You know you’re Obsessing over Your Policy Report When…

So, I thought I‘d entice you with a quick read post before I post a more in-depth post later this weekend.  I came down with a gnarly summer cold earlier this week and am actually in the process of still getting over it!  It was so bad that it prevented me from going to work one day.  I ended up sleeping the entire day actually, therefore making it extremely difficult to go to sleep the following evening. 

Anyways, I had the craziest dream!  As many of you know, if you have read my previous posts, we are nearing the end of our papers… Final drafts are due this Saturday at 6PM EST!  At that point they are sent off to be published for the world to see.  It is at that point we begin preparing our remarks for the Congressional and White House briefings.  Big things are coming! 

My dream consisted of me, alone at the airport.  I was attempting to get onto a flight.  Where?  I’ll never know.  As many people do nowadays, I was using my iPhone as my boarding pass.  When I went to scan my boarding pass, all of a sudden it was no longer working.  I glanced quickly at my phone to see what was happening and realized my phone was no longer displaying my boarding pass… but rather it was displaying my policy report.  Not only was it now displaying my policy report, but now it was also displaying all track changes* of my report—FROM THE FIRST DRAFT UNTIL NOW.  Now, NOT ONLY was it displaying my policy report and track changes from start to finish, but it looked very eerie like a VHS does when it’s tracking**.

It was at that point that I woke up, freaking out and struggled to go back to sleep...

I cannot wait til Saturday y’all (Lol).

With that fun little distraction post, enjoy the rest of your week, do something fun and safe outside of your comfort zone this weekend, and stay tuned for Sunday when I post next! 

I hope everyone is trying to see a positive or two in this tragic week for Americans :-)

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

*For those of you who don’t know what track changes are, it is a review tool in Microsoft Word that allows yourself and other individuals to markup the paper.  See an example of me marking up this blog post before I posted this blog below:

**For those of you who don’t know what it means to be “tracking a VHS”, see this link here: You can definitely see how this can maybe be a little perturbing now?

Today isn't for the light-hearted...

Hi Folks!

Happy heavy hearted Monday.  Before I get into too much detail, I’d like to share some sweet news:

FINAL DRAFTS OF OUR POLICY REPORTS ARE DUE THIS COMING SATURDAY!

Here is a sneak peek of my almost completed executive summary:

---
"Youth in care who identify within the LGBTQ+ community are over-represented in the child welfare system and face unique challenges.  LGBTQ+ youth are at greater risk of experiencing violence or being victimized, and they are at higher risk to experience negative health and life outcomes such as experiencing violence or having negative effects on education and mental health. With such knowledge and information, it is imperative that the foster care placement process be revised. To improve the experience of these youth in foster care, Congress must require states to provide training for all professionals and foster parents working within the child welfare system on the special needs of LGBTQ+ youth, improve the foster care placement processes by screening youth entering care for sexual orientation and gender identity, and incentivize state-wide non-discrimination laws protect this historically marginalized community."
---

I cannot wait to share the finished product with everyone!  The amount of hours I have put into this policy report has been pretty extensive!  It has been so rigorous and invigorating.  Not to mention juggling many struggles I have been battling with internally re: things going on back home but I’m still managing to stay afloat—it’s amazing what practicing self-care does!

Speaking of self-care, for me it means running and staying physically active in my lifestyle.  What do you do to practice self-care when you’re going through difficult or stressful times?  I’m interested to hear some additional techniques I could utilize sometime 😊.

For now, let me get off of my soap box.  Just over 30 days left here in good ole D.C.  Time is flying by at a rate which I can’t even realize anymore!  It seems like it yesterday was my first day here, yet here we are almost a month in.  Here is a recap from my last week:


-I observed medics treating an individual on the street who appeared to be hit by a car
-I watched my first ever real-life fight break out in Union Station (I truly though those things only took place in the movies!)
-I gave the money in my wallet to a homeless woman stating she was trying to feed her children
-My feelings of sadness and empathy grow more and more when I see a homeless person struggling on the streets

Other than those things, everything else that happened this past week seems minuscule to me.

A Post of a Post!

Happy Sunday!

I promised 2 posts this weekend, and I will deliver!

Click here to see CCAI's blog!

Click here to see my specific post!

If you want to just read here on my own personal blog, it's below :-D

Thanks for all of your supports!

Birthday Post!

Hey Y'all!

So before I even begin this long overdue post, I want to let everyone know, you are all in for a treat this weekend!  I have a surprise post coming for you soon.  I signed up for CCAI's professional blog and—well I'm quite proud of my work!

In other news, today marks my last year in my twenties.  I wonder how many grey hairs I've got coming this year as I enter my final four semesters of my Bachelor's degree.  If anyone is wondering how I am spending my birthday today, I've got an answer for you. I am spending it working on my Policy Report!  Just kidding (well, sort of :-D ).

Actually, I will be participating in an EDM/Night Run!  Check it out!  It's the only fun run of its kind.  I'm pretty excited to be running it with some friends.  I couldn't ask for a better way to spend my day of birth away from home.

A few quick highlights as I finished my second week on the Hill:

• I met and took pictures with both Senator Bennet (CO - D) AS WELL AS the 76th Secretary of the Navy—Richard V. Spencer.

• I received edits on the first draft of my Policy Report
• I sat in on a lecture with Minority Leader Representative Nancy Pelosi
• I've learned a plethora of new terms I wasn't aware of existed (when I say I have no political background whatsoever, I meant it!)
• I faced additional challenges and struggles I had to overcome, one being confrontation on the D.C. Metro (It was pretty scary, actually)
• I told my story in front of CCAI's Advisory Council (Including Representative Aderholt [R - AL], Representative Mullin [R - OK] and Representative Bass [D -  CA]

Quick Update!

I did it you guys... I survived my first week on Capitol Hill!!! It was difficult. At times, I had a lot of self-doubt. I wondered if I was right for my placement within the Senate Finance Committee (Minority). I got minimal sleep. I wasn't able to work out as frequent as I had hoped.

Nonetheless, I persevered. Next week may not be easier, but at least I know what to expect!

Now, to complete my first draft of my Policy Report!!!

#Prosper

Long Overdue Post

IT'S HUMP DAY Y'ALL!!!

I hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!  My apologies for making everyone wait such a long time in between posts, but I have been so busy  The pace in Washington D.C. is no joke.  I truly had no idea what to expect, and I'm glad I didn't set any expectations!

Expect this blog to be nothing but a bunch of disorganized thoughts... I spent all my organizational energy preparing my outline  for my policy report earlier this evening and my plans for the 1st draft of my Policy Report--not to mention that SO MUCH has happened in the last week and a half that I would bore you to death if I stated and expanded on all of my experiences since I last posted.  Feel free to skim or skip over anything in this blog post... I'd rather you skip parts than read and lose interest!

Okay, so since I  last posted on May 29, 2018 here is a (kind of, but only KIND OF) chronological list of things that have happened in my life:

• I arrived in Washington D.C.
• I checked into my single dorm at George Washington University (I still have communal stalled showers, which bring be back to Navy Times.)
• I attended a panel where I learned several ways to be successful on Capitol Hill.
• I have been to the Washington Monument.
• I have been to the Abraham Lincoln Memorial.
• I've gotten lost while exercising the streets of the U.S. Capitol.
• I've driven through 2 additional states aside from Washington D.C.
• I've went and enjoyed/learned a significant amount about my cohorts during a retreat in Danville, PA.
• I created a very intimate collage to express where I've been, where I am and where I'm going

...