Fulfilling Swedish Stereotypes

Hey everyone!

I'm a little late to this week's post, but only as I've been away this weekend. On Saturday morning I left for northern Sweden with a few friends from my office, and we spent two nights in a small town called Kiruna, which is way up there near Finland's border. I was mostly hoping we would get to see the northern lights, but we had other fun winter activities planned so it was bound to be a good time anyway. 

And, it was! We stayed in a great little cabin, there was snow on snow on snow in every direction, and overall it was extremely picturesque. Saturday night, we went for a ride in a horse drawn sleigh (seriously) through nearby woods. That night, we saw the start of the lights, but they never got much beyond a faint green glow. But the ride itself was a lot of fun, and the forest was beautiful.

Sunday, we took a cab to the nearby Ice Hotel, which is what it sounds like. The whole building is made of ice, including ice sculptures, an ice bar, ice furniture, etc. The only non-ice thing as far as I saw was the reindeer pelts on the beds, which supposedly keep you very warm, should you actually stay there. I'm skeptical. That night, we borrowed kick-sleds from our camp and went for a walk/sled around the area our cabin was. I took many falls but it was a lot of fun. On our way back out of the cabin that night to hit the sauna, we were lucky to catch the lights in full swing. It was literally indescribable. I won't even try. 

Photographing them is not easy, but this was the best one I got! Me with my cabin-mates.

That was enough for me to die happy, but this morning before we left, we went dog-sledding, which was one of the most fun things ever. First of all, the dogs are SO happy and SO excited to get the chance to lug you through the snow, and they get all worked up and start howling, and won't stop until they're running, and it was adorable. We took a long ride through the wilderness of northern Sweden, which is mostly a crap-ton of snow, with evergreen forests and sloping hills in the background. We took a break with a sit around a fire in a genuine Sami teepee, and had hot drinks and learned about the culture and history of dog-sledding. At this point we got to go out and pet the dogs, or as in my case, roll around in the snow with them and get dog saliva all over your face. 

I'm too excited about this weekend to remember much about what I actually do during the week here, but I'm pretty sure work is still going great! This trip cost me a nice chunk of my monthly stipend, but it was definitely worth it! 

Mon-13-Fri17

Hi Everyone!


Things have been getting  pretty hectic in this office, and I have no idea why! This past week was extremely busy. In fact, Thursday, we had the most client meetings EVER in one day (38). I usually have one or two clients daily, but on Thursday, I had four! My clients have mainly needed resume help, which I actually enjoy doing. I also did an outreach to a shelter not to far from our office called Cornerstone. I had never been to a shelter before, so I was a little nervous as to what I should expect. The people were really nice, and seemed interested in LIFT. We visited during their lunch hour, and I was surprised to see that their food didn't look bad (smelled pretty good too)! 


Interestingly, we have been having a lot of people come into our office who seem to have mental disorders of some sort. None of us are psychologist (obviously) so this makes those interactions very   difficult. For instance, I encountered a woman who informed me that she thinks a mayor is out to kill her! In situations like that, we schedule appointments with clients to evaluate their situation a little more, than refer them out to a place better able and handling their needs. 


Sunday, we had our second annual  LIFT Chicago Regional Summit, which includes all three of the offices (Uptown, Evanstan, and Pilsen). Honestly, I was not looking forward to this because it was an all day event, and I am soooo exhausted! BUT it was really a lot of fun. I got to meet students from the other offices and learn about their clients and problems that occur at their sites. There was also good discussions about poverty and trying to find solutions to the problems that impoverished people are faced with. Plus, the food was really good! Well, I hope this week goes well, and is less chaotic than last week. On that note, hope everyone is having a wonderful time at their internships!


Adios!

Like a Rhinestone Cowboy!

Hello again everyone! The internship has been going really well, and later today something that I drafted will be presented! This week was pretty busy--helped write some blogs, helped my co-intern, helped some other interns...These blog posts really exemplify my writing skills, doesn't it!?

I'm slowly learning more, doing more, and getting the hang of things. Last week I felt really productive, and I'm always happier when I'm busy doing something.  I have been worried that I haven't been able to contribute, or that I'm being an annoying intern, and sometimes when I make mistakes I wonder why armagedon didn't happen and strike me dead right on the spot. After talking with a former intern about her experience,  I am confident that any doubts I feel I need to get over, and this experience will be totally worth it in the end.

