Recess!

The protests continue, especially given that the Senate began its recess this week, and of course the calls flooded in. The largest issues, in no particular order, were: the potential defunding of Planned Parenthood, town halls, the Affordable Care Act—keep it, repeal it, replace it—, and the press briefing debacle that happened today. 

It always makes me happy though when somebody calls in about an obscure bill because 1. I like being the first person to log it and 2. It helps me learn a bit more each day.

I really do learn a lot from the constituents I talk to. One man (who shall remain anonymous)

calls in about every day to tell me how the US is moving closer to fascism and his experience living under a communist government. Most of the people who call are older, and so it’s always interesting to hear them compare then and now. And of course, because I’m a writer, I love hearing stories—some of which move me to tears. It sounds real corny, but it's true. 

Those are my general thoughts. As always, it’s been an eventful week. The building went on lockdown Wednesday because of the protesters. From my (two week) perspective at the office, I find protesters at an interesting point in politics. On the one hand, it makes me happy that people care and that they are taking the time out of their day to stand and express their concerns. On the other hand, it is difficult to respond to people whose only volume level is SHOUT.

In terms of project developments, I really value the comments ya’ll post because you have some wonderful questions. I’ve been doing more research on the Classical civilizations side, and it turns out there is a substantial amount of papers and ancient thought devoted to ignorance (particularly political ignorance) in Ancient Greece. I think this concern over voter ignorance ties well to internet infrastructure and could serve as a bridge connecting the ancient and modern worlds.

            

So that’s about it. Thursday was an interesting day—I went back to BASIS (sigh) to work on some Speech & Debate stuff, and I saw three English teachers and a drama teacher. Yay, Ms. Markel! 

Then I drove down to the office, and for some reason, this guy wanted a picture with me—maybe because I was interning for a senator, I don’t know.

(That’s a complete joke. I asked for the picture.)

So I met Senator Flake! It was pretty funny; I had just picked up the phone when he entered, and at the end of each call, we thank the constituent for their time and promise to relay their message to the Senator. So he asked me what I'd promised to pass on to him. And I got to tell him! Literally. 

And then we had an awkward conversation because if you couldn’t tell from this blog, I am incredibly awkward. But he was so nice, and he thanked me for working at the office (sir, sir, sir).

                     Me:                                                               Senator:

                                             

Afterward, he stopped by a few times to ask what constituents were calling about, and I got to share a few of the stories people had shared with me. So there! When we say we’ll pass your message along to the Senator, if we can, we tell him in person.  

(*Of course, you are an intelligent BASIS-affiliated individual who realizes that this would be a very inefficient long-term method of communicating messages to senators and that even less would get done in the Senate, but still. It happens sometimes.)