Paycheck Fairness Act

 Even though I am no longer with NOW, I am still following their actions.  Last week Congress failed to receive the 60 votes necessary for the Paycheck Fairness Act to pass for final consideration.  All Republicans voted against it leaving the final vote 52-47.

This piece of legislation will ensure that salary differences between men and women are not gender-related.  It also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information.

During my time at NOW, I was part of weekly conference calls regarding this bill.  We worked on targeting key senators.  

It's been fun DC

Along with Jenny, I had my last day of work this week.  I will truly miss NOW.  I had a wonderful experience with wonderful people.  Like Helen, I stayed on a few extra weeks so I was the only intern, which meant I got to do even more around the office.  I really could see myself there but not for awhile at least.

Being in DC truly has changed my views on quite a few things.  Not sure if that is a good thing or not, but I definitely have a better sense of my views on things.  I look forward to carrying these new discoveries back with me to Illinois.  Hopefully, I can put them to good use.

I will deeply miss DC.  I have had a great time and really don't want to go.  I am still waiting to hear back from the American Association of University Women about a job as the Illinois campus organizer.  If I do not get this position, I am not sure what I will be doing back in Illinois.  I may reach other to my local officials.

Hope everyone is enjoying the rest of May!

My Last Day

Hi all,
Today is the last day of my internship and so far it has been splendid. I woke up this morning and got coffee at Bourbon, a local coffee shop in Foggy Bottom, with a friend. Then picked up some breakfast at a Georgetown Cafe I've been meaning to try all semester and strolled into work 10 minutes early (pretty big deal for me :)).

Yesterday there was a goodbye party for me and another intern. We had a pizza lunch where everyone sat around together and shared very interesting college stories :). Today is laid back, there is a lot to do but not in a stressful way. I'm enjoying my last bit of time seeing and hanging out with my co-workers, who have really treated me great since I've been here.

Reflecting on my internship, while it hasn't been exactly what I expected and there have been many a dull days, overall I am grateful for the people I was able to work with and the international government officials I was able to meet and spend time with. I feel like I made a contribution to the ILI and that they truly appreciated me, so no regrets.

I am currently still in the process of looking for a summer internship (preferably paid as my stipend is running low) but anything will do. I would really like to stay in DC. I've made good friends and have started to like it a lot here. Also, some people are going to be joining me for the summer!!!! (if i stay that is). So if you know of anything please send it my way, thanks.

-jenny

May Already?!

Hey all,

Hope everyone is doing great! I can't believe that it's already May. How time flies!

I'm still loving my work at the Sierra Club. I think in an earlier blog I mentioned that I was working on designing a new Sierra Club campaign called Campuses Beyond Oil. We've been putting a tremendous amount of work in to our campaign plan and it's been an amazing learning experience. Yesterday, we presented our plan to the team and will be spending the rest of the week figuring out the kinks. It's really exciting to be a part of this campaign at the design level and I can't wait to see the success!

Next month I will move back to half time at the Sierra Club and work the other half of the time in Congresswoman Betty Sutton's office. I'm excited to get the opportunity to work in a Congresswoman's office and see the juxtaposition of non-profit work to government work. Hopefully I'll be able to see which one suits me better.

Can't believe all of our friends will be graduating this weekend!

-Marla 

Happy 2 Days after Cinco De Mayo?! haha

Hey!!

Soo last week was pretty eventful! Even though this is unrelated to my internship, on Wednesday I went to the Council on Global Affairs' event with Madaleine Albright, former secretary of state. That woman is hilarious and really inspiring. I was being pretty lazy at first and didn't want to go, but I'm glad that I decided to go. Our office held one of its first workshops, which was hosted by me! I really hate public speaking and was not looking forward to it, but most of the people who attended were clients that I had previously worked with, so I was a lot more comfortable than I expected to be. Overall, it was a success and our clients had great dialogue and feed back. I have also been catching the train the past few days; traffic has been TERRIBLE because of some on-going construction. I was pretty afraid to catch the train alone, but it's not that bad after all. Plus, I keep my mase, so I should be ok (haha). 

Last week was formally my last week in the office, but I decided to stay until this Thursday. I head back to Champaign on Friday to graduate (finally)!!!!! The office is pretty empty because we are transitioning into the summer term and the new interns/volunteers have not started yet, so basically there a only a few volunteers in the office because the official end date was last Friday. The clients have been really frustrated with this, but they understand that we are students; it's just kind of awkward explaining to the clients who come in on a weekly basis that we won't be able to schedule them appointments until June! :/

On a lighter note, I saw "The Avengers" this weekend- loved it! 


Talk to you guys soon, and enjoy the duration of your internships!

Lonely intern!

Hello everyone! I haven't been on for a while, and I deleted a lot of info from my past blogs because I got a scare again. My internship officially ended May 4th, last Friday, but I extended until the 18th. Interning part time. Which is more like full time. The office is empty of interns, and I AM LONELY. But the last couple of weeks were amazing, I met some incredible people, and I'll miss the interns like crazy. I'm already missing them! That's all I have to share for now, hope all's well with the rest of you!

Manhunt!!

Hi All!!

One of my big projects for this semester was research and working on my boss's new book MANHUNT!

