A Summer on Capitol Hill

by 12A Stacy Lin 林綺文

In movies, the Capitol Hill is all about the glamorous white marble façade and the luxurious offices. However, during my summer internship on the Hill, I got to see the other side of the United States capitol—the not-so-glamorous side, and it was all the more amazing.

On the first day of my internship for Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, my intern coordinator sent me and two fellow new interns on a scavenger hunt to find the Members' Dining Room, Office Supply Store, Office of the Sergeant of Arms, and so on, and told us to “get lost”—literally. That day I lost and found my way through the catacomb that is the basement of the Capitol. The basement, with its unpainted cement walls and unpolished floors, was an intricate system of tunnels and subways that linked together every House and Senate building to the rotunda perched on the very top of Capitol Hill. Looking from the outside, I never would have guessed that the unseen levels of the building housed such a maze, complete with a salon, dry cleaner, numerous eateries, DVD rental machines, and anything else a congressperson or staffer could possibly need.

My responsibilities as an intern mainly consisted of replying constituent letters, researching and writing up memorandums on pending bills, leading tours of the Capitol, sorting mail, and answering the phone. My favorite job, however, was going to congressional hearings on topics like China and the Olympics, and the Nursing Home Arbitration Act of 2008. I didn't get to do anything besides what the name suggests—sit and listen—but it was surreal being able to witness such important decisions being made by leaders of the nation.

My internship wasn't all work and no play. Everyday as us interns sat down on the couch to fold, stuff, seal, and label our 400 daily mailers, we would play music and talk about anything and everything, and eat from the unlimited tubs of Ben & Jerry's in the freezer. After work and on weekends, we would ride the D.C. Metro to Georgetown, malls, historical sites, and to just explore the city.

It was an invaluable experience working for the United States Congress, seeing and experiencing life in the heart of the nation's politics. Not only did I get to see everything in action, I was, at least for a short while, a part of the action.

Kristen's Summer

Saving the Earth from Global Warming
　

by 9BKristen Wu吳允馨

Have you ever walked into department stores such as Target, Walgreens, and Costco, and wondered where all the products went in the end? Did you know that our planet is currently changing because of all the pollution and waste we continuously produce? Global warming is a major problem people world-wide need to take notice of, and try to solve. People can save the world by restraining themselves from excessive consumerism, cleaning up the pollution we have already created, and using green, environmentally friendly alternative energy resources.

The current consumer lifestyles of many people can endanger the entire Earth. Take the United States for an example. Many things consumed by Americans end up as trash in a few months, and as the video "the Story of Stuff" shows, pollution is created not only by throwing things away, but also by the manufacturing of those products. Many current products are made from materials such as plastic, and plastic cannot decompose. Instead, they release harmful toxins around them, and the various toxins eventually create a mass of problematic trash we cannot get rid of. The manufacturing of these plastics also release noxious chemicals into the air and water, therefore polluting even more. Think of all the people buying things, throwing them away, buying more things, throwing them away again, and etc all year long! Not only is one person doing that; billions of people all over the world are. All the pollution caused by shopping and trashing affects the entire planet, and people are risking the lives of all living creatures in the world. This large scale problem of excessive consumerism must be taken care of.

Many different things make up the pollution in the world. As mentioned before, the manufacturing of goods release dangerous greenhouse gasses which pollute the air, and the goods we dispose of end up in landfills or combustion centers. The landfills pollute the earth, and the combustion centers pollute the air. All the toxic chemicals are circulated throughout nature by the numerous natural cycles, and create a key part in global warming. Another major cause of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels. Currently, people use fossil fuels for energy, and it creates a ton of pollution. Also, fossil fuels are running out. Scientific estimates show that oil will reach its peak around 2010, which means that we're going to run out of oil pretty soon at the rate we are using it. Therefore, not only is oil an energy source that is disastrous to the environment, it is also just a temporary solution to our energy needs.

Instead of endangering our planet and lives for the need of energy, we should resolve to use more efficient and environmentally friendly alternative energy resources. The burning of fossil fuels and the byproducts of nuclear waste has created undesirable effects of pollution. Using alternative energy resources will greatly help the problem of global warming. Many solutions have already come up, such as solar power, wind power, geothermal energy, tides, hydroelectric energy, and biomass, but we need to put them to work on larger scale. These alternative energy resources are green, environmentally friendly, efficient, and non-polluting.

Camp at UC Berkeley was a truly amazing experience, and I hope everyone enjoyed their summers as much as I did!

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