Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Halfway

I cannot believe that it has been more than 5 weeks since I first arrived. It does not seem like it was that long ago when I first arrived at Dulles International but time has flown by so far.

At work, I have finished with the longest assignment I have dealt with so far. After updating all of MALDEF's contact listings for various journalists all over the LA area and the nation it was nice to get into a different assignment and rhythm today. For a few hours I attended a speech/discussion held by the American Constitution Society's Washington chapter that discussed the use of the filibuster in the Senate and how the unwritten rules of using the filibuster have been completely shattered over the past 5 years. Not the most interesting topic for about 99.5% of the public but for a political junkie like me it was not bad. One of the coolest things about the discussion was where it was located, on the top floor of what has to be one of the biggest law firms in DC. When you walk into the lobby building its as if you walked into a half office building-half greenhouse, without the plants. At least half of the building's area was open spaces, filled a pond, nice seating area, and a glass roof that let in the sunlight.

Tomorrow for my Media seminar I am to practice being a television political analyst for a local television statement. I will have three minutes to try and answer four questions that I have been given in advance in a manner similar to what you may see on a local news broadcast. We shall see how I do.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!!!!!!

Well its been 8 years but we are back. The World Series is heading back to the Bay Area and I could not be more happier. The nervousness I felt throughout Game 6 gave way to unadulterated joy and shots of Captain Morgan rum. Anyway, the World Series is upon us and the eyes of the baseball world will fall upon the San Francisco Giants.

Earlier today I visited the National Portrait Gallery with my roommates and saw several interesting and  well crafted exhibits. There was a section of Presidential Portraits that included a pixelated painting of Bill Clinton, and impressionist portrait of John Kennedy, and the newest Presidential portrait that featured George W. Bush. Another exhibit featured portraits of Americans who are currently alive and are well known in their respected fields including, sports, politics, architecture, science, and entertainment. But the best one was the Norman Rockwell exhibit, which unfortunately forbade me for taking any pictures. The collection will be on display until the end of 2010 and will return to the donors who own all of the paintings, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Among my favorite paintings were "Little Girl Looking Downstairs at Christmas Party" "A Time for Greatness" "Triple Self Portrait" and "Happy Birthday Miss Jones" and the "Four Freedoms" paintings. All of his paintings were very well done and opened my eyes to a painter I barely even hard of before today.

Not much to report about at work but since the elections are coming up soon I believe it will get very interesting at work in the near future. Will keep you posted. And for my honest opinion. I believe that the Democrats will lose the House, the name John Boehner will become very well-known in two monts, the Senate will stay Democratic but barely, and Jerry Brown will once again be California's Governor.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Wild Weekend

Friday at work was the day we got to celebrate my birthday along with three other Raben Group workers, one of which was another intern, who had birthdays in the first half of October. The cake we had was filled with caramel, chocolate, and fudge which made three spoonfuls enough to make me feel full, but I pushed forward and ate an entire slice of cake that kept me full for several hours.  Work was fairly simple. I kept updating the contact list for MALDEF, a client of The Raben Group's and began another small assignment that required me to look at previous paper draft's and type in updates that indicate which Congressmen and Senators should be replaced, due to their not seeking re-election in 2010. Or whether they lost re-election in 2008. Even though they are not the most exciting tasks, my familiarity with Microsoft Excel and use of congressional research skills have improved significantly since late September.

On Saturday I woke up at 5:30 AM headed for Philly with 49 other people at approximately 7:20 AM. We passed Baltimore and caught a glimpse of Camden Yards, stopped for food in northern Maryland, passed Wilmington and finally arrived in Philadelphia at around 10:30. Everyone who had heard that was going to the NLCS was surprised and were fairly jealous that I was able to get a ticket. Some of them thought I was nuts to wear my Giants shirt as we walked though the city but surprisingly I had only a small number of people even comment about my Giants shirt before game time.