Check him out on the Daily Show! He was on a few days ago

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-may-3-2012/peter-bergen

Cheers,

_Eric

CLP Alum

This past weekend Marla and I had the opportunity to meet up with two past CLP alums, Samantha and Allison.  They were from the 08 class so they were the second CLP class.  It was interesting to see what has changed since their class and what is still the same.  They also gave us advice for the thesis.  Don't worry we will share.  It was also interesting to hear what they have been doing since CLP.  Samantha actually worked in my town for awhile before moving out to DC.  She now works for Congresswoman Janice Hahn, and Allison works for the DC Council.  I also found out that I have been corresponding with a CLP alum the whole semester and had no idea.  A past alum also worked for NOW and now serves as the president of Chicago NOW.  One of my job is to keep track of our chapters so I correspond quite frequently with presidents.  What a small world!

CLP may not be the biggest grad program out there, but we do have a lot of great alums who really care about us and our success.

Hope everyone had a great Cinco de Mayo!

Now for THIS Week’s Post...

This week was a very eventful one for me, which is nice because it is my final week here at Niagara.  On Tuesday I went down to Springfield for the Niagara Foundations annual Intercultural Reception.  We set up a bunch of cool Turkish pottery, there was a Turkish band playing, and a guy who would write your name in Turkish script (this was incredible, I got one for everyone in my family haha).  After some mingling with members of the Illinois General Assembly, there was food served in Jesse White’s office, which is ridiculously huge by the way.  After the food, there was a brief presentation of awards to various people, and Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan was the emcee.  I was able to talk to him for a few minutes and we shared a few stories about our individual trips to Turkey.  Then we had to pack everything we brought back into a rental van and drive home to Chicago.  I was given yesterday off since we got home around 1:30 AM that night, so I was able to do so much needed LSAT practice.  I’m really looking forward to get this thing over with.  Anyone else taking it June 11th?

Today, the Consul General of Israel is coming in to speak about current events in Israel, which I think will be very interesting with heightening tensions with Iran.  I’ll let you guys know how this event today goes in my next post.

P.S. - I just ate a chocolate donut, and it was delicious.

- Joey

Last Week’s Post

Hey Guys,

I am using the post for last week since I forgot to post, and this week’s will come immediately after (I know you’re pretty excited about that).  So last week Lori Healey, the Director of the NATO hosting committee stopped by the office for one of Niagara’s Morning Conversations.  These days are especially brutal because I have to be at work by 7 AM, which means I’m waking up at around 4:45 AM.  Anyway, it was nuts when she got here, and cameras from ABC, NBC, and Fox were here along with multiple newspapers.  Her presentation was pretty basic and short, and she was in and out of the office pretty quickly.  She address security issues, traffic control, etc. surrounding the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago.  I did get to interview her once she was done speaking though, which was pretty cool.  Other than that, the week was pretty uneventful except for my continued efforts on the Abrahamic Tent Initiative, which I told you guys about in one of my previous posts.  Hope all is well! See you in a few months!

Wal-Mart Protest and Unite Against the War on Women rally

First off, happy May everyone!  Can't believe it is May.  I feel like I just arrived in DC, and in a few short weeks, I'll be heading back to Illinois.  DC has been a great time.  So glad that I moved out here, and I can definitely see myself moving back out here in a few years.

Last week was both slow and busy at NOW.  Right now a lot of staff and officers are on vacation, because our annual conference is at the end of June, and they will not be able to take off when it gets closer.

On Thursday, we did partake in action with local workers' groups.  We have never been big fans of Wal-Mart since we don't believe they give their associates enough benefits.  Therefore, when allegations of Wal-Mart bribery in Mexico surfaced in the New York Times, we were all over it.  We, along with ally groups, protested a Marriot Hotel, because Arnie Sorenson aka Mr.Marriot is on the board of directors for Wal-Mart.  We are asking that Mike Duke and Rob Walton of Wal-Mart step down as well as stop construction of Wal-Mart stores in DC until a full federal investigation has taken place.  Needless to say, the protest got pretty intense.  Never have I seen so many security guards.

Anyways, this past weekend was also the Unite Against the War on Women Rally.  Rallies were held in 47 locations across the nation.  My boss spoke at the one in DC.  The DC rally had an array of speakers that ranged from men to women to transgender people to Catholics, atheists, and people of other faiths.  I truly enjoyed the rally.  It was upbeat and inspiring, and nice to see what you are working for.

Blahhh

Hellooooo everyone!


Sooo last week, not too much happened around the office, other than the fact that it was really busy. There really isn't much that I can say about the past week. Oh, there was this client who came in who didn't speak English, and I instantly panicked. I'm always very nervous about using my Spanish skills in real life situations! All of our volunteers who speak Spanish were in meetings, but I managed to maneuver through the conversation (haha)! On Saturday we had this volunteer appreciation event, which included pizza and cake! So, I was excited about that! Well, I need to get back to work, so I will talk to everyone soon. Have a good week :)

Woah!! Hey-oh! New layout for the Blogg... I am not exactly sure how to feel about this.... or how to use if for that matter...

