Immanuel Kant and friendship

“She had never known any torment like this. This mixture of intimacy

and inaccessibility, of repulsion and attraction, of hopeless loss and hope

that all might yet be regained—this confused sensation seemed to become a

crimson glow in the darkness, its incandescent rays fi lling the room scorching

her breast, drawing from her. . . . one long wail!” (Alexandr Solzhenitsyn,

November 1916, trans. H. T. Willetts (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,

1999), 695).

I received this quote from a Professor of mine. I'm sharing it because it's so vividly portrays my problem with Immanuel Kant. I'm studying politics and friendship in a political science class this semester, and a few weeks ago we were discussing in class Kant's work, titled The Metaphysics of Morals.

Quite honestly, this class has been painful. It's been a struggle, trying to comprehend, and organize all these modern philosophers in my mind. But I think Kant has taught me something.

At the end of the day, Kant is all about the law. Individuals should follow the Categorical Imperative, and that will lead you to moral development. Be virtuous for the sake of virtue. Fulfill your moral duty, because it's the right thing to do. With every duty there corresponds a right. His philosophy is so structured; it makes me feel boxed in. His view of friendship seems like a cold discourse between people as a response to fulfill their moral obligations to each other, and to use one another to cultivate their own perfection.

Kant sees friendship as this balance between love, and respect. Love is irrational, and draws people closer together. Respect, as Kant sees it, keeps people at a distance. This is because individuals are ultimately responsible for their own person actions. Kant is also weary of betrayal when individuals disclose too much information with each other. If we love too much, we expose ourselves, and if we respect too little we hurt the rights of others to be their own individual. This quote by Solzhenitsyn describes Kantian friendship for me.

How do we love, and build meaningful (virtuous) friendships with each other? Can we do this while maintaining respect between each other? Friendship love for me, is more complicated. Maybe not complicated, but more holistic--more round, than Kant's structured box of friendship. Moral laws, like the Categorical Imperative are important to give us directions, but Kant fails to tell us what love really is. Friendship is not a balance between love and respect, I think it's both at one time. The feelings of the woman in the quote, of both love and respect more accurately describe human relationships in reality.

Standing for something

I've been back in Canada for two weeks now, which has been plenty of time to settle back into life where I left it, and time to contemplate/reflect on the last ten weeks in Washington. I've hit that feeling right when an experience or travels becomes history, a part of the past, and I can only hold it now as a memory. It's no longer something I'm living everyday.

I know it sounds cliche, but I learned a lot this summer about the importance of setting professional goals, and creating a direction for what exactly you want, and then the steps to link together that big goal, university, and all the little steps that need to be taken in between. I was encouraged, built up and challenged by the people I worked with, and other students and interns I met to want more and to never settle.

Urban centers are full of ambitious, driven people, and the vast majority of people in the DC area can be characterized by those words: eager, hopeful, passionate, competitive... but what I think Washington  has over other cities is passion. Dedication to an ideology, policy or specific goal surrounding an issue. People go to Washington to make a difference.

To condense my summer, the one thing I have taken home with me, and I encourage you all to thread through your professional and academic goals is passion. Last night I was flipping through pictures that I had taken over the summer, and in light of the budget scandal and the presidential campaign, I was thinking back to when I met Congressman Ron Paul. He had a picture of Grover Cleveland (U.S. President in the late 1800s) hanging in his office. Under the picture was the quote:

"What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?"

That idea goes way beyond public office, and I think it's a good summary of what I have learned in DC. Building a career is about standing for something. Put together ideas and values with past schooling or traveling experiences and make a professional career your own. This idea is so central to success, and being able to stand out above the crowd, or in my case, have my resume be at the top of the pile rather than lost in the middle.

This idea, or lesson I learned this summer has already become so invaluable to me, and as I wrap up this short and sweet chapter of my life I want to encourage those reading to do the same. Get involved, plug-in, find like minded people who won't settle and go after what is on your heart. Success can only be yours.

That's it

Well, it’s finally that time of the summer—I’m Alberta bound.

I could not have asked for a more enjoyable last week in DC. I thought about going through my guidebook, and seeing a few more sights, and events that I missed, but I realized what was more important to me was visiting people, and enjoying the company of the friends I’ve had the pleasure of making.

Tuesday during the day I wandered from my apartment down to Capitol Hill one last time. I wanted to check out the Library of Congress, and also that day the Committee of Foreign Affairs was holding a public hearing on Uganda and children’s health. 

Committee on Foreign Affairs: Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights.

Ally and me in the Library of Congress

The hearing was smaller in size, but it was in a great committee room in the Rayburn House Office Building. A lot of events and committees are open, and I was glad to make it to one before my time in Washington came to an end. It was specifically about mental health and hydrocephalus so a few doctors spoke as witnessed. One doctor actually opened a clinic in Kampala, Uganda and trained healthcare professionals in Uganda on this specific surgical procedure that he created to help cure hydrocephalus. It was pretty great to actually see exactly how civil society can influence policy, how policy can actually be formed and how priorities are set within the government.

I went with two friends of mine, Ally and Shadia and we headed for lunch at Good Stuff Eatery. It’s not far from the Library of Congress, and the food is so delicious. It’s such a cool place, and the menu is pretty cool. Their veggie burger is called “Vegetarians are people too” burger. They also have an Obama Burger, and a Michelle Melt. I tried the veggie burger which was made of Portobello mushrooms, and a few different cheeses. It was fantastic! They also have delicious fries seasoned with rosemary. So I was there on Tuesday, and it was in the news on Wednesday that President Obama dropped by for lunch. I missed him by a day! But it’s still cool to say I went to the same restaurant and Obama did in the same week.

