Rain, Rain... PLEASE stay

Again, it has been too long since I’ve written, but let me see if I can summarize all the ways I have been spending my time.

Internship

Last Friday, I had the privilege of sitting in on the ‘Defense Helping Professional Council’ meeting at the Pentagon. There were representatives from many different branches of the military as well as service areas within the branches. This meeting consisted of several presenters on military family related topics as well as an update from each attendee on current projects their office is working on. Of the presenters, I found Douglas Lehman’s to be the most interesting. Mr. Lehman is an LCSW and spoke about military families with high risk indicators; I took about six pages worth of notes.

This past week in MC&FP has gone by rather quickly. Monday I had to leave work at 1:45 (I still worked almost 7 hours that day since I arrive at work at 6:30am) to go to TWC’s ‘President’s Lecture Series’. Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader spoke, and although I don’t agree with several of his political stances, it was very generous of him to take time out of his schedule to speak to us. Tuesday and Wednesday were good days at the office, and there were several more meetings to attend. Today went a little slower. Even though I feel like I am doing meaningful work in the office, I believe my favorite part of my internship is listening in on meetings. Not only do I learn a lot in the meeting, but I usually write down several acronyms or other questions to later look up online or ask my supervisor.

It seems amazing that tomorrow will be the end of three weeks, and that I’ll only be here seven more. There is a lot of planning and work to do before I go, in order to adequately help prepare for the Family Readiness Conference at the end of August.

Civic Engagement

Part of the requirement for receiving course credit from TWC for my time here in Washington, is to actively participate in a civic engagement project. According to my syllabus,

“The purpose of this assignment is for you to demonstrate your involvement in helping to bring about positive change at the local, national, or global level through an activity with an organization. You should identify a social, political or community cause that interests you and plan to dedicate some of your free time to advocate, volunteer or serve this cause.”

I appreciate that TWC gave us so much freedom and liberty to choose how to spend our time, and so this last Sunday I began my project by volunteering at Capital Pride. You can check out more specific details here, but I have to say that I had a great time. I volunteered at the Pride Festival on the 14^th and worked the main entrance greeting people and helping ask for donations. My legs got tired and I was hot, but none of that really mattered—I couldn't stop smiling. By working in the front, I got to see almost every single person who came, and anyone who tries to stereotype LGBT should have been there to see the diversity. As I thanked people for coming and donating to Capital Pride (there was no entrance fee, just a suggested donation of $2-$5) I heard many words of encouragement and appreciation. People were continually thanking me for volunteering my time and I can’t tell you how many genuine smiles or “happy pride” comments I received. When there were not mass waves of people arriving, I got to talk to many of the visitors and other volunteers as well. People were very happy to be there and there were varying degrees of pride outfits I saw.

After 3 hours of volunteering, I went and walked around the festival—seeing the many different exhibits, food options, and displays. The food was very similar to a fair (I had 2 cups of fresh-squeezed lemonade, a funnel cake, and almost a smoked turkey leg but it was too expensive), but the exhibits were very different. While some were selling shirts, hats, pins, ect…, most of the vendors were for social services. They had free immediate result HIV testing (using either an oral test or a blood test), resources on cancer specifically designed for LGBT men and women, quit smoking programs, anti-violence programs, safe spots, and the list goes on and on. From a social services stand point, it was amazing how they combined the celebration with important resources.

I was also happy to see that there were probably close to twenty different churches represented with booths stating there church’s stance on accepting and loving everyone. Their pamphlets’ messages were not stating conditional inclusion or an agenda to ‘fix’ people, but merely that God loves ALL of his creations.

Class

Every Tuesday night I attend a class on ‘Ethics in International Affairs’ through TWC. The course physically takes place at Catholic University of America (although not affiliated with them, or religious based) which is right off of the red metro stop Brooklyn—CUA. My course runs from 6pm-9pm, which since I don’t go back to the apartment before class, makes for a very long day. The course is based mostly on discussion and a large amount of reading. There are eleven of us in the class, which creates a very intimate setting and allows for plenty of individual input.

Fun

Of course there has also a lot of fun squeezed in-between all of these other activities, including seeing the movie ‘Night at the Museum’, eating good food, and riding an interactive fighter-pilot simulator at the Air & Space Museum. The simulator was a recommendation Danny made, and while I can honestly say I make a horrible pilot (even in a simulator) I had an amazing amount of fun doing barrel rolls and flying upside-down since the simulator spun 360 degrees. Since last Thursday I’ve also eaten a fair amount of Chinese food and even some yummy Thai food. I also cooked Beer Bratwursts and Macaroni and Cheese last night, which I am eating leftovers from. Saturday morning I am taking the Amtrak to Philadelphia to see my Aunt Val and Uncle John—I’m looking forward to having a fun relaxing weekend with them. Also, my Aunt Val got me in contact with her cousin who is the U.S. Representative for Florida. Ms. Kathy Castor, agreed to meet with me next Tuesday, so that I can interview her for another TWC assignment. I’m excited that I will get to talk to such a successful woman.

The Weather

Yesterday was an amazing 65 degrees, overcast and windy. I felt like it was Arizona in winter :0)

Today I experienced the wettest rain ever. If that statement sounds a little silly to you, let me explain. After I left work I took the metro one stop past Braddock (where I live) to King Street. I was planning on picking up a skirt I had dropped off to get the zipper replaced and going to Ross to look for a cheap pair of brown shoes. Keep in mind that Ross is only .8 miles or a 15 minute walk from the Metro stop (according to Google Maps). When I stepped off the metro it was not raining. Within a few steps there were big fat rain drops, but only sprinkling; I didn't even pull out my umbrella. Within a minute it had started to rain hard, to the point where I have had showers with less water pressure. Within another two minutes it was literally raining harder than I thought possible. It was straight down, with no wind, but just pouring. I wasn't even half way to Ross and the streets were literally over-flowing. I took off my backpack and moved all my electronics from the outer pockets into the inner pockets. My backpack was still getting soak, so I turned it around and wore it over my chest to be more under the umbrella with me. When I got to Ross, my pants were wet up to my knees from plashing through the flooded sidewalk, and my shoes and socks were heavy with rain. My toes are now wrinkled like raisins. Don't get me wrong, it was wet--but not in a bad way. I was looking around just laughing at this incredible rain. Like I said, the wettest rain I have ever experienced.

Well, if you have read this whole post I am impressed. Hope your week has gone well

-Kate