'm not fascinated by my blogging opportunity anymore.

Well, you could take it that way, but you would be totally wrong. I have been so immersed in my duties here in Washington DC that I don't do anything when I get home but sleep. I don't feel like talking to anyone or doing anything. And it's exacerbated on the weekends. I don't feel like doing anything but lying around and catching up on some sleep. My bosses at Voice of America can tell that it's Friday because I come into work beaten and fatigued. It's true. By Friday afternoon, I'm ready to take a big nap.

So the more this semester continues, the more tired I'm going to feel on weekends. See how that works out? That's why I haven't been blogging, not that I haven't had anything to blog about.

Take this for instance that happened on Tuesday, March 22nd. In my "Press, Power, and Politics" class taught by Professor Marjorie Kline, we got to go on a field trip to "The Kalb Report" yet again. This time, Diane Sawyer was there on his show at the National Press Club.

Of course, the auditorium was full by the time we got there with all of the lummoxes and the seat-grabbers-from-behind and the old fogies. Somehow, I got separated from the group, so I went and sat elsewhere. The first place I sat was perpendicular with the stage. As soon as I did that, some woman with her hair in a bun to rival the leaning tower of Pisa sits right in front of me eclipsing my view. Then, some geeky guy crowds next to me on my right. I almost have a breakdown with that and the typical cacophony that fills an auditorium before a presentation that I left the seat and went elsewhere.

I went way in the back; I didn't care. I was already separated from the group and any seat I chose was going to be crap anyway. So, I decided to go sit way in the back where no one would touch me. Well, as soon as I did that, and enjoyed myself for 9 minutes, some guy comes and sits next to me again.

It's the same thing on the Metro. I don't get this. Why do I get guys that sit next to me? For once, I'd like a female about my age to crowd next to me on a Metro or in an auditorium instead of another guy with spiked hair and a trick jacket he lays across the three seats to his right to save a seat for his friends. You ever notice that? You ever notice how men wear their trench coats and women their minks when they go to big events like that? They do it because they can take it off and save a seat and then you look like a schmuck after you barrel over seven people across the row to get there and find that out.

When the guy set down his jacket, I took of my suit coat and put it over my chair. I left the room to take a few deep breaths. Everything was a disaster to this point. I was cut off from the group, so I couldn't make smart aleck remarks. I couldn't see, not only Diane Sawyer, but not even a monitor because it was blocked off by the Marge Simpson brigades in front of me with their cartoonish tall hair. Then, I was going to have to be pestered the whole time with some lame-brain texting the sequel to "War and Peace" on her Blackberry.

Oh, I didn't tell you about that? Yeah, after I came back from catching my breath, I was instead sitting next to some petite brunette with glasses texting the whole time during the hour-long "Kalb Report." And she wasn't some nineteen year-old dingbat with a PR Facebook account that she never updates. No, this was a woman of about thirty years texting furiously on her phone. It sounded like a baseball team with cleats walking down the tunnel to get onto the field. "Click clack. Click clack. Click clack." I couldn't believe how ostentatious she was with her texting.

Now, I tried not to let it bother me because I figured, "Hey, with all of this bad stuff happening, something's got to give. Maybe I'll get my picture taken with Diane Sawyer."

Let's speed up the tape in this VCR of a blog and see what happened:

Nothing. You can't even tell that's her. It looks like the Old Man in the Mountain from Franconia, New Hampshire. But that's what I was dealing with. She was mobbed by the crowd as though she was the Messiah and she could heal the sick, and so you had to be on your game when you wanted to get your picture with her. Just my luck, I had a stranger take my picture. I had some middle-aged woman who probably knew more about souvlaki than photography snapping my picture. After she took this god awful picture, she hands the camera back to me and says it was great. Yeah, sure.

Now, I know I'm being exceptionally cranky about this whole ordeal, but it did turn out great in some regard. The girl featured in this picture is -- well, I don't know if I can reveal her name. We'll call her "Yankee Girl" because she comes from Michigan and sounds like it too. She's in my class, in my program, 20 years old, and claims Diane Sawyer was the reason she got into journalism. So, before the event, I told Yankee Girl that I would take the picture.

And it was no ordinary feat, we both had to swim through the crowd at different points and converge on Diane Sawyer. But it turned out okay:

And what's my reward for it? To still live out the role of Chief O'Brien's duplicate in the Deep Space Nine episode "Whispers."

You want me to talk about that? No, I don't think I will. I forgot I wasn't in a cafe', so maybe I'll save that for my most devoted fans.

I don't know if Facebook videos have the capability of being embedded here, but here's video evidence of The Washington Center students totally owning the Q&A process:

We'll see if that gets embedded or if you can even watch it after you click the link. But it's just more indisputable evidence of how awesome you have to be to make the cut here at The Washington Center.

I did get to have my picture taken with someone of significance at "The Kalb Report," ol' Frank Sesno of CNN, Associated Press, and PBS fame. I wanted my picture taken with him because he hosted a show entitled "The Future of News" that we aired on RSU Public Television, the place where I got my first job in the media as a master control operator.

Good gravy! Look at my tie. I look like a snickerer that belongs on "Red Eye" with my tie all crooked like that.

The next Tuesday, things were better as far as getting pictures with celebrities was concerned.

Let me talk about that for a moment. I only do that for this blog. I do it to show how far you can go with your internship here at The Washington Center. You think I care if I get my picture taken with some of these people? Not really. In fact, I don't like to be part of the crazy mob that surrounds them, only a few cloaks from a Draco moment in Ancient Greece. I mean, let's think about this: how does my life change if I get my picture taken with a celebrity?

A) Do my sick relatives regain their health lost by disease? No.

B) Does the sum of my personal fortune rise as a result? No.

C) Do they ask me if I want to join them in a Hummer limousine ride that night? No.

D) Do I become a celebrity because of this picture? No.

So, I mean, what's the motivation to fight through a crowd for a photo op? I don't know; it's just my stoic way of looking at these things.

But I got to meet Kevin Eubanks, the former band leader on "The Tonight Show." He was doing a show with Larry London on Voice of America's "Border Crossings."

Being a Dallas Cowboys fan, I tried to talk to him about the Philadelphia Eagles since he's a big fan. You would see him on "The Tonight Show" with the guitar laughing at Jay Leno and wearing an Eagles hat or something. Anyway, he didn't even know the Eagles were trying to trade Kevin Kolb. So there you go.

That afternoon, after work, it was a nice day out on the National Mall. I walked around clearing my thoughts so I could prepare my mind for my radio show that evening:

Since it was so nice and I wasn't so tired, I walked to the Supreme Court:

Yeah, with nice weather like this, I'm sure you'll get more pictures of Washington DC from me.

It's difficult to comprehend that I only have one month left. I'm so pulled in sundry directions by my capstone project -- oh, did I tell you about that, Mr. Overachiever? Did I tell you what my capstone project is? Instead of mailing it in and doing a video or something, since I'm in Washington DC and I want to get into radio, I decide to do a radio pilot on health care reform.

I have done everything I can and appealed to as many think tanks in this town to make this possible. Now that I have one panelist from the think tanks, it's really going to be easy to get the other panelist for my show because now I can tell them who they will be debating.

So, I mean, that's ADDED STRESS on top of all of the other Washington Center and Voice of America assignments and projects that are all converging about the same time that I present my capstone. Of course, I'll do well. I'll do such a great job that it will be the academic equivalent of this:

Let's just hope when I remember to pay my jewelry and rent bills.

If I would have had it to all over again, I would have carefully planned my semesters and never taken less than 15 hours. I think I would have still had to do my capstone and my internship in my final semester here, but at least I wouldn't be hampered with history and public administration along with it. The way it all shakes out, I'm actually taking 18 hours this semester, AND I'M NOT EVEN ON CAMPUS AT MY HOME UNIVERSITY!

But the thing with me is if you never tell me how hard it's supposed to be, I won't get discouraged. And that's how I've treated it. I just want to get through this. After it's over, then I'll go look at the statistics to see how hard this really was. But I'm telling YOU right now that the best thing you could do is take care of all of your obligations so you can really enjoy this experience and not feel so rushed as I do.

Would I trade this for something else, say, a 12-hour semester of tranquility back at Rogers State University? Not hardly. This is where I have to be. This is where I belong. This is what I have to do to advance my career. "I'll take dat."

Let's conclude things with one of my dad's famous sayings and get out of here:

"more ________ than Carter has pills"

Definition: to have an unparalleled quantity

Usage: If I Dez Bryant doesn't pay off his bills, he'll have more lawsuits than Carter has pills.

Flashback

2011-03-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

The alarm clock on my phone buzzes. It's 7:45 AM. I don't want to get out of bed. I'd rather lie there and listen to the rest of the world diligently toil in their vain endeavors on this mortal coil as I drift off into a dream about a two-headed wildebeest that speaks Latin out of one head and Greek out of the other.

You ever noticed that? You ever noticed how you have weird dreams after you go back to sleep in the morning? I like those dreams. They're actually quite inspirational.

I'm a senior in college, as you may or may not know. With that being said, I'm looking for a job after I graduate on Saturday, May 7th, 2011. It's led me to make some unfortunate decisions, like deciding to get this mop I call hair under control:

There's a main reason why I keep my hair so long: because I used to have cancer and I didn't have a choice when it came to my hair length. In other words, I was more bald than Michael Chiklis after using Nair for shampoo and I didn't really have any hair options. So, in defiance of my cancer trials, I grew my hair long to show how far away from death's door I had run after pushing the doorbell.

Well, that's kind of hard to explain to folks when you're making a first impression. They say it takes 6 to 90 seconds to make a first impression. So, if in that time a potential boss sees me and thinks I look like a scuzzy reject from 1989, then it's going to be hard for me to find employment, unless I build a time machine and go back to 1989. I mean, nobody EVER will ask you why you look scuzzy or why you have a fish hook through your lip. It doesn't matter that it's sentimental to you because you can lock your fish hook with your boyfriend's fish hook on his lip and then say you both have the perfect catch.

Look. I'm not hear to expostulate about piercings; I'm empathizing with you that I have some odd decoration that I had to amend in order to impress potential employers. It's what we young folk have to do to impress the ol' fogies who have the jobs right now. Maybe when the rest of us long-haired, green-haired, pierced, and painted kids become the ol' fogies, we can set the standards. Right now, we have to adhere to them, or end up living with our parents for the next twenty-five years 'til we get the house.

Now, I look like this:

See, I don't really like this look. I'll be honest with you. It's representative of a time before I had cancer and I was more pure in heart and unsuspecting of my fellow man or unaware of just how chilly this world actually is. But, hey, it's my best look, so I'll take it.

I've got a big week coming up. It's like the third game of NFL pre-season this week. I've got to look like I'm ready to step up and make somebody's team. And make no mistake: I will make somebody's team when I get out of college in May. This opportunity that The Washington Center has afforded me has been valuable and instrumental in helping me achieve some of my career goals. I feel like I've actually skipped a few steps thanks to this accelerated professional environment The Washington Center provides.

Tomorrow is when the grind begins again. With daylight savings time upon us, I am reminded of the opening lines to Damone's song "Out Here All Night":

Summer's coming too fast; winter's been here too long.

We keep wasting our days. Pretty soon they'll be gone.

Once More Unto the Breach

2011-03-06T21:34:00.002-06:00

I don't live in the TWC residential housing complex that's on the website. I live in some luxury apartments in Alexandria, Virginia, just right across the river. This is actually how it used to be, I'm told. In the old days -- I feel like I should look more wizened and have a shabby, white beard when I tell you this. Anyway, in the olden days, the students here at The Washington Center used to live in apartments spread across the Beltway as far as north as Bethesda and as far austral as Alexandria. Now that they have the new-fangled residential complex in Washington DC proper, they are working towards giving new students a true taste of what it's like to live in our nation's capital.

What I'm told is that it doesn't matter if you live at the RAF (the place in Washington DC) or here in Alexandria as far as roommates are concerned. You get three other roommates no matter where you live, unless you apply for the special offer of living in a single apartment WITH NO ROOMMATES.

I eschewed that offer because I had been living on my own in my first three years of college and wanted to actually KNOW what it was like to have roommates.

But, having had that offer again...

If I would have that to do all over again, I might have taken the offer. But I didn't because I wanted to know what it was like to live with other people.

A couple of roommates of mine are having strife with each other over the other's living habits. I almost feel like I'm living with my parents again. It's like the domestic dialogue never changes no matter where I go. Roommate 1 gets onto Roommate 2 for not cleaning up his mess in the kitchen and around the couch area. Really, it's like living with my parents again. My dad was more like Roommate 2, which is why he doesn't bother me. I'm used to living around a mess like that, even though I did specify I didn't want to live with someone like that. Oh, well.

Remember: I'm giving it to you STRAIGHT about what's it's like to be in The Washington Center programs. I'll tell you the highs, which I did all this week, but I'll also tell you all about the lows too because it's part of the experience. You want to come into this with pre-conceived notions, or do you want to hear what it might actually be like? Take your pick.

Let me ask you this: YOU DON'T THINK that the other 450 kids in the program they didn't give a blog to have similar situations? It's the way it is. You're in college. You're telling me you never heard of two roommates not getting along or someone having to live with that?