My time in the city started off with a tour through old-Philadelphia and included stops at Betsy Ross's House, the location of Ben Franklin's old house (it was demolished in the early 19th Century), Christ Church, a Quaker Church, the location of the 2nd National Bank of the US. Once we finished the tour I went to go see the Liberty Bell which was a bit smaller than I expected but still an awesome thing to see. However, I could not stay to long because of my scheduled tour of Independence Hall was nearing and I had to get though security before I could enter the building. One big letdown was the the main steeple of the building was covered in construction equipment as it was undergoing renovation, meaning the picture I took of Independence Hall are not as good as they would have been if renovations had not been going on. Nonetheless the tour of Independence Hall was relatively quick but ultimately satisfying. After leaving Independence Hall I went to look for the best cheese steaks with a few other UC people and ended going to Geno's on 9th Street. The restaurant's cheese steak was delicious and I don't think it could have been made any better, so I recommend Geno's for anyone who ever visits Philadelphia.

After Geno's I went my own way and hailed a taxi that took me to the "Rocky steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After taking some pictures of the Rocky statue of set my Ipod to the Rocky theme song and sprinted my way up the steps all the way to the top and got harrassed by some drunk guy for wearing my Giants shirt. Once I finished my time with the steps I was off to the NLCS. Once the game started I got into a friendly discussion with the people I sat next to for most of the game and talked about baseball strategy and about how I ended up buying a seat at Game 1. The only real contentious moment was after Cody Ross's 2nd home run when two separate fans told me to sit down, which simply went on and cheered Ross I he rounded the plate. Once that game reached the 9th inning I was ready to run out of the stadium as soon as the last pitch was thrown. Myself and about a hundred other Phillies fans sprinted out of the stadium as the game was over and i was lucky enough to get a cab and get out of the ballpark without taking the brunt of a drunk and pissed of Phillies fan.

I ended up arriving to DC at 2:20 AM on Amtrak and got back to my room at around 3AM. Not bad for a day's worth of adventures. Below are some pictures of my day in Philadelphia.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Countdown to NLCS and Newseum

Today I printed out my ticket for Game 1 and it has finally hit me that I will actually be attending my first playoff game ever, and its taking place 3,000 miles away from the Bay Area. I've looked a bit closer at where i will be sitting and it will be near the edge of the 2nd deck right field stands. One thing that I am still debating is how to handle myself around a bunch of Philadelphia fans who are notoriously harsh against opposing fans. Should I stick it to them whenever something goes the Giants' way during the game just to piss them off or do I tone it down. My guess is that I will get into a shouting match with some drunk fan by the 6th inning that will amount to nothing.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday my Media seminar went to the Newseum for free and it was a very good experience. Some of the best sections of the Newseum included the hall of every Pulitzer Prize winning photos, excerpts of news reports from the major events of the 20th and 21st Century, the 9/11 Section, the hall of dozens of newspapers that reported on historic events. You can see some of the front pages at the end of the blog. Since we were able to enter for free that made it all the better since the $20 entrance does seem a bit steep.


After I left the Newseum I needed to a get a haircut since my hair was getting a bit out of control for me to take proper care of it and have a presentable look while at work. So I headed for the closest barber shop and ended up having my first experience at a primarily African-American barbershop. It was a fun time. One of the customers there had a great sense of humor and connected well with the three barbers as they bantered and joked most of the time I was there. The barbershop was a place to let loose and banter about anything and not have to worry to much about what you had to say. Most importantly, Vincent did a good job and continued my endless streak of not having a bad haircut.

Here are the front pages of newspapers reporting key events over the past 70 years.




Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Mass, Birthday, NLCS Ticket

This past weekend I visited two museums, the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Archives. The National Museum of the American Indian was full of cool artifacts and nice displays of the various tribes that have populated or still populate various portions of the American continents. The best part was several displays of Indian-made objects that were very creative, unique, and probably very expensive. The National Archives was much less crowded than I expected, even though I knew many people would be attending Church services or watching the Packers-Redskins game. Compared to visiting the Archives this past summer, this visit was much better. I did not have to wait half an hour in 100 degree weather and I was well rested from the previous night. Viewing the founding documents, along with the Nuremberg Laws, and a copy of the Magna Carta was very cool along with several of the interactive exhibits that included listening in on President's phone conversations including John Kennedy arguing with the Governor of Mississippi about desegregating the University of Mississippi and Lyndon Johnson convincing a former politician to join the Warren Commission.

On Monday, I realized how important Columbus Day is for the East Coast compared to California. They actually take the day off and The Raben Group's office were mostly empty and I was allowed to take the rest of the day off at noon. Once I left the office I headed to Saint Matthew's Cathedral to attend a 12:10 Mass just to see what it was like. What surprised me was how fast the entire Mass went, only 25 minutes.

