No Turning Back

Last night I did a “pre-pack” to see if everything would fit. And guess what? I think it will! I managed to fit an entire semester’s worth of clothes, office supplies and accessories into 3 suitcases.

My friend Marianne should be very proud of me. She knows that freshman year when she drove me back to campus after the holidays, her car was filled with 80%…of MY stuff. She’ll be happy to know, however, that I have improved my packing habits since then.

This is it. Today is my last day at home, and then I am headed to Washington, D.C. where I will sleep, eat and work as a (almost full-time) intern at NPR.

Please pray for me on my flight – It’s only 2 hours, but I do get a bit jittery on planes.

Do You Like Concerts

…and getting caught in the rain?

My Butler apartment-mates and I found ourselves sitting on the Capitol Hill lawn taking in a concert from the National Symphony Orchestra. The concert began with the overture from Gypsy and then did a medley of South Pacific.

I was in musical theatre heaven.

But then the dark storm clouds rolled over the rotunda. I had brought only a jacket, and the other girls huddled under a blanket.  By the time intermission hit, so had the torrential downpour.

We sloshed several blocks back to the Metro, where I literally rung out my jacket. Ugh.

Here we are (dry) and ready for the concert to begin!

The view behind us. Pretty scenic, eh?

The unsuspecting crowds.

Huddled, but happy.

Storm clouds loom overhead!

The Capitol at night.

Here we are on the metro after walking blocks through pouring rain.

To make up for it, though, we changed clothes and headed to Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe in DuPont Circle for a sweet dessert. It’s a nifty little bookstore with killer food. It was surprisingly packed! Two thumbs for the fruit crumble and cinnamon ice cream.

PS – You can also read Katie’s version of these events (which includes 2 gentlemen on the metro who nearly asked for her number).

Our Public Radio Premiere

Two weeks ago, the Fall 2009 interns showcased our final work: “i.e. npr in other words.” Seven pieces were selected for the 30-minute premiere, and the production team and radio hosts pieced everything together using clever stop-action drawings between each story, and an opening voiceover commentary of a scene from The Graduate. Our show sets the scene for twenty-somethings, asking “What’s next?” (See: “Is there a hook?“)

My final piece for the show (The House That Rice Built) was shortened to less than three minutes. It followed the Rice University Solar Decathlon team in their quest to compete for the most solar-efficient home. An intern from NPR’s music library helped me find the Crosby and Stills music used at the end of the piece. The Executive Producer and Managing editors gave me lots of help reworking the scenes to help tell the story. Four photo interns collaborated to help fill my pieces with stunning photography. I’m grateful to everyone who helped.

Our show received praise from a great number of employees at NPR – who attended the celebratory luncheon and screening of the show. In fact, our biggest strength, many agreed, was the strongest use of multimedia in Intern Edition’s ten-year-long history. Due credit goes to interns Maggie Starbard (Visual Direction) and Ryan Gibbons (Web Design) for their hard work in helping us reach that goal.

A fun surprise – our show was featured in Multimedia Shooter (“8 Projects I’m Thankful for Seeing This Week”), and our @NPRinterns followers helped spread the message of our work. There may be only two weeks left at the internship, but our blog is still going strong.

I couldn’t be more happy with the work we produced – and I stress the we – all forty of us.

Just some of the 40 interns at NPR.