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Madonna_14
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Name: Jennifer
Location: Arlington, Virginia, United States
Birthday: 10/1/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: music, piano, running...well, more like jogging, dancing, decorating, theatre department, building things and then being able to say that I made something, friends, making something out of nothing, making the best out of situations, smiling, making a difference in someone's life.
Expertise: How about, expert advice? don't kill innocent babies. pro-life.
Occupation: Artist
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  purpleviolin14
Member Since:
1/26/2004
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| HAPPY INAUGURATION DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being less than 30 minutes from the capitol of the United States, you'd think that I would be planning and scheming to attend the monumentous activities of the Inauguration of the 44th president of the United States, President Barack Hussein Obama....but no, I decided to just sit on my ass....until I get a call from Miss Karlene (who doesn't read this, doesn't know about this, and anyone who reads this probably has no idea who she is, since she is a friend I met here in VA, who happens to be pretty cool)....one Sunday morning asking "Do you want to try and go to the free concert on the mall?".....me, being me (usually rather lazy), decides "Hell, I have nothing to do today, and no work for the next two days, why the hell not?!?!"
Sooo...I go on my merry way with her in the COLD (not as cold as Wisconsin, but cold enough to not be able to feel my toes)...and trek our way to the mall. We totally thought that it would be utter mayhem, and complete craziness and confusion, but we decided to metro rail it and it turned out to be a piece of cake! We get "inside" the Lincoln Memorial area (where there is a security check that doesn't really make me feel all that more secure, I totally could've been hiding something in my jacket), where we sliver our way and close as we could and only make it a distance close enough to a jumbo-tron to be able to tell who is on it, but not close enough to tell there are moving bodies on the Lincoln Memorial. We listen, we freeze, we listen some more. Didn't really jam all that much, but it was cool to just be there with people....sooooo many people. Like, "claustrophobic" feeling....back to back, no room to move. This was also a time that I wish I was just a few inches taller....needless to say, my neck hurt aftwards moving back and forth trying to get just a pity of a view. Some names to throw out that I "saw": Mary J Blige, Garth Brooks, Cheryl Crow, Jamie Foxx, Bruce Springstein, John Legend, Tom Hanks, will.i.am, Denzel Washington, Queen Latifiah, Martin Luther King Jr, III, Bono...just to name a few. All in all, it was cold, it was fun, it was cool to say that I was there!.....oh, and can I just say that pizza tastes AMAZING after going to something like this....like almost as good as a....nevermind.
THEN....same Miss Karlene asks me later to join her and a few co-workers to try and attend the Inauguration festivities the following Monday. Me being me (you should know by now...lazy), had to think about it for a while. But after to talking to my sisters and a few others, I finally decide, you know what, some people are coming from ALL OVER THE COUNTRY to come to this, and me, well, it's just right outside my door (kind of), why the hell not? I have no excuse except I didn't want to go alone or that the cold sucks.....but I did have people to go with and I frecking lived in Wisconsin for 22 years, I can handle a little cold. So I decide to meet up with Karley and get a taste of history....little did I know, waking up the next morning....the news kept saying things were CRAZY...and when I went to the metro to try and meet up with Karley and the others, they closed off the platform, like you couldnt even go down the escalators to get to the boarding area. Then this lady is like "there are these buses that will take you right down town"...so I'm like, okay, sounds good to me! I tell Karley the deal and decide that I was going to rough this one out on my own....a little scary for me, a little sad that I was going alone...but hell, I already woke up, I am already bundled up, and this bus was going to take me there. So I took a leap of faith and jumped on the bus. Buses = no fun....anyway...I make my way to the downtown area and have NO IDEA where I am going. I figured Karley would have everything figured out, so I didn't take any notes or maps of any sort....so I do what I always do in times of uncertainty....I follow the crowd. I don't know where they were leading me, and I kept going with my gut...it was a little weird because there would be certain cross points along the way, like I could choose left or right...etc, and I would just go with it-- in the cliche kind of way, it was like a reflection of my life-- you could take one path or the other with faith that what you choose got u to where u wanted to go...ok, done with the cliche-ness. ....I finally end up at the Washington Monument next to a jumbo-tron and about a million other people. There were people EVERYWHERE...as far as the eye could see. I must've seem like a really nice person because someone asked me to use my cell phone since they lost family members and another asked me to take a picture for them...of course, me being me from Wisconsin, I had no problem doing those things....oh and afterwards, I went to McDonald's for some chick nuggets, and this weird dude took a picture of me eating and reading my newspaper...but it looked like I was falling asleep or something...he then showed it to me and said he was going to put in on CNN...but I think he was making fun of me and I felt, well, ridiculous....so uhh, I shot out of there as soon as I could....anyway, back to the inauguration. So I stand and I stand and I realize how boring I am to hang out with with nothing to do....so I start watching whatever stupid thing was going on pre-inauguration....while also listening to other people's conversations as well as this little whiny kid making his dad hold him up to be able to see what was going on on the jumbo-tron about every 5 minutes. I also heard about how to use those portable hand-warmers, how Michelle Obama always knows how to dress, listened to happy birthday being sung to two people, and heard the song "na-na-na, na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye" chanted as George W. took the screen. As much as I wanted to yell and scream whenever Barack appeared, I couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious. This was one of the moments where I wish a few friends could have come along....or least, I planned things better! Still, even though I was "alone", I didn't really feel alone because I knew everyone was there for the same reason--to support the change and hope for the future that our country so desperately needs.