Today, is course my 21st Birthday and I began to day with a morning visit to the Center for American Progress to sit in on a presentation about Latino children in poverty, which was a very informative presentation about how poverty has increased among young Latinos and the means that are being used to curb and ultimately lower the rate of childhood poverty. I was plenty excited about going to the nearby liquor store and not have to worry about being rejected for being to young. I got a Captain Morgan rum bottle which I would eventually use for rum and Cokes. Later that, night I went to Annie's Steakhouse with my roommates and ordered a New York Sirloin Steak which was delicious and worth every penny that I did not have to pay for as my roommates offered to pay as a birthday gift. Once we got back, all four of us went to another apartment  and had cake vanilla cake with chocolate frosting that was prepared by some of my DC friends. Thanks Sonja, Deanna, Christina, and So Young. Following the cake was rum and Coke time. :)

Do not worry I did not get wasted, just a little drunk.

One last interesting sidenote. In light of my pre-determined trip to Philadelphia with other UCDC people, I will be attending Game 1 of the NLCS between the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies with the ultimate pitching match-up, Tim Lincecum vs. Roy Halladay. I will be seated in Section 201 Row 9 Seat 23 which is in the second deck of the right-center field bleachers. Check a seating chart of Citizen's Bank Ballpark in order to get a good idea of where I will sit for the game. And I promise that I will post pictures of my time in Philadelphia.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Good Classes and New Tasks

On Wednesday both of my classes ended up being better than expected. During the media seminar class I am taking. Are instructor, who also contributes to KCBS, let us listen in on his morning political analysis over the computer at 10:30 DC time, 7:30 AM West Coast Time. The main topic that was discussed with the recent interview where Bob Woodward stated that it was possible that Hillary Clinton may trade places with Joe Biden as Vice President and Secretary of State if Barack Obama were to win a 2nd term. He also, gave a shout out to our class during the interview. So whenever it is 7:30 tune into KCBS and listen to Marc Sandalow's analysis and the latest political news.

For the Lobbying and Advocacy class a registered lobbyist, Nick Allard, was the week's guest speaker and talked with us for an hour and a half about his work as a lobbyist for Patton Boggs LLP and previously working for Ted Kennedy and Pat Moynihan. His main topic with us about making the case that lobbying is an honorable profession, even though every American generally looks down on registered lobbyists. His arguments in a nutshell is that "lobbyists" like Jack Abramoff are outliers in the lobbying profession, most lobbyists act on behalf of various Americans (farmers, minorities, gun owners, teachers, carpenters, businessmen) with legitimate concerns, provide valid and important information for the constituents he or she represents, and that a successful lobbyist must have a trusting reputation DC or else he or she will be out of job very quickly.

The previous two days for me at work consisted of me learning about how to use a website that lists the names and contact information of various reporters, and behind-the-scenes people who work for media outlets all over the nation. My project requires me to use that website in order to update the contact sheet for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) a client of The Raben Group's.

On Thursday myself and one of my fellow interns, Neil, were to deliver 43 separate copies of State of the Evidence for my part I delivered 23 copies to the offices of 23 Senators in the Senate Hart Office Building. It is a massive 8 floor building which houses the offices of both of California's senators along with the offices of several of the Senate offices that I sought to intern for (Jack Reed, Dianne Feinstein). When compared to the Cannon House Office Building, it is much newer and modern with several offices that have offices surrounded by glass walls so that when you walk along the walkways of the buildings you can see several offices and the people who work inside them.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

First Two Days of This Week

One additional note from the previous blog. If Saint Matthew's Cathedral sounds familiar, it is because that is where Pope John Paul II presided over one of his Mass's while he visited the United States in 1979, it is the Cathedral where Chief Justice William Rhenquist's funeral was held, and the place where John Kennedy's Solemn Requiem Mass was held before his body was laid to rest at Arlington. His son gave his famous salute to his father on the steps of the Cathedral.

My last two days of work have been much better than before. Mostly because of the fact that my workload has gone down slightly. On Monday I put the finishing touches and made final corrections on the immigration research summary of dozens of congressional candidates who are running as challengers this November. By the end of the day no one had anything for me to do so I was able to spend the last 45 minutes reading the local Washington newspapers and keep up with the latest news inside the Beltway.