Tuesday night was the last day of my US Foreign Policy class. My Professor made a dinner reservation for the class, and we all met at Zorba’s Café in Dupont for dinner. It was this cute Greek restaurant, and the walls were dotted with pictures of Greek landscape. There were about ten students there so it was an intimate group. After a few classes at the beginning of the semester, my Professor opened up the class and allowed for a lot of open dialogue and conversation about foreign policy issues. I began to look forward to the class because of the great discussions we had. Every student was from a different University, in a different part of the country, holding very different values and beliefs. I’ve learned so much about the modern American paradigm from my professor, and from my American classmates. It was indeed very different from the classroom I am used to back in Lethbridge.

It was great to have a few more conversations with those friends I had made. After our Professor left after dinner, we went out for happy hour and I really enjoyed getting to know this varied crowd. If we were not in the same class together, there was no way we would have managed to hang out together, and so I was very thankful for that time, and the great learning experience the class turned out to be.

At the Washington National's baseball game. They played the Atlanta Braves that day.

Wednesday I caught an afternoon Nationals game with two friends, Ally and Lisa. It’s been cool the last week, so in the bottom of the sixth inning the game was rain delayed, but for no more than thirty minutes. I had never been to a professional baseball game before, and I really enjoyed it! We sat back, relaxed and watched the game. I had a beer and a chilli dog in true American fashion.

Thursday I planned to spend some time with the girls I interned with. Most of us lived at the TWC residence, but some of the interns were placed in housing further out of the city in Maryland. They’re apartment building had a pool, so we ventured out into suburbia to hang out by the pool all afternoon. I felt like I was finally getting a little bit of summer. The TWC program is rigorous, and life in DC is very busy, so a rest by the pool on a sunny afternoon was exactly what I needed to come down from the hi of my summer program. That morning I woke up at 6am to go for a last run down the National Mall. I went with Juri, my neighbor from across the hall, for a 7 mile run. The only people out on the Mall that early were runners. It was so peaceful. We ran the whole length of the Mall all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial, which has turned out to be my favorite DC memorial. It rained the night before so at 6am the humidity was at 90% and about 30 degrees Celcius. It was like running in a hot, humid cloud. That's one thing I found out this summer--I never knew I could sweat so much!

That night I met my friends Janelle and Armando for dinner and later drinks. It was our last night out, so we went for Italian food in the downtown/Chinatown area, then to a couple other places for drinks. I'm going to miss the friends I've made here, and the vibrant night life!

Lunch with my Program Manager, Hind.

Friday I met three girls I worked with for lunch with our Program Manager. Our PM, Hind lives in Georgetown so we met for lunch there at a great Indian restaurant. We had all went out for lunch many times throughout the summer during the work week, but this was our last chance to be all together. We had delicious Indian food, chatted for a while, then said our goodbyes.

So this week was all about spending time with the friends I've made over the last 10 weeks, and it was honestly very hard to say goodbye. I'm going to miss them dearly, but who knows what the future holds for us or where we'll cross paths next. :)

A whirl-wind of DC events: the Pentagon, Saudi Arabia and human trafficking

Monday Pentagon Tour

The Washington Center planned a visit for some students to visit the Pentagon last Tuesday. I wish I had a few pictures, but there were no cameras allowed, and all cell phones has to be turned off. It was worth going, to actually say I've been inside the building, but unfortunately we didn't see anything crazy out of the ordinary. Security to get inside was pretty intense, and the place is just crawling with military officials so that made it a pretty great experience. The group I was with was toured by a young Marine, and a man from the Air Force. The most surprising thing I saw in the building was what was in their food court! It is filled with fast food: Mcdonalds, Subway...the building is so big it's an mini city and I guess they've got an expansive gym in the basement too. A lot of the tour was focused on the 9/11 attack, and I actually stood in that part of the building where the plane crashed. 184 people died in the attack, and it's quite sombering to be there and see the memorial with all the names listed.

Saudi Arabian Embassy Visit

Last Monday all the students from the International Affairs program went to visit the Saudi Arabian Embassy. The building stands alone and is quite impressive and made with white marble. The Embassy is beautifully decorated with pictures of Saudi and U.S. leaders together. All the cellphones were taken away at the security desk, so I couldn't take any pictures. That seems to be a DC theme, that places worth visiting there are no cameras allowed. We all sat in a large theater/meeting room and the  Saudi Press Secretary spoke with us for about an hour. He had a lot of interesting things to say, so I'll try and write out the highlights. I've taken these directly from my notes-notice the diplomatic tone and language:

At the doors of the Saudi Embassy with Shadia.

• The Arab Spring was a failure of governments to provide services to their citizens. 
• Problem in Saudi is that the educational system does not stand up to the international standard. Technological change needs to happen with cultural sensitivities.
• No one should have nuclear weapons
• Problem of Arabs: living in the past
• Saudi Arabia represents the Muslim world
• Israelis are not involved in the peace process; there are talks about a two state solution, but no one wants to move forward
• In regards to Palestine's bid into the UN, statehood is Palestines last card

There was recently a woman in Saudi Arabia arrested for driving and so women's rights in Saudi have hit the international spot light this summer. A student asked him about career opportunities and the fact that women may now how more educational opportunity, but there are huge cultural realities when it comes to women actually joining the workforce. The Press Secretary actually said that the government cannot legislate family affairs. There are positions opening up for women, but there are social contraints and economic realities regarding the role of women that creates enormous resistance. I think this is all the more reason for women in the West to be outspoken about gender equality. Women in the West definitely have great opportunities now compared to twenty years ago, but there are women all over the world that are still struggling to have equal rights.

