Cellar Door: May 2008

I have to write a weekly 'experience journal' in order to receive university credit for this internship...here's my entry for my first week of fun...I kept it PG for my professor.

Week 1:

I love pearls, collars, sushi, paved running trails, text messaging, not sharing a room, and knowing exactly where I am at all times. Not one of my favorite things in life, however, is privy to an ounce of existence in the middle-of-nowhere. I knew this would be a different experience, but I don’t think it really hit me until my plane landed in an airport the size of my bedroom. I almost cried when I realized I couldn’t even call my mother to tell her about the terrible conditions; they warned me there would be no cell phone service where I was staying, but I though I’d at least have a few bars in town.

After dumping my belongings into one of the log cabins, a temporary home, my first move was to head back into town, 45 minutes down a road too small to be registered on Mapquest. Once there, I attempted calm myself with a Tangueray and Tonic with lime. It’s a good thing the name is self-explanatory; the bartender had never actually heard of my favorite beverage, except for in the movies. This cowboy-looking man with hair longer than my own was not, unfortunately, a very calm-inducing character. He was actually someone who made sure to regale me with a variety of stories regarding the people-hunting moose who roam the area. I had a first-hand experience with one of these dangerous animals the next morning. Three miles out, on my first Montana run, I, apparently, trespassed into moose territory. After hearing the bartender’s horror stories, I’m sure anyone can imagine my feelings on the unfortunate predicament I had somehow ended up in. I sprinted my entire way back to “the ranch,” despite the severe lack of air allotted to me in such a high altitude. Slowly, I’ve somehow come to accept my new, meager existence here at “the ranch,” and am trying to take it all in as a valuable learning experience.

I met Richard Kimball, the president of Project Vote Smart, this morning. He had a really weak handshake. I’ve always heard that if you ever want to make it in the political arena, you had better have a firm grip. I blame his loss to McCain in their battle over Goldwater’s old seat on his inability to sufficiently grasp onto the hands of others. I’m totally kidding, but I bet it was noted at the time. Back in the day, if I had been a member of the press, I would have made a pointed remark regarding the issue.

This summer, Project Vote Smart is expecting 50 interns on a rolling basis; there are only about 15 of us here right now. We work 40 hour weeks, from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., with an hour for lunch each day. We are split into 8 departments; I’m in the one for research. I’m so jealous of one of my room mates, she’s in the Key Vote Department. All day, she gets to sit there reading bills in order to come up with easy-to-read summations for our website. I think I might ask to be transferred over.

In the Research Department, I’m currently passing away my week with each of our (almost) 7,424 State Legislatures. My job is to do the research for each of their biographies. I like to think that I’m making a difference for the uninformed voters of our country, however, I sincerely doubt that anyone would notice if I happened to forget to enter in that Christopher Yost (WV, R, State Sen.) has a daughter named Laura or that Alaska has a subcommittee (under their Fisheries Committee) focused on the status of the state’s salmon population. At least I get something out of it. I’m currently hacking away at Iowa’s State Legislature. (I was happy to request my own state when asked if I had a preference.)

Besides learning from the minor details I intently cover during work, I’ve gotten a lot out of the other interns. For example, last night I had around a 30 minute debate with someone. I was trying to argue the reasoning behind Clinton’s hesitance to pull out. After giving my fabulous speech, I, of course, had to add in that Obama has not won quite yet; he and his campaign need to calm down. Just like Clinton’s recent note regarding his little gathering in Iowa said, he needs to not announce his win pre-maturely. On a side note, I really laughed a lot at that note; her subtle references to recent history would have been hard for anyone to overlook. I wish I could summarize fun things like that for our website. However, here at Project Vote Smart, we “leave our politics at the door.”

Over tonight’s dinner, I lost in the fifth round of a nerd-off. The first four were easy: Harry Reid is the current Senate Majority leader, the President shares with the Senate the power to make treaties and appointments, Kennedy was released today from the hospital after his biopsy uncovered a malignant brain tumor, and Ferraro was the first female to be elected to a major party’s presidential ticket. Round five was rough: What year did Minnesota go RED in a Presidential election? I was so mad. I even had to talk about it this past semester in a presentation I did over Johnson for Hoffman’s Modern Presidency. Whatever; who wants to be nerdy enough to dominate in the world of nerds??

In short, I’ve learned a lot this week. Next week, I will avoid moose territory, be sure to do some bed-time reading over American history, and climb the nearest ‘hill’ so that my cell phone connects to the nearest Verizon tower…I’m sure my mother would love a phone call from the middle-of-nowhere.

Cellar Door

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Experience Journal - WEEK 1

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

A Packing Adventure

Blog Archive

About Me