Witnessing History

Here in DC, we are starting week 4 and are currently freaking out at being almost halfway through this incredible experience. I feel like it was just yesterday when we were trying to figure out if our cabbie was cheating us on the way from the airport to our intern housing (jury's still out on that one - seriously). We've already gone grocery shopping about three times and we are now nearly registered experts at being adults in a city as amazing as this one.

Last week, we went to the film premiere of the "Barber of Birmingham." The movie is about Civil Rights foot soldier, James Armstrong, who carried the flag in the Civil Rights marches in Alabama. He survived the police brutality and harsh discrimination in the South while marching and performing sit-ins. He even demonstrated in the "Bloody Sunday" march on Selma and proudly proclaimed that amidst all the chaos, he never let his flag touch the ground. He was one of the foot soldiers who would have remained nameless had the documentarians not chosen to make a movie about him. At the film premiere, his four children spoke about his fight - about him always being ready to march even in his old age. After his children spoke, a Civil Rights foot soldier, Amelia Boynton Robinson, took to the podium. She said that we (those who are voting now because of her and other foot soldiers' efforts) were standing on her shoulders and we needed to quote, "get off and start our own fight." She called the youth to action and told us that if we could not vote, we were second class citizens. While she was speaking, I could not have been more proud of Rock the Vote's efforts. Rock the Vote and other organizations dedicated to asserting the rights of all voters are continuing the fight of these Civil Rights foot soldiers. I was in awe of the audience at the premiere and all that they had done to secure my right to vote.

In addition to learning about African-Americans securing their right to vote, we learned about the women's suffrage movement from our Duke Engage professor. She took us to the Sewall-Belmont House (headquarters of the National Woman's Party) and invited us to her home to show us the movie, "Iron Jawed Angels." The movie brought to life what we saw in the Sewall-Belmont House. We witnessed people abuse and fight women simply because they wanted a say - a right to vote. After the movie, our professor invited Nancy Tate, the Executive Director of the League of Women Voters, to come and speak to us. The League is a continuation of the National Woman's Party. Ms. Tate discussed the fight that the League has continued in order to ensure that everyone has a right to vote. Mainly, she discussed the new voter registration laws that will make it much harder to vote, including strict photo I.D. and residential requirements. Again, I was in awe of what women like Alice Paul did with the National Woman's Party to secure the right to vote and what people like the League of Women Voters are doing to make sure that the right to vote does not go away.

We have come so far in society, especially here in the States, and I would hate to see that progress go backward. We need groups like Rock the Vote, the League of Women Voters and the League of Young Voters to continue the fight for equality so that all of us can be first-class citizens.

Lessons in Faking Adulthood

Here in DC, we're on week three of our Rock the Vote experience. Last week and especially the week before were centered around the release of Rock the Vote's report card of the fifty states and their voter registration practices. Things are starting to pick up now as we settle into our individual roles. There are six of us and five Rock the Vote staff members in the office. Obviously, this is the perfect equation for a mutiny. Rather than plan intern revolt, we’ve been learning a ton from each of our bosses. Each intern is assigned a job and a boss who specializes in the field. For example, I am the marketing intern and I work for the V.P. of Marketing and Communications. We are learning from and about our bosses, and are benefiting from the one-on-one experience. Rock the Vote does not believe in busy work because they do not have the time nor number of staffers to give us menial jobs. We get to work on big projects and are already happily seeing the payoff from our labor. 

One especially cool part of this job is getting to play grown-up. We have deadlines, lunch breaks and weekly staff meetings. Our group also pledged daily gym trips – so post work (from 9am-6pm), we head over to Fitness First and have Becca train us in weights. Clearly, we’ll be in top fencing shape with guns of steel by the end of this trip. Now, I totally get why my parents are in bed by 10pm every night. By the time we work, get home from the gym and make/get dinner, I’m exhausted. Seriously, muy cansado. (Major DC Problems - yes, we are still cranking out Inside Jokes like it's our job) Despite the fact that staying up late during the weekend meant a Friday bedtime of 11:30pm (I know, we’re rebels), I'd like to think we’re having a pretty great time. Our tight knit family is a support group. We hold each other accountable (especially if one of us accidentally sleeps in) and challenge each other to try new things. For example, we were all pretty tired last night but we had planned on seeing the monuments at night. While we could have stayed home and slept, we decided to go. 

Sight seeing in DC has been one of the most rewarding experiences. This city is full of history and we are actively trying to learn as much as possible about it. Honestly, the Washington National Monument was breathtaking at night, the World War II memorial was touching, the monkeys at the Zoo are adorable, the Capitol Building is full of rich history (the inside mural took multiple painters – one was fired after painting his own face in a tree and another quit after almost falling) and the Lincoln Memorial is much bigger than you’d think. Here are some pictures of our trip so far!

 The Lincoln Memorial 

 The Washington National Monument at night

 The WWII Memorial and the Washington National Monument 

 The Lincoln Memorial

 The most adorable Orangutan at the zoo

Becca choking Alexa - our not so perfect family

 The awkward Alpaca - he had just finished peeing

 The Potomac River

The Capitol

The Capitol

Just a Collection of Inside Jokes: DC Problems

          So we've been in DC for what feels like weeks - it's actually only been one week. Time is certainly not going by slowly, we have a ton of work that we're doing so the day actually zooms by. The reason it feels like weeks is that we are so settled here. DC automatically started feeling like home. Our group clicks really well (none of us really knew each other, but we became fast friends) and our apartment came equipped with anything we might need to make it more "homey." As we sat around and decided what we would put into this blog, we kept cracking inside jokes (we have way too many for a group that's only known each other for six days). One example of an inside joke is us using the phrase, "DC Problems." "DC Problem" is a turn of the phrase "First-World Problems" since our biggest problem so far has been securing more plates for our apartment and wi-fi without an ethernet cord. 

          One a more serious note, I was strongly considering the idea that our trip actually was not as important or impacting as the other trips enlisted by the Duke Engage trip. To be honest, we are living a pretty cushy life here in DC. Our apartment is in a great location surrounded by the zoo and some of the best restaurants in the world. We even checked out a restaurant yesterday called We the Pizza that was opened by some Food Network Star (seriously, everyone needs to check it out). 

          While I was considering our trip and its importance, the Rock the Vote report card came out for states and their ability to facilitate youth votes. Then it hit me, what we're doing as interns at Rock the Vote is incredibly important. The only way to make true change in society to benefit an ignored group such as the youth requires true policy changes. Out work at Rock the Vote is providing the steps necessary to ensure those necessary policy changes. The average score for a state was 41%. The youth face so many hurdles when it comes to registering to vote such as out of state I.D. laws and lack of early voting. Currently, the youth are painted as a lazy and apathetic group. The truth is quite the contrary with record numbers of our generation getting out and changing the world through volunteer work. We are making a difference any way that we know how. Now it's time for us to get and assert a voice in the policy world. We need to advocate for better voter registration laws in order to secure our representation. The government passes way too many laws that affect us without our say (see: basically every policy on the docket). We, at Rock the Vote, are going to work hard to change that. If you want to check out how your state did, click here.