Human Trafficking

Every year the State Department writes a Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report and that was at the beginning of June and that roll-out event was the one Hillary Clinton attended, but anyways because of that report, The Protection Project wrote an analysis of the report, and I went with the girls I work with. The director of the Protection Project, Dr. M.. and the Ambassador-at-large Louis CdeBaca spoke about the TIP report, and the realities of human trafficking and the role of the U.S. government. Ambassador CdeBaca is a great public speaker and very motivational. He talked about how freedom is everyone's business and that both governments and civil society needs to address this issue. There is always room for improvement regarding human trafficking laws and what not. There was a lot of discussion about criminal justice and the realities that many victims cannot go to the police because of the harm speaking out might put them in and many police forces are not equipped to help trafficked victims.

Our culture of consumerism also drives modern day slavery, so it's also another reason why we need to be aware of the products we use, and encourage companies to understand their slavery footprint. I guess there also is a smartphone app coming out soon that will make a lot of human trafficking information available to the public.

Commencement

Today was the TWC commencement, so my summer here is officially coming to an end. I've had such a great experience here, and I could not have asked for a better summer. I'd really like to come back to this city to work, or go to school, so I don't think I'm saying goodbye to DC for good. I'm going to try and see a few more historical sites, snap a few more pictures, but mostly I want to spend the time I have with friends I've made. 

REAL life.

DC moments from the past few weeks:

The National Mall: I enjoyed another great DC moment watching the fireworks from the National Mall on the 4th of July. Around 7:30-8pm the green space started filling up with people trying to score a place to sit. It was crowded and hot, yet the atmosphere of the day was relaxed, because it was a holiday, and people were just spending time with family and friends.

My mom flew across the continent to visit me this weekend, and we spent a lot of time today on the National Mall seeing the sites, and taking pictures in front of all the monuments. The novelty of seeing all the touristy things has worn off a bit, but I still think that the National Mall is one of my favorite places about the city. I have really enjoyed going for runs there-I can't get enough of it.

A picture of me with my mom in front of the White House.

US Foreign Policy Class: Another example would be my class, U.S. Foreign Policy last Tuesday night. There's about 15 students in the class, and we all are assigned to write a Policy Paper on a topic of our choice and present our ideas in class. Last week a few students presented their papers, and following that was a short discussion on their ideas. I really enjoy the class setting, because not one student is from the same University, and I have learned to appreciate the productivity that comes with different perspectives. (I also like representing the outside Canadian perspective, which is more distinct from the general American perspective than I realized.)

Meeting real-life diplomats:
The Canadian Program Manager at TWC was gracious enough to put together a round-table event for all the Canadian students to go to the Embassy and meet with Foreign Service Officers about working for the federal government. There were about 15 students and we met 4 Foreign Service Officers and had a very casual, open discussions about the realities of working for the federal government. They were gracious enough to take time and explain the question I think all undergrads think about-how do I transfer from being a student to a professional? How can I market myself? I set up a meeting with another Foreign Service Officer when I first arrived here in Washington, but this meeting was extremely constructive, and confirmed my ideas and interests in Foreign Service work. The more they explained what the job is like, and what type of person can be successful in the department, the more I realized it's something I would really like to pursue. It's completely different talking to people explain their jobs rather than reading online job postings.Working as a diplomat is not only a job, but a lifestyle. The people I met are rotational officers, meaning they move every four years or so to a different Embassy around the world, depending on where they have applied. Obviously, there are huge sacrifices that they make personally because of this, and one of the ladies explained that it's definitely harder for women to be a Foreign Officer. The career is still working on an old-school model of the husband working as a diplomat, with his wife staying at home with the children that way the family can move to accommodate the husbands career. The modern realities of women developing careers alongside their significant others is way beyond that.

Meeting a real life congressman:

Sitting with Dr. Paul and his wife, who happened to be in the office that afternoon.

I'm wearing heels in this picture, so my height is a little deceiving.

An inspirational quote in Ron Paul's office that

seems fitting for how he's led his career in public office.

"What is the use of being elected or re-elected unless you stand for something?"
 
One of my goals this summer was to meet Congressman Ron Paul. My brother Nathanael is a big supporter, and because of his interests I have learned to appreciate Dr. Paul's libertarian views especially in the political climate in Washington right now.

Ron Paul's desk.

I'm at that awkward time of my summer in Washington. It feels like finals, because I'm under the crunch for finishing up my class work, and the lovely TWC portfolio which consists of all the work I've done this summer. I'm ready to finish up all these tasks that have been set before me at the beginning of the summer, but I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to the city, and the friends I have made. I feel almost as if I've found this small piece of heaven. I don't know if I'll ever be able to head off to another city for the summer, enroll in a great program I've found here, made great friends. All this coming to an end is a bit sombreing.

I enjoy writing this blog, because it gives me time to contemplate and reflect on moments that I've experienced that I could not have experienced anywhere else. (I suppose that's the joy of traveling that I cannot get enough of.) I'll share some of them with you. Last weekend I ended up going to a friends rooftop party at the building across from my apartment. It was nighttime, and I was being introduced to many new friends, enjoying good conversation and taking in the hot east-coast air and the glittery sky-line.

There's always more I could be writing and reflecting on, but I think I'll end it there. Here's to the last few days in July!

There's something about DC...

Visit to the State Department

2011 Trafficking in Persons Report: This video captures Ally so well!

Madam Secretary herself

Meeting Ben Skinner with Ally, Lisa, Mr. Skinner in the middle,
Professor Lederer, and Mike.

Standing in-front of the podium where Hillary Clinton just was!

In front of the State Department with Lisa, Ally and Shadia.

My supervisor at Global Centurion worked at the State Department for 8 years, and has done extensive work on human trafficking. She is extremely well connected, and attends this event every year. It’s a high profile event, and me and the other interns in the office lucked out, and made it on the guest list! The event was at 2pm, but we were told to be there early, around 12pm have time to go through security and get a seat in the room where Secretary Clinton was going to speak.  I’ll try and paint a picture of the event.