On to the residency... Things have slowed down considerably as the approach to the end of the intern program at New America. I helped screen the new interns, and I have to say, I do not think I would have stood a chance to getting a spot at NAF for the summer had I never worked there. The competition is incredibly rough, especially during the summer.

One of the things that contributed to the smaller workload is the release of Peter's new book. It has been very exciting seeing how everything comes together. He is scheduled to travel extensively to promote the book-- he kicked off with the cover story of Time Magazine. Pick a copy if you get a chance, it is fantastic article... I am pretty sure he will be on John Stewart to promote the book as well..

Welp! Until next time!!

INSPIRE summit!

Hey everyone!

I've been so bad at this blog lately... my apologies. Around this time last month things started getting crazy. My sister came to visit, then another friend came and we did some traveling around Scandinavia, and then my research got hectic. I'm actually writing this from the Illini Union, as I'm currently on campus for the INSPIRE summit, a conference between Swedish universities and UIUC. Yesterday morning I gave a presentation on my research, so I've spent the last couple weeks in Sweden preparing intensively for that, and flew onto campus last weekend. Being back is strange, but pretty exciting. This Sunday, I'll be on a plane back to Stockholm!

The conference has been amazing. Last night I elbowed my way into the VIP dinner, where I ate fancy food with the U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Chancellor Wise, and the Presidents of three Swedish universities, among other really interesting attendees. I talked up CLP to lots and lots of people.

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on my residency, but I'll update more extensively (with pics!) very soon!

I love reading about everyone's awesome semesters! Excited to see you all again. If any of you are on campus this week, let me know!

Mel

Happy Monday!

Last week was amazing! Sunday was our last training of the year, and to my surprise, all of the graduating seniors were honored and congratulated. At the end we all reflected on our experience with LIFT, and it actually got pretty emotional. It was all bitter sweet because so many of us won't be returning next semester, including one of our supervisors! Thursday was our LIFT-Chicago Annual Benefit, and I was the only intern invited (shhh, don't tell anyone) Haha. It was really nice, and I got to meet the founder of LIFT. It was held at this place called Salvage One, which is like the coolest venue ever, seriously! Aside from the awkward mingling, the food was great and I was excited to get dressed up! Saturday we went to a Cub's game. The tickets were donated to us, so all of the volunteers were invited and so did our clients who were super excited! The seats were perfect, the weather was great, and the Cubs won! Soo yea, last week was cool. Hope everyone has a good week! :)

Pictures from the event. Don't be lazy, click the link! (=

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liftcommunities/6950015328/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/liftcommunities/7096090517/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/liftcommunities/7096090739/

White House Garden Tour

Thanks to Helen I was able to get a tour of the White House gardens this weekend.  Jenny and I were both able to go and bring friends.  I actually saw where the president plays basketball.  Well, the court was enclosed by evergreens, but I like to think I saw where he plays.  It was truly a fantastic day complete with my first ever vegan meal, which wasn't half bad.

This past Tuesday was Equal Pay Day so I attended two events for that.  Then on Wednesday, I attended a fantastic panel at the Wilson Center that focused on women's leadership in the Middle East.  The speakers were from Oman, UAE, and Egypt.  The panelists were successful business and diplomat leaders in their countries.  I also attended a briefing on VAWA, Violence Against Women Act.  Futures Without Violence sponsored the briefing that focused on the health effects of children exposed to violence in the home.  Not only do these children suffer short-term effects like asthma or bed wetting, they are more likely to suffer from obesity,  depression, and chronic heart failure.  Children who live in abused homes live in fear; therefore, their bodies are constantly in fight or flight mode, which puts more stress on their body and brains.  The temporal lobes of their brain, which control emotions, do not fully developed, because their brain stem is working overtime.  Therefore, America will save money if it reauthorizes VAWA, because we will not have to pay for these long-term effects.  

Easter Egg Roll!

Hey y'all! I've been bad about blogging, but I'm back and I can hear all of you cheering. Yeah.

Work's been amazing. Life outside work has been amazing. I did the Easter Egg Roll. It was pimpin. Otherwise I have no idea what to talk about that would be appropriate to talk about. So here are some pics.

RELATIONS

Sooo! I thought I would muse for a moment on an event we had today, though I can't say much about it...

We had an event with many military leaders from a partner country regarding stability of their region. It was an open dialogue, conversational, type setting with American security experts...essentially, the partner country wanted honest, candid remarks from the Americans on how to improve ties.

It was fascinating to see the interaction, and it was particularly evident that both sides wanted to talk on an open forum and make things better-- for peace and stability.

Just a small anecdote-- it is really refreshing to see both sides come together and hash things out for real change and improvement. -- Definitely an enriching experience.