Today I became familiar with an online system that The Raben Group uses to keep contact information about various people who work in various sectors of the media. For example, if I typed in a certain TV Show "NBC Nightly News" I would come up with some of the producers and other people who work behind the scenes of the show along with their contact information. Some of the information would be older and possibly out of date but that was not my concern. All I had to do was play with the system an become familiar with how to look for information on the website. Unfortunately, I may need more time to learn about it. My supervisor has told me that she can give me a more descriptive review of the system in the next few days. An interesting moment during my day was when my supervisor thought of certain issues  regarding immigration because I will probably work on a project that has to do with MALDEF or another Hispanic group that is usually more lenient on immigration issues. I gave her my viewpoint and the reasons for it and she was very receptive about it. She just wanted to make sure that I was doing something that I was not ideologically against.

Last night, journalist Richard Wolffe stopped by the UC Center while I was able to get 2nd row seats and able to get two slices of pizza instead of the usual number of one that I have gotten at past guest discussions. Wolffe talked about his experience with working on his book and the access in the White House he received during the first year and a half of the Obama Administration. Some of the highlights of what he said was that Democrats will hold the Senate, the House will likely have one of the parties have a small majority after the election, that you should not enter journalism unless it is all you want to do once you graduate, and that drinking was one of several ways to get passed the uneasiness that you may feel when giving an interview like he does on MSNBC shows like "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." Wolffe was very good with questions from the audience

Cool October and Red Mass

Fall is approaching DC. Yesterday, it rained for most of the day and cool enough that it reminded me of a rainstorm that may blow though California in the winter. For the rest of the week it looks like the temperatures will not pass 75 degrees so the prospect of hot and humid days are low.

On Sunday morning, I went grocery shopping at the local Safeway and on my way to and from the store I realized that a nearby part of Rhode Island Avenue was blocked off. This was because the annual Red Mass at Saint Matthew's Cathedral was taking place that morning. The Vice President and five of the nine Justices from the Supreme Court and the audience at the mass was invitation-only. Before I leave DC I will probably attend at least one mass at the cathedral.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Into the Weekend

The weather in DC has become much better over the past two days. The temperature has noticeably dropped since and Thursday and yesterday was a cool California-like fall day. :)

I spent a good portion of my time Friday finishing up my project on immigration research. The people who oversee the assignment gave me several complements for finding so much information on so many candidates over the past week. Now all I gotta do is format the information in a particular way and make sure to find my spelling and grammar mistakes and correct them.

One thing I noticed about the workplace on Friday is how things are much more casual, especially dressing up for work. Even though it is not technically considered "casual friday" it is not uncommon for someone to come to work without a tie or come in jeans and a nice polo shirt.

Yesterday myself, my roommates, and friends from our floor originally decided to visit Chinatown in downtown DC. However, we made a last minute change and decided to head for Eastern Market. Eastern Market is located in the Southeastern section of DC (about 1/3 of a mile Southeast of the Capitol and is surrounded by restaurants and shopping stores. On Saturday's flea markets and farmers markets are abound in Eastern Market and that is where we spent most of our time during the early afternoon. Some of the cool things I found in Eastern Market were old issues of Life Magazine from the 1940s thru the 1970s, maps there were as old as 200 years old, a wide variety of apples, especially West Virginia apples that tasted delicious, and a metal flamingo.

Once we finished going to Eastern Market half of us decided to check out the "On Nation Working Together" rally at the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool. Many of the people who attended were members of various unions including: UAW, SEIU, AFL-CIO, NEA, AFSCME, and others. In addition to union workers, were various anti-war activists, and various other liberals. The message focused on producing jobs at home, making education affordable, and focusing on helping the bottom 99% instead of the top 1%. By the time we made it to the Reflecting Pool many people had already left but several of them had gone to visit the World War 2 Memorials, the Washington Monument, or other tourist attractions. We decided to make one lap around the reflecting pool and tried to get as close as we could to the speaker's podium, just as Jesse Jackson was giving his speech. My own personal estimate as to how many people i think attended the rally is about 30,000 but who knows how accurate that really is.

Some things I have to look forward to include listening to journalist and MSNBC contributor Richard Wolffe on Monday night and finding out my new assignment when I arrive to work.