I found this picture on the State Department website. I'm in the
bottom corner with Ally on my left.

The State Department is a big 10 storey building not too far away from the Lincoln Memorial. The security is pretty legit.  We were all made fully aware of this when my co-worker pulled out her phone to take a picture in the lobby-apparently that is a no-no. Not anyone can go into this building, so my passport information was sent ahead of time to be cleared. Anyways, after waiting for quite some time, the TIP Report office set up a desk in the lobby, where our names were checked, and all the guests were escorted through the lobby, up the elevator to the 8th floor. I don’t even know how to described what happened next. I step out of the elevator, into this beautiful lobby, ornately decorated with an ajoining reception hall. There, they had decadent cheese platters, olives, crackers served on State Department, gold trimmed dinnerware with napkins stamped with the U.S. seal. This room opened up to a large balcony. I walked out there as I was snacking on a mozarella, artichoke, olive kebab. The view was stunning! I could see the top of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington monument, and the Capitol building in the distance. Another ajoining room was a diplomatic reception room filled with antique furniture, and oh, Thomas Jefferson’s desk happened to be there.

A crowd started to form around the doors to the Benjamin Franklin room, so I found my supervisor, and the other interns, and waited to get in the room. Once the doors opened, I followed my co-workers Ally and Lisa into the room. The first few seats were reserved for Ambassadors, and state officials, but Ally ended up grabbing seats right by the aisle. I was so excited. I have to explain a bit-Ally (from Montreal) LOVES Hillary Clinton. She couldn’t stop talking about it. I’ll give you a little perspective. Once the event was over,  Ally noticed that all the seats on the stage were labeled with a sheet of paper. Ally saw Hillary Clinton’s reserved seat (the one she sat on) and grabbed it home. We were joking that she’s probably going to laminate it and hang it above her bed.

After the event, my supervisor introduced us to E. Ben Skinner. He’s an investigative journalist, and I was just reading his book on human trafficking, A Crime So Monstrous. It’s a great book he wrote a few years ago about human trafficking around the world. He’s quite handsome too-almost a blond version of Ewan McGregor. I really reading the chapters on Haiti, because that’s what I’m working on at my internship. He gave me his business card, and we talked briefly about Haiti, and he said to contact him if I needed anything. So, following the networking rules of Washington, I followed up with an email a few days later, and that led to a phone appointment a day after that. He’s done a lot of work in Haiti, and he gave me some feedback about the realities of Haiti, and what kind of anti-trafficking messages and tools would be most effective. It was a great conversation! And he encouraged me to go to Haiti, and said if I ever go I should let him know and he’ll set me up with his contacts there. It was very encouraging!

The rest of the week has been pretty routine. I watched Black Hawk Down in my US Foreign Policy class-as an example of what happens in a failed state, says my professor.


Throughout the whole semester, TWC puts on different professional development sessions and what not, so  week I went to the Myers Briggs Personality test session. There’s a questionnaire I filled out, and then at the meeting we analyze the results. I learned a lot about my personal tendencies. There are 4 categories:

1. Extroversion-Introversion (where we focus our energy & attention)

2. Sensing-Intuition (how we prefer information)

3. Thinking-Feeling (the was we make decisions)

4. Judging-Perceiving (our attitudes toward the external world)

Actually, my roommate Prium knows quite a bit about the Myers Briggs tests, and she was trying to figure out what type I was, so I took the test and she was right on the money. There's quite a bit to learn from how different types match together. Prium and I are almost exact opposites--Prium is an ENTP (Extrovert, Innuitive, Thinking, Perceiving), and I am an ISTJ (Introversion-Sensing, Thinking, Feeling). We get along so well, but living with her other the last few weeks has made me realize how differently we think. I am more aware of how I think, and make decisions, and that not everyone thinks like I do. That kind of seems like common sense, but interesting nonetheless. My other two roommates are the same as me (Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judging) and they have similar tendencies as I do. Aliya and Janelle keep their room clean, they’re morning people...Janelle makes more to-do lists than I do! It’s pretty hilarious.

Walking around the National Mall around sunset

So I’m learning! And meeting new people, and I’m constantly being reminded that this city offers so much that I couldn’t find anywhere else. Just the friendships that I've been able to make with other interns and TWC students has been worth flying across the continent for.There’s an excitement about being here. The movers and shakers are here, and it's exciting to be apart of this summer. It’s the political center of the country and I'm going to have a really hard time leaving this city.

Learning to be an American

Hey friends,

I was apart of a lobbying project this week that I want to share. Every part of it was incredible, so I'll try and not leave out any details. TWC requires all the students to participate in some sort of volunteering/civic engagement project over the semester, so I decided to volunteer with TASSC (Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition). It's the only organization of its kind founded for torture survivors. I've talked about it earlier in my blog, but this week we actually did more than just talk about torture and human rights, we engaged with Congressmen to speak about torture abolition. These meetings were organized around constituents, and then we created groups including other students and a few survivors. [side note: here's a great article on torture]. I went with my co-worker Lisa from Alabama to speak with Representative Spencer Bachus' legislative assistant. On Capitol Hill, the Senate and the House both have three office buildings. My first meeting was in the Rayburn Office building. My lobby team included me, Lisa, Bapir and Neevan (both from Iraq). Bapir was a kind gentleman, and he was a torture victim who now lives in the U.S. under political asylum. Neevan is his nephew, and he came to Washington only for a few weeks for this project. The meeting only was for about 15 minutes, so we worked on a game plan before hand to establish what we actually wanted to say.

(Sorry it's out of focus) This is me with Neevan on the left, and
Bapir on the right,  right after our meeting.