Personally, I don't get involved and I don't pay attention to it because the fact is I'm here for a relatively short amount of time to let that stuff aggravate me. If I were living indefinitely with three other people, I probably would assert my preferences, but I'm only here for another two months. I've got three online classes I'm taking back home -- one of which is CAPSTONE. I'm taking a course here at The Washington Center that's challenging and fascinating. I work 9-5, Monday through Friday for a venerable media institution. I'm not going to be involved in firefights when I already at war against Fate, Competition, and Time to gain victorious my own ambitions and goals.

Tomorrow is going to be another one of those seminars that The Washington Center puts on for our own career development. I mean, I like going to them. It gets me out of my internship early and I get to make small talk with people. You know, it never goes beyond that, but hey, it's still enjoyable nonetheless.

I was going to have more pictures. I bought a new camera too, but I forgot to change the settings on it to where I could take lower resolution pictures. Right now, at the default resolution, the pictures are 1.3 megabytes and the blogging software only allows for a 1 megabyte MAXIMUM. Can you imagine? Well, I have my ways of working around it, but I didn't feel like it tonight.

This weekend has been pretty milquetoast and dejected for some reason. You ever have weekends like that? Maybe it was the rain. There was just no inspiration to do anything. I couldn't get a good grip on my homework. I didn't feel like going out and doing anything. I felt like lying around and playing AddictingGames.com. So there you go. Maybe that's why I was downcast. Hahahaha. I was too lazy to have a real life.

All right, let's close up shop and introduce another one of my dad's phrases:

"bleed like a stuck hog"

Definition: to profusely bleed

Example: At work this week, for some reason, my nose randomly bled like a stuck hog.

Favor the Bold

2011-03-06T21:33:00.000-06:00

As I told you, I will be writing three blogs these week because I neglected to update my blog on Sunday night. It's sort of my penance. I'm sure you like it when I sin like this because you get more content.

Don't worry: I'm not going to be a crank in this one. In fact, I'll do what most people do when they get a blog and turn it into the cyberspace equivalent of when your Uncle Morty used to show the slides of his vacation to Barbados at Christmas Eve dinner. You know, "And here's a plate of the flying fish I ate," as the picture features the grilled fish and your uncle's hairy forearm reaching for the salt.

This has been a very busy week. I haven't even found time to do homework out of the three classes that I'm taking back home. I know I'm ahead of the game in my capstone class because I conducted a mock phone interview with the head of career services at Rogers State University and the director said I was the first one to do it. So there you go. At least I'm winning at something. I know I'm probably another week ahead in my online history class too. My goal has been to keep all of my RSU classes ahead of schedule so I can concentrate on my immediate tasks in Washington DC.

Last night, I went to the National Press Foundation's 28th Annual Awards banquet. All of the news outlets had tables there, and it was pretty much what you would expect from a trade show. Everyone made esoteric jokes about each other and you had to laugh or clap to act like you knew what they were talking about or that you wished you knew what they were talking about. Personally, I didn't laugh or clap unless I thought it was worthy of a laugh or a clap. You know, someone made a joke about the Metro, so that was worthy of a laugh. Someone else made a joke about their daughter saying something cute about Andrea Mitchell. I didn't laugh because I don't personally know the daughter or Andrea Mitchell. Andrea Mitchell, when accepting her award that night, paid homage to the late Tim Russert. I clapped. Someone else made a tribute to Jack Steinenbaum. I didn't clap because I didn't know who he was. Are you following me or not?

Here's what the banquet looked like. Again, I had to use technological trickery to shrink the size of the picture so I could share it with you. Look at these pictures while I plug my laptop into the charger:

In case you're wondering, yes, I did get my picture with Andrea Mitchell:

Mmh. It's as close as I could get. Here's who I went with. On the left is Humberto, Carina, Sarah, and myself. We're all Media and Communications program students:

Oh, wait. Maybe I did get a good picture with Andrea Mitchell:

Thanks, Humberto. You're the boss. I couldn't have had that moment without you. It's now my crowning achievement, as evidenced by my Facebook profile picture.

If I would have had a chance to talk with Mrs. Mitchell a little while longer, which was impossible -- I mean, look at all the people surrounding us. Even though I was first to greet her from down below the rostrum, as soon as she stepped down, a gaggle of girls surrounded her and hugged her and told her how much she inspired them. So, I mean, there was no way I could tell her this, but if I could, I would have told Mrs. Mitchell that one of my prime professors in the communications program at Rogers State University KNOWS AND WORKED WITH Brian Williams. Believe it, because it's real.

The next day, which is today, I got up and had a radio interview with Congressman Dan Boren, Democrat, 2nd Congressional District in Oklahoma. Here's photo documentation of our encounter:

And you know what sucks about this? My parents are going to gripe at me over the way my hair looks, even though Congressman Boren and his staffer and me got along great and really chatted up a storm about Green Country. Yeah, never mind that I made a good impression with them. Instead, tell me they think I'm an infidel because my hair looked crazy. That's it.

Oh, and here's audio confirmation we did a radio interview for my radio show:

The good news is that things should be simmered down by Friday. Actually, they won't be. Since I've neglected some of my RSU studies, I'll be mapping out a way to reclaim the weekend and spend the majority of it doing homework. Oh, well -- better then when I have energy than in the evenings when I don't.

Finally, let's leave you with one of my dad's sayings. Here's the new one:

"knock 'em to their knees with their elbows draggin'"

Definition: to exhaust oneself or another in a manner in which their knees are on the ground whilst their elbows continue to prop them up on a table or other similar fixture"

Example: "All of these interviews and introductions have knocked me to my knees with my elbows draggin'."

When It Rains...

2011-03-06T21:32:00.001-06:00

What does that mean over there? "Tweet"? Is that where you can be a nit-twit or whatever? Well, if you are, follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/therealmarklane

I'll be on the level with you. I've had a pretty rough five days personally and I was afraid it was going to seep into my blog here that I write for The Washington Center. So, I contacted my 32-year-old sister on Saturday night and asked her if she could "guest write" my blog this week. You know, I thought she had a good story. Her son (married, my sister is) received his postcard that I sent him last week. Since he was five years old, and a novice at receiving mail, he thought it was the greatest thing in the world. You know, he treated it like an invitation to a state dinner and he had to go search for his cumberbund.

Well, I thought that would be a great story to read over the weekend as I sat in the dark and tried to pull it together for the upcoming, horrendous week. Well, I mean, it's not AT ALL horrendous. I've got the interview with Congressman Dan Boren, 2nd Congressional District in Oklahoma, that's going to be another ace in my portfolio. I've got this big dinner with the National Press Foundation on Tuesday night. I've got class, which I always love. So, I mean, it's not the events themselves that are going to be horrendous so much as my spirits. Actually, no, even if I were Richard Simmons, having to stay ahead in three online courses that I'm taking back home after I'm exhausted from my internship is pretty horrendous.

"Hear me, baby. Hold together."

That's a Star Wars reference -- ah, whatever.

So I call my sister late Sunday night and ask her where the blog post is.

"Oh, I totally forgot."

Well, there you go.

So it's Sunday night and I'm ready for bed, so I decide to couch it until Monday night.

I'll make it up to you readers, too. I'll post three blogs this week and then we'll get back to our regularly scheduled blog.

Here's the topic I really want to talk about because I really do think it's related to one's experience at The Washington Center. I noticed last weekend -- President's Day weekend -- that a lot of the kids either A) flew home to see their parents or B) had someone fly in to see them, whether it was a relative or friend.

What do you do that for, really? To me, the prospect of being out here a thousand miles away from my parents and my college was a trepidatious and eager one. They don't know this, but it's actually a test to see how well you can strike it out on your own in a big city.

God bless my relatives, but I wouldn't WANT them to come visit me in Washington DC. This is something I've got to do on my own. What are they going to do -- God forbid -- if I get a job in Tacoma, Washington right out of school spinning LP's and managing the radio station's website? Someone is going to come fly out and make me another dinosaur blanket?

It irks me because it's a valuable opportunity to prove you can perform the high-wire act of adulthood without a net. I mean, it's especially vexatious if these kids are juniors or sophomores. YOU'RE GOING BACK HOME AFTER YOUR 4.5 MONTHS OUT HERE! Swallow the pill and use this as a chance to build tremendous confidence when you do have to go out into the real world and your relatives can't rescue you.

I regret sounding like a curmudgeon, but I felt that was significant opinion that needed to be shared.

So what do I have going on tomorrow? No smoothies -- that's for sure. Did I tell you about that? Maybe I shouldn't. Nah, I will because it's a good story.

There's a little store nearby to my living arrangements and I go there frequently. They have small items like Coke and chips and milk and cereal, but they also serve fruit smoothies and Oreo shakes.

I ordered one Saturday night and noticed something that looked like a garlic stick stuck to the inside of the cup -- only after drinking the shake halfway of course. So, I poke my finger in there and PULL OUT A SHORT BLACK HAIR!

Major cognitive dissonance was employed on my part to go ahead and down the rest of the shake. When I got to the bottom of the shake, I noticed another black hair. I threw the shake away. I'm never going back to that place again.

All right, let's conclude with one of my dad's famous expressions and then we'll get out of here.

"cut a fat hog"

definition: to acquire a good deal at a cheap price

Example: "With Voice of America paying for my Metro passes, I'm cuttin' a fat hog in transportation prices."

Metrophobia

2011-02-21T15:58:00.002-06:00

Part of the reason I was chosen to write for The Washington Center was so I could give my perspective on my experience here as part of an orientation to prospective students. Well, I think that it would be unbecoming of my objectivity if I were to simply present only the good about my experience here in the nation's capital.

Don't worry; I'm not going to offer some scandalous story. It's nothing like that. What I'm trying to do is prepare --

Let me preface this with my philosophy. I think those born in the television age have a propensity to act like weenies. Let me be clear. I think we're deluded into thinking issues can be resolved in an hour or the next day and that you're supposed to have a happy life. The fact is small pockets of excitement or achievement come your way, and then the rest of the time is boring or tedious. That's it. That's the reality.

So I'm headed out tonight -- Sunday night -- to an informal get-together with my Media and Communications program. I live in Braddock Station and the meeting place is in Clarendon, Virginia on the orange line. In my opinion, this should take thirty minutes at the most. However, if you ride the Metro, it could take an hour because the trains run whenever they want to. And Big Sis forbid if you ask what time certain lines run where because that's suspicious. You know, you're OBL's new limousine chauffeur all of a sudden because you dare ask what times the yellow line train runs past Braddock Station. So, if you want to be anywhere on time, you must plan a minimum of 40 minutes.

There weren't any blue line trains going to Rossyln, from where I could catch and orange line and go to Clarendon, at Braddock Station within the next 30 minutes. I decided to take a yellow line train to L'Enfant Plaza and then catch an orange line train going to Clarendon.

The Metro cars were relatively empty, but there's something I've noticed when I'm riding the Metro. If there's a younger, attractive female sitting alone in a seat, invariably, an older man will go sit by her, even if there's other seats available. It's kind of icky. So, in order to prevent this from occurring, I selflessly and chivalrously sit by the young, attractive females on the Metro just so this kind of thing won't happen to them. See how nice and caring I am of my fellow woman?

That didn't occur tonight because the passengers were sparse. When I got off at L'Enfant Plaza and went down to get on an orange line train, the station attendant told me that they were having construction this weekend and I was going to have to go back upstairs, exit the station, get on a Metro Bus, and then take it to Metro Center where I would have to get on an orange line train there. This was impossible.

The whole time I'm swiftly walking towards the exit, my heart is hardening against the whole idea of public transportation. The whole idea of an automobile is an extension of the "pursuit of happiness." It truly is American freedom because you are not bounded by where you can go or when you can get there. Public transportation seems to curtail my transportational freedom -- that's how I see it. Now I'm Archie Bunker because I prefer to drive a car than ride a subway and hold onto a rail touched by hands I don't know. I secretly listen to Richard Nixon tapes as I'm sleeping, you hear.

By the way, here's the kind of car I drive:

The bus ride took slower than Christmas. We stopped at two stops in between L'Enfant and Metro Center before we reached our final destination. My toes were curled inside my shoes at this point from all of the anxiety. I have dreams like this; I do. I have dreams where I'm either going to meet one of my ex-girlfriends that I care deeply about at a restaurant because they're in town for a little while and I don't ever make it for some reason. Or I have a dream that I'm trying to make it in time to one of my high school basketball games and I'm always late or something. The anxious dreams like that were playing out in my reality at this moment.

It was six o'clock by the time the orange line train headed for Clarendon arrived on the platform. At six o'clock, I envisioned myself seated at a table in a restaurant with my fellow program pupils, not seated on a crammed Metro with a middle-aged woman with a Judge Judy haircut seated to my right.

There were two reasons why I was even going to all of this trouble. Of course, I didn't know it would be this troublesome, but there was a point to all of this trouble. The first objective was to spend more time with my program advisor and network a little more with her and the other pupils. The second objective was to "network" with a couple of girls in the program as well. You know, I could offer my services to guard them from old men on the Metro that might sit next to them.

When I got there to the restaurant, there weren't any girls there. There wasn't anyone there, except for one of the international students. So, it was just the three of us: my program advisor, the international student, and me. We didn't sit in ashes and tell sad stories for two hours; we had a good time talking about career goals and objectives. But it wasn't what I was anticipating for the evening. It did not meet my expectations when I RSVP-ed that I would attend some three days ago.

