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  • zd6668a 9:57 pm on February 21, 2012 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

    Where Do We Eat? 

    The following is a real conversation that my boss and I had last night.

    ME: [Coworker] and I are going out to California Tortilla to get dinner before the game starts. Should I get you something?

    BOSS: Really? California Tortilla? I don’t want that.

    ME: Well, that’s where we’re going.

    BOSS: Can’t you go to Potbelly’s or something instead?

    ME: Ew. No. Potbelly’s is gross.

    BOSS: No, but it’s right next to CalTor. So you go get your burrito or whatever, and swing by Potbelly’s on the way back.

    ME: Oh come on. That’s ridiculous!

    BOSS: What, they’re right next to each other!

    ME: No! It’s too much work! California Tortilla or nothing!

    BOSS: Oh, well look at this. The intern is dropping the hammer, huh? Go eat your California Tortilla. And maybe I won’t get you press credentials for any more games this season.

    ME: (stunned silence)

    You should be able to learn a couple things from this exchange. First off, my boss and I don’t have the kind of relationship that one would typically call “professional.” And secondly, I was right on the line between “intern who takes initiative” and “intern that pisses off his boss.”

    As an unpaid intern, I get two things out of my job. One is professional experience that better prepares me for the job market. This pays off in the long term, since this experience will make me a more attractive and skilled job candidate. The second part is the short-term thrill you get from living in the job of your dreams. I love going to hockey games, and I tell people that my employer compensates me in free hockey tickets. But not only do I get to watch the game from the press box, I get to then go downstairs and talk to the players and coaches. There aren’t many sports fans that can say they’ve had a conversation with the most famous [insert sport here] player in the world. But thanks to this internship, I can.

    Last night, I learned how fragile an intern’s relationship can be. You may enjoy your work, and want to keep working there. But if the boss doesn’t want you working there, well, let’s just say you’re the most expendable part of the team.

    Now, my boss later admitted that he was completely joking when he said he would pull my credentials. And he acknowledged the value of my hard work. But for a moment, I thought he could be serious. And it was a scary moment.

    Oh, and by the way, I ended up getting a salad at Chop’t. Go figure.

     

     

  • Pinkie Komala 8:17 pm on February 8, 2012 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

    A new beginning 

    “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

    Hey Eagles, hope this year is off to a good start! I am now a Product Marketing intern at Sirius XM and am excited to return again to this amazing organization. I feel Product Marketing to be fascinating as it involves a lot of creativity, collaboration with your team, offers a chance to make an impact with your target audience and build the brand. Looks like I have to tap more into my right brain!

    So, you must be wondering how I got this internship? As I was reaching the end of my fall internship at Sirius XM, I expressed my interest to check out another arena of the organization. There was a suitable opportunity and after a series of interviews, I felt the dynamics of my new team were perfect to dive in and so did they. I jumped on the offer and here I am enjoying every moment of it. Stay tuned as share my experiences along!

     

  • Laura 12:41 am on December 16, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

    And one last thing… 

    Today was my last day with Masons. To borrow their phrase of mourning: Sorrow! Sorrow! Sorrow!

    This has been an incredible, unique and memorable experience, not just for the actual work, but really because of the people I met. Both on tours, but perhaps more importantly, at work. The House of the Temple  has a really amazing staff, and I will miss being a part of that–and hope my next jobs and internships are just as good!

    Today we had the annual Christmas lunch at the glorious St. Regis hotel.

    The glorious St. Regis

     Besides the beautiful venue, great menu and great company, there was the added bonus of one of Grand Commander’s famous off-the-cuff speeches. Today he spoke about how everything changes, nothing is constant, and how eventful the past year has been. I’ve only been here for the last four-ish months and I can think of a few once-in-a-lifetime things that happened for the Scottish Rite and the Temple (like the funeral last week). So I think everyone knew what he meant.