Lisa led the meeting because she was the constituent, but we all contributed briefly. We basically asked the LA (legislative assistant) to use countries human rights records as leverage when it comes to US aid, and to be more aware of human right violations. We also introduced TASSC as an organization, and explained who we are, why we care about this issue, and why he should care about this issue. These Congressmen's office meet with way more powerful lobby groups with I'm sure, more specific interests in mind, but I learned felt really passionate about this issue, and I learned a lot from engaging government, and putting my 1st Amendment right to good use!

There's an energy in the air in the daytime on Capitol Hill. It feels very official, with a lot of people walking around in suits. When I walked into the Alabama office, I instantly thought of the movie Charlie Wilson's War, because his office is exactly how Representative Bachus' office was designed. I was greeted by a staffer, who I would characterize as a southern gentleman wearing a seersucker suit. Apparently, wearing a seersucker suit on the Hill is an honored southern tradition.

My second meeting was with 2 other TWC students Ian and Allan, and we were meeting Allan's Senator Mark Kirk. Also with us was Melissa and Lean from California. Melissa did most of the talking at this meeting, and she did a great job. Her story is amazing. She's a U.S. citizen and her family is originally from the Phillipines. She is a torture survivor, and she was very captivating during our meeting on the Hill. She spoke directly from the heart. The crazy part about her story, was that is happened in 2009, and she was a US citizen. We always think as westerners that those kinds of human rights violations could never happen to us, but it happened to her! She was abducted at gunpoing, and held for six day being physically and psychologically tortured. Check out her website: Justice for Melissa

Anthony Weiner's office that is no more!

NBD

This video is Melissa speaking at the TASSC Vigil in Lafayette Park in front of the White house, which was a few days after our lobbying day. After going to these meetings, I was so encouraged, and I felt almost empowered because of the experience. I felt as if I could talk to any body! There was a briefing held by TASSC later that afternoon, so I walked around the different office buildings with my roommates, who were also doing lobbying that day. It was Janelle's idea to find Congressman Weiner's office, and to see if his office plaque was still up. Surprisingly it was! Another TWC intern told us later that the plaque was actually taken down later that day, so we caught it just in time! The House Office buildings are connected with underground tunnels, so I ventured to the Canon Building to take a picture in front of Ron Paul's office, for Nathanael. There was a staffer in the office on the phone, and I felt my bold Kirbey-like insticts kick in, so I just walked in. He was the only one in the office, and he was really kind, and let me and my friends walk into Ron Paul's office and take pictures. We chatted for a bit about school and our internships, then gave me the scheduler's card so I could meet Ron Paul. Hopefully it works out while I'm here!

I ended up walking around the Hart Senate Office building too, and walked past Senator Scott Brown, who is as handsome as they say. Google him, and you'll find his centerfold photo when he won "America's Sexiest Man" contest when he was in college. I also walked past Senator Al Franken. It was amazing. I loved it. I think I would really enjoy working on the Hill one day. It's hard to explain, but it was amazing to be walking around this building a midst lawmakers. This is where it all happens! It definitely felt like the real deal.

I didin't think my day could get any better, but it did. I went to an event held by Center for Global Development, to hear Madam President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speak. My iPhone died, so I couldn't take any pictures of her, but she captivated the whole room the instant she walked in. She spoke for about 30 minutes on her country, Liberia. I've always thought Hilary Clinton is an amazing women for being such a strong political leader, but Madam President puts her to shame! Read her biography, or at least google her. She was wearing a traditional, lavender colored dress and head-dress. and she spoke directly from her heart. She said "I was told there was a prepared speech for me, but I'd rather leave it where it is." She talked about poverty, education, peace and security, infrastructure, China's role in Africa, AGOA....the list goes on. She was so articulate, and awe-inspiring. I think I've found my new political role model. There was time for a question & answer period, and one of the questions was "Why do you think there are so few female heads of state?" She turned the question right around and said America is behind Africa on this one! People crowded around her afterwords, but didn't get to meet her. I was standing outside the hotel (where the event was put on) when she was whisked away in her motorcade. Literally, they stopped traffic and drove so fast once she was in the car.

National Art Gallery.

I stopped at Teaism downtown before I went to the Gallery. I
had Moroccan Mint tea, and this Tuna lunch dish. 

The rest of my weekend has been a little bit more low-key than that great day on Capitol Hill. I wandered around the National Art Gallery. I'm going to be a little bit patriotic here, and say that Canada's National Art Gallery is better, and more impressive than this one. Maybe it's because I really was into the Group of Seven when I was in Ottawa last year, but I still enjoyed the Canadian collection more. Sunday afternoon I walked with my roommates Aliya and Janelle to the Eastern Market, which reminded me a lot of the Byward Market in Ottawa. There was a lot of cool vintage clothes, handbags and jewelry. They had a bit of fresh produce too, so I bought some peaches. And I think that's where I'll end it today!

New York City & some missed Canadian politics

A lot has happened since I last wrote, and I don't even know how to capture it all! But I'll try. I'll start with the fun stuff: weekend in New York. I've never been, and since I'm not that far away from the Big Apple, I got up early Saturday morning, hopped on a bus with three other friends, and went to the city. It was a four hour bus ride from DC, so I arrived in New York late Saturday morning, and did not stop walking around until Sunday night when I was back on the bus to DC.

