I am graduating in four days. This is a crazy thought. After four fantastic years at Lewis & Clark College, I am done with my formal education. Here's an update for those of you keeping track.THE PAST YEAR:
I completed my BA in International Affairs. My thesis was on civil society, economic development, and democracy in Czechoslovakia. Of course.
I served all year as editor-in-chief of the Pioneer Log, Lewis & Clark's completely student-run weekly newspaper. I wrote a lot of interesting stories that raised quite a buzz around campus and beyond... my favorites are in my online portfolio. The Pioneer Log also went to Arizona this year; I applied for a grant to take some staff to a college journalism conference.
Our other big event was the student government debate, which I moderated, with our business manager, for the second year. It was actually greatly well-attended this year, which is exciting for LC's apathy.
I also guest blogged this year at my friend Cary's unofficial Lewis & Clark blog, about having my own office in our student center.
I was a news intern in the fall for OregonLive.com, the website for the Oregonian, the largest newspaper in the Pacific Northwest. I blogged for OLive, which was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.
I was a resident assistant all year, for my third year; I live in the dorms and help students by giving them advice, planning events, and keeping people safe. It's a job I love and I love my coworkers. My best program this year was a national parks awareness program, that involved make-your-own trail mix, Ken Burns' new PBS National Parks documentary, and letters to the government asking them to care for our national parks.I was published in our school's literary magazine for a poem I wrote in Prague, and in our school's theatrical expression journal for a short play I wrote called "Acing the Interview."
I also worked, for my fourth year, in the Information Technology department at LC. I was promoted last summer to an assistant field technician. This job involves installing and fixing hardware and software on institutional computers--and hanging out with a bunch of cool nerds (see right).THE NEXT YEAR:
Living: School is over now, though, and so are all of those above things. I am now moving on. I have a house with my friends. We are living in Southwest Portland in a very 1970s home with 5 bedrooms and 3 living rooms; an entire floor of the house is wood-paneled. And we have some pretty awesome wallpaper.
Work: I will be working my life's fourth and fifth internships this summer.
The first is at Oregon Business, a monthly magazine serving Oregon's business leaders. I will be their online editor, composing a daily e-newsletter (sign up!) and weekly blog posts.
The second is at the Portland Mercury, an alternative newsweekly with which I am in love. They put out a print product, but also have the most popular blog in Portland; "Blogtown, PDX," which is a lot of fun to read... and now write for!
Play: My band will be putting out our first CD in the next couple days. Aubrey & I recorded the record, called "Beta Testing 1-2-3," over winter break, and her boyfriend Jake Kelly mixed it for us. Our buddy Jon Ransom put together the cover art, which I think is fantastic.Aubrey & I are a nerd rock band, and write songs about video games and computers and love. It's great fun. We've been contacted by a few venues to start doing shows, so that will happen once moving and car buying all calms down. Keep an eye on our MySpace for updates - there are also songs and videos there.
Lastly, my boyfriend Nate and I have been together for eight months now. He is a computer science major and a really swell dude.