Cheers,

_Eric

Equal Pay Day

Today is Equal Pay Day, which means today women have finally earned what their male counterparts earned in 2011.  Women earn 77 cents per dollar that men earn; therefore, women have to work an extra 600 hours to make up that difference.  The wage gap is even larger for women in color.  The wage gap also appears in all fifty states and the district.  The district has the smallest wage gap with women making 91 cents for every dollar men make.  Wyoming has the largest wage gap with women making about 67 cents for every dollar men make.  One way to reduce the wage gap is to raise the minimum and  sub-minimum wage.  The federal sub-minimum wage or the wage for tipped workers is 2.13.  Can you believe that?  That has been the set wage for 21 years now.  Now, of course, restaurants are supposed to pay the difference if a worker's tips do not equal the minimum wage, but sadly, this usually doesn't happen.  Therefore, try to imagine raising a family on 2.13.  I would imagine it would have been hard to do back in 1991.  Now with the rising costs of food, rent, and gas I would expect it to be damn near impossible.  Fortunately, a lot of states have a higher sub-minimum wage than 2.13.  Illinois', for instance, is over $5.  Unfortunately, some states have actually seen new legislation to reduce their sub-minimum wage back to 2.13, the federal standard.  These workers spend all day preparing and serving food to others but cannot afford to prepare and serve food to their own families.  Crazy, crazy, crazy!

Back in DC

Hi All,
Things are going really well, I am avidly searching for a paid summer internship so I can afford to stay in DC! I was in St. Louis and Champaign this past week for Passover and an EU Center conference. Both of which were great! Going to Champaign was lovely, but made me realize how much I enjoy DC. Yesterday was a great day I jumped right back into the swing of things at work and after that went to meet up with Helen for our weekly yoga class and afterward went to watch the Capitals game which we both care oo soo much about... that is sarcasm (thought i would point it out to be extra clear :)) Although the Wizards played the Bulls last night and actually won if anyone cares, kinda shocking cuz the Wizards suck.  So although I was totally out of my element last night in a sports bar I can pretend I know a little something about them.

Anyways, my internship is not so exciting right now. Just a  lot of administrative tasks. I will be manning the front desk again at the end of the week, so maybe that will bring about more interesting stories. And perhaps I'll sit in on some lectures this week. Also, I hope to see some cool museums this weekend as the weather is somewhat nice and I've been missing out on my DC museum fix since I was back home soaking up the St. Louis/Champaign culture?

Anyways, sorry it's been awhile since I posted but being home hasn't given me much material.
Ciao,
Jenny

Happy Belated Easter!

Hey guys, I know I'm a few days late, not that it matters too much, but my goal WAS to stay consistent with these posts! Haha. Annnnny ways, everything around the office has been normal. Since the internship is wrapping up, it's the time of year to inform our regular clients that they won't be meeting with us anymore; it's been tough. There are about 4 or 5 clients that I meet with weekly who I have become very comfortable with. They were pretty upset when I told them the news, but were very happy that I'll be graduating. I just reassured them that the other volunteers are amazing, and will be able to help them just as much as I was able to. Speaking of the other volunteers, they really are amaaazing! We have all become like a big family, and I had not clue that we would become so close, considering I'm not very good with making "new friends." It's something that I easily overcame in this office because everyone here is just so genuine. I appreciate people like that. I hate to have to leave them, but everything must come to an end. Actually, me and another volunteer have planned a trip to go to Guatemala this summer; random, I know, but we both really want to improve on our Spanish skills. I'm soo excited! Oh yea, and another one of my clients got a job, which is awesome! I'll end on that note. Have a good weekend everyone! :)

Chicago Talks

Tomorrow the Niagara Foundation will be co-hosting an event with Roosevelt University on the subject: “What is the Future of Graduate Business Education?”.  The event will have a panel comprised of the business school deans from Roosevelt, University of Chicago, and Northern Illinois.  Despite not heading into the business world, I think it will still be a worthwhile and interesting event to attend.  Plus it gets me out of the office for a nice change of scenery.

Ramping up again!

It has been quiet in these parts lately. The fellow I work for just came back from a two or so week trip to Pakistan and lecturing in California. Since he was gone, things slowed down quite a bit. I was mostly updating our databases and running few errands. I am looking forward to some of the events that will be coming up. You can check them out at newamerica.net! They are always live streaming via webcast and very interesting to listen to.

I hope all is well!

Cheers!

More Flush Rush

I know I have already written about flushing Rush, but since he is still on the air, we still have work to do.  We have expanded our Flush Rush campaign to local chapters where Rush still airs on local stations.  A lot of our chapters are excited for this action.  Our targets are the local radio station as well as the local sponsors.  Our chapters will either hold a protest outside the station or one of the sponsors or conduct petition drives and deliver the signatures to the sponsors and station.  I am excited because we have planned an action for the national office as well.  So the last day of my internship will be spent protesting Rush Limbaugh, and I cannot think of a better way to spend my last day.  


The office is also preparing for their annual conference, which will be held in Baltimore at the end of June.  Their conference is very interesting, because it serves as the governing body of the organization.  On the last day of the conference, the members vote and discuss resolutions.    Every four years, they elect new officers.  When they say they are a grassroots organization, they are not joking.


Hope everyone at a wonderful Easter and Passover!

Falafel House!

Hello Everyone! Work is work, and I think my butt and the chair are eventually merging to become one. Work is good! Here are some pictures to distract you from noticing I have nothing to say about the internship:

Falafel House!

You weren't suppose to take pictures. Oops. 

I visited Adam's Morgan for the first time during the day, and it's grand. I walked somewhere around 8 miles on Saturday and had to put my feet up for the rest of the day. Had the best falafel of my life, went to a chocolate store called Cocova, and went into a Tibetan and African store--they had stuff they bought for like 2 cents in those country and sell here fro $30. But walking into the store is a treat itself.

