Yesterday was one of my favourite days so far in DC. We were so busy it reminded me of the exhausting good old days in Week One when we were on the go from the crack of dawn to long after sundown. The reason I enjoyed the day so much was because four very different guest speakers came in to the WIP Office to share their views on the upcoming Presidential Election with us. Their differing ideologies and their willingness to talk about much more than the 2008 election made for a very interesting day.
The journalist Mark Shields gave us an insider’s opinion on all the hot political stories from JFK onwards. He had us all in fits of laughter when he revealed a certain ex-President once declared that trees created more pollution than cars. Conversely, Harold Ickes shared stories about his personal involvement in Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Bill Clinton’s White House and the Civil Rights Movement and his candid honesty was welcomed by us. I was struck by the fact that two people could be drawn to be involved in politics in such different ways.
Our last two guests looked to the past and to the future simultaneously. Dottie Lynch, a pollster, explained that when she was a student there were no studies in how gender affected voting patterns as women's votes were thought to correlate with their fathers and husbands. The final speaker Charles, a South African journalist, offered an outsider’s perspective on the election race and suggested how the next American President could have an important impact his continent.
Other highlights of the past week include the Media Forum and Guantanamo debate in which Zelda, Cliona, Matt and Phil really excelled. Independence Day was also great as Catherine’s host family, the Lynchs, generously opened up their house to the whole WIP/SAWIP posse and all their host families. Then we interns battled the elements to see the fireworks on the Mall. I personally felt it was worth the trek because (despite the rain) the steps of the Lincoln Memorial were filled with people which was a very powerful and surreal image. The excitement of the 4th of July night is something that will stay with me for a long time.
I also really enjoying my internship last week as ACCU has been getting ready to host a three day conference on Catholic Education which is on this week. It’s really interesting to see the amount of work and detail that goes into planning an event like this and I’m pleased that my supervisors are teaching me to a wide variety of skills that will be useful to me when I venture into the working world in one month’s time!
Note: It may actually be more than a month until I venture into the working world as I think jetlag will take AT LEAST a couple of weeks to get over.