There's a point to my telling of this story. The point is there are going to be moments during your internship here in Washington DC where things don't go like how you expected or they are disappointing altogether. That's the way it is. It's not about the one moment in time. It's about the in and out point of the time itself. I've had a really good time here in Washington DC. I don't care if a night like tonight happens every week from here on out (It won't). This is an invaluable experience and I would do it all over again.

Of course it's going to seem like Heaven when you get out here. You know, your roommates set up the X-Boxes and you all play Call of Duty together. Or you and a couple of other yentas in your program go out and walk down to the convenience store on the corner, all the while doing "The Sammy Maudlin Show" and telling each other how pretty the one looks. But there are going to be days when the Department of Transportation gives you a Metro pass with exactly $1 on it and you have to spend $10 of your precious money to buy a fare for the day. There are going to be days when you don't see the mud puddle and get your light, pointy shoes dirty and feel the wet panty hose between your toes the whole day. If you expect that, along with the good times ahead, you'll have a realistic, comprehensive experience in DC that will be preparational for the rest of your life.

Like this, for instance. Earlier this week, I got a chance to interview my Congressman as part of A) my radio show, B) my capstone portfolio, and C) my real portfolio. That's a great opportunity I couldn't have had without The Washington Center.

Now we come to the part in the blog where you learn one of my dad's phrases. Here's the new one:

"like a hen on a june bug."

Definition: to whole-heartedly endeavor. SEE "gusto of a hound dog"

Example: "My program advisor told me there's a Washington Center alumnus that's an on-air reporter at a TV station in Cincinnati. I'll be on that contact like a hen on a june bug."

Picture-esque Post

2011-02-15T14:20:00.001-06:00

Well, I figured out what was wrong with my posting pictures on this site. Apparently, you can only post pictures up to 1 megabyte and all of my pictures were above that limit due to the high resolution setting I put on my camera.

But I figured away around it.

If I took a screenshot on my computer while I had the pictures open and then saved it as a jpeg file, I could upload it because it would be about 900 kilobytes instead of over 1 megabyte. So, that's why you'll see the time in the top left corner of the picture and my Mac dock to the left. Now, you can steal my identity or something. Then I'll get emails from my older readers warning me EXACTLY OF THAT.

I love this. Don't you love it when your middle-aged relatives or friends advise you over a medium they can't figure out? Who is asking whom to program the VCR? Them or us? Who is asking whom to make the Microsoft logo quit bouncing on the screen so they can get back to Freecell? Them or us? Yet you hear who gets onto whom for being irresponsible on the innerwebs.

All right, enough editorials. Let's have some pictures that I've teased you with for two weeks now:

All right, so there you go. I just turned my blog into the cyberspace equivalent of when your Uncle Ralph would show the slides from his trip to Florida that he went on that summer as you, a kid of eight years old, wished to get out of the room and play football on that Christmas Eve night with your cousins, despite the admonition of your mother that you would stain your khaki pants, but you couldn't get out because you were pinned between the table and the wall and your uncle's white sheet and projector were in the only doorway out of the dining room.

Oh, what was I going to say before I got interrupted by my own train of thought? I'm looking at this here from my course syllabus on page 7. I have an assignment that's due Monday entitled "Professional Reflection #2." I'll do it tomorrow. No, listen to the questions they ask you:

"Describe your relationship with your supervisor. Are you comfortable approaching your supervisor with questions? Why or why not?"

Answer: She thinks I work too hard. I'm comfortable approaching anyone because I turn all business-like beforehand. Why? Because I'm the Dez Bryant of Voice of America: I may be a rookie, but I'll still give such awesome output.

Next question:

"Describe your relationship with your coworkers. Are there particular individuals you work well with? Why do you think this is?"

Answer: Everyone likes me. I get along best with the woman in charge of my division and also the Indian video editor because he's all business like me. We both come from the Max Weber school of thought where work is about work. I think we work well for that reason. He's also very high energy and I like to respond to that behavior.

There you go. I have to make 1-2 pages out of this. That's easy to do for me because I'm a verbose fellow, as evidenced by this here blog.

So I'm walking in the door of my apartment the other day and I take a look at a calendar with a list of events put on by The Washington Center. It had a list of events for the rest of the semester; I almost got melancholy. I was thinking, "Oh, my gosh. Pretty soon, it's all going to be over. I worked so hard for this opportunity and now it's going to be in the past. Something that was once in my future and is now my present will soon be my past."

See, that's the thing I don't like about the college experience: everything is only for a semester. Think of all the classes you enjoyed. Do you realize they were only for a semester? Even if you took the "Part Two" to the course, the professor might not have been the same, and certainly there was a change in your fellow pupils. I wish some classes COULD continue to the next semester or beyond. You know, sometimes I wish I could walk back into that dirty classroom in Prep Hall on the first floor, back into News Reporting and hear Mr. Real World give another lecture or watch my fellow classmates give their packages for the week. See, that was fun, and that doesn't last forever, kind of like your patience with this blog so I better throw something flashy at you to keep you on track:

That's what I did on Wednesday last week. I think it's the best one I've done yet, and that CERTAINLY is going into my portfolio.

All right, now, before we close up shop, we have to have one of my dad's colloquialisms so your lexicon will expand. Here's this week's phrase:

"bark like a fox"

Definition: to master the secondary functions of a machine or process

Example: "By being able to post pictures and videos, I can make this blog bark like a fox."

2011-02-06T15:55:00.002-06:00

Like all of us, I often compare myself to characters in the media or have been compared to such characters by my friends. My comparison filmography would include characters from Luke Skywalker (mine: the hair, stature) to Michael Corleone (mine: the suits, stature, third son) to Adam from "Blast From the Past" (family: the naivety) to Elliot from "Bedazzled" (Bran Flakes: the moral perplexities, or maybe just my current hairstyle at the time we met) to a sort of anti-Holden Caulfield (mine) where instead of finding out the bad about everyone, I seek out the good.

Well, after spending my first complete week here at Voice of America, I think I would like to add another one to the comparison filmography. I know it will definitely seal my fate as a geek or a dork, but I don't care. Following Polonius' advice out of "Hamlet," I have to be true to myself; I don't care what the poll numbers say.

Anyway, so, I think I'm a lot like Data from "Star Trek: The Next Generation." He was that yellow-skinned android. And I'm not throwing that comparison out there because I'm jaundiced, but because I have completed tasks so far with the same diligence and speed he often demonstrated.

We all know by now that I edit a daily web video called "VOA 60." Well, the rest of my day from about 2PM to 5PM has to be spent doing something, so I always maintain that I'm engaged in some task so as to not cheat them out of their time. You know, I don't want to spend the last three hours on Facebook with another tab open lambasting some coelenterate on a Dallas Cowboys message board that wants to trade Tony Romo while having another tab open hitting F6 to keep giving my Youtube videos a boost in the viewing counter. You know, I want to be an honest worker.

So my supervisor will find tasks for me to do. For instance, on Wednesday, she gave me a Macbook Pro with some video files on it and wanted me to redo a video package on theSchool of Rock in one of the Chinese services. Well, I had the English script right there; I didn't need to write the thing. You know, they weren't counting on me to write a script AND edit the thing. They wanted me to edit it. So, I open up Final Cut Pro, import the clips, trim them according to scripts, add the necessary SOTs and NAT sound, and it was all ready to go, save for the voiceovers.

They couldn't believe it. A project that they figured would take weeks or even a month was done in an afternoon, save for the voiceovers.

Now, why do I keep mentioning these voiceovers? Well, because they're important. They want someone from Special English services to do the voiceover. I wish I didn't have laryngitis right now or else I would make a strong case for having me voice the thing so it can be done. I don't like things to sit around in suspended animation. I never liked to get up in the middle of a chapter. I squirm when folks put movies on pause more than two times during the movie. I don't eat or go to the bathroom until AFTER a task is completed because I don't like to be bothered. So, yes, you can also deduce I'm one of those weirdos that eats each separate group on his plate before moving on to the next; it's how I am.

It's this dedication to completing work, supplemented by most of the work falling into my area of acumen, that make my supervisor say that she would need a full time job just to give me assignments. Now you see why I consider myself like Data.

He could do it all, Data. I don't know what he would have to say about the proliferation of deep dish, soft pizza dough though.

Oh, did I tell you about how I went to a local pizza joint here in Alexandria and nearly had a Wendy's moment? I think I will right now in my own blog. I'll even mention this on "Free Association" this Wednesday because it's a good story.

So the apartment complex I'm staying in here in Alexandria has some sort of "VIP" card or whatever. You can take it to various places and get discounts. You know, if you take it to Moe's Minerals and More, you can get more for 10% off when you buy one or more minerals before sundown on odd numbered workdays only. Also on the card is the Metro symbol, and the concierge said that we got discounts on Metro passes. Well, after I explored that buy A) calling the Metro service who didn't know anything about it and B) asking the owner of the apartments here about it, it turns out the Metro symbol on the card meant only that the apartment complex was within walking distance of the Metro station.

That's borderline deceptive and unhelpful. That would be like putting a Napoli's logo on the back of every RSU Student ID and then it turning out it only meant the place was within walking distance (NOTE: You do get a 10% discount at Napoli's when you show them your RSU Student ID).

Anyway, so, another one of the places on there is a pizza joint that's about five blocks from the apartment complex. I give the place a call, and of course, I get some guy with an accent. Thankfully, he knew about the discount I was referring to, which was if I bought a large at $20, I could get two more larges ABSOLUTELY FREE. Now I could order my pizzas. I wanted a cheese, a pepperoni, and a beef.

Then, the guy says something about his cheese pizzas don't have a lot of cheese and "it would have to be extra."

Well, I didn't want "extra," especially if it was going to cost "extra." And in the five minutes I went back and forth with this guy telling him I'd rather have two pepperonis instead of a cheese, he says, "You misunderstand me. I'll see you in 15 minutes." And then he hangs up the phone.

He didn't take my name or my number. He makes that remark and hangs up the phone.

During the fifteen minutes it takes me to walk down there, I'm getting my war paint on. I'm ready to go off on this guy if he tries to come up with some baloney instead of two pepperonis and a beef pizza. So, when I get down there and show him the purple "VIP" card from my apartment complex, he says, "Oh, this old. This is six months old. We no longer do this."

I took the card, stepped outside, and threw it into the Alexandria streets. I HATED THAT THING! I HAVE EX-GIRLFRIENDS WHO WERE MORE HONEST AND BENEVOLENT THAN THIS PIECE OF PLASTIC DECEPTION.

As it turned out, the owner A) remember my order and B) decided to give me the discount anyway. I also examined the crust of the pizza right in front of him. I opened up the pizza box on the adjacent table to the counter and looked at the crust. It was thinner than most pizza crusts and we talked about it. The guy makes his own dough. I told him that was refreshing, and in light of this and his business honesty, I was going to transact all of my pizza business there.

I still don't think there's any better pizza in the world than at Geno's and Pizza Parlour back in my hometown of Fort Smith, Arkansas. And I'm not saying that to be parochial. It's an indubitable fact.

What else did I do this week that you should know about? Well, I interviewed Dr. John Grayzel from the University of Maryland about the uprisings in Egypt, only because he worked there for a number of years and because he's part of the school's department on Middle Eastern studies. That's another story in and of itself, how I landed that interview. I'll summarize it and then you can get to the videos: I approached him with the same bravado as though I were a reporter for CBS News. I acted like "Free Association" was as big as "Hannity" or the Spitzer show there -- no, the one on CNN, not Cinemax. And it worked. I thought Dr. Grayzel was informative and I hope to continue to do interviews with him and to also snag other informative, significant interviews.

Sorry I wasn't able to upload pictures again. I'm guessing it's my browser. I'll figure it out, and then I can turn my blog into the 21st century equivalent of when your relatives would force you watch their slideshows from vacations they took where they didn't get the famous sites in the shots with them. Instead of seeing St. Paul's Cathedral in London, you'd see a close up of your Aunt Margery and your Uncle Morty. You know, so, that was the precursor to blogs that show you photos of where folks have been. You want to see that? Really?

See, I would figure if I had a segment in the blog where I introduced some of my father's colloquialisms, that would be more fun and helpful too. We'll start out with this one:

"gusto of a hound dog"

Definition: to approach a task with tenacity from the onset

Usage: "We'll attack that leaky faucet with the gusto of a hound dog."

Yeah, kind of like how I approach my assignments with Voice of America.

Mr. Lane Goes To Washington

2011-01-21T21:25:00.004-06:00

That's what my friends have been saying. Personally, I like the title "The Emperor Goes To Washington," but maybe that's a bit esoteric.

So here I am staying at the Meridian at Braddock Station in Alexandria, Virginia. While I can't see the National Mall from my ninth floor enclosed veranda, I can see it when I go over to the other building's sixteenth floor penthouse to talk on the phone.

I try to be seen and not heard when I'm with my three roommates. You know, if I dial someone on the phone for a conversation, I walk around the building and go to that penthouse in the other building where no one usually hangs out and chat away. Although last night, there was a woman in there on her laptop. Since I'm the courteous type, I asked her if I would bother her with my phone call. I almost had to shake her to get her attention, so that right there should have been a sign that I wouldn't.

The phone call and the writing of this blog are a sign that I'm bored. It's the weekend; my internship starts Monday at 9 AM sharp. I think I'll arrive at 8:30 AM, because I have a habitual fear of being late. I think it comes from my childhood where my mother would always arrive late places. But, see, she had a theory that if you left five minutes late, you could make up that time by speeding down the highway and then arrive at your destination five minutes early.

