Let’s start with Jazz in the Sculpture Garden. Ladies and Gentlemen, this event is recommended. It takes place every Friday evening from 5:30 to 8:30. If you work downtown, this event is a must. If you can get off work just a little early and get down there just a little bit after 5:00 PM, there will be space to sit. Items to bring: a blanket to sit on, things to nibble on, things to sip. It requires a bit of planning because you need to have the stuff ready when you leave work. Dress is business formal unwound after a hard day’s work. The crowd is younger. It takes place in the Statue Garden right between the National Gallery of Art, West and East. The set up is right around the fountain and in the shade. The jazz is live and it is good. Enjoy!
While we were there, I decided that it was time to celebrate my roommate’s 23rd birthday. Why? Because we all missed it the first time around. I missed it because I plugged it into my Outlook calendar for July 25. I was like a month and a week off, but oh well, I simply couldn’t reschedule…So anyway we celebrated his birthday by patting him on the back and laughing at him as he cut the cheese…that we brought to eat with our crackers. You take me?
This Saturday, I got stir crazy from writing various things for my portfolio and ran downtown to the National Gallery of Art to check it out. I am a sucker for museums. I was pleasantly surprised with the National Gallery, actually. It had a fun collection to look at. It had an entire room dedicated to each of the following artists: Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, and Degas. Fun stuff, that.
This Monday, we had a tour through The Washington Center of the Pentagon. We came in and they were like “You cannot pull out your cell phone, or it is ours. You cannot go to the bathroom or drink from a water fountain.” So I started the tour like “uh-oh,” because my roommate, Joe called me right as I was passing through security to get in. The tour seemed a little hurried, but it started out well. We were shown the 9/11 memorial. It was very powerful; very well done. I think the honor guards that were giving the tour were a little perturbed at the group’s level appreciation for what happened. Oh, well.
After the tour, I rushed back across the Potomac to attend class (which is held at a Johns Hopkins building). Class was fun because Professor Hardy gave a little seminar on law school. He titled it:
The Three Things You Need to Know About Law School: How to Get In, How to Stay Alive, and How to Get Out Alive.
If I had to pick the most fun thing that happened on Tuesday, I supposed I would have to pick the talk with the Attorney General. That was actually my first trip down to Main Justice. So we were sitting in this auditorium with these chintzy, 30 ft. tall nude statues that looked like the Oscar. I think they were supposed to represent Justice? The thing that was awesome was the curtain behind the podium was just blocking from view a hallway that extended back into Main Justice. Then, out filed several secret service agents, all bald, all 6’4” (at least), followed by staff persons. The event was for the Attorney General to thank all of the interns that are working for the Department of Justice. There must have been several hundred in the auditorium. The DOJ is a big department, so they say: 100,000 employees. It is the biggest law firm in the country. Main Justice is the highest concentration of average lawyers per square feet in the world (that last one I just made up because it sounded cool).
The AG offered some general remarks and then opened the floor up to questions. The first question was from a law clerk that used to intern in the Office for Civil Rights (like me ;)—did that attempt at an emoticon work?). She now works in the Civil Rights Division, though.
Phew! I am really running for it at work now. I am on the final stretch and I am trying to desperately to finish everything up. Today, I just submitted a rough draft of a 40-page outline for a report, before turning to the loads of case files that have been waiting for me for like a month. I love it though. The work is fun, challenging, and intellectually stimulating to the point that I don’t have much wit by the end of the day.
However, that worked out well today. Why? Because my roommate and I went to pack books for the Prisoner Book Project again today. It’s a good way to blow of steam, and it is so much fun picking out books to match the inmate’s requests. I just send them the books that I like that match the category. Like one inmate, today requested any John Grisham novel, so I hooked him up, because Grisham is a great author. Actually, I have two of his books that I have been meaning to donate to the Project, but keep forgetting. When we arrived, the whole room was filled with an entire law library that had been dropped off. I don’t know what happened, but I think some old dusty lawyer just died or retired somewhere. The lady who is in charge of the Project said that we should take a book if we were interested, because they were going to dispose of most of the massive donation. So I picked up a copy of the federal civil procedure for some light reading on the way out.
I know I have been promising some advice on the portfolios, but there is not a whole lot to give, now that I am most of the way done with it. Find the nearest Kinko’s--I hear they can bind it in about a half-hour, for around $30. Have two copies printed out before you go to save money. My main recommendation is to sit down the first week you are in town, during your orientation and read through the syllabus so that you know what you need to do ahead of time. Lay yourself out a time table to complete the projects. It is common sense, but a lot of people waited until the last minute and are just making up there informational interviews and such. Don’t do that, because there is so much to be gained from that assignment especially. If you are a real go-getter and have already talked to several professionals in your field of interest do this: go after a big fish. Start early, send a letter requesting an interview with someone big—top brass. Do a Google search to look up how to secure an interview with such people. Also research the person and the company they work for. The easiest way to do it? Make friends at work, attend social events and network. You will eventually meet someone who would be more than happy to blow their horn for you.
The thing that is important to remember about the Intern Defense Letter is that there is no way you can write it within the suggested page amount without it being low caliber. Feel free to prove me wrong, because I am notoriously long-winded. The most efficient way to complete it is to literally use your Learning Objectives Statement as an outline—remember the Defense Letter is to be in a business letter format addressed to your campus liaison.
I cannot stress HOW IMPORTANT your Learning Objectives Statement (LOS) is. This is the tool that will help you focus your energies and make sure you get done what you want to get done during the course of your time in Washington. So it is important that you take the time to write a good LOS. You should also tweak it as you go along so that you can evaluate your progress throughout the course of the term. I actually had my supervisor review it with me (that may be a requirement, I cannot remember right off hand) several times through out the semester to get his input and feedback on my progress. I had him evaluate it before I turned in the rough draft, at the midterm, and after I was evaluated at my site visit by my Program Advisor from the Washington Center.
Civic Engagement Project. Maybe I am just biased toward this aspect of Washington because I am a sucker for social justice? Except for writing the paper, I loved doing this one. There are so many ways to get involved and so many good ideas on how to go about it. The idea behind the project is to pick a cause, connect it to a broader issue and make a positive contribution to the cause through an organization and on your own. Then, at the end, you pull it all together and argue for what contributions you made. My roommates have found some very creative ways to approach this. One combined ultimate Frisbee, sports, and little kids into two weekends of fun. How sweet is that? Another has this elaborate project where he is championing the cause for Zimbabwe. His project is really salient, because of all of the political unrest that has been in the headlines recently. Refer back a few entries; I give my best advice on how to find excellent volunteer opportunities (both for the proactivators and the procrastinators).
Leadership Forum Analysis. Let’s be realistic, shall we? There is a research and analysis component in the portfolio. You have a choice between 3 assignments. One is 2-3 pages, the other two are 6-7 with research? Which will you elect to do (as a summer student) before I even explain what the assignments are? Yes. The Leadership Forum Analysis. The best way to approach this one is to get on Internconnect, look up the various speakers or events that the Washington Center has planned, and then take notes at the one you are interested in doing an analysis of. If you lose your notes when it comes time to write your analysis, get on Internconnect, read their bio, and then Google them for more information.
That is all of the main ones methinks. Until next week. Adios!