Central Park

30 Rock!

New York Public library. They had a great exhibition on display including
manuscripts from George Washington to Bob Dylan

I could not get over how different the city feels compared to pictures. First off, the buildings are SO much taller than I expected, and all of Manhattan is so crowded. There is no space. I always felt like there wasn't even enough space to step back, and get a good picture of things, I just had to crane my neck. I stayed at a YMCA hostel in the Upper East Side. The city is so expansive, and I of course didn't get to see all that I wanted to, but some of the highlights were Time Square, Rockefeller, walking down 5th, Chinatown, Ground Zero, walking on the Brooklyn Bridge, taking the Staten Island ferry by the Statue of Liberty, walking along the piers...it was all great! The food was just as good as people talk about too. Pizza, and the food in little Italy was pretty authentic. I even took the subway, which is a very authentic New York experience. It makes the Metro in DC seem so big and clean. I did quickly realize that New York is very dirty, especially compared to the clean, broad, tree-lined streets of Washington. There's an energy about the city too; people are in a rush, and you have to fight around the crowds, and traffic. My two favorite events of the weekend: eating dinner at this small, cozy Italian restaurant that served great wine in the East Village, and riding bikes around Central Park. The air was warm, all the doors were open to the street, the restaurant was lit with small candles on the tables, and there was a wall of wine bottles behind the bar. There were even vines growing on the ceiling in the restaurant. Riding bikes around Central Park was SO much fun. The park is beautiful, and so big. There were so many people rollerblading, running, biking, sun-tanning...everyone was out enjoying the sun on a great Saturday afternoon.

Bryant Park with Janelle

New York really is unlike any other city I've been to. I wish I had more time there, because I didn't get to see any museums, so I'm definitely going to have to re-visit that city.

Times Square with Shadia in the evening

New York feels too busy for politics, and that's all that Washington lives by. Coming back to DC on Sunday felt a bit like I was coming back to reality, and responsibility. I was not ready to leave New York, but my week has been pretty great so far. As apart of the different assignments I have to do with The Washington Center (TWC) they encourage us to contact people in the city who hold jobs or positions that we're interested in, or would like to be someday. I've always been interested in working for the Canadian government internationally, so I emailed the Canadian Embassy here and eventually was set up with a meeting with Christian Ranger. He's a young diplomat that's worked in the Foreign Service for 8 years. He's been in Washington for a few years, and he was posted to in Turkey for 3 years before that. He works in the political section, and he specifies in Latin America. I asked him what that exactly means, and he says he studies US foreign policy, how it relates to Canadian FP and in regards to Latin America. He said I was asking good questions, and we sat in the cafeteria in the Embassy for about an hour, so I feel like it went really well, and I gained a lot of insight, just by asking about what his career has been like, and how he got there. He explained a lot about the process of writing the test, and getting into the Foreign Service, and how DFAIT really operates. Long gone are the days of Pearsonian diplomacy. There's no clout or glamour about the foreign service anymore, and I knew that from studying Canadian Foreign Policy last semester, but somehow I still pictured it that way in my mind. He said looking back, he's noticed that there are three assets that a person needs to help them be successful in getting hired in the Foreign Service.
1. Experience living abroad
2. Master's degree
3. a 3rd language

This city is crazy about it's badges

I really enjoyed my conversation with him, but I don't think the Canadian Foreign Service is for me. I mean, of course I would never say no to a great government job, but I feel like there is a lot of opportunity in the NGO sector, and other ways to have an international career. I was asking him about this changing nature in diplomacy in relation to stronger provincial international affairs, and the provinces building ties with state governments and the federal governments being by-passed all together. There is potential growth there, but he does believe that there still is a future for old style diplomacy. It made me think of Professor Hale's Canadian Federalism class that I took last fall. There aren't levels of government within Canada, there are orders because the provinces very active protecting their interests domestically and internationally. It was great talking to another Canadian, and I took the opportunity to ask him about how he views Canada's role in Washington. American politics are unlike any other countries in the world; I do feel like I'm at the center of a great superpower, because that's how Americans view this city, and themselves. Mr. Ranger said that you can't understand the U.S. from Washington, and there's such a true reality to that. All of the Congressmen and women are focused on representing their state and constituents. What goes on internally is far more important than what other countries are doing, and that's very much so NOT the reality in Canada. I could go on about this meeting, but I touched on the highlights, so I'll leave it there.

It's 11:40pm, and I have an early morning meeting, preparing to lobby on Capitol Hill! I'm working with Torture Abolition Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) to try and end torture and bring awareness to human rights. Earlier this week I volunteered to call Representative's offices and set up meetings for other students working on this project that are constituents. I'll report back on all of this very soon!

Virginia, gay pride and real life politicians

Weekend highlights:

My roommates and I decided to get out of the city for the day, so we went with some other intern friends and drove down to George Washington’s estate , Mount Vernon in Virginia. It’s not too far away, but we hit some traffic on the way there. Mount Vernon is beautiful!

Mount Vernon, George Washington's Estate. The Mansion on
the left.

The back side of the house with Janelle and Prium.

It’s very well preserved. The Mansion was filled with antique furniture, set up how the Washington’s would have lived. There also were slave quarters, a laundry building, a stable, a smokehouse, I mean the list goes on. The back porch looks over the Potomac River, and it gives the whole place a very peaceful feel. There was a beautiful garden, and really beautiful trees. It would definitely have been something to live in such a beautiful Estate back in the day. It was a great afternoon, and being there really gave me a sense of what kind of man George Washington was, and his importance in American history.

On the way home, the Metro runs past Pentagon City, a HUGE mall by the Pentagon, so I went shopping for a bit with my roommate Janelle. It never ceases to amaze me how great and expansive American malls are. After that, we met up with friends and had dinner at Chilis. Their salsa is SO great. It was in Arlington, so it took up a while to get home after that, and that was the day.

The Newseum on Pennsylvania Ave.

Me on the balcony of the Newseum. To the
left is the Canadian Embassy. Those stickers on my shorts are
from all the organization's set up on in the festival.