Speaking of time warp, when I left my sister and her husband's house in Toledo to fly out of Detroit to Washington DC, the flight went west to Chicago. Because of the time zone change, it only took three minutes. Ha! Yeah, but I didn't get that. Why did the plane have to fly to Chicago to go to DC? That's cartographically inconsistent. Why couldn't it fly out to DC from Detroit? They don't call it an "international" airport for no reason.

Yeah, speaking of international, my immediate roommate is from South Korea. He's a nice guy; he's obviously in the international affairs program. He's an ambitious fellow because he's here in Washington, not to get credits to graduate, not to "see the world" or whatever. He's here to improve his English so that he can get ahead and get a better job when he goes back to South Korea. Talk about enterprising and gutsy.

The other roommate I have is a postgraduate studying to be a lawyer. He's from Philadelphia and spent time in Boston. The other roommate is from Boston and grew up in New York. So, you hear the accents pretty thick, and they talk about microbreweries and how parochial the people in Maine are. It's like a different America when I'm around these guys. There really are different cultures when you divide the nation by mountains, rivers, and the Mason-Dickson Line.

I mean, I like the guys. Don't get me wrong. I like the other roommate a lot because he uses the word "schmuck" inordinately. That one is in the law enforcement program interning with the US Marshals.

Yes, I did bring a camera with me. I'll take pictures later because I'm a little unsure of carrying out a bunch of stuff with me when I'm in the city. I don't want to look like a tourist; I don't want to look like an easy target. I'm still feeling out the city. The multitudinous, heterogenous population still consternates an ol' country boy like myself. When I feel like I know what I can expect from the masses out here, I'll start to tote around more of my hundreds-of-dollars belongings. You know, this isn't Will Rogers Boulevard with a single mom with a stroller waving at you as you walk by anymore.

So there it is. I'm a little nervous about getting mugged. But the thing is you're not going to get robbed of your time if you spend it reading here. Stay in touch for more in the serial called "Mr. Lane Goes To Washington."

Prelude to the Journey

2011-01-11T00:12:00.002-06:00

The stream of humanity flowed past me as I enjoyed my succulent slice of sausage pizza from Geno's, one of the Central Mall's restaurants in its modest food court. Since this is Fort Smith, Arkansas, the stream of humanity trickles rather than flows. Now, a real flowing stream of humanity will be seen when I go to board my first Metro here in a mere two weeks. Thanks to the Washington Center, I will be working on video editing as an intern for Voice of America.

Right now, I'm still a face in the crowd, like the stream of humanity that walks by. Admittedly, my face has become a little more conspicuous because the hometown newspaper printed a story straight from my college's public relations department about my internship through the Washington Center.

Landing this Washington Center internship accelerated my life. Within the past two months, I've taken my last finals ever at Rogers State University. I moved out of my one bedroom house that was my "Fortress of Solitude" for three years. I worked my last shift for my college TV station's master control. I hosted my final radio show in studio (I'll still be broadcasting from Washington DC). I bid adieu to my friends at Rogers State University. These were experiences I was to have in six months since I graduate in May 2011. Instead, all of the finality of May swooped in early on Santa Claus' sleigh.

I also feel this internship with Voice of America is going to accelerate my development by more than just six months. I feel like I've shaved five to ten years off of my ultimate goal of becoming a radio talk show host. I know what you're thinking: how does a video editing internship parlay into experience in radio. And I'll tell you exactly what I told one of my college's deans in the interview process that swung their votes to me as their representative to Washington: today's media is all about convergence. With the advent of the internet, newspaper websites have video content; TV websites have written text. Radio websites have pictures. Magazine websites have podcasts. In this age of convergence, being versatile in any media will help land you a job in any medium that you choose because A) you're harder to downsize and B) you're harder to refuse. That's how toggling over hue settings on dubbed over video packages for Voice of America is going to ultimately help me sit behind a microphone five days a week.

The opportunity before me is exciting, but I must confess it has knocked my goal off of its axis. Before this internship, I thought the region of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas was open to me and I would have to work my way up. Now, because of this internship, I feel like the whole world is open to me. In American football, on a kickoff return, all it takes is one key block to spring the returner for a touchdown run. The Washington Center has thrown me a key block and it's up to me to spring this opportunity for a big return -- running to my ultimate goal for all to conspicuously see.

2010-06-09T23:02:00.001-05:00

I Looooove New York!

2009-04-20T22:13:00.001-05:00

April has been an excited month! The weather warming up made my weeks more enjoyable. The first weekend, I enjoyed the Cherry Blossom festivities. Cherry Blossom is the name for the flower of cherry trees. I never know about cherry blossoms till I came here. The cherry blossoms are so pretty. The arrival of spring begins with the National Cherry Blossom Festival, a tradition that showcases over 3,000 cherry trees that derived from the city of Tokyo. The Festival is an annual two-week city-wide event featuring many cultural performances, special events, and bringing in an abundance amount of tourist.

The second weekend, I took my first trip to NEW YORK! A couple friends and I took a 4 hour bus ride up. $36 round trip ticket. I was so amazed, the city is big, the buildings are huge and there are so many people! We did a lot of walking around through Times Square. We also visited the Rockefeller Center area and went by the NBC studios. I had my first New York strawberry cheesecake, which was so delicious and also a big slice of New York pizza. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t to kind. It rained for the most part of the day on Saturday, so we went to the Museum of Modern Arts. We went to New York just for a couple of days, because we wanted to be back in DC for Easter Sunday. We went to church that Sunday and went out to eat for dinner. I must say New York is a place that I most definitely have to visit again.

The third weekend started off great. My advisor bought tickets for our program to attend the Washington DC Nationals baseball game. My first professional baseball game and I had such a great time and the weather was even better. I had so much fun watching the game, eating sunflower seeds and cracker jacks and being apart of the crowd participation, trying to get on the big screenJ. Too bad the Nationals lost, but after the game there was a nice display of fireworks.

Erica

Overwhelming Experience

2009-04-19T22:02:00.000-05:00

The past couple of weeks have flown by. With little less than a month left, it feels like there are so many important things to get done and accomplish for my internship, class, TWC and for school. Including trying to make my last month in DC an enjoyable and memorable experience with all the friends I’ve made.

Class is still going well. I made an A on my mid-term, so that was great! We have a final project that is due May 7th; those that are graduating are due on an earlier date. For the project we have to research an incident that created ethical issues for the media. Our teacher gave us a list to choose from. I’m doing my project on the Richard Jewell and the Olympic Bombing incident. I plan on getting started on that ASAP.

Things have been going okay at my internship. My supervisor gave me a project to do during down time at work. The project I'm working on helps the Show book and put in interview request. My supervisor said my project is a big help to the show, so I’m glad I can contribute.

What’s pretty cool is that I’m around and working with the news correspondents that are seen on NBC and MSNBC everyday, such as Tom Costello, Savannah Guthrie, Norah O’Donnell and Chuck Todd just to name a few. I recently, helped Costello with a story he covered about bed bugs for the Today Show. The bedbugs have been a growing problem in hotels, college dorms apartments and houses. So be careful.... Take a look!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I recently had my mid-term assessment with my supervisor. She explained the areas that I have been doing good in, and areas where improvements can be made. I think with this new internship, it’s more of a personal challenge to see how much or how far I am willing to go or give to accomplish my goals. I’m glad I had that assessment with my supervisor. It made me really understand the things I need to improve on and only made me want to work harder to reach my goals.

I think last week, was the first time I probably became overwhelmed with everything. As I was preparing summer courses for school with my advisor, I found out that I needed even more time before I could graduate, which really threw me for a loop. I felt so much emotion I didn’t know what to do. On top of the assignments and things I had to do for my internship, class, TWC and personally, made it the toughest week here in DC. I had so much on my mind that I would be physically at work, but mentally not there, worried and focused on other things. I felt I got off track and as a result I turned in assignments late and had to reschedule appointments made. I think I was trying to keep a mental note of everything which is very hard to do, because there’s so much to do.

Fortunately, I’ve bounced back from that stressful week. Each day, I am literally making a “things to do” list. Sticking to that list has made it a lot less frustrating and I am able to use my time more wisely in getting things done. I figure that this last month in the program is crunch time and I need to make sure that I stay on top of everything in getting things done in a timely manner for my internship, class, TWC and school. I see it as an experience I can only learn and grow from

Signing off,

Erica

Education is a Right!

2009-03-29T21:43:00.000-05:00

The week started off with a bang, beginning with a Call to Action event. March 24th was the National Student Lobby Day and Rally. Groups members from the US Student Association and the Student Labor Action Project along with hundreds of students (including myself) marched up to Capitol Hill demanding protections for workers and students and an affordable higher education for all. It felt great to actual advocate on issues that students should be concerned about. Visit http://www.usstudents.org/ and http://www.jwj.org.projects/slap.html for more information.

While March Madness is well underway, I’m sure many people have their picks on their favorite team of winning the championship. For Women’s Basketball, I picked UCONN to win it all (sorry Oklahoma). But one of favorite teams is Maryland. One of the locations for the first round games was in Maryland at the Comcast Center, where the Maryland Terps play their home games. I got a chance to go to, and watch, Villanova vs. Utah and Maryland vs. Dartmouth. Thanks to my RA; she was able to get tickets to the game. Both games were exciting, especially watching the Maryland game. They won by almost 30 points! The University of Maryland campus is huge, with over 34,000 students enrolled. That was the biggest campus I’ve been on.

The museum I had the best time in, was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The museum is filled with wax sculptures of politicians and celebrities. The museum wasn’t free but with half-price discounts it was well worth the experience.

My semester in Washington DC has been amazing. There’s never really been a dull moment here. I remember a guest speaker saying to never use the B-word…. Bored, and I have still yet say it. Besides getting used to the cold weather, that still lingers in March and I’m sure into April, I am enjoying my stay in DC. The culture here is rich in diversity. Events, activities and attractions occur around the clock in DC, to serve everyone’s interest. And knowing that I’m in the Nation’s Capitol, a historical place and have a chance to see the President, First Lady, Vice President, congressman and other government political officials is such a great feeling.

TODAY This is Erica

2009-03-28T23:43:00.000-05:00

Which is what I say when I pick up the phone at my new
internship with NBC's the TODAY Show. My final day at Tribune was Friday the 13th (yikes) and I started interning with the today show that following Monday. The new job has been a learning experience and so far so good. My responsibilities at the today show are to help with newsgathering, production, logging and dubbing tapes and assist with interviews.

In comparison with Tribune, I would say the one disadvantage at the Today Show is due to a union contract interns can’t touch or operate production equipment. I can still write news stories; it will just be more difficult to put them together to complete my demo reel. I started a demo reel with Tribune that consists of two new stories that I’ve done, with stand-ups in the studios of Tribune and at the White House. But the Today Show will provide a greater chance to go out in the field with the reporters during actual news events. Overall I’m sure interning with the Today Show will be a great experience

I recently went out to Capitol Hill with my supervisor to watch a live hit done by Senator Judd Gregg from New Hampshire. Matt Lauer from the today show in New York held the interview. Senator Gregg basically discussed his view points on how he thinks President Obama’s budget plan would burden the government with greater debt.

Even though the headquarters of the Today Show is located in New York, the show also has a bureau in DC. The Today Show in DC covers more political and congressional news and events; where as the show in New York covers more regional news events. Also some news events that are done in DC by the Today Show are sent to be aired by the NY bureau.

Not So Good News

2009-03-10T00:26:00.000-05:00

About over, a week ago I was hit with some not so good news. My internship, Tribune Broadcasting, was closing down there bureau.

That day at work was pretty strange. When I went into work I noticed, everyone was there; which was out of the norm, because everyone works different shifts. I sat at my desk as usual, and noticed that they had an out of the norm, meeting in the conference room. Usually, the meetings are at about 5pm each day, to discuss the rundown of the news events. The other intern and I are allowed to sit in those meetings. But during the meeting, that day, it was a Friday, they didn’t need me to go to the meeting.

Two very professional people, I never seen before, also showed up for the meeting. I continued sitting at my desk, while doing some logging and wondering what was going on. Well after about 20 minutes, the meeting was over. My coworkers came out the room, with a completely different expression on their faces. Some went to their offices, to use the phones and some left the building. The mood felt really weird and it was so quiet, I could hear a pin drop. I noticed everyone was no longer doing any work and I was starting to get concerned. After awhile, my supervisor told me of the situation and that everyone had two weeks before the place would be closed down.

He informed me that for the next two weeks, to get as much done for myself, to put together my demo reel. He and the other coworkers were willing to continue to work with me in finishing my projects and learning as much as I can in the next two weeks. I felt really thankful for that and felt sad too, because I just witnessed them basically losing their jobs and felt helpless.

That also means I’ll be out of an internship and that sucks too. I really liked Tribune, the employees and enjoyed everything I worked on and learned from. For about a month, from beginning to end, it was a learning process, and I was looking forward to doing bigger projects and making more progress with Tribune. I’m very thankful for having the opportunity for interning with Tribune and hope for the best for all the employees.

For me, the hunt has been on, in looking for another internship site. My Advisor has been doing a great job in her searches, and we hope to land an internship soon. The past week has been a bit frustrating, but I’ve been taking these things, good and bad as a learning experience. So I’m sure things will work out, for the best.