Happy Passover/Easter everyone! Hope ya'lls is doing great!!!

Hey All, Sorry I've forgotten to update you all in a while. Life in DC is pretty great. Lauren and I are currently enjoying a lazy Sunday at her dorm. This last week I went to the "Good Jobs, Green Jobs" conference in Philly which was put on by the Blue-Green Alliance. The conference aimed at promoting conversation between environmental groups and the unions. As these two groups are often pinned against each other this annual conference offers an opportunity to reinforce our common ground. At work, I'm working on the preliminary recruitment and strategizing of the "Campuses Beyond Oil Campaign". This will be the parallel student campaign to the Beyond Oil Campaign. The official launch will be next fall. In my minimal free time I've been studying for the LSAT. It's been rather discouraging thus far, but hopefully the tides will turn before the June LSAT. Hope all of your internships are going well! -Marla

A Little Late...

Sorry my posts have been a little spotty, but I’m doing the best I can remembering to post in this thing every week.  I never was a big fan of blogging or journaling, but I’m trying!  Things here at Niagara have slowed down a little bit again.  I just missed the Consul General of Japan coming in on Tuesday because I was at the doctor getting a camera shoved down my nose to look for a fish bone that has been stuck in my throat since I  was in Turkey three weeks ago!  Anyway I’m helping with this brand new project at Niagara where they try to get people from the three Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) together to have dinner and create dialogue about their religion.  It seems like these dinners would be pretty interesting once they program gets going.  Right now I am plotting everyone’s addresses on a google map and putting those interested in participating in groups that include someone from each faith.  Other than that, not much is going on here at Niagara but it has still been a great experience.  I’m excited to be back in class with all of you in the fall.  See you soon!

- Joey

The ACA is here to stay

Last week the Supreme Court were hearing oral arguments about the Affordable Care Act.  Therefore, Monday through Wednesday I spent my mornings outside the Supreme Court protesting in favor of the legislation.  If you want an idea of the protestors on both sides, John Stewart has a wonderful clip on it.  Every day there were hundreds of people from all walks of life outside the court showing their support.  We were not alone.  We had company from Tea Partyers who did nothing but amused me.  They really are a special group of individuals.  Never have I seen so much American flag clothing.

If you haven't been following the ACA, I'll try to break it down for you.  Obviously, I am biased so take that into account.  Those who are opposed to the ACA see it as a violation of the Constitution because of the individual mandate that requires everyone to buy health insurance.  Some people also see it as a violation of religious liberty, because they believe it makes religious institutions and churches pay for contraception and abortion.  This is false.  Churches and places of worship are exempt, and religious institutions' insurance providers have to pay for contraception.  Those who are for it see it as equality.  Insurance companies can no longer drop people with pre-existing conditions or charge women more for the same coverage.  Obviously, this is a very narrow breakdown, and it is more complicated than this, but overall, I think it is a very good piece of legislation.  It is by no means perfect, but it is a great starting point.

Best Birthday ever.

Hello yall! I had my birthday last Monday, and it was pretty damn unique, but the week leading up to it was remarkable as well.
When I came to work Monday, I seriously had no idea that the office had conspired and made plans to surprise me for my birthday. First there was Cinnamon coffee cake, following with donuts, then Crumble's cupcakes, the a gift of Barbie and a headset, because I kept stealing my friend's set. A bunch of the people sang happy birthday to me loudly and awkwardly, but I was delighted. Later in the day was a volunteer event I had signed up for previously, and for which I drafted remarks--I volunteered because I thought that doing something like this instead of going out for my birthday was worth it. The volunteering itself was kind of neat, because I think they really didn't need us, but they wanted us to have the experience of going. I stood outside letting in important guests who I recognized on TV, but before I left for that I was informed that I'd be able to meet everyone's boss and his wife and take a picture, as a sort of happy birthday. I can't write the damn words down but I hope you can put two together. So anywho, I got to meet him and her, and I was basically terrified. I think they were also wondering why they were meeting and taking a picture with an intern--and although they were polite you could tell they were puzzled, wondering why I was there. He wished me happy birthday, and then I exited the wrong door and had to be called back to leave the right one. Exceptionally awkward.
Which is perfectly fine by me.

Happy April!

Hi! Can you guys believe it's already April? Time flew by sooo fast! Last week was a normal week. I had an over the phone interview for my assistantship position for next school year, so cross your fingers for me! I also found out that I didn't get the summer internship with the DNC. "/ Ehhh, oh well! Oh, another one of my clients got hired, and he told me that his supervisor was really impressed with his resume (pats myself on the back). This past week was also Poverty Awareness Week. The events went pretty well overall; however there was a simulation that was put together about navigating the social service world, which had to be cancelled because not enough people signed up for it. I was really looking forward to this, so I was pretty upset. Hopefully, there will be more people interested next year, and the interns make changes to how they advertise for the event. Yesterday, we had another on-going training, and our guest speaker was the director of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs from Loyola. We spoke about stereotypes and stigma, and how they affect our clients and how we relate to them. The conversation got pretty intense, but it was cool hearing everyone's point of view about stereotypes. Plus, the speaker was really nice and down to earth, which made the meeting more fun than usual

ERA

Last Thursday was the 40th anniversary of the passage of ERA in the Senate.  Unfortunately, the ERA never got ratified.  New legislation is being reintroduced to extend the deadline for three more states.

