Today was...oh my. I can't really put it into words. Probably top few days of my life.
We met on the park just above Capitol Hill this morning, and the one-and-only Russ Feingold addressed the group. It was great. He recognized the 30 of us from Wisconsin, which was really nice. Actually, all week people have been saying it's really cool to be from Wisconsin since we've got Senator Feingold to stand up for us, both on this issue and in general. (He's the one who introduced the bill that we're lobbying for in the Senate, so without him we wouldn't have anything specific to lobby for.)
Then we got ready for meetings and such in our group, and of course everyone came to me with questions. One man, Brian, used to be a lobbyist by profession. He asked me how I got to be "in charge" of Wisconsin, and I told him I honestly didn't know. I mean, I know I have experience working with people in the high school age group, where many of these people are classified, but I honestly don't know how or why I am truly leading this.
So our first meeting is scheduled to be with Senator Kohl's office at 10. We go in early and they ask for a business card, so I give them mine (odd...just ran that off...) and we waited. Now you have to picture 30 people (mostly between like 17 and 22 or so) crammed into this little office. Needless to say, if even three of us talked, the office was loud, so some people went into the hall until we'd get called. Well, it turns out the guy who we were supposed to meet with was stuck on the bus because he took it into work instead of the Metro because the lines were still down after the crash yesterday. So she asked if we could reschedule, and after a little figuring on my part, we decided on 2:30. Great.
We chilled out in the basement (ground level, actually...the basement was a separate floor below the ground level, which was below the first floor...it was odd) of the Hart Senate Office Building until the meeting with Senator Feingold's office which was at noon. We had some really interesting conversations, and I never would have expected some of these things to come from the mouths of high school students. Apparently I've underestimated them. These have been some of the most intelligent people I've met.
Senator Feingold's meeting was great. We met with his Legislative Assistant for African Affairs, who was very, very cool. I actually almost told him I wanted his job, but then I decided that was a very bad idea. Basically in that meeting we just told them we were very proud to have Senator Feingold representing us, why this issue matters to us, and to keep up the good work. No big deal...good start.
Then we all talked some more and I got to meet a girl named JoLeah, who I had lunch with. (Well actually, she had lunch and I watched, then I had lunch and she watched, lol.) We were talking about taking risks and coming out to DC, careers, and her experience as a Roadie for IC. (For those who don't know, those are the people who go around the US in vans doing the movie screenings at different locations every day or two. Incredible.) She had so much good advice and was so sincere and caring. She kept telling me to decide what I want to do and do it. She said (for about the 50th time that day) that I look like I should work on Capitol Hill, would be really good at it, and also should be a Roadie. I have no idea how those two things would go together, but she was such a sweetheart and it was amazing to have someone I literally just met be so caring and supportive. Really, these are MY PEOPLE.
So then we meet with Senator Kohl's office. While we're waiting, I see Senator Kohl get off the elevator, and I SWEAR he was walking around with his eyes closed. Anyway, after I tell the couple people who were there early with me that it was him, they decide that we should go into his office and find out if he could sit in on the meeting or at least stop in quickly. They said it depended on his other meetings, which were scheduled back-to-back. Fine; that's what we expected. His staffer (legislative correspondent) seemed...I don't know...bored and generally not happy with his job. But we met with him, and he said he'd pass on our message. As we were leaving Hobie (bless him) asked if there was any possible way we could meet with the Senator himself tonight or tomorrow. She said he actually had time tomorrow morning and we could have breakfast with him!!! So we're scheduled to have breakfast with him tomorrow at 9am. EXCITING!
Then we had a little more time to kill until the meeting at 5:15 with Congressman Sensenbrenner's office. (Please note my feeling about him: UGH.) I did a few things to kill the time, then went over to his office building early. Good thing I did...it was poorly numbered. I don't know why people can't just number rooms the right way, but I digress. We assembled the group and met with a representative from his office. The Congressman was supposed to meet with us as well (I didn't know they even worked that late!!!), but he had to go over to the Senate building to deal with some amendments, apparently. So we met with him, and he was very attentive. He had some odd/tricky questions, but we could answer them all, which was good. He gave us some positive remarks about supporting the bill, so it seems that even that meeting went well.
Then went back to hostel, changed, went to the closing concert/rally. It was great, but it's sad to see everyone go. Honestly, this event was probably one of the best, if not the single best thing I've ever done. There are amazing people here and throughout the country and world, and I can't wait to keep in touch and meet more of them.
So I get back to the hostel after walking like 12 blocks each way to the rally (because really, some Metro stops are pointless and inconveniently placed), and I was great. Then I got a phone call from The Shawn Schmalken, someone I met here. Was bad news about one of the girls that he met here who was staying where I am. Just brought the day down.
So tomorrow holds the meeting with Senator Kohl and hopefully good news about Liz. But let me reiterate one thing: This was, quite possibly, the best and most worthwhile thing I've done in my entire life.
Oh, and did I forget to mention that we've added at least four cosponsors to the bill since this morning?! :-D
No comments:
Post a Comment