Do not make a product for current adults, but the twenty-year-old babies.
DC: A Nurturing Place
I have exercised all of my competitive advantages here in Washington DC.
Political Thought
Interning with the Charles Koch Institute, I have read and discussed about numerous topics of economic thinking such as public goods, seen vs. unseen, and spontaneous order.
Entrepreneurship
I have created a network of entrepreneurs which was minuscule the time before this. I have also participated in the a book discussion on the Lean Startup by Eric Reis and learned much about innovation in my classes.
Finance
Through my classes, I have increased my financial skills and revalidated what I previously knew in the area.
Get A Better Argument
It’s not a good argument when people say the following about raising taxes on the wealthy: “Well…they can afford paying more taxes.”
My response: No matter what amount, most people can afford to pay more taxes without a negative impact. Get a better argument to convince me to raise taxes.
Facebook is a listening and interactive tool. Integrate your website on Facebook as much as you can without making an app.
I have the skill. I just need to know the most efficient process of exploiting it.
A New Chapter of an Old Adventure
I’m sitting right now in the Jackson, MS airport waiting to board my flight. In the city of Washington DC, American University is waiting for me to arrive.
About a month ago, I was accepted by Centre College to study at AmericanU for Spring Semester ‘12. During this semester, I will be apart of a program called “The Washington Program.” People of different colleges all around the country – and even the world – will be apart of the program. But, this program is not like your typical college classrooms. I will not be sitting in a desk listening to a teacher give his typical classroom lectures. No, instead, I will be enrolled in “seminars” as the Washington Program likes to call them.
I am enrolled in the Business and Economics seminars. I obviously chose this topic because it interests me the most. It is also the field I will work in after graduation. There were numerous other topics I could have chosen such as Journalism and Middle Eastern Studies, but they did not have much relevance to me.
The goal of the seminars is to “combine academic study with experiential learning [by] a blend that features policy makers, professionals, and experts.” Basically, when I attend the seminars, I will be going out and about the city meeting, listening, and learning from people who work directly in business and economics instead sitting in a classroom listening to some teacher talk.
The seminars are not the only thing that is a part of the Program. I also have two days of the week allocated for an internship. Luckily, I already have an internship lined up with a non-profit I respect a lot: the Charles Koch Foundation. It is a libertarian think-tank that advocates free-markets and liberty. I won’t go into much detail about the internship, but I am very excited about working with them.
I have not heard one bad thing about the Washington Program. All I have heard is outrageously positive comments. It is apparently good at building students’ “credentials and their professional networks,” and networking is a big reason why I decided to join.
Now that you know the basics about the Washington Program, enough with the boring stuff. Let me talk about the prospects of living in the city of Washington.
From memory, this will be my fourth time to live in DC. The first time was for a month or two when I was really young (around age 5 or 6 I think), and my father was running for congressional office at the time; the second was when I was a junior in high school as U.S. Senate Page for Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi which lasted for a semester; and the third was when I was an intern for Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi this past summer. Reflecting back on these three moments, I cannot say that this fourth time is a new adventure in my life; instead, it is like a new chapter of my existing adventures in the city of Washington DC. But, this chapter might be the most beneficial yet.
Every time I have lived in DC, it has made a lasting impact on my life in some significant way; however, the second has been the most monumental so far. Due to a full day-to-day work load and the arduous page school, my semester as a U.S. Senate Page really forced me to learn how to be an independent individual, which is a daunting task at age 16. Not only that, but the sheer environment and opportunities of being a Page sparked an ambition in me to go above and beyond the expectations bestowed on me, and this ambition has resided in me at some level ever since.
After reflecting on the impacts DC has made on my life, it makes me wonder how my returning will impact me this time around. Again, I think this time can me as monumental as my Page experience was, but my Page experience changed who I was - how I operated, how I dealt with things, how I thought. But, I think this new chapter will change me in a different aspect than that of my Page experience. The new chapter will not change who I am; instead, it has the potential to essentially pave the way of my coming future.
Let me explain. There are three fields I will most definitely end up working in after I graduate from college: startup companies, the financial sector, or politics. While a vast majority of my friends say I am going to be a politician, politics is actually the area I want to work in the least of the three. I want to work for a startup company the most, while my second choice is the financial sector. No matter which area I end up working in, Washington DC is about the most perfect place to nurture these three interests of mine all at the same time.
With the start of a new chapter, I need to set a goal myself. This goal should mature me at such a level where environments like Centre College cannot do. After taking a look at three potential work fields I will end up at, I believe Centre College nurtures the startup sector the least. I’m majoring in financial economics, so that checks off the financial sector. I feel like politics is present in every community, so there is not a lack of nourishment there. But, it seems as if there is a huge barrier in the startup sector. I have been involved in politics and finance at some level, but not with startups. Opportunities are not present with startups at Centre College, but I know this is not the case at DC. I know there is a vibrant community of startups in DC that I can take advantage of, so this should be my goal while I am here: build a network of people in the startup field.
Timing and Regret
I am racked with regret. It agonizes me. Like a chain tugging down my heart.
The reason for regret? It is hard to say. It wonders in the moonless night.
Maybe, I regret my decision between us. But I understand why I made it. Considering the time I made it.
Maybe, it is the timing. The timing of my hardship. The timing of your entry.
The two were conflicting. They were incompatible. Like light having fellowship with darkness.
The timing. This fills me with regret. To the brim.
There Has To Be A Better Way
My mom was talking the other day, and she was complaining about the entire production you have to go through to get groceries.
“You have to first drive to the grocery store. After you get there, you get a cart and go up and down the aisles to find the food you want, and then you put the food in the cart. Once you have all the food you want in your cart, then you have to take it out of the cart to the person at the cash register and pay. After that, then you have to put it back in you cart so you can take it to your car where you have to take it out of your cart again. Once it’s in your car, you then have to drive back to your house and unload the groceries from your car to your kitchen. Then, when it is all in your kitchen, you have to take it all out of the bags and organize the food into the correct places. There has to be a better way!”
I was thinking she was right. There has to be a better way. But how? This subject will be on my mind until I can figure out a better way…
Alert: Book Industry Article Is Becoming Too Fat!
Remember in my last post I said that I am currently writing a lengthy article about the future troubles of the book industry, and that the more I write in it, the more topics I think of to add? Well, after I worked on some of the article today and yesterday, my mind exploded with new topic ideas to add. It has gotten to the point where I have so much to talk about that I need to split the article into multiple sections. So, once the entire thing is ready for prime time, I have decided to publish a new section every Monday. Not sure exactly when it will start, but it’ll be like a series!
I am taking this article very seriously, so it is some of my best writing. I have never done a series of articles before, so I am super excited to share it with you!
