DC: Center of the Pie Edition

I’ve concluded that the District is a very crowded center of a pie. Pick your favorite flavor; I’m going to have to go with a warm, still-gooey toll house pie on this one, just because I’m craving that right now. But anyway: hundreds of thousands of interests, from businesses to sovereign nations to associations and clubs, they all send whatever resources they can (usually money) to Washington in an effort to go through the center and influence other sides of the pie.

Washington should be about managing that pie and not letting any interests get out of control. Whether or not anyone here is really successful at that is up for debate.

This past Monday, the Washington Center arranged for their annual tour/speaker events at the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC). I went into Monday afternoon interested in the superficial differences between the two, because we all know the larger issues at stake. So, I went hoping to see a culture shock and I was not disappointed.

Although the two buildings are a five minute walk away from each other, they could well be on opposite ends of the country. The RNC belongs deep in Virginia, with its heavy, staid atmosphere. The DNC belongs somewhere in California, with its hipster, dressed-down staff and its modern, sterile building.

At the RNC, we heard from Paris Dennard, who works in the RNC’s coalition and outreach office. Dennard was an animated speaker, expectedly aggressive when discussing the DNC. Ronald Reagan, the modern prophet for the Republican Party, was mentioned (in hushed, reverent tones) more than anyone else. Reagan’s big tent theory of politics for the party was also brought up and placed front and center. Dennard discussed that, while it is difficult to have (for example) moderate New England Republicans working with conservative Southern Republicans, the Republican party does what it can to manage the different parties under the big tent. At the end of the day, he told us, all that matters is that the Republicans have that majority.

After a walk to the DNC (again, only five minutes away but in a completely different atmosphere, a much more gritty neighborhood), we sat down in a larger but more sterile and blank presentation room and heard from Gillian Bergeron, who works for Organizing for America (OFA), the out-of-campaign-season version of President Obama’s vast 2008 network of campaign organizers, field workers and volunteers.

OFA bills itself as “a project of the DNC” and still seems to be looking for its footing. Bergeron, who has been with the project from the beginning, seemed emblematic of OFA and the DNC. Dressed casually in jeans, she spoke of how, ever after Obama’s election, there was no real plan for what would happen to his vast, well-organizing network of campaign volunteers and organizers. While OFA has asserted itself within the DNC, there still seems to be little vision for the future. Great potential, though.

At KSCW, I’ve been lucky enough to see how lobbying truly works. I was ridiculously fortunate to go along on a luncheon between a senior member of the firm and a client, as well as witness several other lobbyist-client interactions. It is true that a great deal is said and done over lunch, or dinner, or drinks and not always in the office by email or telephone. Such lunches are the real output of the mover-and-shaker Washingtonian class: they are where connections are revived and created, where names, allies and opponents are identified, where plans are made. In addition (or more importantly), there’s usually great food involved.

Washington is a city of titles, a city of power and connections. For the most part, it’s a humble town. Even if you are a sophisticated, well-connected Washingtonian with a law degree under your belt: chances are, a sizable swath of people around you are equally or better connected.

For an intern who is normally at school in Manchester, N.H., the city is a refreshing social experience. Rather than being isolated in a small New England city, on a small campus with limited options, the Metropolitan area offers choices exponentially more attractive. There are more places to go, and each new place attracts interesting people who clearly have an interest common with you, and each one of those people with a common interest usually knows more people. It’s just a refreshing change of place from ol’ Manchvegas.

For a policy and politics nerd like myself, D.C. is a place of overwhelming opportunity and choices. Starting from the basic blue/red division in Congress (and perpetuated by the RNC and DNC) and extending through nonprofits, businesses, embassies, state and regional interests, and advocacy groups, D.C. is the center where lots of tiny little slivers of a pie meet.

The City Re-Awakens

Although the great federal city has removed itself from siege status as far as the snow is concerned, a naïve and optimistic intern such as myself almost wishes it was still a blizzard, and that Congress would get snowed in and they would all have to bond and make friends. The rest of the nation could go about its business, but the capitol would be buried in snowdrifts for weeks, at the conclusion of which, lawmakers would emerge en masse singing a rousing chorus of "American the Beautiful."

Sadly, the blizzards have ceased. Driving traffic is apparently horrendous still, but public transportation is grinding back into motion. A few notes from the tail end of Snowmaggedon (which everyone seems to like more than “Snowpocolypse”) before I bring this blog up to speed.

By the time the second blizzard hit, and almost every store, museum or public building was shuttered and locked, everyone was getting antsy. Let’s face it: interns are here for one primary reason: for their internship. With that removed for 10 days, and everything else shut down, things can get rather dull.

Luckily, one of my oldest and closest friends goes to school in the city. After a trip to one of the 9 billion CVS stores in this area for emergency snack supplies, we returned to the apartment and had a terrific afternoon. Note to that person, if she is reading this: you forgot your hat and I still have it.