By far the best part of the internship, however, are the other interns. Mostly, I'm mostly impressed and really happy to be surrounded by such warm, hilarious and supportive interns. I'm getting to know them all better, and our relationships have greatly evolved. When we first introduced ourselves, it was very cordial and professional. All firm handshakes and questions about which department? Where? Which school? The usual intern questions that you forget four seconds after you ask, so at the time I was feeling uncomfortable and never thought I'd be able to warm up to anyone. Well, now I know one of the interns salsa dances, another raps in Italian and beat-boxes, a third lives in an exotic house inspired by Jewish and Jamaican art and has his resident's rooms named after deceased relatives, and everyone seems pretty awesome in their own quirky ways. And some of these interns, as my co-intern describes it well, are the eerily nicest people we've met. I got sick on Friday, and another intern saw me when I was distressed, so this morning she  made cookies, which is brilliant because food is usually my therapy replacement.

Most significantly, my co-intern is pretty awesome to say the least, and we have a rather abusive and loving relationship. He's a great worker, with tremendous intern experience that makes me blush when we compare resumes, but he's super down to earth, delightfully spastic, and usually flashes his calves to me about 5 times a day when he's pulling up his socks. I'm really considering getting him sock suspenders because its starting to irritate me when we'll be talking and suddenly he just puts his leg up and dramatically pulls up his pant leg up to his knee and then tugs at his socks. I mean, seriously. They'll be separating us sometime soon because they've finished construction after forever and 5 days. Soon, instead of being jamed in the corner, Ryan and I will have some breathing room but I won't be able to turn around and tell Ryan what a Rhinestone cowboy he is, or steal his food, or whisper profanities in his direction, which I don't really know how to handle at this point.

I'll keep you all updated on the details! I've also been exploring DC, being the typical tourist, and I can't wait for next Saturday to continue my touring. I really want to get a library card to the Library of Congress just to be pretentious, and I also can't wait for the end of March for the cherry blossoms! That's all for now, toodles!

Happy Oscar Night!

Since Congress gets the whole week off for Presidents' Day, it was a slower week at NOW.  We had some excitement with the recent Virginia legislation that is making laughs on SNL and the Daily Show.  You should really check it out if you need a good laugh.  Other than that I have been getting ready for this upcoming week.  With Congress back in session, there is going to be some intense votes this week plus some fantastic hearings.  It also is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week so we are having a Tweet Chat on Wednesday.  Let me know if you want to participate.  It should be fun.


Other than that nothing too exciting is going on.  My roommates are all from JMU and are here with their school similar to Illinois in Washington.  Last weekend they had extra tickets to see the Separation at the National Geographic Society.  If you are looking for a good movie, check it out.  Very different than what we are used to and a great insight into a different culture.

Nigeria!

Hi all,
So this week has been great and crazy so far. For those of you who have heard me complain about my internship....it's been a nice change of pace. Our receptionist is out this week and we have a group of 12 Nigerians in from the Nigerian National Assembly (equivalent to our Congress/Senate). They are very interesting people with a lot of strong personalities. While I have been taking on a lot of the responsibilities of the receptionist I have also had a lot of opportunity to interact with the Nigerian delegation.

Yesterday I escorted them to lunch and on a tour of the Capitol, which culminated in a meeting with the Architecht of the Capitol. I learned a lot about how the Nigerian government and society works. They were particularly fascinated that the government officials did not make (relatively) a lot of money. I was explaining to them that politicians aren't paid as well in the U.S. as people who work on Wall Street or for a corporation.

Today there was a lecture from Tom Davis a former representative and chairman in the House. He discussed the inner workings of politics and the reason why politicans act the way they do and how he was able to continuously get reelected in a Democratic district as a Republican. He also discussed the Katrina investigative report that he sponsored and help wrote even though it was against his party. I thought this was an important point to make because he discusses how politicians must admit when they are wrong for the better of our country in order to learn lessons from these mistakes. While he emphasized the majority of time politicans think first what is best for their party and only second what is best for the country, in real times of crises they are able to think past party lines.

