Eureka/OS!M

Today I had a breakthrough.

I've been loving my internship. I'm working with a bunch of young, energized people who believe in what they are doing (worlds away from interning with the State of Minnesota in the Executive branch a couple years ago, and from waitressing 40 hours a week). My work is usually challenging/interesting and I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something day in and out. But I still felt some of the latent frustration that I've become very familiar with. It's a frustration that denotes some level of apathy, boredom, or discomfort/disagreement with what I'm doing or being required to do. Like upselling. I hate upselling. Why should I waste my time convincing someone to buy a drink made with a more expensive brand of vodka or buy a full sized salad when they really don't care about the brand of alcohol or only want to eat a half salad? So each time I do it... I feel slightly disgusted with myself, even though my managers praise me at the end of the night when I have a slightly higher guest check average.

Anyway, I was feeling a bit like that, despite being generally very satisfied with my Democratic internship. It was definitely not overwhelming, nor something I thought about or noticed everyday. It just kind of nagged me from time to time. A little reminder that, while I may enjoy myself this summer, campaigning may not be the career for me. I couldn't put my finger on or define the issue, but it existed. Today while talking with D. about upcoming events, I finally figured out what it was - my unending idealism is poking its head into my life once again.

I have this belief that if people are empowered and educated on politicians, parties and policies, they will be willing and able to vote, and the sum of that vote would be a pretty fair indicator of what is best for the nation as a whole. I guess I just believe democracy should work, or something. That it could and should actually function as we teach our children it does. Because when you talk about it like that, it makes sense and seems fair and... something... Anyway, campaigning deludes this, destroys it. We spend so much time trying to figure out how to con and convince or otherwise talk or bribe or trick people into voting for our candidate or party. We're basically upselling (or selling in general) our party's product. And that sales mindset just doesn't ever sit well with me. I know I'm an everyday product and victim and active participant of/in the advertising industry and market economy. I realize that. I'm just not ready to like it.

That's what's happened to me in college. In high school people could tell me I was idealistic until they were blue in the face, and I wouldn't believe them. College has taught me that I am idealistic, but while I have come to realize and accept this, I'm just not willing to give it up yet. And people think that's strange, but without idealism and striving for something better - actually better, not merely tricking everyone into thinking it's better - where will we be? Our culture and society will stagnate. Innovation, working towards a goal (an ideal), striving to become more is a cornerstone of being human and is key to human progress. So, I'm not willing to give up my idealism. I just can't. It's a pretty integral part of me. Deal with it, all you cynics.

I'm also not willing to resign myself to daily cheerfulness and not hating my job. Moving forward, I'm going to look for careers and jobs where I don't have an underlying nagging coming from my idealistic side. I'm going to look for something that satisfies that part of my personality too.

Catch-Up

I started a second, paying, job at Applebee's which has greatly reduced the amount of time I spend at the Democratic office each week. I am still doing things around here though.

Some recent developments include taking over more of the office operations - like making sure it stays clean and that we have all the supplies we need - tending Pottsie's candidate while she does call time (calling people to ask them for money). I've also started on more community outreach projects - like the college research, but this time focusing on senior populations. Pretty exciting.

What's actually exciting is that there's been some major reorganizing of staff and a dramatic increase in the number of political staffers in our office. The drama was that the Obama for America campaign took over the Coordinated Campaign of the Democratic Party. Those of us who used to work for the Coordinated are now Obama staffers (or out of a job, cause that happened too, just not in our office). This demonstrates a shift in focus for the party. Instead of having a campaign dedicated to mobilizing voters for all candidates, we now are focused on growing and riding the wave of increased political interest Obama has been able to stir in voters since the primaries. The hope is if people are mobilized because they want to vote for Obama, there will be a trickle-down effect of mobilization for the local races as well. The office is a mix of various levels of pessimism, indifference, and optimism for this new plan of action. Now we have 12 staffers plus canvassers and two part-time junior interns. A complete list of characters follows:

Nymphadora, Campaign Manager for state house

Bro', (formerly J.), Campaign Manager for 2 state senate candidates

Pottsie, Campaign Manager for state house (easiest candidate to manage)

P-Fen, Pottsie's intern

D., formerly the IDP Coordinated Campaign Regional Field Director, now the Obama RFD and my boss

Obamapapa, Canvasser and now a regional Obama staffer (and kindof an Obama fanatic)

Newbie, Campaign Manager for a very young, boyish-looking state house candidate

C., canvass team leader

Semi-Colin, formerly a Coordinated Campaign Field Organizer, now an Obama FO

JKR, formerly a Coordinated Campaign Field Organizer, now an Obama FO

Escritora, I think she's a third Obama FO, but I'm not sure; we just met today.

Buttercup and Grey are the two high school interns. Buttercup does my job in the evenings when I can't be here and does data entry for the FOs. Grey is supposed to do things for the FOs, but has sort of been monopolized by Pottsie. One of the unfortunate consequences of the loosey-goosey thing our office has going on (which we usually enjoy) is that those sorts of misunderstandings sometimes happen. Grey's been able to do some things for other campaigns recently though.

I gotsta go to the 'Bees now though... more updates later.

1st Week on the Job - a recap

Monday May 19th

This was my first day as an Iowa Democratic Party intern.  I was expecting bottom of the campaign food chain. Boy, was I wrong.  

I came in for training at 2:00 pm.  I got a tour of the barely-habited office, and was told I would be mostly responsible for organizing the random pieces of furniture and the dusty and dirty piles of office supplies (the boxes had been sitting in someone's barn since the last major election).  I am responsible for general office efficiency, for not only am I "intern," I am also "office manager" - a much more definite job title.  Then I was shown how to log into the party's database and do data entry.  