Quote of the week: “You must have faith that things will turn out the way they should; not necessarily the way you want them too”

Erica

Wow, How Time Flies!

2009-03-09T22:05:00.001-05:00

(I love DC)

Wow, a whole month has gone by since I first arrived in DC. Time fly’s when you’re having fun. A day at the National Geographic Society museum was great. The afternoon was spent looking at the prehistoric artifacts, scientific findings and different cultures. There was so much to see, but didn’t have enough time to view it all.

(inside the mouth a Giant Great White Shark)

Right: (A really huge crystal)

(Pigging out) --->

Every other weekend, the communication interns have what I call, Sunday dinners. We meet up with our advisor at a good but cheap restaurant, eat and discuss how things are going. Our last dinner meeting was at a restaurant called BD’s Mongolian Barbeque. It’s an Asian stir fry restaurant. It’s like a 3 step process: you pick out your food, pile it in a bowl and watch it cook on a huge grill. My first time in a place like that and it was pretty cool too!

The Media & Communications interns had the chance of touring Capitol Hill. The architecture inside the Capitol is amazing. We also visited the Library of Congress. We got a chance to get out Library cards issued to us.

(inside Capitol Hill: "the Whisper Room")

TWC hosted and International Festival. The event feature free food, a DJ, face painting, country
exhibits and performances. It was like a giant cultural diversity celebration. I really enjoyed the festival and the food was delicious. I didn’t realize it was so many international students in the program. I made a lot of friends that day J I enjoyed the performances too and learned a lot of cool facts about the countries and cultures. I think Mexico had the biggest turn out. My roommate from Korea was also on stage representing her country. After the festival, a big group
of us went out for a night of salsa dancing. It was really fun; we danced the night away!

<--- (Korean food)

(We're #1)

(USA & Mexico)

Class is going good. A couple of weeks ago, we had class in the Associated Press building. Our
teacher, Ms. Feldman, works for the AP, so it was a good change of scenery. Ms. Feldman gave us a tour of the building and we met some of the workers there. We’ll start having class there more often so she gave us AP badges. I feel really important now. J

Our first assignment was given back to us, last class. We had to write a 1-2 page paper, on the movie we watched in class called Citizen Kane. In our paper, we had to discuss the ethical issues in the movie, and what we would have done, if given the same situation. I did okay on the paper; I made a B. I’m shooting for an A, on the next assignment.

Quote of the month: “Work hard and Have fun”

A Good and Relaxing Week!

2009-02-18T13:15:00.000-06:00

Well, after the first couple of weeks of learning how things work at my internship, things have started to pick up. The ongoing debate of the stimulus bill has been the big news at work and of course around the country. I decided to write and put together my first news story over the stimulus deal and I had the chance to shoot it right outside the White House. So I hope to post a video of that in my next blog. Still yet, to see President Obama though; he’s in Arizona at the moment.

--that's a lot of money-->

For the Washington Center, all interns had to attend the Civic Engagement fair. The purpose of the fair is to learn about various volunteering organizations and issues in society that may be of interest. I chose to volunteer for the HIV/AIDS walk awareness organization in efforts to raise the HIV/AIDS awareness in the community. I also will be volunteering for the Pro-Choice America organization, which is an organization that advocates for privacy and women’s rights to choose. There’s a variety of volunteering organizations that I’ll try to participate in for the experience

(The future looks bright!) (Erica is on the move!)

My weekend was good and relaxing at the same time. I finally had time to slow down, and catch up with some homework assignments, get some much needed sleep and do some cleaning. Interns didn’t have to work on Presidents day, so me and a couple friends took a trip to the Ford’s Theatre, which has been renovated and reopened a few days ago. It’s a historic theatre, used for staged performances and is the place that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in. We were told that after Lincoln was shot, he was carried to a house across the street, which he later died in. We were able to get a tour of the actual site.

Inside Ford's Theatre

(Inside where Lincoln died)

Well I don’t have much for this blog, so I’ll add more pictures of the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Antiques that were in the same spot Lincoln left it

The Roomies

Capitol Hill

(The Treasury Department)

(Leaving the White House.... Cheese!)
Quote of the week: "Life is like a slide show"

A Small Case of Potomac Fever

2009-02-12T23:33:00.000-06:00

This week has been amazing. Here’s a quick overview:

Monday February 2-

This was the first day of my internship. I work at what is formerly ITAA, but is now known as TechAmerica. Wanting to make a good impression, my roommate Erica (who is working with me, living with me, and taking the same class as me… so we will be attached at the hip this semester) and I arrived about a half hour early, after a brisk 15 minute walk. That’s right, we don’t even have to get onto public transportation to get to work. When our bosses arrived, they decided to go ahead and throw us headfirst into their daily tasks. Within an hour, we were going to a meeting regarding the Buy American clause within the stimulus package. In the afternoon we had a conference call, and the rest of the day, we were pretty much given a short brief of the items in the stimulus package that we were going to be concerned with. After the first day, I was feeling very confident about working with TechAmerica.

Tuesday February 3-

I started the day off early. There was a meeting with the Department of Defense committee, so our company had a cab pick me up from my apartment. We went to the “Tower Club” which is a fancy meeting room in Vienna, VA. If you don’t believe me that it was a sight, then look at the pictures from the bathroom:

These meetings are amazing ways to network in the city. At the beginning of the semester, The Washington Center gives you a set of business cards. By the time I am writing this, I have already almost run out. I have just ordered personal business cards off of Vista Print (www.vistaprint.com). They have sets of free cards in which you just have to pay shipping. When mine come in the mail, I will be sure to post a picture.

Wednesday, February 4-

Wednesdays are going to be long days… I can tell already. I go to work at 9am, and don’t get out of class at night until after 9pm. This day in particular was very long. There was another meeting across town, so a cab picked me up at 7:45 am. This was a meeting with the Department of Homeland Security Committee. I worked until about 5pm, when I went out to a place that had free finger food before my class. Class started at 6:30 across town, and lasted until 9:45. I am extremely excited for my class this semester. It is Women, Politics, and Public Policy, taught by Dr. Sherman—founder of the Women in Public Policy program at UMASS. She is also currently married to former Oklahoma Congressman Mickey Edwards. She is a fascinating woman, and although there will be a lot of work, it will be worth it.
Erica (co-intern) and I went to lunch with our bosses. Thursday and Friday there is a policy retreat in Annapolis, MD. We were not expecting to go, but apparently there were a few last minute cancellations, so there were 3 extra rooms booked. We got to take their place!

Thursday and Friday February 5 &6—

These days were filled with meetings at a gorgeous hotel. See pictures of my room:

Also, we had approximately two hours to ourselves to tour the town. First we went downtown and found several charming little places, as well as a river dock. Also, we made our way to the Naval Academy, which was absolutely gorgeous.

I would love to take another trip out to Annapolis just to tour the city.

After returning home on Friday, I went out with some new friends, and joined up with Erica (the other RSU Blogger from D.C.)

Saturday and Sunday February 7 & 8-

This weekend, I spent some time around the monuments.

This is a view of the Lincoln Memorial at sunset.

Jefferson Memorial at Sunset:

The Washington Monument from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial… enchanting:

My Roomate Emily and me at the Whitehouse:

The back side of the Whitehouse! See the people talking there? That is actually President Obama in the white shirt on the left. See the zoomed in picture below:
On Sunday, I went to the Basilica with two of my roommates. This church is absolutely beautiful.

Monday February 10—

There was programming with The Washington Center today, along with a tour of the Capitol building, so I was only at work for a short period of time. The Capitol tour was interesting, but I would have loved to see more. After that there was a civic engagement fair. After the fair, I went to the Senate chambers with some fellow interns, hoping to see the vote on the stimulus package. Although they postponed the voting, it was a site to see. I have never seen so many important faces in one room. One interesting fact about going to watch the Senate, is that you have to check anything that is electronic or questionable at a desk before you enter. I had a pair of walking shoes in my purse that they made me check in!

Tuesday, February 11—

What a long day! Throughout the day, there were assignments and small projects to be completed. After work, there was a merger reception held in the Capitol. This was a reception for the branding of TechAmerica and a celebration of its roots from ITAA and AeA. It was essentially a 12 hour work day, and I hadn’t yet finished my homework for class on Wednesday.

Wednesday February 12—

I finally did 'intern' work today. I made coffee, and helped to set up a board room for a meeting. I am so glad that my place of employment doesn’t have us doing things like this too terribly often. I hear horror stories of people working for Senators and Representatives who just answer phone calls and respond to emails. I truly feel I am getting a well rounded experience.
One interesting discussion we had tonight in class regarded the role of women in high power positions in America. See this link in the Washington Post for an interesting piece: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/10/AR2009021002398.html?referrer=emailarticle

Thursday, February 13-

Today was one of the first days that I have been able to catch my breath. This city is truly charming, and I find myself developing what is called ‘Potomac Fever’. I can’t wait for the rest of my weeks here.

Happy 200th Birthday to President Lincoln and Charles Darwin!

Candice

P.S. If you want to see more pictures of my adventures, here's a link to my facebook photo album:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30223941&l=841c5&id=92401032v

I Am Loving It!

2009-02-11T08:59:00.000-06:00

The first day of work was basically an introduction to everything. My supervisor gave a tour of the office building, introduced me to other coworkers, gave insight on what the company is about and informed me of my responsibilities while interning at Tribune. I couldn’t wait to jump into things and get started. Before leaving work, I made my time schedule for the next two weeks. My supervisor is flexible so my time schedule fits to my interest. For the rest of the week, my time was spent learning about the editing systems on the computer, reading through the news wires, logging and sound biting, and getting familiar with my new coworkers and their names. Throughout the week, the big discussion has been about President Obama’s stimulus bill package proposal.

Thursday, I began my night class: Media, Ethics and the Movies. After a brief class discussion we watched a movie called “The Front Page”. It’s a funny look into the newspaper business, where journalist will do about anything to make the front page. Our assignment was to find out the ethical issues throughout the movie. Thursday’s will be my longest days with work in the day, and class at night.
Friday, I was able to meet up with Candice and her friends. We had a great night out in the town.

Saturday, my friend Jasmine and I plans were to go to the African American museum, but by the time we arrived, the museum was closed. So from there we took a walk up and down U Street. U Street is an historic area known for its music and culture of the African American community. After a couple of hours, we decided to eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl. It’ a restaurant known for its chili dogs, half smokes and milkshakes. The line outside of Ben’s was long and around the corner. We met a woman by the name of Dr. Valentine, a DC native. She was pretty known around the area, so by the time we got to the door we were served immediately. I was amazed by the whole place because so many famous people have eaten here and more recently, President Obama. Let me tell you, the food was delicious and affordable! To top it off, Dr. Valentine paid for our food…. So nice of her. We ended up trading business cards with her; she had connects to a television station called TV ONE. So the networking process begins.

Sunday was also a good day too. My roommates and I went to few museums near the National Mall area. The weather was actually feeling nice, a good day for sightseeing. First, we went to the National Air and Space museum and then we went to a couple Art Gallery museums. Later that day I met with my advisor and other interns in the communications program for dinner, at a fast food restaurant called El Pollo Rico. They mainly serve two things: chicken and fries…. Oh and cole slaw if you want it. You get to chose from a whole, half or a quarter of chicken… The only place I’ve been to, with just that on the menu. But the food is really good, filling and affordable!

Unfortunately, I stayed up really late Sunday, catching up on my homework. One of my goals is to keep procrastination to a minimum…. But I had a great week!

My quote of the week:
“Carpe Diem”

Signing off,
Erica

Ooooh I can't believe it!

2009-02-01T00:20:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, January 28th
The day had finally arrived and I couldn’t wait to get started. My flight was scheduled for 7:00 a.m. but because of the rain, ice and snow in the DC area, we were delayed for about an hour. I made it to Baltimore at about 1:00 p.m. and took a shuttle bus to my new residence for the semester. The apartments are called Grosvenor Tower, located in North Bethesda, Maryland. After checking into my apartment, I met my new roommate, Brittany. She’s from Boston and goes to school at the University of Massachusetts. She’s really nice and helpful in getting me familiar with the area. Later that day, there was a building meeting for all the TWC students. I made some friends that attend Delaware State University; we’re in the same program (Media & Communications) and class together. After a long day, I was still excited because I couldn’t believe that I was actually here and couldn’t wait for the next day.

Thursday, January 29th
The first day of orientation for all the media & comm. interns. Taking the train is common for people in the DC area. On the way to orientation it was my first time in a subway and riding on a train. I found out pretty quickly to stand to the right when using the escalators because people will just about run you over, trying to get by. Orientation went pretty good and didn’t last too long. I met a guy from Korea; he said his flight to DC was 24 hours and cost $1,500. Wooooow! I met my second roommate, she’s also from Korea. It’s been interesting discussing each others way of life. That evening I went out to eat with my roommate Brittany and some friends in the political leadership program. I had a great time getting to know everyone and of course talking about politics.

Friday, January 30th
The second day of orientation was for all TWC interns. I really enjoyed orientation today. There were some great guest speakers who were motivational. There were 5 things that I learned from them to keep in mind while I’m in here in DC. 1. Never say the B-word… bored; because there will always be something to do. 2. Becoming an active learner 3. How to make what I’ve learned work and impact myself. 4. Not sweating the small stuff and looking at the big picture; understanding what I’m really here for. 5. Consider everything good/bad as an experience; document and reflect. I took note and plan on applying this advice to help make my DC experience even more enjoyable. After orientation I took a trip to Tribune Broadcasting, so I’ll be able to know my way to work on Monday.

