This summer I completed an internship in Washington D.C. As a communication studies major with an emphasis on politics, I knew the nation's capital was where I needed to be.
I decided to intern for Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from the Cleveland area. Some of my duties included giving Capitol tours, writing back to constituents and researching a number of different issues for Dennis.
From attending the four-day long Democratic National Convention in Boston to having selective access to the Library of Congress where the general public cannot go, I loved every minute of my summer experience. I walked to the House whenever I wanted and saw the members vote and watched as they debated controversial issues. And I got to cut the general public line for the viewing of President Ronald Reagan's body as it lay in state in the Rotunda.
But my favorite D.C. moment happened near the end of the internship. I attended an Education and Workforce Committee mark-up hearing with one of the legislative assistants. The committee members were voting on several vocational bills to send to the full House floor. My boss, Dennis, is a member of this committee so we went with him to make sure he was voting the right away.
While I waited the nearly two hours it took for the members to finish discussing the various amendments, I hung out in the Democratic committee room. It was here that I had some one-on-one time with members. Although I did not talk much, I was an acute listener.
As I sat there, I thought to myself, 'Wow, this is something an ordinary person would never be able to do.' I listened to Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-MD, and Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., discuss the war in Iraq. I watched as Rep. George Miller, D-Cal., tripped over other members on his way to voting because he was late. (This I found especially funny.) And I even joked around with Dennis.
I have received a great education at Ohio University. But no textbook or professor could have taught me what I learned this summer. Actually being in Congress while the House and Senate are in session and living history was more meaningful to me than all my political science credit hours.
My experiences this summer remind me of the movie Men in Black. In the movie, special agents Jay and Kay work to save the universe from alien destruction. When an agent is ready to leave the organization he is hypnotized by the neuralizer, a device that erases his memory. Even though Kay spent years working for the Men in Black, he no longer remembers his secret life and goes on living as an average person.
Like agent Kay, I too had to be neuralized. I do not have access to the more than a dozen Web sites that are for Congressional staff only. I cannot just walk around the Capitol whenever I want without restrictions. I had to turn in all of my credentials. I feel displaced: I am out of the loop.
Now I am just an ordinary citizen. I do not have any inside information. I do not get to read a Congress member's speech before he or she gives it. I cannot go into the supply store in the basement of the Longworth House Office Building, marked Staff Only
with my boss' debit card and purchase equipment for the office. I am far away from the center of the political arena. But thanks to the experiences I had this summer, I decided I want to be in this profession for the long haul. I cannot wait to move back to D.C. and start my career in politics.
-Natalie Long is a senior communication studies major. Send her an e-mail
at natalie.long@ohiou.edu 17
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Natalie Long