On Thursday, there was a press conference at the federal triangle, which is an area outside the Capitol.  At the event, a lot of legislators spoke about the matter as well as leaders of women organizations including Terry O'Neill, NOW president.  Afterwards, there was an event at the Sewall-Belmont House.  The Selwall-Belmont House served as the last main Hill headquarters for the National's Women Party.  It served as the main organizing center behind the initial ERA passage and a home to a lot of influential feminists including Alice Paul.

Overall, it was a pretty overwhelming experience.  Glad I got to be a part of it.

")

Hey guys!

I hope everyone is doing well. I can't believe this semester is almost over! Last week went well. As I mentioned in my last post, I was pretty much left in charge of the office for 3 days while my supervisors were training in D.C. It was very laid-back. I got to chat with my fellow interns on a more personal level, and we shared our ideas of how we feel about non for profits and the systematic improvements that our organization could use. I actually got a lot of work done, too. A lot of our clients come in wanting help with creating resumes, so I'm in the process of putting together a resume writing workshop. As much as I hate public speaking, I feel that our clients will really benefit from the workshop, so I'll put my fear aside. haha. Oh, and I almost had a little situation when this lady who was clearly mentally unstable strolled into the office, but I think that I handled it well! (O_O)

Well, I hope every one has a terrific and productive week!
")

Hello!

Hi All!

I hope everyone is doing well after the long Spring Break? ... right? ..right? Just kidding... I suppose we are all in the real world now. No more fun spring breaks, but that doesn't go for all of our friends who are still in school! I was lucky enough to have my fiancee visit in DC! I was a great weekend, and I was able to show her around the touristy side of things as well as the general residential. We walked around the Mall, visited the Spy Museum (not as good as the Newseum! I recommend the former!! no doubt). We also had a nice tour of the Capitol by one of the staffers I worked with during the summer! I was grateful for Elyse, my fiancee, to see a place we very well might be living some day! Who Knows!

But now, back to work! It has been a slow start to the week, but I will be running over to the Embassy of Pakistan today for errands. It looks like its sunny! I look forward to walking outside..though it is a bit cold, and the rain took out some of the Cherry Blossoms...

Well that's it for now!

Cheers!

_Eric

Sprinkles Cupcakes

As everyone probably knows from previous posts by other CLPers the Cherry Blossoms are out!!! And that means that when Georgetown Suites came to visit they brought us Sprinkles cupcakes Cherry Blossom edition. And they were delicious, cherry cream icing and a vanilla cake dyed green. Apparently Sprinkles cupcakes are one of Oprah's favorite things so that's exciting.

This week has been amazing! U of I is on Spring Break and that means visitors!!!! I had friends stay over Thursday night and I went in late to work Friday morning and I showed them around the Mall and we went to the Natural History Museum. On Sunday some more friends came in (drove overnight to get here) and we went to Eastern Market, got a ton of free samples and some delicious fruit and veggies. Then we went paddle boating in the tidal basin with Helen. The next couple of days were filled with eating delicious things and hanging out with my friends and I still managed to go to work amazingly enough haha (they slept late).

So what's going on at work? Same old stuff, we have a seminar going on and are preparing for another one happening in just a few weeks. I'm doing a lot of research on the causes of conflict for a seminar in October...so it's hard to get things done when there is no deadline.

Things are going pretty great, I can't believe we are over halfway through this internship!

Turkey Trip!

Hey Guys,

So to follow up with my last post in which I described how I was doing some boring data entry stuff, I have a much more exciting post this time!  The executive director of Niagara Foundation here in Chicago walked into my office on 3/6 and tells me that they appreciate the work I’ve been doing for them and ask if I want to go on the next trip to Turkey that they have planned for ten days.  Of course I said yes, and by 3/9 I was on the plane.  I’m glad I already had a passport!  It was an amazing trip and they brought James Meeks an Illinois State Senator as well as Jack Franks an Illinois State House Rep. as well as a few other lobbyists and other business people.  We went to Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, and Bursa, all in ten days!  We had multiple meetings with government agencies and we were able to watch one of the prime minister’s addresses in parliament, and got to meet him afterwards.  A bunch of the media cameras following the event swarmed us and taped us, but unfortunately I was unable to find the footage on Turkish TV.

Either way it was an awesome experience!  I can’t wait to go back there with you guys next year!  Hope all of your internships are going well and you are having as much fun as me.  You can check out all my pictures from the trip on my Facebook if you want.

Flush Rush

Last week I phone banked.  We were calling our members in Missouri between Kansas City and St. Louis to tell them about an action that was happening in the capitol.  Speaker Tilley of the Missouri House of Representatives is poised to unveil a statue of Rush Limbaugh in the State Capitol.  Our members presented the speaker with over 500 rolls of toilet paper asking him to Flush Rush.  Members who could not attend were ask to send him a sheet of toilet paper with those words on it.  Unfortunately, Tilley says he is still going to unveil the statue, which will put him in company with Mark Twain and Walt Disney, an honor he doesn't deserve.  


