The Big Block of Cheese

Day 17 - And We’re Back

Banneker Day 9

Good lord, I’ve only been there 9 days?  Wild.  Well, as you might have surmised, I’m back to interning, and it only took me a week!  I was selfish, I didn’t go my first week back.  I always amaze the smug, self assured version of myself when things don’t go exactly according to plan and I end up having so much more work to do than I’d planned.

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Day 16 – Stony Brook

Roosevelt Day 7

Well, I think some of this has come to an end.

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Day 15 – Medium Close Ups

Roosevelt Day 6

Mr. Spikes gets evaluated five times a year.  If he gets an average of 350 points, he gets a $10,000 bonus.  He was evaluated last week.  He got 347.

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Day 14 - Bounce Around

Banneker Day 8

There were only about five kids.  Mitzy is incredibly dedicated and hardworking.  With a little instruction from me she’s picked up InDesign and really made layout her own.  I pop up with suggestions and tips when I can, but she’s learning just like I did, through experimenting and doing on her own.

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Day 13 - 4 Strikes

Banneker Day 7

Maybe it’s because it’s getting dark so much sooner, but our newspaper periods are way more reasonable now.

A good 10 kids were there again today (yes!) and we spent most of our time interviewing a senior about his tattoo for an article for this issue.  We were practicing interviewing and playing off of each others questions with follow ups, not to mention taking good notes.

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Day 12 - PSAs

Roosevelt Day 5

This was just a great morning.  I had Childish Gambino’s Camp to take me through the metro and up Georgia Ave, the sun was shining, I was wearing my new jeans, boots, sweater, checked shirt, and puffer (why yes they’re all from J. Crew) because it was cool but not cold, and I was happy.

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Day 11 - “How Could You Eat a Deer?”

Banneker Day 6

It was a hot walk to school.  Hot for a sweater, a field jacket, and a cap.  But it was beautiful.  66 degrees with a blue sky, I’m not going to complain.

Childish Gambino’s album is out in full on NPR Music.  I listened to it all through my DCCC internship in the morning, and man did I wish I could play it for the kids at school.  It’s definitely not school friendly, but not for the usual reasons.  Yeah he curses a lot, but it’s for a purpose.  It’s smart and tricky and clever.  It’s Donald Glover talking about being Donald Glover.  He’s black but not black enough, he’s not white, he was a nerd, people called him faggot, but look at him now?  Writer, actor, comedian, rapper, model - he’s unbelievable.  I hope they listen to him at home.  The Banneker kids, the Roosevelt kids, everyone.  I know I’m a white girl who lived near a farm in Wisconsin.  But listening to him on the way to school, everything made sense.

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Day 10 – Long Term

Roosevelt Day 4

The fact is, I have a stronger bond with the Banneker kids and Mrs. Brinkman than the Roosevelt class and Mr. Spikes.  I was sick one week and went to the White House another, so this is only my fourth day there.  I also know that Nicole is there on Monday and Wednesday every week, so I’m sure they  have more of a connection with her.  I really like the kids and Mr. Spikes, but not being there has a cost.

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Hey.  Hey you.  Hey, look at that awesome person in the suit and the glasses, standing on the wall next to that woman in the pink jacket.  Who do you think that is?

Day 9 - “We Called It a Fun Box”

Banneker Day 6

I am so, so proud of the Banneker kids.  This semester has been a full to bursting with the highest of highs and the soul crushingest of lows.  (That was terrible writing.  I’ll fix it later.)  Very different from my first fall semester, which was just a gradually descending and occasional uptick of monotony.  The point is, I realized today that the emotion I’ve hardly ever felt in these past two years was pride.  I wasn’t the best student in high school, but you’re recognized more often for things.  Here, in limbo to the real world, nobody cares.  It’s an important lesson and I’m glad I learned it early, but I do miss being proud.  I’d get snatches of it when a teacher would point out how my paper was particularly good, but it’d always slip away when I went to my bad class.  It’s been a long time since there’s been a ton of build up and an incredible payoff.  Well, the drought stopped today.

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Photos from my walks to the schools and my pre White House Liz Lemon mirror pump up (stop sweating you stupid bitch!)

James S. Brady

Here’s your warning: this is my freak out post about how I went to the press briefing room and saw JAY CARNEY and made high school kids laugh at my lameness and wore a suit and glasses and heels the whole damn time.  And it was excellent!

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Day 8 - Longer Hours, Shorter Days

Banneker Day 5

I was supposed to be in from 3:30-4:45.  Now my days are 3:15-6:00.  Significantly longer, you might say?  Especially when I’m at the DCCC from 9:00.  It’s okay because while there’s work to do tonight, it’s not impossible and it’s not due tomorrow.

It was the start of a new issue, and while we didn’t have half the number of kids who showed up for the first one, the kids who were there seemed invested.

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A Friday Meet the Press

I realized that during my first internship, up on the hill in Senator Kohl’s office (something which seems forever ago and I’ll always have really fond memories of) I would write whenever I went into the office.  It was valuable.  I had posts about the interview and the special days and it was a complete experience.  I want to try and keep that sort of thing up.  Yes, I’m required to do a journal for this Prime Movers internship and this sort of supplement would be nice, but these posts are fun deviations to look back on.

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