Patrck: Week 1 (January 17-21)

When I chose to pursue a residency with the Academy on Capitalism and Limited Government Foundation in Champaign, Illinois, I had no idea what to expect. After all, the
organization had only been in existence for approximately four years and operated on a small-scale that included only one employee, President and CEO Dr. Matthew Brown, to oversee its operations. Only recently had the organization's existence been publicized even locally as a result of its former "sixth degree of separation-style" connection to the University of Illinois. As I learned in my first week at the organization though, the uproar surrounding ACLGF's history and/or former ties constituted--to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare--"much adieu about nothing." I say this because the organization exists simply to serve as an educational resource for students and faculty interested in studying the the underpinnings of limited government and economic freedom. It does this by sponsoring research grants, nonpartisan debates, and other lectures at all three University of Illinois campuses. Yet, even in spite of the non-threatening nature of such an agenda, some faculty members charged that ACLGF's remote connection to the University presented a conflict of interest that was at odds with the University's commitment to ideological neutrality. These fears forced ACLGF to discontinue its fundraising efforts on behalf of the University and instead redirect those efforts to funding itself as a standalone non-profit organization and private educational entity. While my object in this post is not to get bogged down in the nuances of ACLGF's history, providing at least a cursory summary of it is helpful in understanding the organization I joined as an intern this week.

Upon reporting for work on Monday the 17th, my initial predictions about my internship not fitting the traditional "internship mold" were affirmed. Not only would I, as the organization's second staff member, be working directly under Dr. Brown; I would also receive my own "corner office" at least until our organization grew into its spacious new Green St. office suite! Furthermore, within minutes of my arrival at the office, I began learning what it took to build a non-profit from literally "the ground up" given that I was tasked with installing our new office's technological infrastructure (i.e. the new office phone system, new office computers, new wireless printers, new office e-mail accounts, etc.). Once this groundwork was laid, I finished out the week by taking our handwritten accounting entries and adding them to our Quickbooks accounting software database.

January 24-29, Egypt, Tunisia and State of the Union

This week at Amnesty went a lot more smoothly as I am starting to get to know my co-workers and understand the work I am doing much better. I am now much quicker at writing up the reports of Amnesty International mentions in the news because I recognize the names of journalists and important publications more easily, and I no longer feel quite as lost walking around in DC.

I have begun regularly writing press releases about events and Amnesty's statements about them, and I feel that I am developing my journalistic skills. I am really happy that I have an internship that is giving me real experience in the fields that I am interested in. I frequently speak on the phone with journalists from all over the world, and it is inspiring me even more to pursue journalism whole-heartedly when I finish my education.

This week Tunisia and Egypt exploded in the news because of the protests against Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, respectively. Ben Ali has since fled Tunisia but Mubarak is still in Egypt. The Egyptian protests were inspired by those in Tunisia, which ultimately drove Ben Ali from the country after a 23-year regime. It is difficult to constantly read about the carnage and destruction that are engulfing northern Africa amidst the protests, but I believe that Amnesty is doing the best it possibly can to help to promote the sanctity of human rights in the chaos. Reading about revolutions always reminds me of the first eye-opening account of the French Revolution I read years ago, A Tale of Two Cities. When I read the news and see that a large number of people were killed, or that the government is collapsing, I feel that the gravitas of the situation does not really hit me until I think about what life must be like in Cairo or Tunis, where little children are seeing people beaten and killed on the streets and the fabric of their society is being ripped apart in front of them.

The suspicious return of Duvalier to Haiti, which had entered the news last week, got even more attention this week. I am realizing how much violence occurs in the wake of dictators and the protests against them, and it makes me appreciate my American citizenship even more. I have always been wanderlust and interested in traveling and different cultures, but I have never felt that I would rather be a citizen of any other country. My feeling has continued to grow as I see the work that Amnesty is trying to do and how many altruistic organizations there are in the US. It was exciting to witness the fervor that consumed DC before the State of the Union address, and I found one part to be particularly resonant:

"If the central government wants a railroad, they get a railroad – no matter how many homes are bulldozed. If they don't want a bad story in the newspaper, it doesn't get written.

And yet, as contentious and frustrating and messy as our democracy can sometimes be, I know there isn't a person here who would trade places with any other nation on Earth."

Carolyn January 17-21

I just finished my first official week at Amnesty International USA. I work in the Media Relations department, which is where AIUSA analyzes the times that they are mentioned in the media, issues press releases about upcoming events, and schedules interviews and appearances for different representatives of Amnesty International to appear in the news. My first two days were mainly learning the more administrative tasks related to my job. I have the very time-consuming task of going through a database of all the Amnesty International mentions in the US-based media every day (there are hundreds to thousands depending on the news of the day) and compiling a report of which news organizations are mentioning AIUSA and in what way. While this task is tedious, I know that I will become very familiar with different American journalists and the current international news, which is a goal that I have for my time in DC. The other interns are very nice, but most of them work on the 5th floor (where most of the employees work) and media has its own smaller department on the 3rd floor so I don't see them very much. My supervisor is only a few years older than me and he is really nice and helpful. Unfortunately he is leaving in February for the Peace Corps.

The first few days were pretty overwhelming because of both the fact that I had just arrived in DC and I realized my job would involve constantly multi-tasking. While I need to compile the report every day, it is only distributed internally so it is not my first priority if other work comes up. I also answer the media line throughout the day, where I set up interviews between different news outlets and representatives for Amnesty. It is pretty cool to talk to representatives from places like the BBC and CNN International. My supervisor also gives me projects that take precedence over writing the report- the most interesting one for me personally was on Friday when I was working on writing up profiles of different journalists and their work for an Amnesty representative to use as talking points with them when he met them in Switzerland the next week at the World Economic Forum. I also got to go to a protest in front of the Indonesian embassy to urge them to free a student leader who was arrested for raising a flag during a peaceful protest. It was really interesting and I like when I can do diverse projects throughout the week.

