The Continuing Adventures of Jeff Lakin, Program Assistant
So once again, promises to update have been left unfulfilled. There are just so many stories to be told, that I often don’t know where to start. However, last night’s adventure was definitely worth recounting here, so I think if I start there and work back, I’ll be able to hit all the highlights of the last few weeks of program.
Jeff’s All Night ER Adventure
Last night around 11pm, I’m sitting in the office wrapping up a few last minute things before going home, when the call comes out from the infirmary next door that we need to make a run to the emergency room. Nobody seems to be all that willing, so I step up.
“Are you sure?” they ask me, “You have a morning desk shift tomorrow.” Yeah, why not? It can’t be that bad-the kid just has a busted knee. They’ll check him out, take a few x-rays, put him in a brace, and we’ll be off.
Six hours later, I find out why this wasn’t a good idea. See, I’ve been fortunate enough in life never to have needed to utilize an emergency room, so I failed to grasp the notion that in between the checking out, x-raying, and brace fitting, there’s a ton of waiting to be done, especially when you’re sitting quietly and politely while the inebriated and possibly homeless gentleman that came in an hour after you is screaming at the nurses to check his BAC again, because in his words (a) “I cant be drunk woman, I can spell your name backwards” and (b) “If nobody’s going to take care of me here, I might as well go home to my mansion and watch TV.”
Finally, at 5am, we walk back to the hotel (its just across the street), and I realize with 2 hours until I have to work and the morning news already on, my only choice is to grab an air mattress and sleep in my clothes in the infirmary next door. I consoled myself with the fact that spending the night in the office in ones work clothes is a Washington rite of passage as clearly demonstrated by the pilot episode of the West Wing (this was in fact a valid argument at 5am). Luckily for me, my very understanding co-worker let me sleep next door until almost 11, when she was called out to-you guessed it-take a kid to the ER.
Lesson learned: no matter how many episodes of House try to convince me otherwise, hospitals are never amusing places to be.
Jeff’s Independence Day Adventure
Fourth of July in Washington was pretty damn amazing, even though I had to spend the day working. Around 11am, we bussed the kids out on the mall and sent them out into the festivities for five hours, hoping that they all were smart enough to make it back on time (and despite these kids supposedly being the brightest and best, it’s by no means a given). Meanwhile, we were free to wander for half the day before having to spend the afternoon stationed around the mall in case of emergencies. I spent the morning taking in the impressive Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which chose as its theme this year a tribute to the Canadian province of Alberta-I kid you not. There was Albertan music, craft and farming demos, and even food tents (which were actually pretty good for overpriced festival food). I can now safely say that I am an expert in the rich culture of a province that lies just north of Montana, for whatever that’s worth. The afternoon was spent on duty in a more conventional locale-the Museum of American History. Not a single kid wound up approaching us, but I passed the time with my awesome patriotism mix I made last fall, including Sufjan’s awesome 50 States song.
Following a brief delay due to an insane thunderstorm, we proceeded to Fort McNair, where we enjoyed a barbeque with the military families and were able to stake out a perfect spot for the fireworks right on the banks of the Potomac. Some of the kids may have claimed that their hometowns had bigger fireworks shows, but I can pretty well guarantee none of them had the Washington Monument as the backdrop.
Lesson learned: The Fourth of July is pretty much what you’d expect it to be in DC, except maybe with a little more Canada.
Jeff’s Adventures in Law and Justice
Finally, I get back to the thing I meant to write about almost a week ago. Last week was my big week with PC-the Law and Justice in a Democracy program. As the coordinator for the week, I worked alongside the program manager (incidentally also the legal counsel for the program) to make everything run smoothly. Unlike most weeks, where I spend a few days a week in the office and a few out with the kids, I was with the students 24/7, taking them to law firms, the federal courthouse, Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court, and what felt like a million other places. My primary duty, however, was to act as official court clerk of the Presidential Classroom Moot Court. Throughout the week, the students prepared written briefs and oral arguments for court cases involving constitutional matters pertaining to students-drug testing, school violence threats, religious freedom, and the like-which incidentally all were written up with TV characters as pseudonyms (try announcing “Simpson v. Springfield” or “Atwood v. Orange County” from the bench with a straight face). In any case, I had to be on duty during their preparations, being buzzed from group to group on a Nextel to review rules and give whatever hints I could think up off the top of my head. It was pretty intense, and I almost lost my cool a few times (hopefully I’ll get into that another time), but finally Friday came.