I still had so many questions that I was unable to put any of them into words.  Exactly what a coordinated campaign was had become more clear, but my role in it was still fuzzy to me.  I felt a little overwhelmed, but jumped into data entry for a few hours, hoping as my days in the office increased my role would become more clear to me. 

Tuesday, May 20th

Today I memorized the campaign managers' names, the names of their candidates, and what office their candidates are running for.  I thought I had mastered at least the campaign managers' names, but when I got home last night I could only remember two of four.  I was very nervous to enter the office today knowing only two of my co-workers names.  Apparently name retention is a skill I still need to master. 

I also memorized my system log-in, saving me from rifling through my stack of job documents each time I need to do data entry.  

I started talking with the campaign managers today about how they came to campaign managing, what brought them to this job from their various backgrounds.  Campaign managing is a very fluid and ever-changing profession.  You have a job for a few months, and then the election happens and you're unemployed again. Then next election cycle you start applying and hope for another successful campaign to work for. It's all about networking, what connections you make and who you know - moreso than running for the office itself. Being a candidate, you need to have the support of the party (and even then, if the people in your district like you enough, you may not even need that in the end); to be a manager you need to know someone who can give you an in.  If you don't have that, you'll be extremely lucky to get them to even look at your resume.  Apparently this is also true of many of the jobs managers want during the off cycle (like campaign research groups and other party or non-party groups (PACs and such) in Washington).  

I also started compiling a list of local elected officials in the three counties our coordinated campaign is responsible for.  This task turned out to be a true test of my researching abilities.  Many of the small towns lack functioning websites, and the county pages are often just as unhelpful.  Google Search and I bonded.  And then I started calling and bothering all the small town city clerks.  Oh well. 

So far, I am very pleasantly surprised.  The last time I worked in an office environment, I was miserable and dreaded going to work each day.  Then I was working in a state executive branch government office, and I was worried my politics training was not going to lead to a satisfying job.  This experience in the campaign office has proved that wrong.  I also am learning so much about party politics and about politics "on the ground," things completely unmentioned in my classroom experiences.  Perhaps the challenge is what is keeping me interested and happy.  I hope it's not just the novelty.

Wednesday, May 21st

I'm noticing a theme.  D., my supervisor keeps emerging from his office at various times throughout the day, asking me how my job search is going, asking if I took a lunch break yet, telling me it's time to leave.  He's funny.  To tell you the truth, D., I'm enjoying myself and getting things accomplished - that's why I'm still here!  Believe me, if I was burning out or getting frustrated with my work, I would be splitting out of the office as often and as early as I could. No need to fuss, but I appreciate it.  :)

The atmosphere in this office is much more congenial and energized than the last office I worked in.  S.P. plays music in his office constantly and tells me I should too, because it's "too quiet" in here.  S. and I have desks facing each other and we talk and joke across the entry way all the time.  Everyone asks one another if they need anything when they run to get coffee or lunch or go to Office Max.  I am reveling in this atmosphere and hope it doesn't change when we get more people here in the beginning of June.  

Today I work on setting up the office.  I move furniture around in the front room, making a better space for volunteers to work, and moving myself to right by the door, allowing me to better welcome visitors to the Democratic Campaign office.  The most daunting task to me is unpacking and organizing all the office supplies.  I despise packing and moving with every fiber of my being.  Uprooting my life and replacing it in another space stresses me out like you wouldn't believe.  Unpacking the boxes of office supplies would have been unpleasant enough if I had been the one to pack them up, so that I kind of knew what I was dealing with, but I was coming in here blind.  I have no idea what is in these boxes and I make a general mess trying to find out.  But after that initial mess is made, things get better and I have all of the office supplies in a new home just after lunch.  

I also run errands today, going to the auditor's office and a supporter's house.  I discover areas of Cedar Rapids that I didn't know existed.  I find this a little sad, since I've lived here for three years now, and I take the scenic route everywhere for a couple of days afterwards, getting lost and confused, but having fun. 

Thursday, May 22nd

Today it's back to creating the local contact database.  I continue calling small towns across three counties and discover that many city halls are not open on Thursdays.  I, and the campaign managers, find this quite the oddity.  East Central Iowa apparently thinks it's normal. I also work on some more data entry, and I think I'm starting to move a bit faster on it.  It's a matter of being disciplined enough to focus on one step at a time rather than trying to update three things at once.  This doesn't sound difficult, but I like to do all three at once... but it's much less efficient, so I'm trying to remember the order of what to do first and train myself to be consistent.  (Later, over memorial day weekend, I'll find this same issue of trying to do everything at once come up again while studying for the LSAT.  Apparently, prioritizing and staying focused are also issues for me.)

Friday, May 23rd

Today I need a break from data entry and phone calling, so I work on another project, which is to gather information on the local colleges so that the coordinated campaign can find volunteers quickly once classes resume in the fall.  I have an easy time doing this for my school, since I know it inside and out.  But there are three other schools in the area to research as well.  Again, I run into the issue of poor website design and lack of published information.  But using my newly developed skills of creative search-engining, I slowly find most of the information I need by the end of the day.  

Today was also a very chill day in the office.  SP had his candidate's first big fundraising event last night.  It went very well and he reminds me of all us college kids when we've just finished midterms - yeah, there's more to do, but you have to celebrate being done with all the work you just turned in for a little bit.  As usual, his attitude is pretty infectious, and we're all pretty cheerful and looking forward to the weekend. I end up staying late at the office with SP and J enjoying a pizza we order for dinner and discussing weekend plans. I'm still here when D gets back from Des Moines and he starts in on telling me I should leave and take it easy while I can, and I tell him we were talking and eating and that I'm fine... I have nothing else to do anyway.  He settles for reminding me I'm supposed to take Monday off.