    And he continued, talking about how fortunate he felt to work with such an amazing staff. And it’s true; I’ve never been anywhere where people were all treated so equally, whether you’re the executive director or the driver. There are people who have been working at the Temple for over 20 years. So that must tell you something. And I feel very fortunate to have been a part of it.

    But enough mushy stuff. After the eating and the talking, there was Christmas carol singing. Yep! Masons singing Christmas carols! Everyone participated and it was a very silly and very lovely thing.

    Chip has been promising to take us to the “secret” parts of the building for some time, and today was our day. After lunch, he, Kathleen, Katie and I returned to the Temple and went upstairs to the organ level and then to the very highest level of the roof and walked around and took pictures. I guess you could say now I know some Mason “secrets”…but I think I have to keep those to myself! Well, here’s some photographic proof, anyway.

    Walking around the columns on the first roof level (terrace I suppose it could be called?)Interns extraordinaire

     

    Window-snakes: chaos, ignorance, yadda yadda

     

     

     

    Secret staircase

     

    Lucky July 1914

     

    On the roof overlooking DC. Whoop!

    Wishing everybody a very happy Christmas and New Year’s, and see you next semester!

     

  • Laura 12:30 am on December 15, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

    To my fellow tour guides, I will miss you 

    I believe I noticed a while back that someone else wrote about their experiences with fellow interns and how that became a major bright spot in their internship, and I must say, I agree. It is only a select group of people in this world who understand what it means to be a tour guide in a Masonic temple, in all its glory, and you can’t really make connections like that just any ol’ place.

    Last week we all began to say goodbyes as people went back to their respective parts of the country for Christmas, a few of whom will be abroad next semester, and some of whom will not be back at the Temple at all. I thought about our first tours, when we had to rely on notes and sometimes made some things up out of panic (you don’t realize it until you’re in that position, but it is not fun to be a tour guide and not know how to answer a question for somebody–you can’t just say, “I don’t know!) until we learned it’s just simpler to ask someone who does know, and generally all parties involved will understand.

    I thought about our shared stories of the odd visitors,  like the guy who kneeled and told Grand Commander their souls were touching (yipes), the Russian man who took his shoes off before the tour even began, the man who claimed to see images of other things in regular portraits (though he couldn’t really say what the things were), and of course all the people looking for general Mason secrets and lore. I learned that sometimes it’s best to let them believe what they want to believe. You can’t talk someone out of thinking Masons are ruling the world. Eh, it just takes too much time, and you don’t want to ruin their fun.

    We shared tour duty, phone duty, gift shop duty, smiling at strangers duty, and altogether gave the Temple a public face. It was a very cool crew to work with, and I think we will all have a great fondness for Masons that perhaps we never knew we needed or would have.

    Today I was at Mt. Vernon. I took a picture of George Washington in his Masonic Regalia and was even able to spout some Mason-Washington facts to my friends. It’s kind of fun to think that this history and all the people behind it will follow me into the future, and that the world of Masonry is no longer a mystery. Well, not entirely. I still haven’t been up the secret staircase that “leads to the organ!”

    GW in his Masonic regalia!

     

  • jv9968a 5:31 pm on December 11, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: , , ,   

    Final Reflection 

    Dear Future Intern at Riot Act,

    Congratulations! You have landed yourself in an internship right in the center of Washington DC’s entertainment industry. Riot Act is DC’s first Comedy Theater and that means there is always a million things going on and even more things to get accomplished. Here are my tips to making the most of your internship:

