Taxation Without Representation?

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I have been learning so much during my 2 weeks here. It’s election time which has been very enlightening on the political situation of DC. Apparently there are no representatives with voting power in the House or Senate which creates a unique situation for our government capital. Other things I’ve learnt about DC are the different neighborhoods and people inhabiting the district. Although normally not a runner, I have been really into running around the magnificent places in DC. I recently expanded my run from Union Station, the Capitol Building and Washington Monument to include the Whitehouse, Lincoln, WWII, and Korean War memorials. Running has become a metaphor for my transition in DC- a completely different mental and physical state than I’m used to. I’ve realized that each of us has hidden capacity to accomplish things and that fear and a lack of confidence hinders us from realizing this potential. The only reason I can run 7 miles now (besides the lack of major hills) is because I tell myself I can. When fatigue sets in, my muscles protest and my brain starts telling me I can’t finish the run, I run harder and overcome the mental obstacles presented.

I am also trying to take this approach in life and in my internship. I started Tuesday the 7th at the Peacebuilding and Development Institute (PDI) at American University with a meeting of all interns. There are technically seven of us although five are new and commit the most time. From this meeting I learned a few things about PDI and what the internship will look like:

*PDI is funded by external grants and are part of AU mostly to capitalize on AU’s resources.
PDI does have enormous influence in some of its projects. The main manager, Saji Prelis, has many connections to government, NGO, etc. organizations and will be a huge resource personally and in completing what we want to do.

T*here are so many projects (14 official) going on! We were allowed to choose which ones sounded interesting to us which was really difficult to do as I was interested in all of them. I decided to focus on two areas, Religion and Development and peacebuilding trainings. An underexplored area of development is the impact of religion and religious communities’/organizations’ influence on post-conflict reconstruction and development. Almost no research has been conducted on this topic so I am writing a proposal we hope to get funded for field and office research on this area in really conflict ridden areas. It focuses on four major religions, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. I am also (hopefully) going to set up trainings for Liberian, Nigerian and UAE diplomats on peacebuilding but that will be down the road.

*Additionally to these projects we need to set up an event on AU’s campus surrounding contemporary issues of conflict/things we’re interested in. I’ve chosen to do mine on the conflict of the state of Kashmir. I am really looking forward to this, and very nervous because it’s going to be awesome!, and will have probably an entire blog devoted to this in the future.

*PDI will accept most any interested party as PDI is severely understaffed and underfunded. There are only two official staff members and one is being let go in October because of a lack of funding; however, if a grant proposal is accepted, the person working on it receives an opportunity to be a member of the project for its duration (normally about six months). Possibility in the future? I hope so.



My four days at PDI have been pretty productive in the project sense as well as getting to know fellow interns but also challenging. The women I am working with (the newcomers are all women) are very intelligent so I sometimes feel inadequate as my training has been in business and not international development. My impossibly high personal standards can be deadly as I see failure as anything less than perfect (only for myself of course) which causes me to always feel inadequate. Over the past year I’ve been working on creating mechanisms to keep these extreme standards in check and I’ve already been challenged to do this with my work at the internship. With that said though, I can look at the situation and realize people more knowledgeable than me are a great asset to our team and I need to remember we are all chosen for a reason to contribute.

It’s a nice break to work at the hostel sometimes because the work is so mindless I don’t put pressure on myself. Well too much pressure. I still hate when I mess things up here but my roommates and fellow workers are so encouraging I can’t get down on myself too much. As I noted before, I live in the same room with the three guys I work with. Amazingly our room is very clean, they are all very considerate and I greatly have enjoyed living with them thus far. We have a lot of fun and started joking with each other as soon as I moved in. I do worry about their health as I notice they don’t eat much (I have already been dubbed den mother for my concerns) but they do get by. All in all I work 56 hours a week between the two positions although it doesn’t feel like that much. I have still made time to meet some people, two friends of friends and they have been lovely! I am really excited to meet more people as life progresses and continue building relationships with the women I’ve already been introduced to.

Favorite moments/things about DC thus far:
• Seeing Lady Gaga in concert. She is in a word, amazing. A great singer and performer and she stands up for what she believes in. I was not obsessed with her before the concert but I am now. My favorite things about her are her resolute standing on issues she’s passionate about, how she uses her amassed power to right injustices (half her concert was focused on spreading love to the marginalized) and the initial incoherence of her actions illuminated by reason. She plans every single crazy ass thing she does. It all has a deeper meaning. That’s genius.
• Being so close to downtown and the Mall that I can run there. Also running in different states (I ran to Virginia the other day) just feels cool.
• All the gorgeous old architecture, rowhouses included!
• Being told by an Irish man here that I am the epitome of an Irish girl, “something you don’t see much in the states”
• Meeting people from Israel, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, England, South Korea, Ireland, Australia and more!
• Visiting the Museum of American History
• Starting to find thrift shops
• The compassion and support of my roommates.
• Learning the layout of DC and being familiar with cross-streets/how to get around
• The concerted efforts of friends, myself and family to stay in contact with one another.
• Being comfortable doing things alone such as going out to eat and going to movies.
• Little surprises. My roommate clearing out his closet so I would have more than a drawer for clothes. Meeting really cool girls whom I could have good conversations with. Walking somewhere new and finding a great cupcake store.
• Arriving in DC right after the muggy, hot summer. It’s the perfect weather now!
• Being a part of something so much bigger than myself. I love seeing how the wheels of the future are turning.



I am sure more good things to come! Thanks for being interested in my life.

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