Saturday, January 31st

What a day! It began with a trip to downtown DC. I went with a friend I met from Florida, named Jasmine. We’re in the same program and class. We first stopped into the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Next, we went to the Washington Monument. The view was amazing. Then we walked to the Lincoln Memorial. It was breath-taking and gave me chills looking at the huge statue of Abraham Lincoln, and knowing that MLK gave his I have a Dream speech at this very location; and also how this same area was filled with people from all over, to see the inauguration of President Obama. After taking plenty of pictures we headed back to the apartment.

Well, tomorrow is the Super bowl so I’m sure it will be a fun day. Go Steelers!

Quotes from orientation:
“To those whom much have been given; much is expected.”
“You learn from failures, not doing well, rather than having an easy coast to the finish line.”

Signing out,
Erica

The First Week is a Success

2009-01-31T10:21:00.000-06:00

After many sad goodbyes, my mom and I hit the road to D.C. It wasn't exactly fun, and I would not suggest driving across the country through a winter storm. We stopped each hour or so to de-ice the car:

It was nerve racking to be going through it all, but we made it safe and sound on Wednesday afternoon. I met all of my roommates, and I don't think I could be matched with better people. And, we are in the top floor of our building. Right down the hall, we have an amazing view of the Mall of Monuments.

From our window, you can see the Arlington Cemetery and the Pentagon. It's very impressive.

The first night we had our Residential meeting, and got to meet everybody living in our building. I've met three people that are interning at the same place as me, as well as quite a few that will be interning at the Potomac Advocates (where Ray interned last semester).

This is going to be an amazing experience. It seemed like it may be overwhelming to meet so many new people at once, but I was pleasantly supprised. Although everyone I have met all come from different backgrounds, there are so many things we all have in common just by being in the program.

This weekend, I'm going out to do some of the tourist things. I start my internship on Monday, so wish me luck!

Until next time,

Candice

Exploring DC with Candice... Step 1: Preparations and Introductions

2009-01-22T12:22:00.000-06:00

Good Afternoon!

I am Candice Nivison, and I have also been accepted into The Washington Center Program at Rogers State University for the Spring 2009 semester. I’m a graduating senior studying Communications. I am originally from Manchester, CT, but moved to Oklahoma several years back now. I’ve attended RSU since the Fall of 2005, and thanks to great friends and faculty members, my experience here has been one that I will never forget. Getting to go to Washington D.C. is just one of the many opportunities that RSU has offered me.

When I think about Washington DC, it brings up many ideas, feelings, and memories. I've gotten a lot of advice from people I care about regarding this city... one of the most common seems to be "be careful!" But more often, I've heard "This is an amazing opportunity... take advantage of it". It’s a little crazy to think that this time next week, Erica and I will both be in D.C. sitting in orientation. Before I go into any further detail about my plans in D.C., I would like to explain a little bit more about the program.

The Washington Center(TWC) is the name of the internship program. They assist you in getting the interviews for your field of choice, finding one course to take while you are there, and they also provide housing. At RSU, there is a competitive application process. If you are selected to go, RSU will pay TWC’s program and housing fees, and will waive tuition and fees for the semester. The only out of pocket costs will be for transportation, food, and entertainment. Also, RSU is awarding 12 credit hours for completing the program. To find out more about what RSU has to offer in this program, get more information here: http://www.rsu.edu/washington-center/index.asp . Also, Dr. Carolyn Taylor heads the program here at RSU, and she is a great resource to learn more about it.

I had heard about this program my sophomore year at Rogers State, but did not think it would be possible to go. I had a lot of commitments already made in Oklahoma, and it did not look like it would work with the courses that I had left to take. Fortunately, thanks to my advisor, Dr. Boyd, and the helpful staff and faculty at RSU, I have been able to match my work in D.C. with my graduation requirements, and I will still be finished with my coursework on schedule. This is my last semester as an undergrad, and I plan on making the most of my time in Washington.

During my stay, I will be interning with Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). They have just completed a merger with American Electronics Association (AeA) on January 1st. They are a non-profit IT lobbying firm, and I will have opportunities in attending congressional meetings, coordinating events, and more. I am looking forward to being in Washington for the beginning of President Obama’s term. He has several plans for online identity security, and it will be an exciting time in D.C. If you want to learn more about my company, here is their website: http://www.itaa.org/about/about.cfm

I am grateful for this break that we have had in between semesters to get ready. I’ve had to go shopping for more business attire as well as other supplies in preparation. Thank goodness my internship dress is business casual on a day to day basis. I’m actually going to be driving out with my mom this Tuesday. With the cost of gas prices and shipping, it was actually cheaper to travel this way… plus we can have some quality mother-daughter time before I go.

Thank you all so much for your help and support over the years. Your friendships, teachings, and creativity have inspired me and pushed me to succeed. I love you all, each in your own individual way and thank you for being their not for good times only, but also during times of misfortune. I am so excited to have this opportunity with RSU, and I look forward to taking a giant step up in this world. Please, please, please keep in touch. Tonight marks the last night that I will get to spend with many of my sorority sisters, and this whole week will be full of goodbyes and new beginnings. I have had an amazing experience so far at RSU, and can’t wait to continue my education in Washington D.C.

Until next time,

Candice

E.T. goes to D.C.

2009-01-21T20:50:00.000-06:00

Also known as Erica Taylor... giving a glimpse of myself and insight on MY experience in Washington DC.

I remember reading the email months ago about the Washington Center (TWC) Internship program. It’s a program available for all students and RSU pays for the students selected for the internship. Well, I guess that's all I needed to know :-) I wanted to know what TWC program was about so I attended the meeting. After the first meeting I was really blown away on what TWC had to offer. I also was at a crossroads where I was trying to figure out if Communications was something I really wanted to do and get a career in or switch back to my original major Biology and continue from there. I thought the TWC Internship program would be a great opportunity in helping with that decision. A day after my birthday, I found out I was accepted to TWC. I was so happy, especially my mother, she was screaming though the phone! After calming down, I realized that this is something that I wanted to fully embrace and take advantage of this opportunity… And it all starts January 28th!

While in DC, I’ll be interning for Tribune Broadcasting. Tribune is America’s largest employee-owned media company, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. Tribune operates basically in the major cities, one of them including Houston, my hometown. Their cable channel is WGN, and they are affiliated with FOX, CW, and ABC. During my internship, I’ll be doing things like writing, editing and putting together news stories, doing interviews, and helping the reporters and producers with newsgathering and production. A lot of news will be covering the first one hundred days of President Obama and political issues which I know will be a very interesting and exciting time during my stay in DC. My interests are to get into TV broadcasting and/or news reporting. I decided to intern for Tribune because I think they will be best suited for preparing me towards my interest. Also, because I see it as a challenge for me, working with news that’s more politically related instead of news that’s more sports entertainment related. So I can’t wait to get to work!

Besides working, I’ll be taking a class called: Media, Ethics, and the Movies, which seems like a fun and interesting course but it wasn't my first choice, so I may change it when I get to DC. I’ll be doing so many other things that will keep me busy and on my toes. I’ll be attending meetings, lectures, events, activities. I’ll get into greater detail as I come across them. I’ll also will be creating a portfolio which (from what I’ve seen) will be a thick document of what I've experienced during my internship, which will be helpful for future references.

Well for the past month, I've been doing a lot of preparing for DC. Mostly, it’s been shopping and I’m loving it! I had to get a lot of business attire clothes and more warm clothes. So out with the old athletic, sporty, basketball wear and gear, and in with the new professional, business attire. I can't wait to flaunt my new look :-) I also will be getting my first MP3 player. I figure it’s finally time to get one so I won't have to worry about carrying a CD player and a pack CDs and batteries around :-)

During my application process for TWC, I received a great amount of help and encouragement. Thanks to Dr. Carolyn Taylor for having such an opportunity available for RSU students and for your help along the way. Thanks to Coach Amy Williams and Supervisor Brian Murrison for taking time to write recommendation letters for me. Thanks to my teachers Dr. Gentry, Dr. Evusa, Mr. Williams and Mr. Blakey for your help and encouragement along the way. I learned so much this past semester, which will help a great deal in DC. Thanks to Brandon Denton. As an editor, you helped my essays go from good to great and well written. Thanks to Tasha Parker for your continuous support. You were the first person I told about my acceptance. Thanks to my family for their ongoing faith, love, support and encouragement. They're proud to know that I’ll be on my way to DC, during this moment in time. Thanks to friends and others who I have not mentioned specifically that were also supportive throughout the process.

My spring in DC I know will be one of the most memorable and impacting time in my life. Most importantly, it’s about my future and moving forward in the career path that will be right for me, gaining experience and knowledge that will prepare me for life in the professional world. It’s a chance that not too many others get to experience in such a way, and I am very fortunate for this opportunity. I also look forward to doing a lot of sightseeing, touring, picture taking and just seizing the moment and enjoying myself each day while I’m in DC. This will be one spring semester I will never forget....

How's my blogging? At least, weekly I’ll be blogging about my experience in DC. I also will be blogging for TWC so check that out too. Here's the link: http://ericaspringdc.blogspot.com/ Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, advice, feedback, etc.

Signing out,

Erica Taylor (ET)

Last day at work

2008-12-11T08:21:00.000-06:00

So, today is the day that I have to turn in my office key and clean out my desk.
I had a lot of fun working with The Potomac Advocates this fall and learned so much about the way things operate in D.C. I was very fortunate to get placed with these guys and I plan on staying in touch with them.

Compared with other internships, The Potomac Advocates really knows how to treat their interns. Not many other college interns were able to spend a weekend at a beautiful resort in Pennsylvania. I was also able to meet a lot of interesting and important people during my time with The Potomac Advocates, such as Congressman Reyes from Texas, Jeff Baxter-the guitarist/defense consultant and a handful of senior military officers.

For our last day at work, we all went to a great seafood restaurant together and then went to the office Holiday Party at The Monacle (I think I mentioned this place on Election Night). It was a great way to spend my last day with everybody.
Thanks for everything Potomac Advocates!

This is a picture from the U.S. Capitol with "The Man". Every state gets to put 2 statues of someone from their state in the Capitol. Oklahoma chose Sequoyah and Will Rogers of course. I knew I could not call myself an Okie or an RSU Hillcat if I didn't take this picture.

It's official...

2008-12-09T12:47:00.000-06:00

I graduated! Yesterday, The Washington Center held a commencement ceremony for all of the interns. They gave us a nice certificate and a t-shirt, but obviously I received much more throughout the entire semester in terms of education and experience.

One of the things I enjoyed about the semester was meeting and being surrounded by other college interns who have the same type of drive and motivation that I have. Having the drive to be successful in life is one of the most important characteristics a person can have.

I know I've mentioned this before, but the semester really went by fast, too fast for me. So, before arriving in DC, I had a long list of all the things I wanted to see and do while I was here. For the most part, I did see and do the majority of the things on the list. But, about halfway through the semester, I realized that every time I would scratch an event, landmark, or monument off the list, I would hear about or see something else that I had not thought about or knew about before. Not to mention all of the sites that I wanted to go back and see a 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th time (Lincoln Memorial). So, unfortunately I can't say that I did everything that I had on my list, but I came close, at least on the original list.

Some of the places I'll try to see one last time for the semester:

Lincoln Memorial again, why not?
Supreme Court (There's a hearing that I'll try and get into tomorrow!)
The White House- I haven't seen the Christmas tree since they put it up
Wizards basketball game- I've never been to an NBA game before, so I figured tonight would be a good time, tip-off is @ 7 pm!
The perfect night picture of the Capitol, I know just the place.

I'm probably leaving out other places, but if it doesn't happen this time, something tells me I'll be back in DC again.

2008-12-07T23:53:00.000-06:00

Well, my last weekend in DC has passed and although it was fun, I definitely had to overcome some obstacles. Two things that I have no control over were working against me big time. Snow on Saturday when I went to go check out Alexandria, VA and the Metro subway was delayed all weekend.

Maintenance work on the subway turned regular 25-30 minute commutes into almost an hour, it was ridiculous! I just now realized that I have not driven a vehicle for the entire semester, so it's going to feel pretty strange when I get back home. You know how whenever you are driving and in a hurry, it seems like all the lights turn red and the slowest drivers in the world end up in front of you, well the metro can be very similar. Whenever you're in a hurry, you will just miss the train and the next train will not arrive for 10 minutes! Or like this weekend, you'll be on the train and pull up at a station, then for some reason wait there "momentarily" which turns out to be 10 minutes!

So the big thing I wanted to do this past weekend was go to the Smithsonian National American History Museum. It just opened recently after being closed for about 2 years. This is the museum where the original star spangled banner is and one of the original copies of the Gettysburg address, plus tons of other cool stuff. I could have spent the entire day at this museum and I'm thinking about going back before I leave. So, I took some pictures from the museum:

yes, that is the "puffy shirt" from Seinfeld
Roberto Clemente's uniform (A former Marine and a great baseball player)
Kermit!
And a poster that is so true.

Also a picture w/ a quote that is on the side of the U.S. Dept. of Justice building that I really liked and since I am a Justice Admin. major, I thought it would be appropriate.

