A Sense of Purpose

There are millions of people who have gone their entire life without finding their passion. This internship has afforded me the opportunity to find mine. When you're in college and choosing your major, often you question if you're doing the right thing. Sometimes, you graduate and you're still not sure. As I work each day, I become increasingly confident in my decision.

Today I attended a meeting on a permanent exhibition. This is the first meeting where I witnessed the collaborative efforts of each component of a museum staff. When talking about the objects for the exhibit, input was given from the curators and the collections manager. Then the education department weighed in on the overall visitor experience. It allowed me to really see what goes into developing an exhibit. It was a great experience.

During this meeting, pictures of objects for the exhibition were passed around. My emotions run the gamut when thinking about the history of these images. I feel pride when I look at the accomplishments of my people, anger when I think of how we've been abused and mistreated and sadness at the hardships that we had to endure. Museums have the ability to summon these emotions in people. It's these emotions that help to solidify my decision to become a museum professional. As I continue to learn, I now know that I will leave this internship with a greater sense of purpose. It's these emotions that help to solidify my decision to become a museum professional.

Lastly, my books came in (YAY)!

Not much going on

It's official; I'm no longer the only education intern. This doesn't change my work load or anything; I just thought I would share this news with you. She's from Florida (just like me) and an FSU graduate (well no one is perfect).

In other news, my books still have not come. Alas, this savvy intern has found a way to work around this obstacle and made significant progress on the project. I've also started on my future award-winning teen program (I can dream, right?). I have lots of great ideas swimming in my head. I just have to organize them and put them into a proposal.

I'm excited because I finally found some eateries around my building that doesn't require me to put my meal on layaway. This makes me really happy! Finally, I haven't met Michelle as of today, but I have lots more time. Make it a great day (I will)!

I wish I could work

It really does stink when you want to do your work, but can't. I'm currently working on a bookmark series, but can't complete the biographies because my books that I ordered through the interlibrary loan (ILL) system have not come. Consequently,each day, I'm just staring at my computer. The Internet has been somewhat helpful, but I really need those books. Oh the life of an intern! My biggest fear is that my intern supervisors will think that I'm a flake if I miss the deadline for this work. Hopefully the books will come in tomorrow and I can finish (even if I have to work late). On the upside, I am finally getting started on my main project. I'm pretty excited. It may even give me some insight into what I want to do for my thesis (because I really need to find a topic, soon). Tomorrow's Friday, maybe I can kick my weekend off right (Come on ILL, I'm depending on you!).

Building my resume

I'm so grateful to my intern supervisors. They are constantly finding ways for me to build my resume and my knowledge base and enhance my intern experience. For example, thanks to one of my supervisors, I had the opportunity to be a judge for National History Day. It was an amazing and fun experience. For those of you who are around my age, I think National History Day is similar to the History fair from our youth. The projects were phenomenal. I judged the junior division (grades 6-8) performances. I must applaud the presentations and the amount of work that went into these projects. That being said, I also had the difficult task of looking past the cuteness of the babies and judging them based on their content and presentations. On a side note, I think that some of the nation's history teachers are failing their students. Overall, a pretty cool internship experience. I hope that in the future, I will be invited back as a judge. Oh and at some point, you will be able to see it all on the History Channel.

Another week down-8 more to go

I'm taking a short day today since it's been a long week and both of my supervisors are gone for the day. Aside from the best meeting ever and a freak encounter at another museum, I have had a pretty mild week. I have not had as many meetings this week, however I had the chance to help host a group of teachers from Tennessee. They were here on a Smithsonian grant. Guiding them around the city, gave me the opportunity to visit some of the other Smithsonian museums. I also mixed and mingled with the teachers. This allowed me to meet a teacher that happens to be friends with the director of the Ph.D program that I want to attend. We exchanged contact information, so that she could pass my information on to the director. Maybe I will get into the program. Thus far, being an intern is great! I keep meeting interesting people that can further my dreams. I will say that it's quite hard to finish any of my projects when I'm never at my desk. I guess that means that I'll be taking work home. Finally, I still have not met Michelle Obama but I still have eight weeks to make it happen. Have a great weekend.

