Although this internship has had its boring moments, especially on slow Fridays where it is raining outside, I have looked forward to work every day and have been excited to return to my weekly schedule on the weekends. What does this show me about the future? Maybe I have found my true passion: magazines. One those days at work where I did read various magazines all day, I was still stimulated. I wasn't idly flipping through the pages...I was examining. I looked at advertisments, their placement, and had a growing appreciation for their aesthetic properties. I read the articles, noticed the threads that run through publications each month. It was really surprising to notice how all these competitive publications cover and write about the same things. In July alone, The White Stripes were on the cover of about 6 different magazines and graced Interview's cover the following month.
I am not at the point where I can reflect upon all that I've learned during my internship, mainly just the fact that I learned a lot more than is apparent to me. Sure, I can talk about all the technical things I learned, but I think the results are set a little deeper in my mind. It taught me how to look at, understand, and appreciate magazines as a whole...editorial (my main interest) and advertisments (my focus this summer) together.
There is one thing about Interview that I feel the need to gripe about. Connecticut College has a very environmentally conscious side to it...reflected this summer through Alex's internship and through some of my closest friends at Conn. I would not consider myself to be incredibly educated in environmentalism or a dedicated environmentalist, but I do what I can. Especially recycling. Brant Publications has no recycling program whatsoever. Not even a bin where people can put their water/soda bottles. With all the paper that is used through printing, photocopies...MAKING A MAGAZINE...there is no system established for recycling office paper. It is incredibly wasteful. I spent the first week covertly seeking some sort of recycling bin...and finally, I asked my boss Marie about it. As a Conn alum, she was very sad to inform me that there was no recycling program at Brant. They used to have it apparently and got rid of it.
This bothers me. A lot. Mainly because it is not hard to recycle and it is just so wasteful. Maybe in my last week, I will put in inquiries and requests for getting the recycling program back. I'm sure Connecticut College will support my ambitions!
]]>But my internship wrapped up quite nicely! On Monday I went in and rushed around, finishing up all my tasks, passing on information about what I'd done and where everything was to those who needed to know. At lunch time, I was presented with three gifts: a bag, a notepad, and a glass all with the CET logo on them. The coolest one was the glass, because it's made from the bottom of a recycled wine bottle. Pretty awesome. More poignant leave-taking comments below the fold.
]]> I also borrowed the DVD of a movie Tomasin had seen this weekend, called What a Way to Go, a pretty grim and dire look at all the problems in our society and how they're converging to direct us toward a rather cataclysmic end to the American cultural empire. Not for the weak of stomach, said Tomasin. But sounds pretty interesting, I think. It also gives me an excuse to go back in to the office to return it.I found out today that Peggy, my supervisor, wrote an email to my parents (whom she knows) with the most embarrassingly glowing praise of me and my time there. That kind of thing makes you feel really great.
It was sad leaving all these people who I've gotten to know. They're all so cool, and I won't likely see them much again. However, the office is nearby, and as Beth said as I was making my goodbyes, I'm part of the family now.
I am excited to go back to school, though. Very excited.
Before I bid this blog adieu, though, I'd like to just lay out all the projects I worked on throughout the summer:
Unassigned tasks that I did for my own interest:
If you're interested in any of the materials I worked on, I have the files of everything I produced on my computer.
Well, I guess that's it (unless someone at College Relations of CELS tells me otherwise). It's been fun writing this, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it. If you have any questions about CET, CELS internships, or environmental stuff in general, I'd love to hear them. My email address is aekro (at) conncoll (dot) edu. You can also visit my homepage at http://oak.conncoll.edu/aekro. Thanks for reading!
]]>1. Exploring the Linkages: General and Theoretical Examinations of the Intersection of GBV and HIV
2. Interrogating and interpreting the associated risks of HIV/AIDS and GBV
3. The role of men
4. GBV and HIV testing and disclosure
5. GBV as a risk factor for HIV
6. HIV as a risk factor for GBV
7. The increased susceptibility of sub-populations to the linked risks of HIV/AIDS and GBV
8. Effective approaches for addressing the joint risk factors of GBV and HIV/AIDS
I'm looking forward to adding to the review, and learning a great deal about the topic at the same time. Not to promote our website once again....butttttt if you are interested in reading up on some of these topics we have links to a lot of helpful websites and articles! Also, feel free to listen to BBC radio on Thursday evening, our program director will speaking about health and human rights, exact times and details coming soon....
