As mentioned before, last week was great.
The focus, via my teacher, was The Presidency. We heard from every realm of the political spectrum: White House biographers, staffers, speech writers, and analysts. Once I get around to it, I'll post more specifics, but I believe we heard from two great speakers. Amazing eloquence and wise words. Just all over, a great week.
Somehow this week has already started and is logistically almost over, as far as classes go (tomorrow is Roshashana = we will not have class, and that leaves Wednesday aka one speaker and a class simulation). Long days, but interesting all the same...
I love to be able to draw connections between classes and experiences and make pragmatic use of school. I do not want to learn about Plato's political philosophy just because some head of a department thinks it is important. A basic overview is fine, but a whole quarter devoted to it is a little ridiculous. In my opinion.
SO today, within the past hour, we finished class. We had a speaker from the US Park Service/Police. He has dealt with everything in the department... Homicides, drug crimes, burglaries and robberies. Really interesting stuff, regardless of what specific political aspect one wants to focus on (although he made a point that no one has needles in their cars except for drugs "no diabetic has syringes lying around their car"... Obviously, he hasn't seen my car/room/purse/gym locker).
I am taking a class on American U's main campus entitled Justice and Public Policy. For this class, we have to "complete a 10 page paper in which you research the environmental causes and initial consequences of a justice related public policy".
Well. I've always been interested in criminal justice. Law and Order. NYPD Blue. JAG. Some other great show back in the day about advocates for justice. Most recently, in a California Politics class last quarter, I found it interesting that California has marijuana laws that undermine the federal laws. Why? What makes weed in the Bay different from weed in the Nation's Capitol? As I learned today, the suppliers in DC = gangs. Pretty sure most weed is provided via clubs, who receive their product from the hills of Humboldt County and the happy hippies chillin' in their trees. That is a major difference right there.
I was originally going to write my paper on the Three Strikes law (I hate to reference Wiki, but it's the most basic/reader friendly), but I've found (in the past hour) that the Three Strikes law almost directly ties in to the decriminalization of marijuana. There seems to be a lot of variance with both issues, but Three Strikes may be stickier because of many factors. Who knows. What I do know is I have a lot of research to get on.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
....
Not totally relavent, but I've had a lot of "Wellll DUH" moments recently.
1. I was getting my latte from Starbucks this morning just before heading in to my internship (yay, classes are over for the week!).. The woman in front of me was pretty heavy-set in a near-obese/very-unhealthy kind of way. She ordered a venti, seven-pump, skim chai tea latte and a butter croisant. She continued to pester the barista, double and triple checking that her chai tea was made with skim milk. The amount of calories and fat in a skim venti versus a 2% venti is not significant. This woman had just shoved a butter croissant in her purse, and was then worried about the fat content of the milk in her chai?? I am so glad restaurants are going to be required to post nutritional information for people to view (at least in California), but that doesn't mean people will understand what to do with those numbers. There needs to be education before anything else. DUH.
2. This article. MAJOR "wellllll duh" for the last sentence especially. Seriously. Any diabetic should know this. And if they don't, they need to get a new doctor faster than you can say "the ADA sucks".
3. Honking doesn't help. Traffic was horrific tonight. It took me one hour to get home. It usually takes mayyyybe 20 minutes. My bus was late. Cars were continuously blocking the intersection which led to cars honkning. And honking. And honking. Just laying on the horn and freaking out. Incessant. So, my resolution/lesson from today: honking doesn't help. Duh. Yes, it feels good to let the other idiot drivers know you're upset, but it really doesn't help.
4. Grey's Anatomy is THE shit. Le duh. I don't know what people are talking about when they say it has fallen off. This show is absolutely amazing.
5. America is fat. People write this in newspaper and report it on the local news. But look around. Duh duh duh duhhhh. America is fat. There were three people on my bus tonight taking up two seats each. It's incredibly sad, more than anything else. Once again, it's a education issue more than anything else. Society must work from the ground up. Maybe the next generations will be better off...?
6. This city is amazing. Stuff gets done. Legislation gets passed (sometimes). (Some) People get help. It is absolutely amazing. DUH.
My week has been pretty good. We had fantastic speakers this week, I'll write about them later.
Preview:
1. I was getting my latte from Starbucks this morning just before heading in to my internship (yay, classes are over for the week!).. The woman in front of me was pretty heavy-set in a near-obese/very-unhealthy kind of way. She ordered a venti, seven-pump, skim chai tea latte and a butter croisant. She continued to pester the barista, double and triple checking that her chai tea was made with skim milk. The amount of calories and fat in a skim venti versus a 2% venti is not significant. This woman had just shoved a butter croissant in her purse, and was then worried about the fat content of the milk in her chai?? I am so glad restaurants are going to be required to post nutritional information for people to view (at least in California), but that doesn't mean people will understand what to do with those numbers. There needs to be education before anything else. DUH.
