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