It was a rooftop film screening, and all the guests had to take an elevator to the 8th floor and climb two flights of stairs, to be immediately greeted by cameras and the press. There was even a little stage set up for celebrities to stand for photo ops. It was all very swanky with an open bar, comfy sofas with large throw pillows, cutting edge music from DJs although they mainly played The Clash. The bar had Joe Strummer themed drinks...the whole nine yards.
My duty for a majority of the night, until about 11:30 when I got to go up to the party and enjoy myself for a few hours, was to stand in this long hallway on the 8th floor directing people to the stairs. It was a long time to stand in heels. My feet hurt. But I saw many glamorous people pass me, including a few celebrities. Most notably, Parker Posey of Christopher Guest mockumentary fame (Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman) and Moby, the electronic ambient vegan musician, were in attendance.
It was a great, amazing experience...although not as glamorous and star-studded as I had originally anticipated. I had a wonderful time getting to know the people that I work with outside of the office, and everyone is interesting, accomplished, and intelligent. My co-intern, Elise and I had a wonderful time together...we were greeters together. All in all, I give the event an A+! And the higher-ups (editor-in-chief and publisher) were impressed and very happy with the overall turnout. Interview, give yourself a pat on the back.
I only have two weeks left in my internship...I am sad to leave, but strangely, I am quite excited to head back to my life at school.
I am frantically trying to finish up these two big projects I've been working on: the Green Audit folders and the LEED resource binder. Yet even with the permanent deadlines fast approaching for these my lasting legacies, I find my mind wandering to Conn more than is productive. Normally, with the due date for an assignment so near, my productivity and focus skyrocket. But this time, they remain at a mellow buzz.
I love CET and everyone there, and all the things they do, but have deplored the drudgery of all my office work. I have learned so much here that I am exceedingly grateful for, yet about half of what I'm glad to have learned has come from procrastinatory projects, researching lifestyle improvements to help fight climate change.
But there was excitement today! I was interviewed! More ponderings as well as that story below the fold.
]]> There's actually not much excitement to the interview story beyond the fact that I simply was interviewed. A young intern at the local newspaper came and interviewed me and Peggy (boss/supervisor) about what CET does, what people can do to help the environment, and about my internship. Also, there was a photographer there! The main photographer for the paper, whose name is at the bottom of all the big pictures! And he took pictures of me! Yay!Sadly, this story is just pegged for the youth-written section at the back of the "Living" section (not the front page...oh well), and it won't come out until sometime in September. But it was indeed exciting, and maybe it will help promote CET, Conn, or environmental lifestyles to some extent.
I just ate a big bar of chocolate by myself. It was tasty.
So, regarding my projects: part of the reason I'm stalling a little bit is actually because they're nearing completion. The LEED binder (while still lacking resources for a number of sections) is quite full (one of those big 3-4 inch thick binders), which is good. The Green Audit folders are headed over to the main office in Pittsfield for approval and recommendations from the Directors of CET and some other people who are involved in the program. So really, there's not a whole lot left to do on those. I think.
On another exciting note, I asked Claire Dowd (she kept a blog here this summer too, and she's co-editor of the Voice, Conn's newspaper) if I could write an environmental column this year, and it looks hopeful. I'm really excited about it, I hope it will work out. I've already started stockpiling ideas. 'Twill be fun.
Okay, one more entry here (or so) and then you'll be rid of me! Until then.
]]>So, while I am at home, I don't really do much...but I usually work at my step-dad's nursery (Oliver Nurseries...for those of you who love plants, this is THE destination...Martha Stewart is a fan!) cashiering and answering phones. It is a nice thing to do once a week to get some spending money for the city.
Not much new to say here. The Interview event is coming up on Wednesday...and then there will be A LOT to say! I promise.
]]>However, the real exciting thing today was going on a final inspection. I got to work early (8) and headed down to Springfield (~30 minutes) with Jonathan, one of our energy auditors. We went to three houses, actually, all around a little intersection in Springfield. The first house was a Final Inspection for EnergyStar. That means, the house is pretty much done, and all we're doing is running tests to make sure everything's in order, as well as installing compact fluorescents in all the light fixtures. Jonathan did the tests, I did the lightbulbs. It was great, because I was very useful: doing the lightbulbs usually accounts for about half of the normal 2-hour Final, and thus the inspection only took about half as long. I installed about 25 bulbs, though Jonathan did a few more in the basement and they had already used CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs) for the bathrooms. Jonathan did the Blower Door and bolometer tests, inputed some data into his laptop, and I measured the insulation depth in the attic. And that was this house done and on to the next two.
The rest of my exciting day after the jump.
