Well, after about 4 months of no blogging- the Presidential Inaugural Conference put on by NSCS (see: http://www.nscs.org/university-presidential-inaugural-conference for more information) has inspired me to get back on the horse and keep all of my on-lookers up to date. As I start to realize that US Airways has not once gotten me somewhere on time, I am again perched at some random bar seat in the airport next to strangers with some time to spare. So, one might ask, “How is she able to go to such an event when I couldn’t even get a hotel room!?” I will attempt to explain a little background without boring you.
After graduating as alumni status from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, I still get emailed updates on the current events (of which vary in subject and location across the US). After sending in an application, numerous emails and interviews, I was accepted to the program as a Faculty Advisor. As such, I will be overseeing a program that welcomes something like 15,000 students from elementary to college age. My role as I understand it thus far, will be to help “facilitate the conference”. That basically means I will be a part of these events:
- 1. Guest speakers and keynote address (including: Paul Begala, Tucker Carlson- I hope he wears the pink bow tie- James Carville, Mary Matalin, Erik Weihenmayer, Al Gore, Colin Powell) I think Al and Colin are going to thumb wrestle for the “keynote” title.
- 2. Inaugural events like the parades, Ceremony on Capitol Hill, Gala and Ball
- 3. Field trips (whoo hoo!) TBA- I believe its to some of the monuments and Nat’l Mall
- 4. Employee Party! after its all said and done.
Sounds great, right? Well the strategic part of all this planning, is that this opportunity was offered up prior to the Presidential Election, in September of 2008. This is where it gets interesting. I did not vote for Obama. I repeat, I did not vote for Obama.
Now you may be asking, “Why would I want to go to such an event knowing that my candidate of choice will not be inaugurated?” Well, there are many reasons- none of which will be included in this post. I am sure these details will come out during the next 8 days of my blogging about the conference, given all speakers are big (D)s (and I don’t mean Dallas). This is not to say that I am not extremely excited to be apart of the event and will try my best to be bipartisan for the purposes of such a rare opportunity to be part of history. I fully back Barack Obama as president and quite frankly am inspired that so many people deeply believe in what he stands for. This country needs a little inspiration right now.
So- I am off to the races. I will try to post as many pictures and updates as possible in my adventure and hope to be slightly entertaining in the process. BRING IT ON D.C.!
Shout outs to:
- Terminal B Bar (the bar with no name) Bartender, with the mohawk for giving me the electricity to power my Mac.
The "Hawked" Bartender
- US Airways for the 3 hour delay that enabled me time to write this post.
- MindComet & my clients for giving me the leeway to be a apart of this experience.
What'cha thinkin?