At the Hart of Excitment

Around 11:30 am on October 11, 2011, I, and just about every other intern and staffer in my building, emerged from our offices, roused by the sounds of… an occupation. Over 100 members of Stop the Machine, Occupy D.C. and Code Pink took advantage of the Hart Senate Building’s 90-foot tall, echoing atrium chanting “we are the 99%” and “tax the rich, end the war. ” The protestors spread out from the top floor to the bottom, waving banners, blocking bathrooms and conveniently pressing all the buttons in the elevators.

As I observed the scene from the balcony, a protestor grabbed my arm yelling, “YOU are the 1%!” I can only conclude that he was jealous of my recent 100% salary increase. Life is great for unpaid interns.

Post-occupation, six protestors were arrested for unlawful conduct-demonstrating. Pete Morris, a representative of the Macpherson Square Occupy D.C. movement, clarified that his group did not support Hart protestors. He said his group always obtains permits before events.

Regardless of if you agree with the protestors or not, these kinds of events are part of the draw of living in D.C. Whether you’re stuck in traffic because of the President’s motorcade, or your lunch goes long because the South Korea President’s adviser decides to sit next to you on a bench, you always have a good excuse for being late to class!

Ya got lunch made when you work in trade!

Lydia Li

Washington International Trade Association

Tell me about what the Washington International Trade Associate (WITA) does, and what your responsibilities are as an intern.

We are a nonprofit and nonpartisan trade policy oriented organization with over 2,000 members. We organize trade policy events where we invite speakers from the USTR and other organizations to talk with our members. Aside from that, we have e-publications on our website and we run a small career center to help young trade professional start their careers in the trade arena.

As an intern, I have two major responsibilities: the first are my daily duties. This means answering phone calls, replying to emails and keeping up our website. The second part is event related. I create fliers, other promotional material and I am in charge of registering guests.

How many events do you host each week? How dramatically do your hours fluctuate between event/non-event days?

We usually have one event per week. However, since most of our speakers are trade executives or government member there are some weeks where they are in extensive negotiations. This can mean no events one week and more than one the next.

On the day of the event, I have to be at work one hour before the event starts- this means getting up early. But I can usually leave early on Fridays if there is not too much to do.

On average, how many free meals would you say you get each week? And on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate these meals?

Wow… on average? Two or three…. Make it two-and-a-half free meals a week. We get good sandwiches, nothing too fancy, so I’d say they’re a 7. And sometimes it’s not a full meal, but coffee and snacks etc.

What other internships did you apply for?

I applied for Congresswoman Chu, CSIC and Brookings Institute.

Why did you choose WITA?

I guess because it’s more related to my econ major, and I didn’t want to do a pure politics internship. It also is much more fun than pure research at an institute.

Who’s the coolest person you’ve had a chance to meet through your organization?

Well, I get to meet Ambassador Ron Kirk, the U.S. Trade Representative next week. He’s cabinet level, and he is in charge of all trade policy and negotiations.

What has been the hardest thing and the best about the transition from Claremont to D.C.?

The hardest thing is that we have much less free time. The best thing is that you really get a chance to see the world. Really… the world is much bigger than Claremont!

What’s your #1 tip for living in D.C.?

Hmmm… I’d say enjoy working!!

Any final comments?

Oh yes! For any IR majors, the embassies in D.C. do hire interns, but they don’t post any information publically. So, if you want to work for any embassy you can contact them directly to apply for a position.

NO LABELS: An interview with Sean McQueen

We start the internship interview series with a nonpartisan and unique (euphemism for coolest) internship. CMC junior Sean McQueen works as a graphic design intern at a non-profit 501(c)4, “No Labels.” With a purported purpose of pushing aside the petty political partisanship that has brought our nation to a standstill, No Labels aims to inspire a return politics that puts what is best for Americans first. Founded by veteran Democratic fundraiser Nancy Jacobson in 2010, the organizations mobilizes citizens to push for solutions to, rather than squabbles about, our nations toughest issues.

Can you tell me a little bit about No Labels and what you do as an intern?

