Senior Year Fall Semester

It’s been a while since I’ve last posted, mainly because I wasn’t sure which direction I should take this website after I had spent the past year using it as a platform for study abroad  updates.

But then I remembered that writing requires practice, websites need posts, and there are may be a few people who are still interested in what I’m up to.

It’s to you that I write, so here goes…

I spent the summer in three very different places: China, Iowa, and Washington DC. In May I finished up my year abroad in Beijing, traveled to some amazing places in China with my parents, showed off my Chinese skills to our cab drivers, and said goodbye to China. In June I spent the month at home in Iowa, meeting up with friends, family, and spending a lot of (but never enough) time with my cats.

In July, I returned to DC after an 11 month hiatus and began a six week internship with Senator Charles Grassley. The experience was an extremely interesting one to have after having studied Chinese politics in Beijing. Living in both capital cities of (arguably) the two most super of the superpowers in the world, I couldn’t help but compare…a lot.

This begs an example, I know. Working for my Senator, I was impressed by how much information a regular public citizen could access. In China, much of politics is opaque and requires educated guesswork. In the U.S., politics is much more openly laid out and discussed. Anyone can attend a public hearing, watch the Senate and House give speeches, and tour the Capitol and surrounding buildings. C-SPAN is probably the greatest invention in terms of political transparency.

At the same time, I noticed a few lapses in transparency. While there are public hearings, there are a few closed ones as well. Supposedly the public cannot be trusted with the sensitive information, but I think it’s a conversation from which the public has been personally shut out.

The largest failure for transparency, in my opinion, is that two research databases, Congressional Research Services (CRS) and Legislative Information Services (LIS) are only available to computers with a Capitol Hill address. CRS provides thousands of reports on agencies, programs, issues, etc etc that would be a virtual goldmine for debate students seeking a legitimate, unbiased source. LIS provides statuses on every bill dating back several decades. Why this information is not public is unclear (perhaps because the public does not know about it) but its absence from American discourse is a failure of the U.S. government. If we want educated voters, why are we not providing them with this high-quality information?

It was an interesting summer that has blended into an interesting fall semester. Three of my classes are listed as English courses, two of those plus a philosophy class include the study of film, and one class is on Chinese women writers. I am very interested in all of my classes which is a very positive thing to have senior year. Meanwhile I’m still figuring out all of the commitments I have this semester, perhaps my next blog post? Stay tuned…

If you read this, please consider commenting. I love to receive feedback (positive and constructive criticism). If you want to ask me a question or pick my brain further on a topic, either comment on this post or send me a message through the contact form. Have a nice day!