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.

The REAL DC

Today was my first day on the job at Global Centurion. There are a few other girls from TWC interning at the same place, so we traveled on the Metro together this morning. It's out in Arlington VA, so it takes about 30 minutes on the Metro to get there. But the office building is really close to a Metro stop, which makes life easy. So Global Centurion is a non-profit organization that works to end human trafficking. So the President of the organization is an Adjunct Law Professor at Georgetown, so all of us interns are going to help her do research on her International Case Law Database, which means doing research and collecting data on human trafficking cases. She also gave us a list of different projects, and we all picked ones that we were interested in. I'm going to be working on the Haiti and Human Trafficking Project. Tomorrow I'll start on that, so I'll tell you more about that when I start doing it.
So the day consisted of a few meetings with all the interns (there's 5 of us from TWC, and 2 law students from Georgetown University), and one-on-one meetings with our supervisor. Although the first thing I did when I arrived was make coffee, I have a feeling like there's going to be a lot of work I'll do directly. My supervisor today basically said, here's the outline I have for this Haiti Project, now go make it happen-challenging but exciting!