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