Cheers,
Jenny

Feb 13-17

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their internships so far. I am becoming really comfortable in the office, which has made everything a lot easier. Last week was pretty good. We held a voter registration drive for our clients or for anyone else who wanted to register to vote in the primary on March 20, and I registered myself, too :) There wasn't a big turnout (surprise, surprise), but most of our clients were already registered, so we couldn't complain too much about that. Another volunteer and myself are working on creating pamphlets/brochures for our clients to inform them about the important issues of the upcoming elections. We also did a community outreach to an organization titled Asian Human Services, which offers services to immigrants, refugees, and citizens with health care, employment, and education. We basically educated people there about LIFT. The people were nice and very interested in the services that we provide!


OH YEA! At one of my meetings last week, I had a new client who was interested in finding housing. He was an older, white male with a PHD, which is a rarity for our clients, and he informed me that he was HIV+. This may not be a big deal to you guys, but I had never knowingly been in contact with a person who has HIV, yet alone has anyone ever told me that they have the virus. I was very proud of myself for not overreacting or making a weird face when he told me. I was actually glad that he was comfortable enough to share that information with me. There are many housing agencies that cater specifically to people with HIV, so it was pretty easy to find him some places to apply, too. So, I'd say that that meeting was pretty successful on both ends!

Adios!

Happy Federal Holiday!

Hey everyone! So it seems that this is the first chance I've had to sit down and post since my first post on the 5th. Ekk! Happy Federal Holiday to those of you who get the day off! I personally am quite glad to have a chance to take a load off.

The world of the Sierra Club is bustling as always. Last Monday we sponsored, along with about 49 other organizations, a 24-hour internet petition against new legislation that would permit the Keystone XL pipeline. The goal was half a million signatures which we got in 7 hours! In total we had about 700,000 signatures. An amazing feat. To deliver the petition we carried 40 empty boxes, each representing 20,000 signatures, with an entourage and paraded around the capitol and then delivered the empty boxes with a flash drive of the actual signatures to Majority Leader Reid Minority Leader McConnell. If you see any of the articles about the drop online you can see me awkwardly in the background of the pictures. It was very exciting and at least marginally successful as no votes were made on the bills that KXL is attached to and won't until after this week's recess.

I'm working on two campaign tactics at the moment. I'm organizing candlelit vigils at the Canadian Consulates across the country on March 7th to mourn the devastation and destruction that the excavation of the Tar Sands in Alberta has caused and to light a candle for a future where tar sands are no longer on the market. It's really fun talking to volunteers and seeing how passionate the tar sands opposition is. Additionally, I'm working to organize "Zombie Rallys" for the Sierra Student Coalition. The idea is that like a zombie, keystone xl is a pipeline that won't stay dead. The purpose of these rallies is to bring the issue to the attention of young voters.

There are good days and bad days, but overall I'm loving my job and loving DC.

Hello again everyone! I know it's been a while since I last wrote, I've just been without internet, apartment hunting, aaaaand these have been major stress-ers. Major. Please don't mention anything relating to the internet or laptops because I might scream.
I can't really talk about work, because I'll get in trouble! The other interns are fantastic and we've been one another's support for each other.
I really can't go into more detail, although I wish I could. Hope everyone's doing well! Will be more on top of things when I am connected to the 21st century again!

Hello

Hello again everyone!

Last week was pretty busy. The new Osama bin Laden book is getting into the final stages. -- We sent some copies to the publisher, and I transcribed an interview that my boss did with one of the administration officials. I also helped update our Homegrown Terrorism database. I am definitely gaining a lot of research experience here at New America!! I hope all is well with you all!

Prez weekend

I am not sure if any one is following the recent accommodations that are being made to the Affordable Care Act, but NOW has been right in the middle of that chaos.  One of NOW's top priorities is reproductive rights so we are very active on the birth control front.  This past week I attended the House Government Oversight Committee hearing.  It was pretty intense to say the least.  It lasted about five hours, representatives walked out, and the democrats tried very hard to schedule another hearing.  There was a ton of backlash, and one of my bosses (the president of NOW) was on MSNBC talking about it.  

In addition to that mess, I have also been working on updating all of our chapters' contact information.  Every week we also have an intern training workshop.  This week we learned about our PAC and all the candidates we are endorsing.  

On Friday, I went with my roommates to the National Geographic Society and saw the Separation, which is a great movie.  I highly recommend it.  It is a foreign film from Iran. 

Loving the long weekend.  Hope everyone else loves it too.  Sorry, Mel and Max.

Stora Starköl

Hejhej!

