RESULTS International Conference on Ending Poverty

We just had our International conference on ending poverty. It was wonderful and went really smoothly. However, my body has been so sore. I went out the other night to celebrate. I didn't get home until 5 in the morning! It was like Europe all over again.

So, I met Al Franken!! haha, he was having a private party at this brewery and I sort of crashed it. Got his photo, and posed with a congresswoman at the same time. I tried to pitch my organization..I hope he looked us up! I told him what we were called like 3 times: RESULTS RESULTS RESULTS!!

I also met with Rep. Matheson, Sen. Bennett in person, I met Orrin Hatch for a few moments, and the others i met with aides..except Cannon..but who cares about Cannon. I don't like to say I lobbied. I liked to say I advocated that day..for good causes...who can argue about saving dying children in Africa?

I advocated, and yesterday, with my own eyes and in person in the Congress building, senate side, I saw PEPFAR get reauthorized! It was great! I saw Orrin Hath change his vote on one of the amendments to cut funding of PEPFAR, he changed it from yes to no. I guess he wanted to be on the winning side.

Even though the last few days have been really busy, they've been really great as well. I finally feel like I'm connecting and making friends. I'm starting to like the city more... more than I used to...i'm settling in. And in 3 weeks and I'm suppose to leave. I'm a little sad about it, but at the same time I'm glad to get back. I miss my dog and comforts of home..but, D.C. is cool. Right now, I feel like i could stay for 3 more months. I especially will miss everyone I work with.

Everyone is so smart and talented--passionate and driven. It's a wonderful organization and I'm happy to be a part of it. I couldn't have asked for a better supervisor as well.

I think this experience out here has taught me to be more patient with myself...I've had these feelings that I needed to know what I wanted to do with my life right away. But there's no rush. I'm going to take some time off, maybe join a volunteer group, and see what happens. I'm happy to get back into school and hopefully take another music technology course. Maybe I'll go into sound engineering and do that on the side. Who knows, but i'm not in a rush...just a little bummed my experience here has to end.

Dear D.C.,

I haven't posted in awhile, so I thought I'd catch myself up since this sort of like an internet diary.
Where to begin.....

My view about D.C. so far:

I think I would like D.C. a lot better if I had people to go out with that I connected with or at least liked to do the same things I like to do. Not saying that the other interns I've met here and hung out with aren't cool or anything. But we are all so different, that I haven't found someone I feel I connect with out here. So, therefore, the majority of people I am around (when not at work-because those cats are great) are materialistic, money-seeking, elitists. It seems like people are really concerned with money out here, and I don't really care for it. There seems to be a lot of cool places in D.C., but I'm not going to go to a bar by myself to meet people..creepy.

Saying that, I'm doing a lot of activities on my own. I also hangout by myself at the apartment, which is all more than fine with me. If I get alone time, I'm all for it. When you live with so many people, it's hard to find alone time. I've been going to farmers markets or taking walks and finding cafe's to sit and read in. I sometimes go to random movie screenings around the city , which is great. I think I'm starting to develop social anxiety though. When I get around too many people, I get really nervous. I didn't used to have it so bad or have attacks where I feel like I'm having a heart-attack, but..eh, what are you going to do?

I think it has to do with being in a period in my life where I don't really know what I want to do with myself and I feel like I've got some big decisions ahead of me. I thought after I graduated, I would teach English abroad. Then I thought that I would join the Peace Corps, because I thought I wanted to work for a non-profit someday. Now, all I want to do is take a year off to paint and play around with music. I really enjoying mixing music, so I thought I should go to music engineering school.

I figure I should choose something that I really enjoy and that I won't mind doing for the next 40 years...what I really want is to never work in an office, work a 9-5 job, or have a job I hate, but have to work to support myself. I don't really want to join the work force. I just want to work on my hobbies...maybe I'm saying this now because I'm feeling burnt out and drained. I need to be re-energized.

Cool people I've met since last time:

So, I went to another meeting on the hill about the progress being made with such diseases like HIV/AIDS in the world. The ambassador to the U.S. from the African Union was there as well as the chief of health from UNICEF. He gave a wonderful presentation and afterwards I went to talk to him. He spoke for a few minutes and when I mentioned where I worked, he was very familiar with my organization. He actually spoke at our conference last year. Then a few other men from UNICEF introduced themselves and they all gave me their business cards. It was so neat to meet the chief of health from UNICEF! They are a great organization and they were praising my organization for the work we do to make sure programs like PEPFAR get funded so that they may continue the work they are doing around the world.

