Good Sunday Morning to you and welcome to of my Sunday State of the Union! This is the week in short and will cover everything from A to Z, or at least everything between A and Z that I care to mention. This weekly post will be published EVERY Sunday morning and will be written throughout the week.

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As we approach Super Tuesday, this past week has been politically heavy in my news feed. This week in my SOTU is going to both look deeper into and also look outside of politics. Why? Because if I have to read too many more political arguments and articles, my brain might just explode. I mean don't get me wrong, I love, love, love politics. For goodness sakes I'm even majoring in it. But if it's just 100% politics all the time, yeah I don't like politics that much. Everyone needs a break every so often, yeah? So, without further ado, here's the week

1. Tuesday Night Smackdown - No despite my title here, the WWE has not changed it's weekly schedule for Smackdown. I'm talking about Super Tuesday, the primary election Holy Grail. This coming Tuesday, March 1st, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia will have primaries for both Republicans and Democrats. Alaska has a Republican caucus, American Samoa has a Democratic caucus, and Colorado is choosing a Democratic candidate through caucusing and delegates for to choose a Republican. I for one am on the hunt for a Super Tuesday party, a rare occasion that I won't be watching results and knitting.  There will definitely be some live-tweeting and a follow up next week!

2. Bloom - So moving away from politics now, I want to hit up the really important news of the week. Some of you may know Estee Lalonde (formerly EssieButton), a fashion/beauty/lifestyle blogger/vlogger/YouTuber. I've been passively watching her videos for years and over the past few months I finally subscribed and started watching her videos regularly. This Monday, Estee announced that she is writing a book titled Bloom! Last I checked, there was no US pre-order for her book, but the second it does open up, I will be the first on the list! I love Estee and I am so excited to read her book. Check out her blog and her channel!

3. Carrie and the Robots - My absolute favorite Carrie Fisher was featured in IBM's new commercial along side the support group for evil robots. The commercial also features IBM's little Watson, their genius artificial intelligence robot. It'll the cutest minute of your day! The only thing missing is 3PO and R2!

4. Baby Meesha - Little Meesha from the BARCS Animal Shelter in Baltimore, MD was waking up from surgery and making the absolute saddest little puppy noises. According to the post, Meesha was having trouble coming out from the anesthesia, and one of her doctors, Dennis Moses, comforted her by holding Meesha and rocking her. Little Meesha's sad whimpers will break your heart the whole time, but seeing the doc's reaction and comforting of the little dog, it's just the sweetest thing! Check the video out on BARCS' Facebook page!

5. Land's End Weenies Out - I'm sure by now you've heard about how Land's End took down their interview with Gloria Steinem. After pressure from viewers calling Steinem "anti-child" and claiming that Land's End want to "kill off future customers." Which is an absolutely ridiculous claim. Regardless of her recent opinions, Gloria Steinem has worked for gender equality. Moreover, the interview with Land's End had nothing to do with Steinem's opinions regarding abortion or any other political issues. I'm quite ashamed of Land's End for taking down the interview, and I for one will be keeping my business elsewhere for a while.

Photo of the Week:

I found this gorgeous Skeleton Flower on Town & Country. Found in Japan and China, the usually white flower, turns clear when hit with water. As it dries, it fades back to white. Apparently they're also found on the Appalachian mountains, so guess where I'm going hiking this summer!




Quote of the Week: With midterm season starting, I think this quote is pretty accurate.

There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.

-Henry Kissinger

And that's where I'll leave you today. Let me know in the comments what articles highlighted your week!

Until next time,
Writing to you from M, Personally

Politics SOTU

6:21 AM

Every college student dreams of the day they graduate into their dream job. For me, that's managing political campaigns. Unlike many who long for the spotlight, ready to change the world, I dream of the late nights, early mornings, and poor dining that comes with campaigns. Any of you political minded people are definitely wondering, what the heck is wrong with me. Campaigns are notoriously grueling, testing, and trying. Generally people hate campaigning. Except me. I'm one of the very few political nerds who lives for it.

Regardless of field, we all know that in order to get a job, one must spend a lot of time in college interning, networking, and connecting with the 'real world.' As a future campaign manager, it can get to be a little difficult to make those connections, but this is a lucky year. With plenty of campaigns going, it's a great time for me to make those connections.