]]> Both of the next two houses were just Insulation Inspections, which means the house is fully framed and insulated, but no plasterboard or drywall on the walls, so you can still check the insulation. I measured stuff with a tape measurer, and walked around with Jonathan as he determined that neither house was that well insulated. The second house actually had some major problems; basically, they had uninsulated surfaces that separated inside from outside, and numerous points of air leakage. Air leakage means heat loss in the winter (and AC'd air lost in the summer), and thus much higher energy usage and higher energy bills. But we talked with the site manager and it looks like he'll get done the things that need fixing.After the inspections, we decided to stop off at Jonathan's house for lunch on the way back to the office. Jonathan's housemate co-authored a book called "Edible Forest Gardening" (which my mom is obsessed with), and I got a chance to see their garden, which apparently is used for all the examples in the book. It looks like any other garden, but it's planned out so that the beds are all oriented toward the south (for maximum sun exposure), and all of the plants are chosen because they're edible or serve some other purpose, such as nitrogen-fixing in the soil. Also, many of the plants are native. And also, the "Forest" part is deceiving, because their house is fairly suburban. They just know what they're doing in the garden better than most people. It was cool.
Tomorrow I'm going to be tabling in Northampton. I just found that out today. Exciting!
]]>We had a lovely night out on the town, and then we woke up early to travel to Coney Island...and we decided that an amazing horror movie could take place on Coney Island because there is this feeling of decay and neglect that surrounds the whole park. The rides are empty, and there are traces of its vaudevillian past that add a gothic air to the park. In short, it is creepy. Like everyone turns into vampires or zombies when the sun goes down. But, I won a free White Stripes poster at a booth and Dr. Dog put on a great show. And I got royally sunburned.
That afternoon I went back home, so I could pick up my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!!! I read night and day and finished Sunday around 4 pm. It was a worthy final chapter in the Harry Potter series, and although there are some disappointments and certain things I wish J.K. Rowling had elaborated on, I did not sink into the deep depression that I feared. I have been a Harry Potter fan from the very beginning, with my first 3 books in the series signed by J.K. Rowling. So, the closing of the Harry Potter series is like the ending of my childhood...which now that I'm going to be a senior in college, is a good thing. I was ready for the books to be over, and to turn this all into a corny metaphor, I'm ready for my future to begin!
Finally, I finally achieved my summer-long goal and saw The White Stripes last night at Madison Square Garden!!!!!!!!!!!! I simply cannot articulate how special and powerful this little band is. Jack and Meg White have this cosmic connect to each other and their chemistry is just amplified when they take the stage. Everything seems electric and spontaneous and living and breathing. They really deserve all the acclaim they get because they are keeping up with tradition and stress the importance of true, live, authentic music...which everyone knows is getting harder and harder to come by. I am still exhilarated by the show, but I am very happy to be back at work again...putting my two feet back on the ground.
This summer has not only been significant in my development as an individual in the working world, but it has also been crucial to my happiness. I have gotten to accomplish and experience certain things that I could only do now...and as I am turning into a more accomplished, happier, prouder person, my relationships with others are strengthening. I have made some good friends at work, and my friendships from home have greatly benefited due to my surge in self-esteem and confidence. My mother told me before this summer started that this was going to be an incredibly important and rewarding time in my life...and she is right. At first, I didn't think that I was changing all that much, but now that my summer is coming to a close...I am seeing all that I have done both externally and internally. I know that there is something I want to do with my life, and I am ready to embrace my senior year (although, admittedly, I am still quite scared to graduate)!
Corny self-actualizing rant complete.
]]>Also, I've started appreciating my officemates a lot. They're all so cool! A fun lunchtime story about landing a hot air balloon in a sketchy place, after the jump.
]]> Recently I've been compiling a bunch of handouts that we're hoping to give out to homeowners who we do Green Audits for. A Green Audit is like an Energy Audit, but also includes air quality, water conservation, and yard care evaluations. Anyways, I've been working on spiffing up and gathering a number of flyers which my boss selected (Peggy. I've decided she's my main boss), toward the purpose of creating a folder that the auditors can give to people when they're there doing the audit. I've had to sleuth out a lot of PDFs online, as well as reconstruct some handouts that didn't photocopy well. I've gotten nothing but positive feedback about any of the half dozen flyers I've created now. So that's nice. Also, today I emailed someone at the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority, which created two of the handouts we're using, to ask if it was okay that I had reconstructed these two handouts with slight alterations in style, yet kept their logo. I got an enthusiastic email back saying that I had done a FANTASTIC job and that it was a very good idea to recreate them thusly. That made me feel good.Yet, though I've been getting positive feedback, and this project is moving toward completion, the last two weeks have brought me much discontent with my internship. It's nothing specifically against CET; I really enjoy my officemates and I think what CET does is very important. There are few things that I'm not so thrilled about.