I had also read an article from the Wall Street which mentioned that DC public works had decided to build a gigantic mountain of snow in an abandoned parking lot somewhere in the city. Up to 15 dump trucks an hour were just showing up, putting down the snow where they could and leaving. This sounded like something a Mainer should go and see. And judge for himself.

So I did a bit of research and a bit of Google Mapping, enlisted my New Hampshire sidekick, and took off to find this snow mountain. We eventually found it, in a lower parking lot of the abandoned DC General Hospital. It was massive. More sprawling than tall (remember: dump trucks can only dump so high), the pile of snow nearly covered a gigantic, Wal-Mart sized parking lot that sloped down towards the Anacostia River.

After exploring that, and the eerie abandoned hospital (I love old buildings. My sidekick was nervously frowning at me the entire time), we boarded the train and rode back home after scouting out other parts of the city to see if anything was open (it wasn’t). It was eerie again to see Metro stations with empty ghost trains on tracks, waiting for better weather to resume full service.

But now, the city has more or less started operating again. Congress is in recess, which results in a more relaxed pace at KSCW. My class at The Washington Center, suspended for two weeks in a row, has also resumed with an increase in the workload to make up for time lost. 

Finally, I must confess that I became irate at a family blocking a sidewalk the other day. Clearly tourists from out of town, they were moving slowly, talking loudly and impossibly blocking anyone from passing them. I eventually passed them (only to have them catch up at the crosswalk) but realized, later that day, that I shouldn’t be as irate. Annoying as they might be, that touristy family was doing something admirable. They were broadening their horizons, they were stepping out to a different world and learning about something new.

Sometimes I wonder, if we could all travel to three or four different places around the country or around the world, would that be enough to break us out of our usual shells of routine and comfort and maybe leave us as better rounded people? At least that family was trying. My apologies to you, wherever you are. Just don’t block the sidewalk.

Snowed In Edition

Today was declared a snow day by a lot of agencies here in D.C. That declaration is pretty unnessecary, but I’m not going to question an extra day to the weekend. More on the “Snowpocolypse of D.C.” further into this entry.

Working at KSCW continues to go quite swimmingly, thank you for asking. Every single day is a real learning experience. That’s such a dull cliché (learning experience) but it’s really the best phrase I can think of. The research and learning involved is complimented by a sense of practical application.

In other words, it’s nice to be out of the classroom. I’m learning as much if not more than I do in the classroom, and in turn the knowledge I sponge up gets used in the real world, outside of academia. Without going into details, it’s simply nice to know where that report you wrote went and that people actually read it. I know that, as an intern here, every bit of work is educational for me and useful for the people I turn it over to, which is important for me.

One great feature about cities in general and the nation’s capital in particular is the constant merry-go-round of people here. For instance, it was a pleasant surprise to find the President as well as the Dean of my home school, Saint Anselm College, here in town. It’s a credit to St. A’s that not only did they look myself and my sidekick, Tom, up but they also met us for a meal. As a side note, our school President has great taste in food.

Sometimes it’s fascinating to simply sit in a room with a selection of people from all over the world, with different backgrounds, and listen to what they have to share. I’ve found that Senate and House hearings and events are great forums for such gatherings. Just think of it: having business leaders, military experts, celebrities, people who are the best in their field come to town, sit down with public officials and talk about the topic at hand.

Needless to say, these discussions are usually pretty high powered. I’ve found I learn a great deal more listening to these people talk, it’s a chance to sit in the room with decision makers and experts, to see and hear what they see and hear. That’s one of the beauties of being in this town: I can go to where things are happening, I can go from zero to 90 miles an hour on an issue I knew nothing about hours before. It’s a refreshing and informative way to learn about what is really going on, without having to put your eye up to the colored lens of cable news histrionics.

It is amusing to see how the District, surrounding communities and my fellow interns hailing from sunnier locales deal with the snowfall. I am a bit upset about the unusually high snowfall for D.C. which has happened while I’ve been here. That, compounded with the fact that maintenance workers and city employees seem to be at a loss makes for an interesting situation. In the past few days, I’ve seen a man use a snow blower to remove a two-inch dusting from a sidewalk. I’ve seen huge piles of salt used on non-icy bits of snow. I’ve also seen a giant vacuum truck used to clean up the slushy water near the sidewalks, which you think would be a great idea, but the snow is still melting so I’m pretty sure it just burns money. Or sucks it up, either way.

I didn’t have my camera with me to capture the great useless snow/water/slush sucking machine. I did however have it with me to capture a street scene some two hours after a snowfall. You’ll be able to clearly see that the roads haven’t been touched by a plow.

In other news: I remain committed to my one of my original goals here; to see the city beyond the pre-packaged tourist stops and the well-worn routes of business/official Washington. I’ve been in looking into a few education-related volunteer opportunities around town, but have yet to hear back or find a free block of time that’s convenient for their needs. I’ll post more as soon as I have more to post. If anyone has any suggestions, that’d be great too.