    Take initiative. On my first day, I was completely overwhelmed by all the new people and their openness to my ideas. I was used to being told what to do and completing it. At Riot Act, they trust you. If they hired you, that means that you are cable and they don’t want to waste your time. I was put on the team that worked with social media and Riot Act’s online presence. I was put in charge of writing and sending out Riot Act’s social media press release and I quickly learned that online, a picture grabs attention a lot fast then a page of words.
    Don’t be afraid to fail. The first event Riot Act hosted with an outside company, we experienced a ton of issues. This was the first time we had to collaborate with people outside our staff and while the event was not a disaster, there were small details that were overlooked. Who was in charge greeting people as the entered? Where is the best place to serve food without overcrowding? What the incentive for people at this even to come back to Riot Act and see a comedy show? We ended the event with a meeting where we listed what was to happen next time we hosted an even, and the next time we did, it ran a lot smoother. Everything is a learning experience.
    Traditional PR should never be forgotten, but it is not the only tool. I spent many days simply walking into hotels and business’s introducing Riot Act. Most people were receptive to this kind of commitment. A press release can do wonders, but people remember a friendly face over a nicely worded emails. We established connections just by making it through the door and handing out free passes to invite people to experience Riot Act first hand. It’s refreshing to know that what you are marketing is worth while. Once Riot Act got people to come once, it was almost a guarantee they would come back because of their great experience. (More …)

     

  • Laura 10:24 pm on December 10, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment  

    Requiescat in Pace, Frater 

    The House of the Temple has been used for a lot of things over the years–a tomb of sorts (there are two past Grand Commanders buried in the building), a house (one of those same GC’s lived there and his claw-foot tub is still intact), and of course its primary purpose, as a place for meetings and gatherings and Supreme Council business of all sorts.

    This week it held a new purpose which, as far as I heard, was a first: that of a funeral site.

    Last weekend the former Grand Commander, C. Fred Kleinknecht, passed away. He was the GC for 18 years–an awfully long time by just about any standards–and had an abundance of familial and personal connections and influence to the Scottish Rite as a general organization and to the House of the Temple in particular. Accordingly, his family requested his funeral be held at the Temple.

    All of us on staff attended the funeral. There was a good deal of hasty preparations being made up until the day of–I mean, can you imagine if suddenly it was part of your job to create a proper funeral? There were of course hired funeral directors, but we printed the leaflets and handled the food afterward and all the small details that made it a smooth event.

    It is a rather strange feeling, to attend a funeral for someone you did not know, especially at work. But it was beautifully done, with lots of moving and sincere speeches from those who knew Mr. Kleinknecht, and made me sorry I had not known him. Mr. Seale, the current Grand Commander, gave a particularly good speech which ended with a very brief poem and which left me in tears.

    Mr. Kleinknecht’s full obituary is here: http://scottishrite.org/2011/12/ill-c-fred-kleinknecht-33%C2%B0-february-141924-december-1-2011/

    You should take a moment to read it, both for the nice story of it, but also for an example of the very traditional ways Masons treat important events–the language and so on. 

    I have just a couple more days left with Masons…what an interesting semester this has been!

     

  • Cole Mellino 9:20 pm on December 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: , interning for the wrong reasons, the right reasons to intern   

    Final Dispatch 

    Today is my last day at my internship and I am genuinely really sad. I cannot speak highly enough of the internship program at the Center for American Progress. It is extremely well run. And the staff at CAP are just amazing people. They’ve always had really interesting things for me to do, such as researching for articles that I, or someone else is working on, writing articles, attending events, conferences, and meetings and taking notes and writing articles about these events. Yes, I’ve done a few not so fun things, such as transcribing interviews or checking people in for an event, but honestly, compared to what my friends tell me about their internships, CAP seems like one of the best places if you want to spend the vast majority of your time actually doing things that contribute to the work of the organization. I wasn’t interested in interning at a place just because it had good name recognition. I wanted to work at a place where I would actually do meaningful work. I managed to find a place that offers both (and it also offers a stipend), so I just really lucked out and that’s why I can’t rave enough about my internship.

    So my final advice to internship-seeking students: Do a lot of research. Find a place you actually think you’ll like working at and not just one that sounds good. Are the types of things you’ll be doing actually things you like doing? Don’t take an internship just because you think it’ll look good on a resume. You’ll just be cursing yourself every time you have to go to it. Do an internship because you think it’ll enrich your coursework and make you a more experienced young professional. Yes, you want to have work experience on your resume, but if it’s for something that you didn’t like and didn’t get much out of, what are you going to tell the interviewer for a potential job when she asks you about it. Well, those are my parting words. Good luck with your search.