So this hot air balloon story. One of my office mates (Tomasin) went up in a hot air balloon last night or so. Her partner runs the Green River Festival in Greenfield, so he was able to get her a spot in the flight they did for the press to take pictures of. Apparently, while you can't direct where you're going a whole lot, you can a little bit, because the winds at different altitudes are blowing in slightly different directions. So, the pilot would spit out of the basket and watch which way the spit fell, or release a helium balloon up to see which way it went. This guy was a really experienced pilot, apparently. Even so, he missed a few places where he'd hoped to be able to land, and they were running low on fuel as they were approaching Wendell State Forest (where there's NOwhere to land, apparently). So, the pilot told them that there were two yards big enough to land in, and in case they crashed into a tree to brake, they should all get low in the basket. But they landed fine, not crushing any flowers with the deflating balloon, not getting banged up by the tree too bad. This pilot brings a bottle of champaign with him in the basket to give to people whose yards he lands in, so they weren't upset. It sounded like a blast.
I'm going to post sometime soon about all the environmental blogs that I read on a regular basis. Oh, heck, why don't I just tell you now. There are three main ones: Treehugger, Gristmill, and Green Options.
Treehugger is the big pappie of all environmental blogs, having hundreds (maybe thousands) of readers, and in the range of 30-50 new posts per day. Treehugger's posts cover the whole spectrum, though there's a chic focus on environmental design and fashion, as well as more sober political things.
Gristmill is the blog of Grist Magazine, an online enviro mag whose motto is "Gloom and doom with a sense of humor". Gristmill has a lot of good policy analysis and notification of news stories and reports, as well as covering things like Live Earth and the greening of Bonnaroo. Gristmill prides itself on its silly, funny headlines and writing style in general.
Green Options is an extremely new blog, just a few months old, but it was started by an experienced environmental blogger, and already contains many well-written, interesting pieces. Green Options writers are mostly young and hip (though there's one blogger who's notedly old and hip, writing about environmental issues from a senior citizen's perspective), cool, experienced, and chic, but still able to tell the difference between what's a helpful solution, and what's just shallow posturing.
Okay, enough from me. Go check out those blogs; they're wonderful.
]]>- I did a Photoshop project that involved editing and presenting an article about Interview's website featured in AdAge magazine (which is an industry magazine that is a big deal in the advertising world). It was a very flattering article, complimenting Interview on the creative design and quality of material on our website. So, I did some scanning, some touch-ups, arranging etc, and the final product is being sent to some of our clients, specifically Guess, and it was presented to Sandra Brant (the publisher). Apparently, she thought it looked great!!!
- The most recent issue came out last Wednesday with one of my favorite bands ever The White Stripes on the cover! That was exhilarating unto itself and their interview is excellent. There is also an interview with Arcade Fire, another one of my all time favorite bands.
- Almost more exciting than The White Stripes being on the cover is that my name is featured in the masthead!!!!!! (under interns). I made a bunch of photocopies for my family and friends.
When the new issue comes out, one my jobs is to go through all the advertisments in the magazine and record their placement (page number and what articles they are near) in an Excel spreadsheet. This gave me a great opportunity to look at the aesthetic element of ad placement and how certain ads are featured in correspondence with article content. The ads we use are all very glamorous and feature high profile people (celebrities and models).
- Last but not least, the other interns and I have been asked to work an Interview event that is co-sponsored by Hugo Boss. It is a rooftop event that involves a film screening of this new film about Joe Strummer, one of the leaders of the 70's punk band The Clash. This is all amazing news to me because I love The Clash, and this is my golden opportunity to mingle with glamour and fame!!! I will post more details as soon as I find them out.
Outside of my internship, I haven't really been spending a whole lot of time in New York City. My money supply is dwindling rapidly, so I have been going home a lot on the weekends. But this coming weekend, my friend is coming into the city and we are going to Brooklyn on Saturday for The Siren Music Festival. It is this free music festival sponsored by the Village Voice at Coney Island. We are mainly going to see this one band, Dr. Dog, that is incorporates everything great about 60s rock (especially harmonies) and has this great retro feel to them. And then next Tuesday, I am seeing THE WHITE STRIPES at Madison Square Garden. The show is going to be massive, and it will be my 2nd time seeing them. Words cannot describe how much I am looking forward to that show.
