Summer move an adventure to me
Cassy Loseke
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Opinion
In eight days I will be starting a new life in a new place. No, I'm not planning on dying - I'm just moving to Washington, D.C., for an internship.
I'm very excited. But a little scared, too. Scared because of the high crime rates. But mainly scared that D.C.'s going to kidnap me.
See, I love D.C. Last year alone, I found any excuse (or conference, rather) to go to the nation's capitol. The atmosphere, the politics, the culture - it excites me. Not to mention most everything's free.
My first experience of D.C. life happened my senior year of high school. My friend Zack and I partook in a non-partisan group called Close Up. Its aim was to spark political interest and civic responsibility in high school students. For me, it started a bonfire.
Prior to the trip, I had taken a keen interest in politics, appalling my parents, and I planned to get a degree in political science as a result.
I was also on the Columbus Junior City Council, the Attorney General Youth Advisory Council and seemed to head down to Lincoln several times a month to visit our representatives in the Unicameral, advocating for change on behalf of a non-profit organization I was part of.
After the first few visits, I declared to my mother that I wanted to some day serve the state by running for office. She didn't understand.
More recently, I got a taste of the political world first hand when I became speaker of the student senate, but that's a whole different story (see "Could it possibly, maybe, somehow be politics that generates student government apathy?" in the Oct. 2 issue of the Gateway).
Even after my "experiences," I still have this uncanny desire for serving. Which is why D.C. is such a perfect fit for me.
Although, looking into my background, D.C. may appear to be a stretch just because of the type of city it is. It's big. Bigger than my population of 22,000 in Columbus, Neb., my hometown. And full of concrete: it's more paved than my family's 1000-plus acre farm.
I'm very excited. But a little scared, too. Scared because of the high crime rates. But mainly scared that D.C.'s going to kidnap me.
See, I love D.C. Last year alone, I found any excuse (or conference, rather) to go to the nation's capitol. The atmosphere, the politics, the culture - it excites me. Not to mention most everything's free.
My first experience of D.C. life happened my senior year of high school. My friend Zack and I partook in a non-partisan group called Close Up. Its aim was to spark political interest and civic responsibility in high school students. For me, it started a bonfire.
Prior to the trip, I had taken a keen interest in politics, appalling my parents, and I planned to get a degree in political science as a result.
I was also on the Columbus Junior City Council, the Attorney General Youth Advisory Council and seemed to head down to Lincoln several times a month to visit our representatives in the Unicameral, advocating for change on behalf of a non-profit organization I was part of.
After the first few visits, I declared to my mother that I wanted to some day serve the state by running for office. She didn't understand.
More recently, I got a taste of the political world first hand when I became speaker of the student senate, but that's a whole different story (see "Could it possibly, maybe, somehow be politics that generates student government apathy?" in the Oct. 2 issue of the Gateway).
Even after my "experiences," I still have this uncanny desire for serving. Which is why D.C. is such a perfect fit for me.
Although, looking into my background, D.C. may appear to be a stretch just because of the type of city it is. It's big. Bigger than my population of 22,000 in Columbus, Neb., my hometown. And full of concrete: it's more paved than my family's 1000-plus acre farm.
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Jenny McCormick
posted 5/02/08 @ 4:13 AM CST
... Again? Seriously? There has got to be better use of the Opinion page.
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