2. This article. MAJOR "wellllll duh" for the last sentence especially. Seriously. Any diabetic should know this. And if they don't, they need to get a new doctor faster than you can say "the ADA sucks".
3. Honking doesn't help. Traffic was horrific tonight. It took me one hour to get home. It usually takes mayyyybe 20 minutes. My bus was late. Cars were continuously blocking the intersection which led to cars honkning. And honking. And honking. Just laying on the horn and freaking out. Incessant. So, my resolution/lesson from today: honking doesn't help. Duh. Yes, it feels good to let the other idiot drivers know you're upset, but it really doesn't help.
4. Grey's Anatomy is THE shit. Le duh. I don't know what people are talking about when they say it has fallen off. This show is absolutely amazing.
5. America is fat. People write this in newspaper and report it on the local news. But look around. Duh duh duh duhhhh. America is fat. There were three people on my bus tonight taking up two seats each. It's incredibly sad, more than anything else. Once again, it's a education issue more than anything else. Society must work from the ground up. Maybe the next generations will be better off...?
6. This city is amazing. Stuff gets done. Legislation gets passed (sometimes). (Some) People get help. It is absolutely amazing. DUH.
My week has been pretty good. We had fantastic speakers this week, I'll write about them later.
Preview:
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I got somethin' to lose, so I gotta move
I finished my paper with enough time to make it to campus and turn it in. How ridiculous is that?? I had to go all the way to school, turn in my hard copy, and then return to Capitol Hill to attend a Senate Hearing (webcast here), yay.
Let's take a minute to explain what it is I'm doing here...
I have my Washington Semester Program class Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We have to keep time from 8am to 5pm free for this class. Sometimes we start at 10:30, and sometimes we get up early early and meet at 8:45. It hasn't been much earlier than that though. From my syllabus = "The purpose of the Washington Semester Program in American National Government is to provide you with an empirical understanding of how Washington works on a daily basis. During the semester you will be meeting with political practitioners and policymakers--both elected and unelected--who influence legislation, execute decisions, resolve disputes and help others win electoral office. The semester will help you unravel some of the mysteries behind the complexity of the government as you learn first-hand about 'practical politics'." So far, we've met with politicians from both sides of the aisle. We've spent this morning and Monday morning in the Cannon House Office Building. Over and over again, I can see myself here. Working. Living. Thriving. The heat is a little out of hand, but everything else is amazing.
When we aren't meeting people on the Hill, they meet us on Tenley campus. It's about 5 to 10 minutes walking to Union station then a 20 minute ride on the Metro (subway) and 5 minutes walking to campus. 30 minutes commuting definitely isn't bad, but it also isn't walking across the street like living at Stucco (haha!).
I'm also taking a Justice and Public Policy class on American U's main campus. We had our first meeting on Monday... My teacher is hilarious and really knows what he's talking about aka the best kind of teacher out there. He works in the industry he teaches about. Firsthand experience is better than what anyone can resight to you out of a book. I don't know what else to say about this class yet, but hopefully it will turn out to be a good experience. I just have to make sure SCU gives me credit for it...
On Thursday and Friday I have my internship. INTERNSHIP!! So major. Exactly what I care about. The whole point in coming out here was seeing if this is really what I'm interested... If this is something I can see myself doing this forever and ever, until the end of time. And so far, it is. I do a lot of grunt work (compiling news clips every morning and then photocopying enough for each person in the office to get one, then putting them in their mailboxes), but I know what I do helps everything. The little things really do make a difference. It's so hard to see sometimes, especially when you're focused on the bigger picture and end results... But I know I'm making a difference and that's all that really matters.
I have to get to campus for class, but I'll write about what my actual internship is later. It's amazing though. Haha. I look forward to Thursdays more than I look forward to the weekends! What a nerd, huh?
PS - I'm watching BET right now (go ahead and laugh), 106&Park from yesterday and they're talking about registering and voting, regardless of who you think you'll vote for. Which is very admirable. I feel like media has always been very biased. Very very. And the fact that this dude just made that point... I don't know what else to say, but that's great that he is making that point.
PPS - I really want to see The Express: The Ernie Davis Story. The dude that plays Ernie is the same one from Finding Forrester, which was my favorite movie everrrr when it came out.
Let's take a minute to explain what it is I'm doing here...