]]>I will now be working on the website in order to make it more user friendly and emphasize exactly what PIHHR does. if you take a look at our website, (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pihhr/) you will be able to see that it is indeed a tad cluttered. Therefore, we want to emphasize the work that is being completed through our program and our partner programs. Any suggestions from people are welcome! I will continue to do work on the manual by fitting the case studies into appropriate portions of the manual while continuing to look for examples. This project is listed as " 'Human Rights-Based Approaches to Programming': Practical Implementation including a Training Manual, Training Materials and Training of Trainers" on the website if you want to read more about it!
]]>But for now, I just wanted to let everyone know that yes, I am still alive and kicking, and yes, I am still successfully completing my internship. More to come soon!!
]]>Tuesday: I had gotten a little more sleep, so was a little more chipper. Sometime around this day I completed the flyer I had been working on about rain barrels. Everyone says it looks good, and CET may start distributing it. In summary, rain barrels are great things to get because:
A. They decrease stormwater runoff, and thus decrease erosion in your yard and nearby
B. If you use the water for garden and lawn watering, it's both wonderful for your plants, wonderful for your wallet, and wonderful for decreasing the waste in your tapwater consumption.
Wednesday: I had Wednesday off, as most people did, but I actually did something with one of my bosses. She bought a new Prius from some people up in Concord, NH (2.5 hours away), and will soon be selling her old Prius to her mother. So, I drove up with her for the purpose of driving one of the cars back down. It was the first time I'd driven a Prius (or even an automatic), so it was exciting. Cruise control is fun too.
Thursday: I happened to take my family's car to work (and felt guilty about it). Turns out, it was good I did, because I was thereby able to transport the massive ReStore mailing to the Pittsfield Post Office. Let me explain. Remember the massive thousand-piece mailing I had just completed? Well, they were stamped with our organization's non-profit bulk mail stamp in lieu of normal postage stamps. Thing is, our bulk mail permit is from the Pittsfield PO, because that's where CET's main office is. So, someone had to drive everything out there, and that responsibility fell to me. And since I had the car on Thursday, I was able to do it. It took about an hour to get there. In addition to delivering the mailing to the post office, I got to see CET's main office for the first time.
Friday: I was only at work for three hours (leaving early to go to Boston!), but I got a lot done. I met with Peggy (one of my "bosses", in charge of my hours, does marketing stuff) and Jonathan (one of the raters, does actual field work) about these folders we're going to put together and hand out for our Green Audits. Green Audits are a new program that CET is offering, which go beyond an Energy Audit to include things like landscaping and water use. I think Jonathan said that the three areas of a Green Audit are Energy, Health, and Habitat, where Health is about Indoor Air Quality, and Habitat is about water use and outside stuff. Anyways, it's fallen to me (the intern) to put into order all the various handouts that we have that might be of interest, so that if a homeowner wants more information on a topic, the auditor can just give them these flyers. So this will be one of my jobs. Cataloging, organizing, updating, compiling. Fun times.
One thing that I've been working on that wasn't assigned by anyone other than myself is this: I've been going around online, looking for lists like "Top 10 things you can do for the planet". I've been writing down what they say, and then now that I've got a lot, I've been figuring out what the most common recommendations are. Now, I'm trying to figure out what the specific greenhouse gas emission reductions are associated with each one. I know this is stuff that's already been done, but doing it yourself ingrains it more in your memory, and also, the comprehensive recommendations that list the specific reductions are hard to find, and they frequently don't cite their sources.
So here are a few that are pretty much across the board:
Well, that's a lot, and that's only the beginning. I'll let you know if I ever finish. Ha.
Oh, Live Earth. I hope you all heard about the global concert that just happened this Saturday. Big deal, Al Gore-initiated and whatnot. Tons of famous bands. You probably heard of it. Anyways, the word is, it was really good because it raised awareness and got a lot of people thinking and had lots of great tips and interviews in between concerts. However, there's been much criticism about hypocrisy. How much greenhouse gas was emitted to put on these events? In some cases (and this applies to the silliness about "How big is Al Gore's carbon footprint?" stuff), some increased emissions are necessary and acceptable to spread the word and wake people up. But it does make sense to question the consistency of having such an enormous event to raise awareness about climate change. Certainly the greenhouse gas emissions due the the concerts were gargantuan. I don't know. I think my overall opinion is a positive one, but I am a little skeptical. Although Spinal Tap reuniting for the event is pretty cool, in my opinion.
That's all for now. More soon.
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