Look how much Swedish I'm learning! I can now say "hello" (pronounced hey, pretty tough), "thanks," and "I'd like a large, strong beer (stora starköl) please." A fun fact about Sweden is when ordering beer, you don't ask for a brand, you just say a size and strength and they bring you something (hey Mom and Dad!). Clearly the life skills I'm acquiring here are endlessly important.

My research at work is going really well. The interviews I've been doing are super interesting and I'm learning a lot about Stockholm, as well as getting great ideas for where to take my research in the upcoming months. I'm really getting a good taste for life in academia; my office is primarily professors and PhD students, so coming into work is a lot like sitting down and studying all day long, with lots of coffee breaks and people stopping by to chat. Normally you'd never find me studying 8 hours straight, but it's surprisingly easier when it's the only thing you have going on. I'm starting to take a look at the role of power struggles in making rational changes to a community— for example, how the distribution of funding is decided in terms of sustainable development in a city. I'm hoping to answer the question: what is it that helps foster and create tangible changes to the sustainability of an urban area? This will take shape as a comparative study between several major cities of the world, including Chicago, and Stockholm of course, mainly analyzing the political strategies and incentives of those in power. If this semester goes well, I will hopefully be able to stay on with the project, with the ultimate goal of getting it published. My supervisor has already hinted that this would be an excellent topic for a PhD in sustainable planning and development, but that's probably a long shot for me. Anyway, I really enjoy walks around my campus. It's small but there are a lot of cool buildings and statues everywhere.

This cool arch is the entryway to my university's equivalent of the Quad.

This weekend I caught a film, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which was interesting as you book ahead of time and have strict assigned seating within the theatre. They apparently have no giant butter dispensers for the popcorn, making me miss America a bit for the first time. I went to the Nordic Museum today, and spent almost 5 hours walking around. There were exhibits ranging from fashion of the 17th century Nordic people, to flags of the world. It was very cool.

Front of the Nordic Museum!

Next weekend, I'm taking a trip to Lapland in northern Sweden, where I'm hoping to catch the northern lights! I'm super excited about that. We'll also try and do some other typical Lapland activities, like dog sledding or a visit to the Ice Hotel. So hopefully soon I'll have sweet pictures of that.

I'll check back in soon!
Mel

Hey Guys,

It’s been pretty quiet around the Niagara Foundation recently.  We had the VP and Editor of the Chicago Tribune come in and speak at an early morning seminar, which was pretty cool except for having to wake up at 4 AM that day.  We are also currently trying to plan an event at the Illinois Holocaust Museum that will be feature a photo exhibit and classical music concert.

It was mentioned that Dr. Greco was possibly planning a trip to Turkey with the current graduate fellows rather than going to Oxford.  I’m hoping that I may be able to take part in that, but we’ll see.

I hope you are all having fun.

Best,
Joey

Seminar Preparations

aThings at the ILI are starting to pick up a little because we are having our first delegation arrive on Monday. There will be 10 representatives and 10 senators (if we can get this visa crisis worked out) arriving from Nigeria on Monday. I've begun to prepare folders and welcome packets and set up the seminar room. The energy is starting to pick up! Also, at our staff meeting yesterday I had the honor of being the only single person while everyone discussed their weddings. On the plus side I got lots of dessert!!!


In other news, three lovely lady interns had a wonderful valentine's day party/pot luck last night at my apartment. So we are making sure to balance fun and work quite fine.

Also, tomorrow I'm attending a grant writing class for free in DC. If any of your internships offer flexibility to do this and you're interested in working for a nonprofit you should check it out http://foundationcenter.org/washington/

Mon 6-Fri 10

Hey everyone! 

Last week was a rough week for me OUTSIDE of my internship! I was having some car problems, which is always frustrating. I am considering taking the train, but quite honestly, I’m afraid to ride alone (don’t laugh)! My client load was small this week. For whatever reason, many clients canceled their appointments, most likely because it snowed pretty badly here last week. I had one interesting client who was all over the place: a 49 year old with ADHD, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and Fibromyalgia. She was really a sad woman; you could see it in her eyes. She came in wanting to apply for public benefits (Circuit Breaker) and we managed to finish that application, and I also helped her search for new psychiatrist since she is having some conflict with her current doctor. Additionally, me and my supervisor had a meeting with a Nurse Practitioner who is putting together a program that links at-risks populations with health care. She was very knowledgeable and seems pretty passionate about her program. She also gave me some tips on how to work with clients who have psychological issues, so I can be better prepared in case I have a client similar to the one that I mentioned.