All in all, I got a taste of history.....and whenever someone asks "Where were you when Barack Obama was inaugurated?"....I can reply "I was there."
P.S. If you want to see pictures, and some videos, go to my facebook! Although, I think more people check that out anyways!
Best!
Jen
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| Wow, havent been here in a while, but wanted to update.
I did NOT make Teach For America, and am now in Alexandria, VA, working in Arlington, VA as a Research Assistant at a health care policy consulting firm.
Don't know if I am going to grad school or not, but definitely thinking about.
Miss home, won't be back til December- Christmas.
Feel lucky to be healthy right now, and also lucky to have this opportunity at this firm. Didnt think I was going to get it, but loving it!
Peace.
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| Today, I was given the opportunity to see Bill Clinton at the Stock Pavilion on campus at UW-Madison. The Stock Pavilion is located above a whole bunch of cows, so it did not smell the best. But it was a wonderful opportunity and I am glad I was able to take advantage of it. My class got canceled in order to encourage people to go see Bill, in which case I did- at first I wasn't going to go, but since class was canceled, why not?
So Bill basically talked about the different plans that Hillary as if she is elected President. Of course he said a lot of things that I agreed with- and I feel like if I hear anyone say anything, I will probably agree with them. Some highlights that I liked (remember, I did not take any actual notes, nor am I a journalists, so whatever I say on here is just from my memory and what I interpreted from what he said):
1. Get out of Iraq (he made an analogy, if your neighbor's house burned down and they needed a place to stay, you'd let them stay for a couple of days, or a couple of weeks, even 6 months if they needed to- but if they stay for 5 years...then something is wrong)
2. Universal Healthcare- instead of how everything is privatized, where the "pools of people" who are under a plan are only in the 1000s (and then if a handful get sick, everyone else is screwed), if we have everyone in the same pool, then healthcare can be affordable.
3.Make it so that everyone student can get an education- make education affordable
4. Hillary is all about SOLUTIONS to the problems
5. Thinking long term- if she is president, will she leave the United States better off than when it started? Will the children of our children benefit?
6. Always care about those who are in need- and "forgotten"- she was (one of?) the only one to say something when 9-11 happened and the govt said that the workers would not get injured at ground zero from all the chemicals, but she knew they would and helped people prevent worse conditions (health).
I don't really remember what else he said right now, but if I think of more, I will add later.
Basically, it was a really good feeling to be able to see someone who has had a lot of influence and history for the United States. I just like saying that in my lifetime, I was able to hear a former president speak. I will be honest, he was a little longwinded and I was sort of yawning towards the end, but it was definitely worth the time and effort to go- it wasn't even that long of a wait outside, and I was pretty close.
I still don't know who I want to vote for, but I am definitely encouraged to do a little more research.
That's all I got for now.
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| So I got a "5" on the writing part of the GRE. Which isn't bad considering the highest "section" score was between 5.5-6.0. So I was in the next highest cateorgy, which was good since I didn't do so hot on the verbal. SO I am happy. I am soooo nervous about Teach for America. The deadline I want to make is Sept 21 which is coming up toooo soon! I finally cut down my essay to be under 500 words, with the help of the Writing Center. OMG, they are amazing. I don't consider myself a good writer, and I feel getting help from the Writing Center will at least help me be in the same field as everyone else. I have been telling so many people about wanting to do Teach for America that if I don't even get to the phone interview, I will literally be heart broken. I think I will be depressed for at least like 2 weeks, and then I will pull myself up and find something similar to do. I know that there are other options out there, but I just feel like this is exactly what I want to do for two years. They say that they want the type of person who can excel in the teaching methods that they use to prepare their educators, so even if I don't get it, it doesn't mean I am a bad person by any means, it just means that they don't think I can learn in their style (which is really intense, cuz it's only like a summer's worth of training). But either way, what's going to happen is going to happen and I will do my best to make it happen the way I want. But even if I don't get it, it doesn't mean that I am going to stop. I am going to push forward and realize that it just wasn't meant to be, and that's fine. BUT I am going to try damn hard to at least try my best to make it happen. I just feel like this my thing, my time. So whatever happens, happens. And I hope my friends out there will be there for me either way. Actually, I don't have to hope, I already know they will be. PEACE. | | |
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