This weekend I went to New York City to meet up with friends.  I love that for the roundtrip it costed me less than $20.  You can't beat that.  If you are ever in NYC, you must go to the 9/11 memorial.  The design they chose could not be more appropriate.  The only thing was very overwhelming.


Hope all is well with everyone!

03/12-03/18

Hey everyone!

This past week was good, considering how beautiful the weather has been. Chicago hit record highs, 80+ days! Overall, last week was pretty simple, nothing extraordinary. One of my clients got hired at a place that I helped him apply for, which is AMAZING! Another one of my clients got called back for an interview this week, and he is seems so thankful for my help. Client service can be stressful, but those moments make the stress worthwhile. Yesterday, we had our ongoing training, and we had a guest speaker who is a Residence Program Manager at a YMCA in Evanston (I think). She was great, and she's a social worker, so her advise was very relevant to the issues that we have in our office.


From today through Wednesday, my two supervisors will be at our national office in D.C. training, so they left me in charge! This should be fun :)


Well, hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Blossoms!

Hello again everyone!

This week's internship experience was slow. Very slow. We moved offices. And I have to digitalize a quote book that looks like its 300 pages. Maybe 400. It seems like one million. Not sure but not looking forward to it. There was a tab on Christopher Columbus, all these quotes about him. He's sort of a d-bag, so I don't know why there were about 6 page of quotes from him. That was ridiculous. I'm still working on it, suppose to finish it this week but I only just got through the Cs. So that's been my work so far, at least all that I can talk about for now!

Green Fountain for St. Patty's day!

DC is GORGEOUS right now--I feel like singing in the national Mall. St Patty's was amazing, and I took a snap of the White House's green fountain.

Sunday was phenomenal as well--I paddle-boated on the tidal basin, ate an entire loaf of pesto and cheese bread, listen to poets, walked around the spring time version of DC, and frolicked in the blossoms. Enjoy the photos.

Stipend day!

Happy stipend day everyone! It's undoubtedly my favorite time of the month. I feel like Richie Rich for approximately one week, until I pay my rent and buy groceries and realize I can't find a place in this city to get a haircut for less than a hundred bucks. Then I cry and start collecting Swedish coins I find in the subway.

Work has been busy. My sister is coming to visit next week, so I've been attempting to get a lot done so I can take it easy while she's here. I've been meeting with lots of people and working on an outline for the paper I one day hope to produce from this research. I noticed this weird blotchy pattern on my left thigh about a week ago, and upon further investigation have learned it's called ''laptop leg'' a.k.a. a BURN on my LAP from having my computer sitting there so much. It's nothing serious obviously, but tells you a lot about my lifestyle here. I have since started putting my laptop on the desk, but the internet suggests this burn might stick around anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. So that's kind of scary.

I'm jealous of the warm weather everyone on facebook as been bragging about! It's definitely warmed up here, but nothing past the 40s so far. Despite thorough embarassment of my weird thigh rash, I want to start wearing dresses so so bad. Next week my sister and I will take some day trips to nearby cities, do some hiking, and other fun touristy things so I'm looking forward to that. Also in early April I'm spending a few days in Copenhagen, which I think will be a lot of fun.

Being here has made me rethink some of my future plans. I'm holding all of you to this, as you will be my support system for the next year or so--- I do not want to go to law school right away. Seriously. If you see me with an LSAT book slap it out of my hands (not that that would ever have actually been an issue). Don't let me get caught up in school again and change my mind. Okay? Okay, guys!? Taking ''time-off'' is amazing. If I can find someone who will pay me to do something cool in a unique place for a few years after my master's, I will take it. Then, and only then, will I consider law school. Please occasionally remind me of this next semester, y'all. I'm counting on you!

I'm moving in April to a place where my rent is partly covered by my department. It's a crappier location and place, but the benefit is that I will be able to afford to stay past May, which I would really love. So that's my current plan. I still don't have anywhere to live when we get back though, I keep forgetting about that. Oh well! I'm in Europe! Woo!

How to Live in Washington DC

true story. For those of you currently living in Washington DC or thinking about living in DC in the future this is pretty much what life is like :)
http://thoughtcatalog.com/2011/how-to-live-in-washington-dc/

Spring is in the air

The weather is finally getting nice in DC, and I could not be happier.  I live by a zoo so it is safe to say that is my new hangout spot.  I absolutely adore the neighborhood I live in.

Last week was an intense week.  We have been doing a lot of press lately so last week I had to enter in all of our media forms into our database.  In addition, I had to create an action kit for birth control.  An action kit is something we make for chapter leaders so that they can make better events.  So it was my job to create action events, which includes everything from making a script for talking to legislators to sample tweets.

I am going to New York City this weekend to meet up with some friends from Illinois.  I've never been so I am super excited.  I also love the fact that it costs me less than $20 roundtrip.  How crazy!

Hope all is well with everyone else! Peace, love, CLP

Spring Time Receptions

Hello friends. I hope you are all enjoying the beautiful spring weather as much as I am :) Although, I'm not sure how warm it is out in the Midwest, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Today, in DC, I walked out of my apartment wearing sandals. My feet are finally free from the confines of winter boots and closed toed shoes!