I walked into the “courtroom” bleary eyed and completely drained, having spent the night before making and sorting 160 some odd copies of legal briefs. Admittedly, I looked a little out of it as I sat at the bench keeping time, of which there’s some pretty incriminating photographic evidence courtesy of our official photographer… I’ll try to grab it from her computer and post it here. As the debates got underway, however, I was truly amazed at what I saw. These kids were prepared for everything the judges threw at them, and damn eloquent to boot. I’m not even sure if I could have performed as well as they did. It was really one of those moments where you felt like you had worked to create something greater than yourself, and as the court was adjourned and the longest week of my entire summer finally came to a close, I had no doubt it was time well spent.
As for a lesson learned? Every week, four students are nominated to give speeches about their week at the graduation banquet, speeches that usually range in tone from sappy sentimental stuff to outright roasts of instructors and staff. This one girl, however, really managed to strike a chord. Explaining that she was a girl from a small town where she worked at a Bob Evans and graduated high school second in a class of about 40 students, she was never sure if she was smart enough to compete with the best in the country. After this week, however, she realized that while she may not have been the smartest or most worldly or most ambitious one in the room, she most certainly belonged amongst them, because she wanted to make change in the world and could use whatever she had at her disposal to do so. As we stood to applaud her, my boss leaned over and told me that it was the first speech he’d heard at Presidential Classroom that almost made him tear up. I couldn’t have agreed more.
So those are indeed the highlights. There’s lots more to tell, but I don’t have the time to do it…I really should try to get to the gym before I go to bed and get ready for another exciting trip through Arlington Cemetery. Fortunately, I have graveyard shifts all next week, so there will be plenty of time to put the pen to paper while fighting off sleep.
ALSO: Bonus points if you can figure out where the new icon comes from :)
Jeff’s All Night ER Adventure
Last night around 11pm, I’m sitting in the office wrapping up a few last minute things before going home, when the call comes out from the infirmary next door that we need to make a run to the emergency room. Nobody seems to be all that willing, so I step up.
“Are you sure?” they ask me, “You have a morning desk shift tomorrow.” Yeah, why not? It can’t be that bad-the kid just has a busted knee. They’ll check him out, take a few x-rays, put him in a brace, and we’ll be off.
Six hours later, I find out why this wasn’t a good idea. See, I’ve been fortunate enough in life never to have needed to utilize an emergency room, so I failed to grasp the notion that in between the checking out, x-raying, and brace fitting, there’s a ton of waiting to be done, especially when you’re sitting quietly and politely while the inebriated and possibly homeless gentleman that came in an hour after you is screaming at the nurses to check his BAC again, because in his words (a) “I cant be drunk woman, I can spell your name backwards” and (b) “If nobody’s going to take care of me here, I might as well go home to my mansion and watch TV.”
Finally, at 5am, we walk back to the hotel (its just across the street), and I realize with 2 hours until I have to work and the morning news already on, my only choice is to grab an air mattress and sleep in my clothes in the infirmary next door. I consoled myself with the fact that spending the night in the office in ones work clothes is a Washington rite of passage as clearly demonstrated by the pilot episode of the West Wing (this was in fact a valid argument at 5am). Luckily for me, my very understanding co-worker let me sleep next door until almost 11, when she was called out to-you guessed it-take a kid to the ER.
Lesson learned: no matter how many episodes of House try to convince me otherwise, hospitals are never amusing places to be.
