Journalism!

Progressivism!

Who wouldn’t love it here?

Having inherited the EIC position of The Carleton Progressive essentially by default, I confess that an invitation to an all-expenses paid journalism conference took me by surprise. After all, I’d never spoken to anyone from Campus Progress, and up until this summer, my knowledge of the organization was hazy at best. Yet shortly after I came back from chilly Minnesota–yes, it’s cold there even in June!–there the invitation was. And so, in an odd twist of climatological fate, I found myself walking in that thick, sticky heat so common to DC in August, trying to find the Campus Progress headquarters.

It’s now day three of the CP summit, and so far, we’ve covered everything from interview sources to undercover reporting, with a healthy dose of photography and copy editing tossed in along the way. Additionally, like any enthusiastic tourist, I’ve climbed all over this city, taking in the White House, the Capitol building, Georgetown, and the Mall in a little more than 48 hours. There’s been so much to see and do–and so much to learn as well. I actually pity my 2009-2010 staff: they’re going to walk into our first meeting of the year and get absolutely hammered with ideas and improvements and revisions. The Progressive, I’ve discovered, needs to add more artwork and photography. It needs to focus more on the local impact of major national debates. It needs to do more original reporting and not rely so heavily on NYT and other news sources. It needs, in short, some work.

But all of that, of course, can be dealt with when I return to campus in September. For now, I’m just going to take some photos, listen to some interesting lectures, and reflect upon how odd it is that for once in my life, I actually miss the Minnesota cold.

Glass ceiling at the Lincoln Memorial

Stars for the fallen at the WWII Memorial

Lonely roses at the Vietnam Memorial

Looking towards the sky at the WWII Memorial