Best meeting ever!

So today was the meeting of the Scholarly Advisory Meeting. It's basically a "think-tank" of the foremost historians on African-American history and other prominent African-Americans. They discussed the direction of the museum and the effect the museum will have on people. Well, I must say that this was the best 6 hour meeting I have ever attended. I am in awe of the amazing people in this meeting and their talent, intelligence, accomplishments and experiences. In the room is a Pulitzer-prize winning author, a former U.S. solicitor general, a former Spelman College president, a founding member of Sweet Honey in the Rock and so much more. If their plans for this museum come to fruition, this will truly be an amazing, life-changing, game-changing museum. Most importantly, me, a lowly intern got to watch. I'm so grateful. The best part; I was introduced to many of them and conversed with them about what I'm doing and what I hope to do as a museum professional. It was most exhilarating! This just turned the bad day that I had yesterday into the best week ever! Now I just have to meet Michelle. Let's see what tomorrow holds!

Meetings, Meetings and then......more meetings

Well I'm happily settled in. I'm a little behind on my updates because I do not have Internet access where I live. Let's play catch-up. This past week I have been in meeting after meeting. It seems that when you are a new museum, trying to establish and distinguish yourself, you must have a lot of meetings. On the up side, I'm learning a lot about what goes into planning and creating a great museum as well as public programming. I met our director, Lonnie Bunch, and have a conversation with him. He is a very nice man (and smart too).

Also this week, I had the opportunity to sit in on a lecture at the National Archives. William Hyland, Jr. wrote a book called: In defense of Thomas Jefferson. It's all about debunking the story of his long-term affair with Sally Hemmings. Mr. Hyland is a lawyer not a historian as evident by his lack of any concept of slavery. So all I will say is that in legalese (that's lawyer speak), all he presented was circumstantial evidence. I would suggest that you read his book as well as Annette Gordon-Reed's (also a lawyer, not a historian) book, Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemmings: An American Controversy (which is the book that Mr. Hyland is trying to discredit), and form your own opinion. Sidenote: Any books you read on this topic will be circumstantial, because T.J. and Sally are dead and have been for a long time.

So that's everything for this week. Next week will be busy. I have a BIG meeting on Wednesday with lots of incredible minds. In other news, one of the meetings that I attended this week has put me one step closer to meeting Michelle. Don't doubt me, I'm going to make it happen!

My first day (and other events leading up to it)

My mother, myself and my aunt set off from Atlanta to D.C. We made a stop somewhere in N.C. to eat and refuel. At the gas station, I was approached by an old lady (at least 80) driving this huge chevy silverado (why?). She ask me "do you know how to pump gas?" I answered "yes mam (because my parents taught me right)." She then ask me for help. So I tell her that I think she needs to pre-pay (because that's what I did) and she informs me "I haven't been pre-paying any other time." My initial thought was "if you been here other times, why don't you know how to pump your gas?" Then after I got her started and set the pump to fill up, she asks me "what is that (and points)? Is it some type of information?" I say "it's a credit card offer." She says "oh no, stay away from those credit cards (like I wanted one), they get you in trouble." I politely said "yes mam, have a nice day." I personally found her to be hilarious and I would like to think that if either of my grandmothers were still living and in this particular situation, someone would help them.

On to my first day. It was fairly uneventful. Just your basic, paperwork, meetings and tours. I looked fabulous! Until I broke the heel on my brand new shoe. They will be going back, TODAY! Fortunately, I am my mother's child and I always have a pair of flat shoes with me for occasions such as this (or when my feet start to hurt). So, I'm still excited and I'm still working on meeting Michelle Obama (wish me luck).