Sure, No Labels is an advocacy group that started up in December of last year. We’re a little different from most advocacy groups because while most groups campaign for a specific policy issues, we are campaigning for a political process. We are against the aggressive partisanship that has basically made it so nothing gets done in Washington. The end goal of the organization is to support candidates who are willing to work across the aisle, and publically renounce those politicians who impede the legislative process through petty partisan games.

Our office is pretty small; we have about 12 staff members, which is really fun. It’s more of a small Silicon Valley office feel than a big D.C. office. I work with the digital media team and we manage the online public image of the organization. This means our website, facebook, twitter, email etc. We have 150,000 people who have signed up for our news updates, and over 50,000 facebook “likes.” Our media team consists of a team-leader, web developer, a content writer and me; I’m the graphic designer. I make graphics for all our online media.

What is the coolest project you’ve work on so far?

Hmmm, I have to think, there are a few. Every Friday I make a graphic that we post on our facebook page for the weekend because more people have time to be on facebook on the Saturday and Sunday. One the coolest thing I did was I made a graphic that got over 1000 likes on facebook, which was pretty awesome.

We also have these giant, informative documents that we give to potential financial backers. A cool thing I did was I edited this enormous document, formatted it and added in the images and graphics. Then I got to send it to all these huge donors. It’s nice working here though, because I do cool things everyday.

How did you discover No Labels?

Actually, Caroline Nyce (another CMC student) worked here over the summer. I spoke to her a bunch and she could not stop raving about the organization. So I asked if they were taking fall interns and applied.

Were all the internships you looked into graphic design based?

This was actually the only graphic design internship I applied for. I’m mostly an econ major, so I applied to the SEC, the Counsel of Economic Advisors, my senator and a few others. I heard back from other places, but I was most excited about No Labels. One reason was because it’s a smaller organization and I knew I’d get to do a lot.

What is it like to work for a nonpartisan organization in such a politically driven city?

Well, every one who I work with has a political opinion and no one is hiding their political beliefs. I consider myself a Democrat, two guys are work with are Democrats as well, but two other consider themselves Republicans. The whole organization is full of people from both sides, but we are against the “red verses blue game.” We aren’t against different political beliefs; however, we are against demonizing each other because of these beliefs and not getting anything done. We’re about not hating each other because we are Republicans and Democrats and not sabotaging each other. We’re about starting a political discourse based on facts and publically advocating for people who are willing to do this.

So, does your office really feel like it has “no label”?

Yes, it definitely does. But its not like we aren’t politically aware. We are constantly reading what is happening, and discussing what position we are going to take on things.

Where do you live, where do you work and how do you commute?

I live a mile and a half north of the Capitol, in Noma. I bike to work everyday; unless it’s raining, then I take the bus, which takes longer. I work in Georgetown on Wisconsin, which means four-mile bike ride to work everyday. It’s takes like 20-25 minutes.

Will you stop biking when the weather gets cold?

I don’t think so. I’ll probably just wear sweaters, and gloves and scarves. When it gets unbearable maybe I’ll take the bus.

Are there any good lunch places around your office?

Yeah, I’m on Wisconsin, so a lot of good places to eat. We have a Starbucks right next-door, pizza places and a ton of good sandwich shops.

To find out more about No Labels, and to checkout more of Sean’s work go to:

http://nolabels.org/front
and
https://www.facebook.com/NoLabels?sk=wall

and

http://twitter.com/#!/NoLabelsOrg

D.C. Program- Fall 2011

Hello fellow DCmcers!
Welcome to the Experience Washington blog. It's been over a year since anything has been posted, and the world is long over due for an update on our critically important lives. We're the few and the proud who are, day-in and day-out, sorting mail, answering phones and frantically writing memo after memo. Just try and function without us, Washington.... you can't.

Over the next few months I will be blogging about Program events, D.C. living and our classes. Additionally, there will be a weekly interview with current students about their internships-this week, we start with Sean McQueen who is a graphic design intern at No Labels).

I hope this blog can serve as a resource for future students when looking for internships, finding apartments or when trying to order some decent Thai takeout. If you have any questions, comments or story ideas let me know!
Happy Columbus Day!