Jeff’s Independence Day Adventure
Fourth of July in Washington was pretty damn amazing, even though I had to spend the day working. Around 11am, we bussed the kids out on the mall and sent them out into the festivities for five hours, hoping that they all were smart enough to make it back on time (and despite these kids supposedly being the brightest and best, it’s by no means a given). Meanwhile, we were free to wander for half the day before having to spend the afternoon stationed around the mall in case of emergencies. I spent the morning taking in the impressive Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which chose as its theme this year a tribute to the Canadian province of Alberta-I kid you not. There was Albertan music, craft and farming demos, and even food tents (which were actually pretty good for overpriced festival food). I can now safely say that I am an expert in the rich culture of a province that lies just north of Montana, for whatever that’s worth. The afternoon was spent on duty in a more conventional locale-the Museum of American History. Not a single kid wound up approaching us, but I passed the time with my awesome patriotism mix I made last fall, including Sufjan’s awesome 50 States song.
Following a brief delay due to an insane thunderstorm, we proceeded to Fort McNair, where we enjoyed a barbeque with the military families and were able to stake out a perfect spot for the fireworks right on the banks of the Potomac. Some of the kids may have claimed that their hometowns had bigger fireworks shows, but I can pretty well guarantee none of them had the Washington Monument as the backdrop.
Lesson learned: The Fourth of July is pretty much what you’d expect it to be in DC, except maybe with a little more Canada.
Jeff’s Adventures in Law and Justice
Finally, I get back to the thing I meant to write about almost a week ago. Last week was my big week with PC-the Law and Justice in a Democracy program. As the coordinator for the week, I worked alongside the program manager (incidentally also the legal counsel for the program) to make everything run smoothly. Unlike most weeks, where I spend a few days a week in the office and a few out with the kids, I was with the students 24/7, taking them to law firms, the federal courthouse, Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court, and what felt like a million other places. My primary duty, however, was to act as official court clerk of the Presidential Classroom Moot Court. Throughout the week, the students prepared written briefs and oral arguments for court cases involving constitutional matters pertaining to students-drug testing, school violence threats, religious freedom, and the like-which incidentally all were written up with TV characters as pseudonyms (try announcing “Simpson v. Springfield” or “Atwood v. Orange County” from the bench with a straight face). In any case, I had to be on duty during their preparations, being buzzed from group to group on a Nextel to review rules and give whatever hints I could think up off the top of my head. It was pretty intense, and I almost lost my cool a few times (hopefully I’ll get into that another time), but finally Friday came.
I walked into the “courtroom” bleary eyed and completely drained, having spent the night before making and sorting 160 some odd copies of legal briefs. Admittedly, I looked a little out of it as I sat at the bench keeping time, of which there’s some pretty incriminating photographic evidence courtesy of our official photographer… I’ll try to grab it from her computer and post it here. As the debates got underway, however, I was truly amazed at what I saw. These kids were prepared for everything the judges threw at them, and damn eloquent to boot. I’m not even sure if I could have performed as well as they did. It was really one of those moments where you felt like you had worked to create something greater than yourself, and as the court was adjourned and the longest week of my entire summer finally came to a close, I had no doubt it was time well spent.
As for a lesson learned? Every week, four students are nominated to give speeches about their week at the graduation banquet, speeches that usually range in tone from sappy sentimental stuff to outright roasts of instructors and staff. This one girl, however, really managed to strike a chord. Explaining that she was a girl from a small town where she worked at a Bob Evans and graduated high school second in a class of about 40 students, she was never sure if she was smart enough to compete with the best in the country. After this week, however, she realized that while she may not have been the smartest or most worldly or most ambitious one in the room, she most certainly belonged amongst them, because she wanted to make change in the world and could use whatever she had at her disposal to do so. As we stood to applaud her, my boss leaned over and told me that it was the first speech he’d heard at Presidential Classroom that almost made him tear up. I couldn’t have agreed more.
So those are indeed the highlights. There’s lots more to tell, but I don’t have the time to do it…I really should try to get to the gym before I go to bed and get ready for another exciting trip through Arlington Cemetery. Fortunately, I have graveyard shifts all next week, so there will be plenty of time to put the pen to paper while fighting off sleep.
ALSO: Bonus points if you can figure out where the new icon comes from :)