Hey Montreat,
I finally started my internship on Monday! I am working at the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) in the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) Office. I am still going through security clearence so I have mainly been meeting people and reading alot about what my office does. It is really exciting. I have three supervisors. Deana is my main supervisor and she is on a team with John Thompson and Matt Koicenczy. They have all been really nice and I can't wait to get startied on the projects they have for me! I will be working with Susan, who is in charge of Communications for our Office.
I will be helping her communicate with the public as well as between Offices and other Departments. I am also going to be helping create briefs for the new administration. Once January begins the new President will elect a new Secretary for DHS and a new Head for the CRCL Office. This is the first time that DHS has changed administration since the department is only five years old. So, as you can imagine everybody is a little tense to see what is going to happen. I love the building I work in. Its gorgeous. 
Now, if you are not told where the DHS office is then you will never find it. There is no sign inside or outside of the building to let you know it’s there. So, I was a little surprised when I walked through the door and saw a fountain! Here are some pictures of the lobby and outside of the building. Our office is on the top floor - the penthouse level. Sounds cool but really all it is is some offices and a lot of cubicals.
My classes are really getting interesting. We had two people come and speak to our class on Wed. One was from the McCain campaign and one was from the Obama campaign. They were there to tell us what their candidates believed and what they were planning to do, especially when it came to the faith-based inititives that President Bush started. Both candidates will keep the faith-based initiatives, but there will be some changes. Also this week we looked at Biblical Justice. We had in-depth discussions about the three different types of societal approaches. They are individualism, collectivism, and pluralism. We spent last week talking about them and then on Monday we spent 3 hours trying to understand which category best fits us and if we can tell which view a person holds by having a conversation or reading an article. I'm not sure I can explain it, I'm still wrapping my mind around it. It’s going to take alot of processing to understand it, but the professors are great and really take time with us to explain it. I believe I hold a more individualistic view by the way.
Also, this week was Tiffany's, my roomate, birthday! We celebrated with a cake from ColdStone and lots of food! Here is a picture of all us that live in our apartment at the party! It was alot of fun. Well, that is all for this week. I hope everybody is have a great semester!
~Ashley Craig~