I also met a big TB-HIV activist named Lucy. She survived Tuberculosis while having HIV. Many others are not so lucky. TB is the leading cause of death for persons who have HIV. If they have XDR-TB, extensive drug resistant TB, it is basically a death sentence for persons who have HIV. Tuberculosis is so curable and it is horrifying how many people are dying each year from it (1.7 million). It would cost around $20.00 to treat one person with TB and who are HIV+. It is possible to save their lives. But many people don't have access to the treatment or can't afford the medication. We shouldn't have to live in a world, with so many affluent nations, where people can't get medical treatment if they need it.

Right now, my organization is pushing Congress and pushing our grassroots to put pressure on our reps and senators to push the Lantos-Hyde bill to the floor. This would re-approve PEPFAR, and PEPFAR will continue to positively affect millions of lives around the world. There are problems with PEPFAR of course, especially when it comes to the ideology of it, but all in all, millions and millions of dollars with go to helping individuals living with HIV/AIDS and also teach preventative actions so that other may avoid getting infected with HIV/AIDS. Did you know if a man gets circumsized, his chances of spreading HIV/AIDS goes down like 50%? That's nuts, but you have to take into account the different cultures in Africa. All the countries are so different, so programs need to be adapted to the countries needs....So the chances of men getting circumsized? I don't know, but I would hope they would to protect others from getting infected

I'm going on a tangent. I should write in this blog more often so the ones I do write aren't so long.

In conclusion, I'm in a funk and have been really cranky lately. But, I've been listening to a lot of Trent Reznor, so that helps...

ARTOMATIC

This weekend I went to a local art exhibit called Artomatic. It's a building that hosts around 10 to 12 floors of local art. I only viewed floor 12 and 11, but they were both phenomenal.
I spent about 20 minutes talking with this artist from Afghanistan. He showed me some of his art work that he was working on and we talked about painting. He urged me to start painting again and gave me some advice as far as getting frustrated while painting.

I do this with every piece of "art form" I pursue. If I start getting frustrated with my painting, I keep trying to fix it and I just end up ruining it more. Then I give up on the piece all together. I do the same thing when I try to write music. I get started on an idea, and then I get frustrated and never finish. I don't know how many little pop tunes or sounds I've created without ever finishing them...

Taurus' are known to be like this...they have great ideas, but never go about starting or finishing them because they don't think it will be great or are insecure about what others might think of the project, or are lazy. I tend to think if they aren't going the way I thought or if I'm not in love with it right away, it's not worth finishing. I need to stop this. Of course it's not going to be great at first. I'm just starting out. How can I expect to write an amazing song that I'm proud of in a day? Or paint with oils and expect a masterpiece. I have high expectations of myself...I need to just readjust my default thought process and keep at it and not give up or get frustrated. OR when I DO get frustrated, learn to walk away! This is a hard thing to do, but seriously....

After seeing all the amazing local artists (some not so much, but I appreciated their expressions through art) it made me want to paint again. I look forward to going home and getting out my oils..I owe Preslie a painted picture. I've been promising her one for a few years now.

The above picture is of this guy named Tony. He is very well known for his break-dancing skills. And I can attest to his dancing abilities! He makes girls quiver and scream in the audience! Did I forget to mention that at ARTOMATIC, there was the after party to this break dancing competition? Oh yea...it was filled with high school kids who could bust moves I only saw in "Bring it On" or "Step It Up" or whatever teen-dance movies are out. And these kids are so stylish and sassy! The hip-hop scene is awesome. I want to learn how to C-walk so bad!

Maybe I'll take a class...this week was pretty crappy. I've felt like I've been here two months, when really it's only been two weeks. I'm going to make more of an effort to get out and meet people. I'm so used to people coming to me and making friends with me first. I never make the first move. I'm sure my ex-boyfriends can reaffirm this. But, I'm going to try to be more assertive. If I want to make new friends, then I'm going to have to get out of my bubble of comfort and put myself out there. It's scary, not going to lie. I have a hard time opening myself up to people. I'm honest, so if someone asks me something I'll tell them, but, there are always things I don't say, I don't lie, but...I don't expose myself that much I suppose. I think it takes awhile for people to really get to know me. but....I'm only here for three months and dammit, I really want to meet new people and make some friends out here. So, here's to a week of trying to open myself up and meet people and not being so fucking awkward. I'm queen of being awkward and I need not be.

rant rant rant....here's to a fresh new week. I hope it gets better.