Side note, I'm a little disappointed to say the least with TU losing in the conference championship game on Saturday (one of the ugliest performances from them in a long time), even more disappointed with all of the so-called fans who did not show up! A conference championship in a stadium as small as Tulsa's should have been sold out. Nevertheless, I can be happy with a 10 win season from TU every year and we still have the chance to win 11, GOLDEN....

Another week

2008-12-06T10:34:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from the past week:

A group picture of all the interns at The Potomac Advocates with our Research Coordinator, Patrick in the middle. All the guys were giving me a hard time because I wanted our group picture to be at the Marine Corps Iwo Jima Memorial, but democracy was in effect and I lost. This is still a good picture though.

In the middle is a picture at the apartment after finishing my Forensic Psych. class and my portfolio project, nothing but relief and joy on my face!

The last pic. is my favorite, because that's w/ Jeff Baxter, I think I mentioned him earlier in the semester when I saw him at a dinner over by the Capitol. He's a guitarist that was in Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers and also does missile defense consulting work for the government. My mom has always been a big fan of the Doobie Bros., so I think she'll like the pic as well!

So, I'm leaving DC soon and have to do some last minute sightseeing of all my favorite places and some that I haven't been to yet.

Down the home stretch!

2008-12-03T14:49:00.000-06:00

My time in DC is coming to an end, unfortunately it flew by so fast, I wonder if RSU will let stay another semester!

I just finished my Forensic Psychology class last night and it was a good class that touched on some interesting topics. Anytime you have bright students who want to learn and a professor who shows enthusiasm for the course, I think it is a guarantee to have a good semester.

The past week was a blur with all the work I had going on, but for the most part everything is finished. All I have left to work on is my portfolio for The Washington Center which shows people what I was doing all semester. In the portfolio, I write about things such as my volunteer work and the lecture's I attended. But most importantly I try to persuade or convince the good people at RSU who made this experience possible for me that their $$$ was definitely well spent!

I really don't know where to begin with all of the opportunities this internship has provided me. I could start with the education, the people, the places, and I still think I would forget to mention something or someone.

The educational benefits alone, my gosh! The lectures that you attend on a variety of important topics that are presented by some very respected individuals. You learn from your job, the people at your job, the people you meet through your job-NETWORKING! Then there is the college course you take such as Forensic Psych. Also, you can learn a lot from your fellow interns that come from all walks of life. Aside from my time in the Marine Corps, this semester has been one the best learning experiences of my life.

It's not a gym...it's a fitness studio!

2008-11-16T13:23:00.001-06:00

In Oklahoma we call 'em gyms, at the Bedford Springs Resort, it is
a fitness studio. Notice the perplexed look on my face, I wasn't the only one.

Okay, it was a great weekend at the Resort! Such a beautiful place, I tried to hide from my co-workers when it was time to leave, but unfortunately they found me.

There was a lot of history at Bedford Springs that I was unaware of. For example: President Buchanan was such a frequent guest, that Bedford Springs was actually called the "Summer White House" when he was in office. Also, Ronald Reagan stayed there during his second term as California's governor and Eisenhower stayed there while campaigning for President.

All three interns got to stay in the suite overlooking the golf course.
This was the view at night from our balcony, which was bigger than the entire apartment I stay at in D.C. This is one of my favorite pictures because of the sunset.

The pictures: Can you guess which bed was mine at the resort? Now you understand why I didn't want to leave!

A picture of the front of the resort, what you can't see is the opposite end of the resort(where I stayed). The resort is located in a valley surrounded by mountains or hills depending on where you're from.That's right ladies! Just for you, I got to meet Ty Pennington on Saturday night at the resort. He was a super nice guy, just hanging out with some friends, shooting pool, and watching football.

more to follow

2008-11-14T22:23:00.000-06:00

I had another full week in the capitol, no surprise there. The Marine Corps turned 233 on Monday and then Veterans Day on Tuesday was excellent. Thanks to all those who called me, it always feels good to hear.

I could not have thought of a better way to honor the veterans than by going to the war memorials and helping out with a volunteer organization that helps the survivors who have lost a loved one in the military. TAPS(Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors)

http://www.taps.org/

is a great organization that offers services to people who have lost someone serving in the military. I spent the day helping out at their office in D.C., helping them prepare for an upcoming weekend seminar where they provide assistance for the families.

Also, in my last post, I talked about another excellent organization called USA CARES, they do great things for the troops and their families, go to their website at http://www.usacares.org/

and under the volunteer/projects links, you will find some really good projects that help the troops. I am hopeful that I can get some of those projects going at RSU when I return in the spring.

So, right now, I am writing this post from a suite at the Bedford Springs Resort in Pennsylvania. My company brought us here for the weekend to attend the annual post-election conference that they hold for their clients. This place is great! Our balcony is about 100 yards from the golf-course, I just finished swimming in the indoor spring water pool, which was outstanding! Then I decided to go really high class and sport the complimentary terry cloth robe. I'll have a lot more to write about this place after the weekend and I promise to include a lot of pictures. Hey, you work hard and play hard!

I'll always remember...

2008-11-07T19:32:00.000-06:00

where I was when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States! Tuesday night was one of the main reasons why I wanted to be in D.C. this semester and it definitely did not disappoint. The atmosphere before and after the election has been one of the most interesting things I have ever experienced.

I started out election night watching the results at The Monacle restaurant, it's on the Senate side of the capitol and a lot of Senators and Representatives like to go there. It's interesting because there was an older autographed picture of John McCain on the wall right by our table. After hanging out at the Monacle, my friend Tere and I decided to go check out some more places. I wanted to experience all D.C. had to offer that night. So, we went to another restaurant called Bullfeathers (I've mentioned this place before) over on the House side of the Capitol. The atmosphere was much more lively and festive there, it was a younger crowd compared to the Monacle so we decided to that we would stay as long as we could before having to take the subway back home, because their service ends at midnight.

It was at Bullfeathers, where I watched the historic moment at around 11 or 11:30 when it was announced that Obama had won. The place went wild. By that time, I think most of the McCain folks had already gone home.

My only regret of the night and I didn't even think about this until I got back to my apartment and it was too late, was that I wish I would have gone to the White House. Outside the White House, is where all the energy and excitement was at. Traditionally, it's not a place where people go, so maybe that is why it didn't occur to me,but for some reason, the street in front of the White House was packed that night. I finished the evening by running on the treadmill for 40 minutes while I listened to President-elect Obama's speech.

Change of subject, this is one of my favorite pictures because Dennis Miller was so cool when I met him. He's the national spokesperson for USA cares, a really good organization that does amazing things for the troops and their families.

couple gallons of coffee and I'll be fine

2008-11-04T08:19:00.000-06:00

Today is the day! It's going to be a long one, actually I think today and tomorrow will just blend into one very long day.

Things are tense right now in D.C. I saw a lot of anxious and concerned faces on the subway this morning. The past 2 years have funneled into today and I could not think of a better time to be in our nation's capitol. There is no question that this has been the most exciting/controversial Presidential election of my generation, but I think everyone is just ready for it to be over with.

My firm is hosting a private watch party tonight for our clients and associates at a restaurant down the street from our office.

So, change of subject, I thought I should add some new pics. The "I have a dream" pic is actually an old one from my 2nd day in D.C. It's pretty cool because that day was the 45th anniversary of the famous speech.

There are actually two residences in the White House picture. If you look in between the 2 yellow signs, you'll see a make shift tent where this lady has lived since the 80's.

Also, if you look in the left corner of the pic, you can see the top of the Washington Monument.

It's gone by too fast!

2008-10-27T08:57:00.000-05:00

It's not that I don't miss the folks back home or the good home cooking, but the time has gone by way too fast out here and unfortunately, there is not a magic button you can push to slow things down. To tell the truth, it does not take long to adjust to the high speed lifestyle when living here. So, I am trying real hard to get the most out of my time left in D.C.

I ran in the Marine Corps 10k this past Sunday, it was the first 10k race I have ever run. I was a little disappointed with my run time, but out of 5,000 runners, I finished 128th. I feel like I could have easily finished in the top 100, but these things happen. Some days you're just not as fast as you would be on other days. So, I have 2 weeks to train for my next race, the Veteran's Day 10k on November 9th. Hopefully, I can crack the top 100.

On Tuesday, I was able to go on my first tour of the White House with my TWC group. It was a self guided tour that takes you through about 5 rooms with a lot of history in each room. I was disappointed because I didn't get to hang out in the oval office with the President(my friends informed me that I set my expectations a little too high!). Nevertheless, it was the White House and it is definitely worth seeing.
In the State Dining Room, this inscription was carved into the mantel by John Adams on his 2nd night in the White House, it reads:

I pray Heaven to Bestow the Best of Blessings on THIS HOUSE and on All that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but honest and Wise Men ever rule under this roof.

Whoever the next President may be, I hope he will take the time to read those words because it will take both honesty and wisdom to lead the country over the next 4 years.

Now that's how you start your day!

2008-10-19T12:33:00.000-05:00

You wake up at 6 am on Sunday morning when all of your roommates are still sleeping off last nights festivities. You go out in the cold and run in the inaugural 5k for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and post one of your best times since before having 2 knee surgeries.

Then once you've finished the run and your cooling down, sipping water, you learn that out of 400 plus runners in the race, you finish 30th. And out of 40 runners in your age division, you come in third(I realize that some of my friends will remind me that I was the second loser)! But, let me also give a shout out to the top 6 overall finishers who were all over 40 years of age! The winner was 41 and he finished in 15:45!

Yes. It was a great way to start my day and my week for that matter. I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I had lost 7 pounds since coming to D.C., and now I'm pretty sure it's due to all of the running that I've been doing. Even though my days and weeks are always busy, I have still found the time and made the effort to continue exercising and this morning it paid off for me.

And by the way, when I got back to my apartment at 11 am, all of roommates were still sleeping.

Last minute trip

2008-10-19T12:07:00.000-05:00

After meeting General Petraeus and winning some $$$ in Atlantic City, I decided to go see Baltimore for the day on Sunday. It was a last minute decision, so I bought a round trip ticket for about $35 and took off. Baltimore is the home of Edgar Allan Poe, one of my all time favorite storytellers. Babe Ruth was also born and raised there. So I have some pics from the day and I also got to take a tour of Camden Yards, where the Orioles play baseball. Baltimore is a very old city, but there is a lot of great history there and I'm pretty sure I will be going back soon!

It keeps getting better

2008-10-18T13:16:00.000-05:00

Well, even though the following actually happened 2 weeks ago, I still have to write about it. So, the 1st full week in October was hands down the best I've had since being out here in D.C. I Started out by going to the Supreme Court on the Monday, the 6th, because I knew Dr. Clayton would beat me if I was not there on the first day the Court began hearing cases. It was funny because there was a group of protesters in the front with red tape over their mouths, so when I asked a lady who worked there what they were protesting, she told me they're always there and they protest everything. Some people have too much time on their hands!

The next day was the highlight of my week. I went to an army convention after learning that General Petraeus was going to be speaking and being a big admirer of his, it was important to me to be able to hear him speak. Before hearing General Petraeus speak, I also met a couple of Hollywood actors who were signing autographs at the convention. It was well worth the wait to meet R. Lee Ermey, a Marine legend who has his own show called "Mail Call" on The History Channel, he signed my October issue of Leatherneck magazine. I also met comedian/actor Dennis Miller, who came across as one of the coolest guys on the planet, super nice and sincere.

It was finally time to go hear the General speak and I waited in line for about 30-40 minutes, but again, well worth the wait because I sat 4 rows away from the podium. The lecture was about the current state of Iraq, the progress that has been made and what challenges lie ahead. The General is a very good speaker, who started out with some really funny Chuck Norris jokes. My favorite was- "Chuck Norris doesn't breathe, he holds oxygen hostage." The lecture lasted for about 45 minutes and afterwards the General took pictures and shook hands with members of the audience. I would say that General Petraeus received rock star treatment with the numerous ovations and long line of women wanting to get their picture with him. Of course in the military community he is the equivalent of a rock star. I waited for about 15 minutes until I could shake his hand and introduce myself. In my opinion, General Petraeus is my generation's version of General MacArthur or Eisenhower, an excellent soldier who possesses all of the traits a strong leader needs.

Obviously, meeting General Petraeus was the highlight of my week, but I was able to end the week on a great note when I went to Atlantic City for the day on Saturday. I am not a card player, but I can sometimes be a skilled or lucky slot machine player. On Saturday, I was just really lucky, because I took home about $250 and ran, not walked out of the casino! I spent the rest of the day walking along the boardwalk, taking pictures, and feasting off the buffet! I've somehow lost 7 pounds since being out here, so I wanted to try and gain some of that weight back. Like I said, it was a good way to end a great week.

some more pics

2008-10-08T08:24:00.001-05:00

I wanted to post these pictures from my trip to the Pentagon Memorial last Sunday. That building behind me is the Pentagon, if you could walk through the entire building, you would end up walking over 17 miles! Those are benches with the victims name on them, every victim has their own bench, 184 benches total to honor the lives lost on 9-11 at the Pentagon. You'll notice how the benches are facing opposite directions. That tells the visitors whether the person was on the plane or in the building when they died. Facing away from the Pentagon, like the one right next to me, means the person was in the Pentagon. The memorial is very pretty at night when the sun is going down and there are lights under all the benches as well.

The picture with the bell is a replica of the liberty bell and that was taken at the union station metro stop, which is where I get off to go to work. I've been walking by the bell every day and never knew what it was until my friend went up and took a closer look.

