An Alternate Universe

I dragged myself out of bed at 8 AM this morning (which is gonna feel late soon enough) to go to National Community Church in Barracks Row with some of the other hosts. Why? Because Donald Miller of Blue Like Jazz fame was speaking there, that's why. AND, we arrived just as they put an extra row of folding chairs right in the front for overflow seating... so we were sitting about four feet away from him while he preached.

One of the other hosts wanted to shake his hand, so we did, and Sarah, who is a marvelous conversationalist, saved us all from being horribly awkward by mentioning how I want to be an editor (Don talked about his love of writing and editing in the sermon). So, I talked about how much fun editing is with Donald Miller, guys. I think my life was just made.

Now that I'm finished bragging...

Because we decided to get up so early, we were able to go to a DC interns meet-and-greet hosted by NCC. This was a great idea because they had free food. It was a really different crowd since most of the people who intern in DC intern on the Hill and are real self-starter types, climbing the (governmental?) ladder, etc. We all said after that we felt a little unambitious. None of us are able to make it out to the weekly intern Bible studies because of our schedules, which is really a shame; when I mentioned that in conversation with a few of the people there, they ended the conversation and found someone else to talk to almost immediately.

To be fair, I'd prefer to talk to someone I could actually get to know as well... but it took me a bit by surprise. One of the host's friends who's here on the Hill for the summer said she hates that about being a congressional intern. In her words, people know how to network but not how to befriend. It was sad for me to see that happening even in a church setting, but also a little surreal because my original plan this summer was to get an internship in New York City in publishing. It would have been essentially the same environment, but substituting "Penguin" or "Hachette" or "Macmillan" for "the office of Joe Smith, Indiana, Republican." Just lots and lots of young people trying to gain some footing in the professional world... and, sadly, having to be a little cutthroat about it.

That's still my game plan for next summer, though. It will be interesting to see if the environment turns out to be the same. I guess if it does, that's one heck of a mission field I'll be getting myself into--it will probably make a gaggle of tired, sweaty middle-schoolers look like a piece of cake to handle!