As a part of a TWC promotion, all of us interns were given wristbands that give us discounts to different things around the city. One of them was the Newseum (museum of news—clever right?) so Janelle and I took full advantage of that, and headed out late Sunday afternoon. Capitol Hill is only about a mile from our apartment, so we walked there.  There are always events and music playing on Capitol Hill and down the National mall, but we kind of stumbled upon this big festival. The day before was the Captial Pride Parade, so on Sunday there was a festival on Pennsylvania Ave.  It was great to walk through. There were so many people out and about, and so many gays scandalously dressed. Janelle and I just laughed and enjoyed walking around, got some free stuff, and listened to Gaga and Rihanna play all afternoon. After wandering around on Penn. Ave, I ducked into the Newseum with Janelle to get out of the heat. It’s not a Smithsonian, but we got in for free because of our wristbands. The museum is right beside the Canadian Embassy, and it’s definitely a site worth seeing. The architecture is amazing. On the front facade of the building is the entire First Amendment, and the display on the street is a wall of front pages from that day. And it got better as I walked inside. The ticket is good for two days, because it’s such an expansive exhibition. There was a great display of 9/11 news, and another corner dedicated to Katrina news, and it was displayed as a timeline fashion, as all the events unraveled.

So those were probably the highlights of the weekend. Most of my free time during the week is filled doing assignments for my TWC portfolio, and my US Foreign Policy class, and the less glamourless parts of life.

Listening to Senator Chuck Hegel at the Dept.
of the Interior.

Every Monday is TWC programming, which included different events and speakers. This week former Senator Chuck Hegel spoke. A quite google of his name, and you’ll realize that he’s had quite an impressive career both in the public and private sector. This event was just another reminder for myself about how grateful I am to be in this city for the summer. Events like that don’t regularly happen in other cities. He’s a Republican, but we talked a lot about the need for the parties to work together, and he talked about the challenges our generation will face compared to his generation. I noticed, being someone who’s grown up outside of the US, he was very “American-centric” about the way he talked about issues, and the opinions he expressed. That’s pretty typical for Congressmen, but I found it to be interesting. Very rarely would Canadians say things like, “We have the best system of government in the world” which is what Senator Hegel said bluntly in his speech. It is very apparent to me that Americans view America very differently that people outside of the country do.

I’ll wrap up, but those have been the highlights over the last week. I’m going on a visit to the State Department next week, so I’ll keep updating! 

Gettin' into things.

I'm very quickly learning the value of the weekend. Working 9-5 is quite exhausting and quite frankly overrated. This week has been good, but busy. I look forward to getting home, unwinding, hanging out with my roommates or going for a run. I'll rewind a bit.
Monday was pretty relaxed at work. My supervisor sent me some more details and instructions about my project, so I got started on that. Global Centurion is developing a strategic plan for a non-profit group to travel to Haiti, and implement small, grass-roots social awareness programs about human trafficking. It's been an interesting project, and I've been doing a lot of research, trying to figure out what Haitians need, and how to make people aware of human trafficking. The State Department prints a TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Report every year evaluating statistics and information about most of the countries in the world. It's quite comprehensive. This internship has really opened up me eyes to the realities of human trafficking. I mean, I've read about it in developing countries, but actually Houston has a huge problem. My supervisor told all the interns how exactly the organization started, and she told us a story of a Mexican girl who was trafficked. She was serving tables as a young teenager, when someone told her she could do the same thing in America and be paid way more. Her parents told her not to go, but she didn't listen and went with this group of women and children that were smuggled over the border, on the promise of a better life. They walked for 4 days, and got picked up in a van, and ended up in a city in Florida (Miami maybe?). Once they got out of the van, a big burly guy told her that he had just bought her for $10 000, and she was to start paying off the debt immediately. Her story is sadly not an exception. So I've really been exposed to what a good cause this organization is committed to.

The Caucus Room in the Canon House Office Building.
June 8, 2011. Notice the panel at the front consists only of
middle-aged, white males.

Even the trash cans are legit.

Tuesday was such a great day in Washington. All the TWC students were invited to a meeting hosted by the Canadian American Business Council and the discussion was focused on the Shale Gas Revolution. It was in the Caucus Room in one of the House buildings on Capitol Hill. The Cannon Building is one of three large buildings holding all the offices for the Representatives. It felt very official, and of course the architecture of the building is very stately. A lot of impressive people were there and spoke, like Eric Speigel President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Corporation, and Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia. He's a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee.
There was a panel discussion on Natural Gas, Water and the Environment, and another on The Impact of Natural Gas-Jobs, the Economy and North American Competitiveness. There were a few people there from the Canadian Embassy, and I met a lady from the Quebec office here in DC. Of course, it's a separate office from the Embassy here. It was a great experience to be there, and the breakfast and lunch served was delicious, but I found the panel discussion to be a bit dull. I was looking for a little bit more controversy. All the speakers talked about their corporation, or their constituents, and what they were doing to develop energy technologies. There wasn't a whole lot of competing ideas bouncing around. This event lasted until lunch, then I walked to the metro in the afternoon heat, in my suit to meet some other International Affairs students at the Egyptian Embassy. The press secretary spoke to us for over an hour, and it was fascinating! The actual Embassy is beautiful. On one wall, they had lined up photos of all the past Presidents and Ambassadors. It was a very cool display. They even had quite a few pictures of Mubarak together with Obama. I don't want to get into too much detail, because his whole talk was incredible, but he talked about the transition that Egypt is in, and that the country is moving into another era (hopefully a democratic one). He talked about their Foreign Policy, including relations with Israel, Iran, Yemen and Libya. It's a lot different reading about those issues in newspapers, blogs and websites than actually hearing it from a government official.

Me and Shadia in the Egyptian Embassy. Her family's
from the Middle East, and she said it even spelled like it.
I thought so too.