So, I don't think I mentioned that I'm going to Atlantic City on Saturday with a group of TWC interns. The best part is that it's only costing me $10 for my bus ticket. The trip will be an all day event on Saturday, leaving early in the morning and coming back late, so it will be a long day. I'll either be coming back on the bus or in a limo!

Pictures

2008-10-06T16:50:00.000-05:00

So, I wanted to start showing some more pictures of what I've been up to since my last post. The picture of me and the the sailor is at the Navy Memorial, which is right across the street from the National Archives. The National Archives was our(my roommates and our neighbors) intended target for the day, but by the time we got there the line was really long. The 2 pics of me is at the WWII memorial, which is probably my favorite out of the all the war memorials, although the Korean War memorial is really good at night.

I also have the picture of my roommates Nathan and Kevin, along with our friend Katie at the Lincoln Memorial. Whether in the day or at night, the Lincoln Memorial is my favorite and I could visit everyday. A very inspirational place. The last picture is at the Albert Einstein Memorial with Katie and our other friend Kim in the picture as well.

I went on a tour of the Pentagon last Thursday, but we were not allowed to take pictures on the tour. However, I did go to the Pentagon Memorial last night and my friend did take pictures so I promise to put those up pretty soon. There is a lot of symbolism in the Pentagon Memorial, it is very interesting.

Today was a very long and busy day. I think I'm starting to sound like a broken record! First, I went to the Supreme Court since the new session began today. I was able to listen to the Locke v. Karass case, which dealt with the 1st and 14th amendment and labor union involvement, very dry stuff for a criminal justice major. I spent more time taking in my surroundings than I did listening to the case. I definitely plan on going back, once is just not enough! After the Supreme Court, I went to the Department of Interior for a lecture by U.S. Representative James Clyburn. Congressman Clyburn, who is the House majority whip, delivered an excellent speech about how to contribute to your surroundings and knowing your role in life. It was one of my favorite speeches that I have heard so far.

Hope I don't jinx my team, but GO TU!! The Harvard of the Midwest is 5-0 and looking great!

Hanging out with Mr. Mayor

2008-09-23T13:51:00.000-05:00

Like I said the other day, you never know who you're going to meet. Yesterday, The Washington Center hosted a speaking engagement for Ryan Coonerty, a former TWC alum, who is now the mayor of Santa Cruz, California. The mayor talked about his time in D.C. as an intern and how he ended up in politics. He also gave some really good advice for students considering law school(he went to the University of Virginia law school and reminded us several times that Bobby Kennedy went there as well). Mayor Coonerty said it's okay to go to law school in order to learn a new way of thinking, because you would learn how to break down and analyze everything you read and what people say. But, the downside is that you would turn into the annoying know it all friend!

When Ryan Coonerty was an intern in D.C., he worked at the White House during the Clinton administration and he had plenty of good stories to tell. His girlfriend at the time had a college class with Monica Lewinsky, so he had to dish out some good gossip there(apparently Bill Clinton wasn't the first boss or professor). The mayor was one of the best speakers I've heard in a long time. He talked in a simple laid back way with plenty of good humor. I haven't met a lot of mayors in my life, but I'd be willing to bet that Ryan Coonerty is one of the coolest. So cool in fact, that I had to get my picture taken with him afterwards! Doesn't he look a lot like RSU's own Dr. Woller without a goatee?

You never know who your going to meet

2008-09-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

First things first, I've got to congratulate Dr. Carolyn Taylor for being named woman of the year in Oklahoma! It is because of Dr. Taylor, who serves as the liaison for the Washington Center, that I am here in D.C. for the semester.

What an amazing night! I came to work last Tuesday and I had completely forgotten about a dinner that I was supposed to attend that night. I had known about the dinner for 2 weeks, but for whatever reason it had slipped my mind. The dinner was at the Capitol Hill Club, a republican social club located on the House side of the capitol that has been around since the fifties. To make things worse, I was wearing my least favorite suit (just a plain old black suit, very boring). Note to all guys: your shoes and tie should never be worth more than your suit! About the only positive thing I had going for me was that I did not make any plans for that night. I was debating whether or not I wanted to go to the Mets-Nationals game, good thing I didn't.

The dinner was for all the big players in the intelligence business(government and private sector) to be able to hear the House Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Rep. Silvestre Reyes speak. It was sort of like a state of the intelligence community speech, what took place over the last year and what the intel. community can expect in the upcoming year. I met congressman Reyes as he was coming in to the room and had the chance to briefly talk to him. Rep. Reyes is a very interesting man, who told us the story of how he helped deliver a baby girl from a woman trying to cross the border by the Rio Grande river and that the woman named the girl America. A very entertaining story! On top of meeting Rep. Reyes, I sat next to a very interesting Colonel in the Air Force who flies the U2 surveillance planes. The Colonel gave me a history lesson on the 5 branches of operation within the military and how the system was created by Napoleon.

Last but not least, I met a person who stood out from the crowd in a major way, he was the only guy with a pony tail and his tie had guitars on it. Not the sort of thing you expect to see at a dinner like this. So, I definitely had to know who he was and he turned out to be Jeff Baxter, a guitarist for Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers(sorry Mom, I didn't get his autograph). After making millions(he told us 7.6 to be exact) in the music business, Mr. Baxter decided to change careers. He now serves as chairman of the civilian advisory board for ballistic missile defense and was also an adviser to members of congress on the House Science Committee.

My adviser at the Potomac Advocates told me on the first day of work that you always have to be prepared in D.C., because you never know who your going to meet and last Tuesday night was a prime example of it.

The days just fly by!

2008-09-14T10:22:00.000-05:00

It really seems like it. I had another busy week filled with a lot of interesting work. On Wednesday, I was able to attend a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the situation in Iraq & Afghanistan. The thing I enjoyed about the hearing on top of the good information that came out of it, was that I was sitting in the same room as the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the Secretary of the Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mullen. My congressman Dan Boren was also there. Both Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen were the witnesses presenting the information.

Thursday was just as cool because I spent half the day on the Senate side of the capitol. Although I didn't see any of the senators, it was still kind of fun going into the offices of big name politicians like Clinton, Biden, Ted Kennedy, and both Oklahoma senators. After work that day, my supervisors took all of the interns to a bar called "Bull feathers" over on the House side of the capitol. The bar is named after a word that Teddy Roosevelt always used and today serves as a popular hangout for House staff members and lobbyists. It's just a place where people can gossip, network, and try to impress the others. Our bosses introduced us to a female Navy pilot who used to fly surveillance planes and now works as an intelligence staff member for the House. She talked to us awhile, gave us her card and offered to give a tour of the capitol building whenever we would like. I've learned very quickly that to be successful in D.C., it is all about who you know and timing. Timing is everything! Of course, those two things could be applied to every city, but you'll see it up close herein the Capitol.

I just got back from the Library of Congress with some friends of mine and was impressed with the architecture inside and exhibits they had inside, especially the part that covered the the start of the United States. Tomorrow (Sunday), I'm going to try and make it up to Baltimore for a baseball game. The only problem is that there is a strong chance of rain. If I don't go to the game then I'll go to the Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, maybe start out the day by running on the Capitol Mall and through other parts of D.C.

A long 1st week... it was great!

2008-09-07T12:25:00.000-05:00

Well, I started work last Tuesday with the lobbying firm and I already know that it will be a great learning experience. My work duties consist of a lot of researching different military programs for our clients and maintaining a weekly tracker report of what is going on with congress. Last week, congress was still out of session, but they return on this week, so I am expecting a lot more action and some trips to the offices of House and Senate members. My supervisors have been in the political business for awhile, so they have a lot of contacts in DC and have told the interns that we can expect to attend many different networking opportunities. I also learned that my internship will reimburse my metro fare to and from work every month, so that ends up saving me about $150, in addition to $15 a day for lunch( very rare among most internships).
I also started my forensic psychology class last Wednesday and I think it's going to be interesting learning the relationship between psychology and criminal justice.
It rained pretty hard on Friday and most of Saturday, so I wasn't able to do as much sightseeing as I wanted to this weekend. But, I was able to make it to the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial last night. Both memorials were impressive. I think I liked the Jefferson Memorial just a little bit more, because I enjoyed sitting on the steps and looking at the Washington Monument and the other buildings around. You can see the American flag on top of the White House from the steps. After visiting both memorials, I had to go back to the Lincoln Memorial. Anytime I am near the memorial I have to go there. I don't think I mentioned before that when I first visited the Lincoln Memorial on August 28th, it marked the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I have a dream" speech. There is a marker on the steps to commemorate the speech.
Today, I think my roommates are heading out to the Arlington cemetery. I've been wanting to see it every since I've been here, especially the tomb of the unknown soldier. I'm expecting another busy yet exciting week, so for now that's all I have.

the vacation is finally over

2008-08-31T21:19:00.000-05:00

My long vacation is coming to an end. The 1st day of work starts tomorrow and on Wednesday I have my first forensic psychology class. I can say that I ended my summer on a really good note. I walked about 5 or 6 miles in D.C. on Saturday and went to a Nationals/Phillies baseball game with one of my co-workers today. I'm ready for the serious work to begin! Took some pics from the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and the ball game, hope you like, you will see one of the Tulsa Police Dept. fallen officers name-Gus Spanos.

The future looks bright

2008-08-29T16:05:00.000-05:00

Well, I got to D.C. on Wednesday the 27th, all in one piece with my luggage and I already know that this place is going to be a blast!

I'm staying in an apartment about 25 minutes away from all the monuments, which if you're a history buff like myself, then you're in heaven. I could probably visit the Lincoln Memorial everyday and not get tired of it. One of my roommates and I went to see the Washington Monument last night and we also saw the WWII, Vietnam, and Korean memorials, and also some place called the White House. I was speechless for most of our tour. Sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and watching the reflection of the Washington Monument in the pool, a person can become overwhelmed with feelings of patriotism and pride for this great country of ours! There is so much to see here in the nation's capitol that I'm kind of wondering where to start. I finished my 2nd and last day of orientation today, so I have until Tuesday to explore the city before starting work.

Besides touring D.C., I'm also looking forward to starting my civic engagement project. This is an assignment that requires all interns to perform some sort of community service. A lot of interns will probably help with one of the presidential campaigns and I don't blame them if they do, this is certainly the most exciting election of my generation. But, I've decided that I want my project to focus on helping our military veterans in some way, whether I'm volunteering at a VA hospital or at Walter Reed Army/Navy hospital I just want to do my part to help.

Lastly, I have to tell everyone how I lucked out in the roommate dept. I have three other guys living in the apartment and 2 of them are from Ohio and the other one is from Mexico. My 2 roommates from Ohio (Kevin and Nathan) like to exercise as much as I do, so I'm always guaranteed to have a workout partner. My roommate from Mexico (Fernando) is from Monterrey and every morning he gives me a brief Spanish lesson. So, when the internship comes to a sad conclusion in December, I'll come back to RSU in good shape and be able to speak Spanish.

Well, I'm hoping to be able to see the last Marine Corps evening parade of the year tonight, so I'll talk with you all later!

Mr. Gooldy goes to Washington

2008-08-22T11:07:00.000-05:00

My name is Ray Gooldy and by this time next week I plan on being somewhere in our nation's capitol taking pictures and navigating my way through the city. Since November, when I first learned that I was accepted for an internship in Washington D.C., I have been counting the months. Now I am down to counting the days and pretty soon the hours.

While I'm in D.C., I will be interning with the Potomac Advocates, a lobbyist firm that deals primarily with the Department of Defense. Now, I know some people assume that all lobbyists are evil, but let me just say that it depends on what you are lobbying for. The Potomac Advocates is a relatively small firm that has only been around for about 6 years. The main reason I chose the Potomac Advocates is because of the close relationship they have with the military, which is important to me since I'm in the Marine Corps. If anyone wants to learn more about the Potomac Advocates, you can check them out at http://www.potadv.com/ .

In addition to working, I will also be taking a forensic psychology course and completing the requirements for my portfolio which includes my goals for the internship(academic, professional, civic, and personal). The portfolio is basically what I show RSU, so they'll know that their money was well spent and also give me credit for 12 hours.

When I first applied for the internship, I was surprised to find out how many students at RSU do not even apply or know about this once in a lifetime opportunity. So, for those who do not know about this program, let me tell you all about it. The Washington Center(TWC) is the name of the internship program that does all the work, they find you an apartment to live in, a job in your field of choice, and 1 college course that relates to your field of study. If you are accepted for the program, RSU pays the money and you are off to study and work in D.C. for the semester of your choice. The only expense that comes out of your pocket is round trip airfare(if you want to come back), food and entertainment money. This really is an amazing opportunity that more students should take a look at. If you want to find out more about the program, I would suggest going to the following link http://www.rsu.edu/academics/washington-center/index.asp . Also, the campus liaison for TWC is Dr. Carolyn Taylor and she can tell you more about the application process.

As far as preparing for my semester in D.C., I have had to make a few extra purchases. I had to buy several new suits, since I am required to wear a suit and tie to work everyday. My other purchase was a digital camera, since I figured it was time to get out of the disposable camera days and get up to speed with the rest of the world. I plan on taking a lot of pictures and posting them up on the blog.

Okay, so that's all I got for now, but if anyone has recommendations for places to eat and cool places to see(besides the obvious) let me know.