Seems great right? Well not quite. 99% of these connections are through unpaid internships. And as someone carrying a pretty hefty student debt already, I'm not a big fan of working for free when I've got about $56 to pay to the state every month. Plus. I occasionally like to eat, so buying some food would be a plus too.

So here's the TL/DR:
I need to network and make connections within campaign management by interning on a campaign, but I'm poor.

Now onto my current dilemma.

I was offered a chance to interview with a campaign manager last night. A local Congressional campaign, nothing too fancy. The candidate is apparently very nice, taking on a lot of interns from my University. Office is a few metro stops down. Busy office often with the candidates dog around too. Interns are required to work 3 shifts per week, about 15 hours, with really flexible shift schedules. AND Interns are paid $13 an hour. Which is pretty substantial for DC! With 15 hours at $13/hour, I'm making net about $115 per week! Of course with taxes it's less, but it'll be enough for me to pay for my loans every month, buy some food, AND maybe even splurge to help refill my closet with clothes that actually fit.

Sounds great, right? Connections, networking, campaigning, politics, AND paid?? It's perfect! Too perfect...

What's the catch? Well it's a pretty big one. The candidate is a Democrat.

(Dun, Dun, DUN!)

Cue the horror movie scream, this is my worst nightmare. I figured I would have this issue eventually, but not yet! I thought I thought I had a few years to decide whether I would cave to a Dem for the sake of a paycheck. But no. The issue is in the now. My connection is passing my cell phone number to the campaign today, giving me a few hours to decide whether or not to take this or not.

I've decided to think seriously about it. Though I am a registered Republican, I'm not so proud that I won't work for a paycheck. Working on a campaign will be much better than working as a nanny or dog sitter like I was prepared to do. It'll look great on my resume to have real campaign experience, and in an interview I can easily spin working for a democrat into a positive.

It's a dog eat dog world out there, and I've got to get my dog into the ring. The phone interview should be within the next few days, so I need to decide by then.

Until next time, writing to you from M, Personally

College Life Future Internship Politics

6:00 AM

Senator Bernie Sanders has fought time and time again for a raised minimum wage. In the July 2015 Minimum Wage Rally, he said "The American people need a raise! We have got to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour..." (source).

I find it extremely fascinating that Sen. Sanders has chosen to pay his Senate interns, a measly $12 an hour. Is that a living wage for the average student or recent graduate? Especially one which is, according to his website, "responsible for their own housing (source)."

Let's do the math, Senate interns work about 15 hours per week. At $12 per hour, an intern makes about $180 per week, not including taxes, which we'll ignore for this scenario. Internships last on average 12 weeks, so that comes to $2160 for one session. Doesn't sound so bad, right?

Let's take into account housing now. Twelve week session, four weeks a month, a student would be there for about 3 months. If we give a very generous $1,500 for rent and utilities per month for an apartment in DC, and split that between two people, our student is paying $2250 for three months of rent.

Earned: $2,160
Costs: $2,250
And that doesn't include food, transport, etc.

Senator Sanders claims that the minimum wage should be a living wage. Yet here we see his own hypocrisy. Oops?

-Writing to you from M, Personally

Politics

4:51 PM

You need to watch this video, tell others to watch this video and share this video to your page.
Posted by Jim Hanlon on Sunday, September 23, 2012

This video came up on my Facebook timeline today. I just had to share it with my tiny political audience. This is what really drives my political aspirations. I don't want to be a politician who sits around and just votes on party lines for the sole purpose of getting reelected. I want to be the shit-stirrer. I want to actually READ and COMPREHEND bills, I want to look my party leader in the eye and fearlessly say, "No" to supporting something that will not benefit my future district or state. I have my own set of thoughts, ideas, and opinions. And I stand by them. That is not to say that my thoughts, ideas, and opinions won't change as I learn more about the world or a topic and as I get older. That's natural of course. But I will not be a politician who gets so desperate for election/reelection that I blatantly lie to get what I strive for. If I can't earn my seat or job with what I really am and with what I really believe, I sure as hell don't deserve it for lying. Does that mean that I may be fated to be a one term politician? Maybe. I may never even be elected! But I never want to be the kind of person who lies and has to use back alley-methods to get what they want. And please, for the love of all that is holy, if I ever get to be this person, someone better find this blog post and send it to me! That's my teeny weeny political rant for now.

Writing to you from M, Personally

Politics

5:50 AM