 

Well, hope everyone has a great, productive week!

Talk to you soon :D

This past week was intense at NOW with the Komen debacle and the debate on contraception expansion. In connection with the latter, I attended a press release by Catholics for Choice that focused on Catholic students from Georgetown, Catholic University, and Fordham College.  The speakers were impressive and made excellent points.

At the end of the month is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week so we are starting to make plans.  My job is to spread the word to our ally groups and other organizations to participate in our Tweet Chat.

It is also my job to update our chapter's roster, which means I have to make sure we have the right contact information and chapter officers.

Nothing too excited happened to me this week.  

New America Foundation

Hello hello all!!

I hope everyone is well!!

I am currently also living in DC. I am right next to National's Stadium in SW. Even though it is much more low key, I love the location. I especially love DC. It is isn't a Chicago or NYC, but it is still a city. It has the small-city/big-city feel; it is a perfect mix.

I am working at the New America Foundation which is a non-partisan, non-profit think-tank right off of the Farragut North metro station (well about 2 blocks from it on L street). I am a research intern with their National Security Studies Program, and I work right under a research associate and also the Director of the program. Among other things, he is currently working on his next book on Osama bin Laden.

I am looking forward to hearing about all of your residencies! It seems we have a wide array of locations!! It should keep things interesting!!

Cheers!

_Eric

International Law Institute

Hey Friends!
Great to hear that we are all doing such diverse and interesting things! Personally, I am in DC working in Georgetown, which is a really quaint part in NW. I work across from this really great bakery/cupcake shop called Baked and Wired and if you are in DC you should definitely try it out!

I live in Eastern Market just a few blocks away from Marla and moved in a little over a week ago so I'm still getting settled. I've checked out the Foggy Bottom, Dupont, Adams Morgan, and U St. neighborhoods as well but still have much more exploring to do!

About my internship, the organization itself is really awesome. The ILI puts on seminars for government officials from developing countries. The people are great and many of them have backgrounds in law combined with development work or the peace corp, so they are my kind of people :). They love Africa and specifically Nigeria (our Executive Director goes there all the time!). Currently my work is a little slow because the next seminar doesn't start until March. I've been doing a lot of marketing and researching development projects. I've also been meeting with important people like diplomats, international lawyers, and others who work at international development organizations.

Can't wait to hear about everyone's experiences!
-jenny

Stockholm!

Hej alla!

Great to hear from everyone. I'm doing my residency in Stockholm, Sweden, and I just arrived and got started at the end of January. I'm living in a great studio apartment really close to the city, and the metro is right outside my door. I'm working at the Royal Institute of Technology, a.k.a KTH, a university in the city. I'm doing policy research on sustainable development in urban areas, specifically comparing Chicago and Stockholm. My first week was spent structuring interview questions for various contacts at KTH and in the city of Stockholm, and now I'm starting to go out and actually perform these interviews. I get to meet a lot of city officials and actually get out into the city, and I'm really loving it. Based off how these interviews go, I'll know a little more about what I want to look at and be doing for the rest of my time here. Best part: I get my own office! Eek!

It was snowing when I arrived, and now it's starting to melt a bit. It's cold, but so far I've seen worse in the midwest. I get stopped on a daily basis by people asking me for directions, so apparently I look pretty Swedish. Everyone speaks English, thank goodness. My place is in an area called Sodermalm, which everyone tells me is the "hippest" place to live in Stockholm. There's a lot of cool restaurants and bakeries and shopping right outside my flat, and an amazing walking trail along the coast just behind me. I've made friends with a few PhD students at my university, and this weekend we got together and cooked a traditional Swedish meal. Something called a smorgastorta, pictured below.

It was delicious!

Talk to everyone soon!

-Mel

LIFT

LIFT

Heya! I hope everyone is enjoying their internships thus far. I've been working in my office for going on three weeks now, and I love it. LIFT is a non-for profit organization that is committed to fighting poverty via locating resources for people who need to find employment, housing, public benefits, health care, legal aid etc. The most interesting aspect of my internship is that it is run my students. I can honestly say that everyone in my office (about 40 students) is genuinely nice. BUT LIFT has a partnership with Loyola University, meaning that everyone except me goes to Loyola! So, everyone is really interested in getting to know me. Haha. 