     

    • Julia Beyer 4:29 pm on December 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Nice points, Cole! It is very important to have a meaningful internship experience. I’ll be featuring this in the SOC Spot newsletter.

  • Cole Mellino 8:56 pm on December 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: , cool experiences, eco-nerds, panels   

    UN Climate Change Conference 

    UN Climate Change Conference

    Yesterday, I helped set up for a web conference between a meeting of policy analysts here at the Center for American Progress and a group of policy analysts at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP-17, in Durban, South Africa. For eco-nerds such as myself, the UN Climate Change Conferences are a big deal, even though every year we get our hopes up only to be severely disappointed in the ability of the world’s leaders to work together to really solve the pressing issue of climate change. But still, sitting in on the conference and listening to these experts in the field discuss the issue of Europe including all flights (including flights from the US) in their emissions trading scheme, which would impose taxes on the airlines, was really cool. Obviously, this is a very controversial topic and it was very interesting to hear the analysts discuss how they think this will play out between Europe, the US, and the airlines. It has been so cool to sit in on panels, conferences, and meetings related to environmental issues. I’ve learned so much over the semester by attending them. They are a great part of the experience.

     

  • nn1702a 6:23 pm on December 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: , , , learning,   

    It’s Been Real… 

    The day has come, unfortunately today is my last day in the office. It’ s bittersweet because this semester is almost over and I will be abroad in one more month! However, I am going to miss having to wake up in the mornings and catching the N4 downtown to go to my internship and of course all my friends at AU. So, it’s going to be hard when it’s time to pack up and leave. I am currently in the office and I just realized that time has gone by so fast this semester- so shocked!

    I think I have come a long way since I have started my internship. Prior to starting, I have always been aware and well informed politically on the Middle East. And now I can say the same about knowing a lot more about the region’s developing and booming economy. I find this an added advantage for me because I have always wanted that in an internship- leaving with so much more to take back and apply later on down the road. That is why I consider an internship somewhat like an actual course, but one that takes place in the “real world,” where all of the action is going on. The things I have learned can be directly applied to my academic studies in both the immediate and distant futures. I know that what I have accomplished at my internship will truly help me, especially since I am focusing on the Middle East for my specialization area. Now, I will proceed into the next stage of my life feeling well equipped and knowledgeable for what awaits me later on. So, I definitely have learned a lot from my experiences these past four months with my colleagues and other interns, whom have taught me so much. As a result, I have learned how to be a good co-worker, since I’ve formed close bonds and made life long friends during my time here. I also feel prepared in how to act and conduct myself in the work field. It’s been a really great semester having this internship and I wouldn’t of had it any other way.

    So, I’m looking forward to going abroad next semester to London, it’s going to be way too much fun!!! And after coming back, for my senior year I will definitely have an internship again. Hopefully, I will get lucky and find another great opportunity and benefit from it just as much, if not more.

     

  • Cole Mellino 2:51 am on December 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
    Tags: getting to know DC, , new connections, new friends, , work experience   

    More Perks to Being an Intern 

    Before I offer more perks, I have to give credit to my fellow intern,Jennifer Steck, who goes to university in the illustrious state of Nebraska (here’s a map for the geographically challenged), for helping me come up with this list. She brilliantly identified the innate desire within interns for free food. So kudos to her. Now to highlight some more perks of the low-wage to no-wage workforce…

    5. You’ll get to know DC so much better

    I’m someone who likes to get off campus and explore DC as much as possible, but having an internship takes it to a whole new level. Before my internship, getting out of Tenleytown didn’t happen very often during the week. My jaunts were left mostly to the weekends, which is fine. But if you’re looking to really experience the city you live in, interning is a great way to do it because you will explore a whole new part of the city.

    (More …)

     

    • Julia Beyer 4:37 pm on December 13, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Great tips! I really like the pictures you use to illustrate your points.

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