A bit of advice to future interns or perspective students: if you don’t have concrete post-graduate plans like grad school, professional school, the military, a certain job field, etc…, try to find agencies that can offer a more general form of work, to both give you a taste of everything and allow you to have a more diversified resume. I’m glad I picked KSCW as an agency, because the variety of public policy work is applicable in almost any field I might consider entering.

A final note on the feel of D.C. My roommate and I had occasion to make a visit to Chinatown, a first visit for both of us. Again: I’m surprised at all the places I haven’t been in the numerous visits I’ve made to this city. Anyway: the Chinatown visit was interesting because it suddenly felt like we’d found the downtown part of a city. This also points to the feel of the rest of the city: not very downtown like. It’s still a great place, for the most part, but it’s filled with offices, federal buildings or hulking museums. Chinatown, its restaurants and nice (but small) shopping area is worth a visit.

Finding my footing

I read somewhere, once that it takes about three weeks for most people to truly acclimate to a place. Or maybe I just made that up. If the latter is true, then that rule is probably somewhat less legitimate.

In any case, I believe in that idea. It’s taken me about three weeks to get truly settled in and relaxed in my apartment. This is only the second week on the job and going to classes and programming at The Washington Center however, so that is still an adjustment.

I have learned that Happy Hour is where a great deal of business actually gets done in this town. Happy Hour is taken quite seriously by both the official class, the business professional class and probably most seriously by the intern class. It seems like a great thing to have, the proximity and multitude of places observing Happy Hour creates a less pressured environment where co-workers can mingle and new contacts can be made. Business cards at any important gathering of important people are handed out and collected like baseball cards in the first grade.

In the time that has passed since my last blog entry, I’ve already learned a lot more about the area. I always tell people this (and it’s no exaggeration): despite this being my seventh trip down here, I still find places I haven’t been before. Mind you, I’m not talking about hole-in-the-wall spots that only locals know about. I’m taking about major sites, such as the Library of Congress (LOC).

I’d been to the James Madison Building on the LOC’s Capitol Hill complex, but never to the older main Thomas Jefferson Building (pictures below). I wasn’t at all disappointed. The story of that building, the rare pieces of further history it contains, the immense knowledge and the intricate care of the interior artwork are all stunning. One of the displays was a Gutenberg Bible, the physical sign of modern printing and all it’s benefits for civilization. Another display was Thomas Jefferson’s surviving original collection of books. It was fascinating to walk among them, to think of Jefferson’s eyes on their titles, idly wondering which to read or re-read next.

In fact, the only disappointment for me at the Library of Congress was the usual habit of students my age in being glued to their phones, the silence in between sentences from a tour guide punctuated by the click-click-click of thumbs on tiny plastic buttons.

Everyone has a BlackBerry or an iPhone and it doesn’t seem to matter if you are the most disciplined or most polite person ever: once you have one of those demonic devices, it’s all over. People literally could glue their faces to those tiny screens here.

Now, I understand their usefulness. I also understand that, at the pace everyone moves at today (enabled by technology), you would be doing yourself more harm than good to not have a smart phone. I guess I just wish for a simpler time when nobody had a smart phone and could occasionally turn work well and truly off.

I think it’s a serious problem beyond the annoying rudeness of talking about something and-wait, I need to check this email. In fact, I’m going to read most of this email and thumb out a response while you stand there. Ok now I’m back. Wait, what was I even talking about?

I just think such a culture takes away from a lot of beauty, a lot of normal social interaction and a lot of nature. For example, during that tour I mentioned of the Thomas Jefferson Building, half my fellow interns were busy texting. Even if they were texting about the tour, why not stop, enjoy the tour and then text about it afterwards?

I think one of my conclusions, even at this early stage in my stay here, is that to get ahead in this town, you need to be pressure cooked. You need to move fast, you need to be smart and you need a degree of humility in a town top heavy with names, titles and real power. That could be appealing to me, that’s why I’m here.

I just finished a fantastic book which, in one chapter, discusses a bit of a social experiment which happened here in D.C., in the busy Metro transfer hub of L’Enfant Plaza. A world class violinist, dressed as a street performer and played his rare violin in the station during rush hour.

Thousands rushed by, completely blocking him out. Apparently this is due to value attribution, our tendency to label things and ignore objective facts. The commuter value attribution to this talented performer was that of “street performer” and they totally ignored an apparent aural masterpiece that normally would have cost hundreds of dollars to hear live.

For me, the jury is still out…if being in that pressure cooker environment is going to wear down my ability to see things and build up a sense of blind value attribution, then I may come to find Washington isn’t the best place for me.

Who knows? I have a lot to learn and a lot to see. It’s too early to draw conclusions.