Here, I have 2-3 clients per day, and I work one on one with them. You could say, I'm like a mini-social worker/case manager. Anyone can get help from LIFT, and our services are obviously free. So many different types of people come into this office; it makes no sense! From people with Master's degrees to people who are homeless. Well, I could go on and on, but I'll cut it short. I had originally written like a 2 page paper before Greco said that it only needed to be a paragraph or so long. -__- Talk to you guys later, and anyone who is not in Illinois, I want souvenirs! ")

Niagara Foundation

Hey Guys, I hope all is well.  I’m looking forward to hearing more about everyone’s internships; they sound pretty awesome already.

I started working downtown at the Niagara Foundation on January 9th, and have already helped plan an execute an event.  Leading up to the February 2nd Abrahamic Traditions Dinner, I had been in correspondence with other co-sponsors of the event as well as drafting and sending out invitations.  I also had to keep up with the RSVP list and guests’ payments.  Last Thursday the dinner went off without a hitch.  The event aimed to bring together the three Abrahamic faiths: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism and promote a better understanding and togetherness of all three.  There were three speakers, one from each faith who spoke on the topic of religious education.  The speakers were very insightful into religious education issues within their own faith and potential solutions.  One even proposed an institution that would accommodate all three of the Abrahamic faiths and would provide a more complete and interwoven picture of religion for its students.

I am currently waiting for the others to get into the office to get my next assignment, that is why this was a perfect time for me to write my post.  I am usually the one who opens up the office, and waits for everyone else to come in.  It’s nice because I get some quiet time to start the morning.

Anyway, good luck to all of you on your internships!

Joey

Whoooa!

Hey everyone! Hope all is well. DC is pretty damn amazing, and I'm really stunned I've been here a month already. Regarding my job, I can't really give any information about what I do specifically, which isn't really that exciting anyways. I do update binders, which is rather horrible and tedious. I write memos, research, answer the telephone, send emails, write emails, and tomorrow I'm waking up at a god awful hour to volunteer. I also get soda. My boss occasionally wears hipster glasses, and he's only a couple of years older than me. My other boss is pretty badass and can write like no other. How the hell did I get a job writing when I write such shitty blog posts? Oh well! Let me know how things are going for you! Talk to you soon!

My First Month at the Club

Like Lauren I am also out in DC. I'm interning at the Sierra Club on the Beyond the Oil Campaign. It's a great city and a lot of the CLPers out here have gotten the opportunity to spend some quality time together!

I'm living in Eastern Market, the south eastern area of Capitol Hill. I rented a room in a row house on Seventh. It's currently just me and my land lord living in the house, but there is another room that will be filled apparently sometime this week. My landlord is a retired lady that has been living in this house since she was in her 30s. It's been an interesting experience learning how to best share such a small space. Nonetheless, the location is spot on. It's a 20 minute walk to where I work next to Union Station. It's also a very cute neighborhood. Each weekend there is a market with all sorts of cool things to buy. I actually found an exact replica of a scarf I had bought in India and lost!

My job is a lot of fun and a good challenge. The second or third day of work came with the much celebrated denial of permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. This marked a huge victory for the environmental community, but the battle is not over yet and there is still a lot more work to be done. As it's becoming a wedge issue in this election it's become our job to play offense. I'm looking forward to all of the great work I'm going to get to do in regards to this issue as well as the general work at the club.

Looking forward to hearing more about all of your placements!

DC Livin'

Sup fellow CLPers!  Hope all is well with you!!!


I moved out to DC on January 16th and live in the Woodley Park area.  I live in student-intern housing so I share my apartment with five other women who are from James Madison University in Virginia.  I got really lucky, because they are amazing!  


My internship is at the National Organization for Women.  I am the field intern so I work under the Action Vice President.  It has been an intense month at NOW.  With the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Susan Komen debacle, and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act on the table, we have been keeping busy.  


The organization is smaller than I expected.  There are currently only four interns, and we will be getting one more in March.  Everyone is really helpful and friendly.  I have had the opportunity to participate in a lot of meetings, inside and outside the office.  I am getting a lot of insight into how a NGO operates. 


I am excited for the Super Bowl today, because a couple of my roommates are Patriots fans.