The heat was wearing us all out by that point, so we stopped downtown at a restaurant called Asia Nine for happy hour. They were actually having a little intern networking event. So we bought a few drinks and they provided us some appys. I went with Shadia, and my roommate Janelle met us there. I met some other TWC interns, and some other people from all over the country really. Interns really do flock here from all over. So anyways, that was my first Washington happy hour experience, and I understand now why it's such a DC thing. It's great to unwind, meet new people in this great city where everyone is doing something great.

Today was a little bit more low key. I worked on my project at Global Centurion, and laid low and did some homework for my class, and tried to finish up a few other assignments. Janelle and I ventured out for a run after dinner, and it was still a blazing 30 degrees. The wind was blowing, and it felt like I was sitting in a car parked in a parking lot, with the windows rolled up and the heat blazing. Well, that might be a bit of an exaggerate, because we went for a run anyways. It's only a mile from our apartment to Captiol Hill, then we turned west and headed down the National Mall. There were a lot of people walking around, and surprisingly  a lot of runners. I love running in that area, because I can just look at all the people, and gaze in amazement at all the beautiful Smithsonians and government buildings.

The feeling of this city is great. Students from all over are interning all across the city. There are so many offices, and headquarters and government buildings here. I feel like I'm right in the middle of things. There are so many DC websites, and congressional websites and blogs I've started searching that there doesn't seem to be a world outside of this political bubble I'm in.

Have I told you that I love this city?

Highlights from the weekend

June 2, 2011

Today was my roommate Janelle’s birthday. So after work, the four or us roommates went out for dinner, and met up with some of Janelle's friends that live in the area. We ate at Eatonville in the U Street, Cardozo area. We got out of the Metro at U Street, and right across the street was Ben’s Chili Bowl, a must visit place in DC. I haven’t gone yet, but I guess whenever Bill Crosby is close enough to it, he sends his assistant, or whoever to pick up food for him. He's been the only person allowed to eat free there, but I guess recently Michelle Obama and her daughters got the nod.

The U Street area has really developed in the last little while. It's a very historic district; it used to be one of the most vibrant black neighborhoods in the country. Duke Ellington grew up here, and what used to be the YMCA in this area was the informal headquarters of local Civil Rights activists for 70 years. U Street was on of the major centers of race riots in the late 60's, and it was known for being a ghetto. But there's been this resurgence into the area, and now there's plenty of clubs and restaurants in the area. It's a happening place; there were plenty of people walking around, enjoying the great spring weather.

June 3, 2011

As apart of my TWC programing, I am taking a night class in U.S. Foreign Policy. My professor sent our class an invitation to the US Institute of Peace, where they were hosting a panel discussion in partnership with the American Red Cross called "Ten Years after 9/11: Evaluating a Decade of Conflicts on the Rule of War."

The panel included people with long, complicated titles, like Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Policy, and Special Coordinator for the Office of Rule of Law and International Humanitarian Policy. So, they knew what they were talking about. This whole discussion started with a survey the American Red Cross did on International Humanitarian Law (IHL). This survey was on US adults and youth (12-17), and their attitudes on acceptable actions during war. The research proves that youth are more likely than adults to believe human rights violations are acceptable during times or war, like torturing captured enemy soldiers. Only 18% of youth and 7% of adults know that the US first adopted rules limiting how wars should be conducted, way back during the American Civil War. Americans have accepted these kinds of actions during war as normal. What's also amazing is that almost 70% of youth in the survey have a close friend or relative who is a veteran of the armed forces. One of the panelists discussed how the core principles of IHL are under attack partially as a response to the changing nature of security in the country.

The panelists at the US Institute of Peace.

One of the panelists commented that as Americans, we should care about the rule of law because it's how we define ourselves as a country. It reflects our values, and the responsibility the United States has to lead in the international sphere, because of this countries founding principles of freedom and democracy. Many of the things they talked about I found fascinating, like the future of International Humanitarian Law, the effects of killing Bin Laden, Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison. The law of war was apart of the American character that seems to have been lost. Another fact I found interesting was their research on global versus American statistics on the perception of how detainees are treated. Enemy soldiers are captured because of their future threat and not to punish them because of their past actions. I learned a lot, and I am very interested in studying more about IHL.

Me and my friend Shadia from Boston at the Institute of Peace.
The architecture of this building is amazing!

This past Saturday I went with a group from TWC on a Capitol Hill tour. It was pretty cool to see the inside of the rotunda, but I would almost say the building is more impressive from the outside. The only way a person can tour the H of R or the Senate is to make an appointment with their representative (very different from the Parliament building in Ottawa), so our tour didn't go into the chambers. It's quite an impressive place to be though; Americans have definitely honed in their patriotic skills. After that, Janelle and I broke away from the group, and went for brunch at a little dinner on East Capitol Street, called Jimmy T's. It was more or less a hole in the wall place, with really great milkshakes.

Janelle and I, Saturday afternoon at Jimmy T's.

I spent some time with my roommates, and a few other TWC interns celebrating Janelle's birthday and exploring the DC nightlife. We all had so much fun together! The "it" neighborhood for nightlife is Adams Morgan- and I loved walking around there. Today I've have to force myself to come back to reality. I have a few assignments to catch up on, and a lot of reading to do for my US Foreign Policy class. I have a biweekly personal reflection due to my Program Advisor, which is designed to link my experiences with my ability to grow and develop, and all of us Interns have to write an Individual Development Plan, or IDP (I'm serious, DC is very much about acronyms) to improve our goal setting and a way to analyze our strengths and areas of improvement. The IDP, along with some other assignments will be worked into my portfolio which will be one big document that I can have on hand with me to document all the great things I've done this summer. I've only been here for 10 days, but I already know I am learning and growing so much. Needless to say, I heart DC.