occupy your dreams - part 2

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 - A day I get to cross off 2 things on my DC Bucket List.

1. Had a pizza party dinner with Congressman Carney from Delaware.

2. Went to an Occupy DC protest on Capitol Hill.

tell me the last time you have heard of a big time politician spending two hours with 20 college students eating pizza and soda for dinner and asking us what issues concerned us the most so he could give us his honest feedback. Carney is a great role model for politicians and I would be honored to work with him in the future.

since today was the first day Congress was back in session, the OccupyDC movement made sure their presence was noticed. apparently Occupy protestors threw a smoke bomb over the White House fence tonight!! I don’t support that.

But some of my roommates were following the Occupy movement today on Twitter. They saw rumors of the OccupyDC movement traveling from the White House to the West Lawn of the Capitol at night all through Twitter. So being the rowdy and spontaneous political students we are….we were on a mission to occupy capitol hill.

we made it - and it was awesome. 

“decolonize your mind, occupy your heart, represent yourself”

this movement is purely symbolic, in my opinion. but damn, it was pretty surreal to be standing on the hill with a ton of occupiers and literally a hundred cops surrounding the perimeter - yet they were not intervening at all. the occupiers here had a stage set up with loudspeakers and people jammin and singing all night. i was getting ma grooove on with my fellow gypsies! yeah they dont have a clear and insightful political message or solution to government issues - but the idea that people from all over are gathering together to be heard by government, to be noticed, to make sure that power is returned to the people of this country - to me this is the beauty of America.

we then came home to Fox News covering the OccupyDC movement on Capitol Hill. we saw scenes of where we just were. what a surreal feeling to know that i participated in something that is on the minds of people all over the country. 

power to the people.

occupy your dreams

another great couple of days in DC….definitely do not get tired of posting good thoughtz

just between yesterday (MLK Holiday) and today i’m lucky to say i’ve had some surreal experiences. got to see the MLK Memorial, FDR Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial yesterday with about 12 of my housemates. we spent ALL DAY WALKING. literally did miles of sight seeing. but man, it was so powerful to be doing this on MLK day. he delivered his “I Have A Dream” Speech in 1963 from the Lincoln Memorial to over 400,000 people. chilling video - spend a couple of minutes watching it.

time traveling through the metro

i walked off of the metro yesterday on our way to the Department of Justice and this is what we walked through. every building was so majestic, SO enormous, and so beautiful. it literally felt like we were in another country!!

the DOJ was unreal. we got a tour of the building and even got to go into the attorney general’s office. like most people don’t get that chance. the history and breathtaking artwork all around this building was amazing. i dont know who wouldn’t want to work in a place like this.

today we spent the day at the Newseum - what an AWESOME place. i was really touched by the 9/11 exhibit. i saw some really mind blowing pictures, especially one of a woman just completely covered in dust and debris inside the crumbling tower. it’s crazy to think that we lived through such a historic tragedy that literally shocked the world and changed our society forever.

there was also a section where you could see newspapers dating all the way back to 1455 to present day, highlighting the biggest events the world has seen. i saw a copy of the original CONSTITUTION. newpapers covering world war 1 and 2, hitler invading poland, FDR winning the presidency, MLK making his historic “i have a dream” speech to 200,000 people peacefully protesting on the national mall in DC…..this stuff makes history come to life in my mind. it makes me remember our past, our country’s history, and gives me all of the hope in the world that we will succeed and grow as a country again, just like we always do. 

it is just so peaceful here. there is so much american pride, so much history to look back upon in awe, and so much to do for the future with determination and optimism.

sunshine on a cloudy day

so today I went through what every intern in America does at some point in their miserbale experience of  being an intern….getting lost in Washington, DC while picking up lunch for the office.

UGH

i made it to chipotle, got the food, probably made one wrong turn, and bam - i was lost. i even had my GPS phone out and still couldn’t figure it out. some nice street man helped me out in the end…but holy shit i thought i was going to be lost in a maze forever.

but then things got sunnier. its january 12th and its 54 degrees outside (not mad). i got out of the office, met up with a good friend of mine, got FROYO from a place called fro-zen-yo LOL, and sat outside to eat it on a bench in a park (yeah same bench from the other day).

what a beautiful thing sunsine, peace, and relaxation can do to you, especially if you’re a sweaty lost intern in the middle of DC.