Hodgepodge

I think one of the toughest assignments of our internship is deciding what to write about in these blogs.  Each week can be described as anything but typical, for we are constantly meeting new people, confronting new challenges, and welcoming new opportunities.  Every “Blog Sunday,” the name many of the interns use to refer to the day before our blogs are due, a million thoughts fill my mind as I reflect on the “newness” of the past week, and I always struggle with picking one topic for the theme of my blog.  Needless to say, this Blog Sunday has been like all the others.  
The question of the day: What should I write about?

 Well, unlike my past blogs, I am not going to focus on one topic; I am just going to provide a summary of the past week.  If it seems random, that’s the point—the life of an intern in DC is random.

The Marketplace Equity Act, a bill which retailers are watching very closely because it will be the subject of a Judiciary Committee hearing later this month, was the “hot topic” of the week; thus, a majority of my time was spent discussing the topic at internal meetings, Hill meetings, phone meetings, and pretty much every type of meeting you can think of.  The rest of my time was spent collecting research and conducting interviews for a project and attending Congressional hearings.  On Wednesday, I was asked to join some of my coworkers at the ThanksUSA Treasure Our Troops Gala at the Newseum.  Senator John McCain and Senator Joseph Lieberman were the honorees.  I was actually able to meet Senator McCain and briefly speak with him; it was an honor to meet one of our country’s finest war heroes.
 
And the weekend was packed with sightseeing.  One of the highlights of the weekend was visiting the Holocaust Museum and speaking with Judith Alter Kallman, an inspirational Holocaust survivor and author.  I’m only a few chapters in, and I’ve already found her book to be deeply moving. I’d also like to mention that all the copies of her book are in large print format.  As a visually impaired person, I know all too well how frustrating it can be walking into a book store when a majority of the books are printed in fonts either too small or too light to read.  I am incredibly excited that she chose to make her book accessible to readers with low vision, and I commend her for making this decision.

Judith Alter Kallman and I at the Holocaust Museum