I have my Washington Semester Program class Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We have to keep time from 8am to 5pm free for this class. Sometimes we start at 10:30, and sometimes we get up early early and meet at 8:45. It hasn't been much earlier than that though. From my syllabus = "The purpose of the Washington Semester Program in American National Government is to provide you with an empirical understanding of how Washington works on a daily basis. During the semester you will be meeting with political practitioners and policymakers--both elected and unelected--who influence legislation, execute decisions, resolve disputes and help others win electoral office. The semester will help you unravel some of the mysteries behind the complexity of the government as you learn first-hand about 'practical politics'." So far, we've met with politicians from both sides of the aisle. We've spent this morning and Monday morning in the Cannon House Office Building. Over and over again, I can see myself here. Working. Living. Thriving. The heat is a little out of hand, but everything else is amazing.
When we aren't meeting people on the Hill, they meet us on Tenley campus. It's about 5 to 10 minutes walking to Union station then a 20 minute ride on the Metro (subway) and 5 minutes walking to campus. 30 minutes commuting definitely isn't bad, but it also isn't walking across the street like living at Stucco (haha!).
I'm also taking a Justice and Public Policy class on American U's main campus. We had our first meeting on Monday... My teacher is hilarious and really knows what he's talking about aka the best kind of teacher out there. He works in the industry he teaches about. Firsthand experience is better than what anyone can resight to you out of a book. I don't know what else to say about this class yet, but hopefully it will turn out to be a good experience. I just have to make sure SCU gives me credit for it...
On Thursday and Friday I have my internship. INTERNSHIP!! So major. Exactly what I care about. The whole point in coming out here was seeing if this is really what I'm interested... If this is something I can see myself doing this forever and ever, until the end of time. And so far, it is. I do a lot of grunt work (compiling news clips every morning and then photocopying enough for each person in the office to get one, then putting them in their mailboxes), but I know what I do helps everything. The little things really do make a difference. It's so hard to see sometimes, especially when you're focused on the bigger picture and end results... But I know I'm making a difference and that's all that really matters.
I have to get to campus for class, but I'll write about what my actual internship is later. It's amazing though. Haha. I look forward to Thursdays more than I look forward to the weekends! What a nerd, huh?
PS - I'm watching BET right now (go ahead and laugh), 106&Park from yesterday and they're talking about registering and voting, regardless of who you think you'll vote for. Which is very admirable. I feel like media has always been very biased. Very very. And the fact that this dude just made that point... I don't know what else to say, but that's great that he is making that point.
PPS - I really want to see The Express: The Ernie Davis Story. The dude that plays Ernie is the same one from Finding Forrester, which was my favorite movie everrrr when it came out.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I keep thinkin' in a moment that time will take them away..
Back to the blog.
I should be writing my paper. I'm leaving for the Metro at 7:55am. SWEET. I literally only have quotes and headings. A fantastic looking cover page. Oh oh! And my great appendix, complete with TWO charts full of polling data. Of course, if I attempted to hand this in, right now, I'm pretty sure my professor would laugh at me. Toss his head back, and laugh. Joke. Haha, funny?
No. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what my problem is. I'm not fucking stupid. I know a due date is a due date. Especially here, my professors have made it pretty clear that late = no consequence is mentioned becacuse it.just.does.NOT.happen.
Now that my diabetes is pretty well under control, I have no scape goat. No excuse. I just find something else to do (laundry), then look up more sources, find something else to do (fold laundry), then find a chart and organize my footers.. Then look for Citizen Cope tickets. For October 15th. Not a pressing matter, nonetheless I find time for it.
And here I am now. Writing in my blog. I'm going to stop and exert my energy elsewhere.
What's really bad about this. Like, the worst. Is that I really care about this paper. This is something I am highly interested and involved in. This is what I want my life to be. Basically. I am in the process of living my dream, and I can't even work for it.
DAMN.
I should be writing my paper. I'm leaving for the Metro at 7:55am. SWEET. I literally only have quotes and headings. A fantastic looking cover page. Oh oh! And my great appendix, complete with TWO charts full of polling data. Of course, if I attempted to hand this in, right now, I'm pretty sure my professor would laugh at me. Toss his head back, and laugh. Joke. Haha, funny?
No. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what my problem is. I'm not fucking stupid. I know a due date is a due date. Especially here, my professors have made it pretty clear that late = no consequence is mentioned becacuse it.just.does.NOT.happen.
Now that my diabetes is pretty well under control, I have no scape goat. No excuse. I just find something else to do (laundry), then look up more sources, find something else to do (fold laundry), then find a chart and organize my footers.. Then look for Citizen Cope tickets. For October 15th. Not a pressing matter, nonetheless I find time for it.
And here I am now. Writing in my blog. I'm going to stop and exert my energy elsewhere.
What's really bad about this. Like, the worst. Is that I really care about this paper. This is something I am highly interested and involved in. This is what I want my life to be. Basically. I am in the process of living my dream, and I can't even work for it.
DAMN.
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