One of the nights I stayed until 9 pm to write a transcription of an interview. It was a pretty long day but the people I was with were nice so I didn't really mind it. On Friday my boss took my supervisor and I out to breakfast to thank us for our work (half of the media office is currently in London for a conference so we had to do a lot of extra work that week). It was pretty nice.

The main issue that I was reading about this week was the protesting in Tunisia, and through constantly reading and sorting articles and going through the news I feel that I have a pretty thorough understanding of the issue. I have always been interested in international news but I know that this job will take my interest to a new level, because it is such a large part of what I do every day.

Perhaps the most rewarding part of the week was when a Sri Lankan man called and said that we have no idea how much help we're giving to Sri Lanka and to thank us for the good work. It was really encouraging to hear that, because Amnesty's mission is to defend human rights and that is exactly what he called to thank us for. I hope this week at work gets even better as I settle in more.

Introduction to the Class of 2009

Andrea C. Andrada is a transfer student from Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, Illinois. She is majoring in Political Science. As a child, her passion for community service started in Girl Scouts where she eventually earned the highest rank, the Gold Award. In college, she continued to volunteer in the community by participating in local campaigns, serving on the ECC Board of Trustees, and creating an outreach project for underprivileged children in the Philippines. Andrea collected over 1,000 toys and school supplies and flew to the Philippines to personally distribute the donations to children in the streets. In 2009, Andrea was distinguished by USA Today and Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Society as a member of the All-USA Academic First Team and the Coca-Cola New Century Scholar for the state of Illinois.  These accomplishments led to subsequent appearances in the USA Today newspaper and CNN.  She plans to become a lawyer and eventually become a judge. She is looking forward to becoming very involved on campus and is excited for this new chapter in her life at the University of Illinois.

Paige Epstein

Collin Groebe earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and business, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Illinois.  He has previously interned at the American Chamber of Commerce in Spain, co-authored an article awaiting publication in State Politics and Policy Quarterly, and worked for the Chairman of the Cook County Republican Party in Illinois. He is currently working at Patton Boggs LLP and pursuing a master’s degree in political science from Illinois.

Sarah Hyon

Carolyn Lang is from LaGrange, Illinois and completed her Bachelor's degree in News-Editorial Journalism. She is currently interning in Amnesty International's Media Relations department at its American headquarters in Washington, D.C. Carolyn's interest in international press and foreign affairs stemmed from her semester spent in Verona, Italy, travels in Europe, and summer spent teaching English in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Carolyn has contributed several articles to University of Illinois' newspaper The Daily Illini, and counts writing as both her favorite hobby and a career interest.  She would ultimately like to write a work of long-form narrative journalism.  She is proficient in Spanish and hopes to spend more time in South America.

Erica Mazzotti graduated with dean’s list honors from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and political science in May of 2010.  During her four years at the University of Illinois she was very active in two political registered student organizations, and held officer positions in each, including Office Director, Reporting Director, Secretary and President.  In addition to her profound passion for politics and government, she also loves traveling internationally.  She spent time in Paris, France following her freshman year at the University of Illinois and after graduation in May, she went back to Europe and traveled throughout France and Italy.  During her senior year she was accepted for the Winter Break Global Studies course in Cape Town, South Africa.  She had the opportunity to travel throughout the Southern Cape and witness firsthand how leaders and locals are affected by the apartheid, globalization, deepening inequalities, social injustices and the current worldwide economic crisis.  In addition to her academic experiences, for the past five years Erica has been employed by Illinois state government during the summer and winter breaks.  She worked for the Illinois Department of Transportation, once as a student worker in the Office of Governmental Affairs and most recently as a Technical Manager II in Construction with the Department’s District 5 field office.  She also worked for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in the Bureaus of Marketing and Special Events, and Legislative Affairs.  Erica was also accepted for the Michael Curry Summer Internship Program and interned in the Bureau of Policy Development, Planning and Research at DCEO.  She is now a fellow in the Civic Leadership Program at the University of Illinois, culminating in a Master of Arts degree in political science with a concentration in civic leadership in May of 2012.  Currently Erica is abroad in Berlin, Germany fulfilling the six month long internship component with the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, an international non-profit organization that encourages cultural exchanges between nations and people in order to arrive at a mutual trust and understanding for a more civil, respectful and diplomatic international stage.


Patrick Parkes resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In December of 2010, he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in Sociology.  Currently, he is working toward his Masters degree in Political Science as part of his participation  in the Civic Leadership Program. For his residency semester beginning in January 2011, he will begin working at the Academy on Capitalism and Limited Government Foundation located in Champaign, Illinois.  Aside from this interest in working toward the preservation of individual economic and personal freedoms in this country, he also has a personal interest and stake in the continued advancement of disability rights and related policies.    

Michael Slana completed his bachelor's degree as a James Honors Scholar with a major in Political Science and a minor in History. During his Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years he interned for Champaign County State Senator Michael Frerichs, with responsibilities including constituent service and correspondence. In Spring 2009, Michael studied in Austria as a participant in the Vienna Diplomatic Program, where he developed a strong interest in European and Transatlantic politics. During his Junior year Michael began contributing to research on the impact of natural disasters on societal stability through a class at the Cline Center, and has continued this work as a research employee. To complete his Civic Leadership Program residency requirement, Michael is currently in Brussels, Belgium interning with the US State Department's Mission to the European Union in the new political and military intern position, and he hopes to have the opportunity to work over the summer with the European Union Delegation to the United States in Washington, DC.

Stephen Spector