This is a picture of the ARTOMATIC building. You can tell I'm awesome at taking pictures at night.

Ripples International

Today I went to an informal meeting at the GAA-Global Aids Alliance. I heard a woman spoke from Kenya, her name is Mercy Chidi. This woman was incredibly inspiring and I left the meeting feeling more energized and excited about being in D.C. and working with a non-profit. Not that I haven't been excited, it's just been a weird transition.

Mercy Chidi started Ripples International. It's an organization that is focused on educating the people in Kenya about HIV-AIDS. Her organization is doing so much and they are getting great funding. Unfortunately and fortunately, she is also getting funding from PEPFAR. PEPFAR has a lot of problems with it: it just doesn't work. Her first hand accounts prove that it does not work. The Bush Administration is imposing their ideologies and will not fund your organization if you do no teach the ABC's: Abstinence, Be Faithful, and I forget what C is for. Maybe Condoms or contraceptives? I dont know...but the Bush administration won't fund you unless you are pro-abstinence. This woman told a first hand account about how PEPFAR doesn't work! People are going to have sex regardless if you tell them to or not. So you might as well give these teens the right information so they can make the right and conscious decisions about safe/safer sex.

This woman is clever in how she goes about teaching about condoms and HIV-AIDS to people in religious denominations, especially the Catholic Church. She approaches it more as a health concern than a contraceptive. It's been a bit successful in getting these pastors to change their mind set about condoms and be okay with her teaching HIV-AIDS in their churches.

This woman is so wonderful and inspiring. I came out of the meeting wanting to go to Africa and teaching HIV-AIDS prevention or going someone to help empower women and help with population control in Africa or India where their populations are dangerously high as far as their countries resources go.

I'm still not sure if this is what I want to do with the rest of my life, but it seems to be like a pretty good way to spend it--helping others and helping to do good in the world where our policies and politics are frustrating and depressing...

A lot of people in the field I've noticed are single. I wonder if this means if I decide to chose this route in life, if it might be a bit of a lonely life...moving a lot, not "settling down" , never owning a house....maybe I'll just have international love affairs or something..who knows...people who are 40 still don't know what they want. So I don't feel so bad if I don't have it together or know what I want at 23.

D.C. : An Encounter With Politics

Washington, D.C. : An exciting city where your political wants and desires may come true, well, maybe. It's where change is suppose to occur and strides in our democracy are made. Many other interns are working with congressmen; old, white, men. Following them around while getting them a bagel and coffee. My position in D.C. until August is to "fight the man" or more so..."influence the man and change his mind about spending bills".

I work with a non-profit. We lobby congress and try to work them to bring about change.
I personally believe this is more effective than yelling out chants and picketing on the side-walks demanding change. Although, that's fun too.

With the global food crisis going on, it is a very exciting time to be in D.C. and working with an organization whose main focus is global poverty and hunger.

Today, I went to a congressional hearing with Senator Joe Biden presiding. It was about the global hunger crisis and they had guest speakers from Oxfam. I was very exciting to be there, although, a repeating phrase I kept hearing was "we have to remember that this is a long-term problem." In the U.S. we are accustomed to automatic results. If our internet takes more than 30 seconds to load a page, we become immediatly frustrated and start clicking impatiently. Strike that..more than 10 seconds we do this!

The global hunger crisis is so interconnected with other problems in our society that to solve it, we need to solve the energy crisis as well, as well as political reform on transportation and how we spend our money. Not only this, but we need to invest in agriculture and agricultural technology. We need programs implemented that will teach poor nations how to farm and grow their own food in the most productive way possible.

People in Haiti are eating "cookies" made out of oil, mud, and sugar just to fill themselves up. No one should ever have to resort to eating dirt to feel full. We are most certainly in the middle of a global food crisis.

It is certainly depressing when I think about all the problems that we are faced with. It doesn't help that our 3 branches take forever to make decisions. First it goes through the Senate, then the House, then process seems to repeat and then it goes to the floor. Then the president vetoes the bill. Sometimes he doesn't...

I've only been here a few days now. I hope that through working with a non-profit, I do not lose all my hope in politics and the old-white-men running our country. Minus the House Majority leader...I sure do like you Mrs. Pelosi.