As DC starts to warm up I am warming up to DC as well. I think I can say I actually really like it here, and am exploring so much more trying to conquer at least one museum a week. As Helen wrote in her post, this past weekend was the Crime and Punishment Museum, which was awesome. We'll see what next weekend has in store. One of my coworkers (are they my coworkers if I'm interning?) was so excited that I'm exploring DC he suggested several places to go that are kind of under the radar.

I guess if I am going to make a post to our CLP Residency blog I should maybe talk about my residency for a bit. Well it is going awesomely. One of my favorite interns left last week :( to take a job as a paralegal at a law firm). But that means that I have a ton more work, which is great (except for at this very moment, which is why I'm writing this blog post). So I've been doing a bit of research (a little bit) and schmoozing a lot with our participants at fancy receptions (okay maybe just one fancy reception). That's pretty much it, nothing too crazy or exciting, mostly doing PowerPoints and summaries... Not like I'm in Turkey or anything *cough not jealous or anything *cough

You betchya.

Work has been pretty bad ass, not gunna lie. I started getting involved in some more intern projects, and that made all the difference. I could go on forever, and I've been writing it down in another file that I can share after the internship, but I don't think I'll be posting it on Google anytime soon.

I believe I have gained about 10 pounds, but with pride and immense happiness. My friend from home came to see me, and we explored DC, meaning we ate our weight in deliciousness. You HAVE to go to Bonaparte in Georgetown, a  creperie with either vegetarian, cheesy or sweet crepes. I thought I was going to start crying when I tried my carmalized peach crepe with raspberry sauce drizzle, a scoop of sorbet, covered in pistachios. It was gorgeously presented, and! I almost forgot! The coffee! Oh my gosh! Unbelievable. French press, and I'm usually not to fond of coffee--I got used to it out of habit and sleepless nights before exams--but this was a hell of an exception.


Afterwards: cupcakes. I wasn't too fond of cupcakes either--let's be honest they're usually disgusting. However, Sprinkle's red velvet with cream-cheese mixed frosting was exceptional. The fig flavored, chocolate cupcake with balsamic vinegar (yes) drizzle as well as the vegan, gluten free cupcake (yes) were eye-crossingly good.

Walked in DC during the night: glorious.
My friend, Jenny and I went to the Crime and Punishment museum: creepy and fascinating. 
Saw Game Change: frightening.
DC weather: perfect.

Hope all is well! Waiting for the cherry blossoms to come out!

Hello my friends,


How is everyone? I'm feeling pretty under the weather. For those of you not in Chicago, the weather here has been crazy, and it's making me sick! Nevertheless, it has been beautiful out, so I'll stop complaining. Last week was crazy in the office. Loyola had their Spring Break, so there were barely any volunteers in, and me and my two supervisors had to pick up the slack. I would have 5 clients a day, back to back, but it was actually pretty cool because it made the day go by fast. CRAZINESS: so we have this client who first came in a few weeks ago very stressed because she needed to move out of her apartment. She believes that people there are trying to kill her and that there is all types of witch craft going on. My supervisors spoke with our directors to come up with a work plan to give to her, and basically explaining that we cannot work with her, and refer her to a more supportive organization. She missed her scheduled meeting, so my supervisors thought that she wasn't going to come back. OH BUT SHE DID COME BACK! They sat down with her and explained everything calmly and nicely, but she completely spazzed out. She told my supervisor Matt that she thinks he is one of the men from her apartment who is trying to kill her, then she jumped from the table and screamed literally to the top of her lungs. Keep in mind, we had clients in the waiting area. I was two seconds away from calling the police, but she left on her own. Yea, pretty intense. Also, on Friday me and my two supervisors went out to lunch, and it was pretty cool hanging out with them and getting out of the office for awhile. Well, I hope this week goes by as fast as last week does. I am counting down the days until graduation!


Bye guys :]

Bad Romance Video: women's Sufferage

You all should watch it, it's really well done and pretty badass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYQhRCs9IHM

All you want to know about procurement

So work has been busy lately, but right now my supervisor is meeting with someone else and I'm in between projects, so I thought why not blog, since I neglected to do so by Sunday.

Anyways, last week I did a lot of preparation for this month's seminar on procurement, which started Monday and goes on for all of March. I also helped paint the office on Friday with all of my fellow co-workers. It was a party haha. But really  it was actually a lot of fun and some good bonding time.

So far this week I had lunch with our delegation and talked procurement in relation to the Ministry of Education in Mozambique and engineer materials in Nigeria. It was great meeting so many people from Africa, although for many, the beautiful 50 degree weather in DC was still a bit freezing. I have also been working on an assortment of projects developing a slide on culture and negotiations for a future seminar.

Overall, things are going great at the ILI and my time is spent more or less efficiently, definitely an upgrade from the first slow month of my internship. I am also beginning to learn the multiple tasks each person is working on in the office, which impresses me more and more every day.

Also, for those in DC check out the Suprasensorial exhibit at the Hirshhorn museum on the Mall. It was amazing!
 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2012/02/treat-your-senses-to-hirshhorns-new-suprasensorial-exhibition/