Dear Readers,
It's been too long. I just returned from a relaxing spring break trip back to the West Coast and realized how long it's been since I've blogged. I don't have anything necessarily profound to say tonight, or rather I have too many profound things to say and not enough time and energy to address them appropriately. So in the interest of bringing everyone up to speed on my DC excursion and falling back into the swing of regular blogging, here is an assortment of random thoughts, pictures, and links...enjoy (or stop reading now and pretend like you have a life).
Before I left DC I visited Politico...
You only have to take the metro ONE stop to get there from my campus in DC to Virginia! On the West Coast it's definitely not that easy to travel state to state. Although I must say it's a slightly awkward place to have a state welcome sign on the wall of a dingy metro stop...
My fellow USC students and I also attended a reception on the hill the week before spring break that was held by the USC Office of Federal Relations to honor President Sample. For those of you non-Trojans, our esteemed President Dr. Sample is resigning this year so it was fun to meet him before he did so, especially in DC! And as always it's great to see the Trojan network in full effect...so many alumni and trustees out here in DC!
When I got home to Las Vegas, I got the official picture in the mail of myself and Senator Reid that a photographer took at the constituent breakfast I attended at the Capitol a few weeks ago...
I heard over break that Spring had Sprung and was expecting full well to return to sunshine and cherry trees and happiness. I was disillusioned. Apparently sunshine and warm weather is not a prerequisite for cherry trees to bloom. It's been miserably cold and rainy, so really the only difference is now I have pretty trees to look at while I walk to work/class cursing the damn east coast weather, fighting with the umbrella in the wind to not take flight. I felt like Mary Poppins today walking back from work, I had the coat, the scarf, the big tote bag full of unnecessary and random items, and an umbrella that was seemingly lifting me off the ground.
In the past I've been kind of against twitter as I saw no point in it and then this semester I started using it out of necessity. It's kind of crucial to stay in the loop with politics 24/7. Iv'e found that removing myself from the news cycle for even one day makes you feel like you've been out of the loop for months when you return. So now I follow all the major news organizations, all the MSNBC reporters I work with (always good to know what your boss is tweeting), all the political prognosticators, niche political journalists, and political fact checkers. Today I even tweeted 4 times!
This brings me to my next random topic: usage of the word "Wonky"
I can honestly say I'd never used the word in casual conversation before coming out to DC and now I find it to be a regular tool in my vocabulary. People out here involved in the political world in one way or other take great pride in calling themselves "wonky" when they want to self-identify with an elite uber political, intellectual crowd that the average person would find boring and have trouble understanding or keeping up with. In some ways I find it demeaning when someone is talking politics with you and stops to apoligize for being "too wonky", as if I'm not politically savvy enough to understand them. Of course I attribute this sentiment to my own wonkiness as I doubt most people would find that offensive let alone have any interest in participating in these kinds of conversations. As a side note, today I found an incredibly hilarious and satirical political blog called appropriately "The Wonkette" which I liken to the Onion but for the wonky crowd.
This brings me to my last random thought of the day...Sarah Palin. How she manages to still be politically relevant I can't figure out. And as much as I loathe her as a woman, a wannabe political figure, and a human being, I must admit: she is a damn smart celebrity. Consult the Wonkette for a snarky look at Sarah Palin's latest ventures: Getting her own Television show on the Discovery Channel about Alaska, and campaigning for her old buddy Senator McCain.
PS: Healthcare (there I said it)
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