Another Week at NJ

Monday: This was the first week in quite sometime that something huge was not looming. The relaunch is over and for the first time election stuff had died down. I now had to figure out a routine. It has gotten to the point now where I come in and I will be working on a slideshow or doing any task that I am assigned. I was told I needed to take more initiative, so that was the theme for this week. I started working in our new slideshow format and figuring out the kinks on that took up quite a bit of my time this week.
Tuesday: Terry Michael Day! Today we had Curtis Gans come and speak to us about who votes and why they vote. He talked about how to figure out who stays home on election day and what peeked his interest about this election. He has been doing this for decades and you could tell that he was well versed in the subject of elections and polling. After I made it back downstairs, I proceeded to work on a slideshow for the day about Michelle Obama's outfits while she is on the road in Asia. It was the first thing I had a chance to do that was not wrapped around another persons story and it was my first byline. It wasn't my initial idea, but I was allowed to run with it and work with the photos which I really enjoyed doing.
Wednesday: Today, I updated the Michelle Obama slide show, but I was also challenged to take more initiative and come up with some projects on my own. On the one hand I felt bad that maybe I was being a bad intern, but on the other hand I figured it was just their way of motivating me because there was more that I could be doing. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to come up with ideas for future slide shows and I got one ready for Thursday.
Thursday: Terry Michael Day! Today, we had a meeting with two journalists about how they are using the media and the internet to reach out to people. they talked about how candidates use the media to interact with potential voters. After I left the class, I headed downstairs to show the bosses what I had planned for my slideshow for that day. I had taken all the newcomers to Congress that we had collected and put a slideshow together of all the ones with a military background. It was veterans days and I figured it would be an appropriate slideshow. Turns out it was a good idea and they ran with it. I also spent the afternoon coming up with a new slide show where I tracked the Top 10 congressmen as far as who had the most followers on Twitter. It was a hit and I good a kudos from the editor. That always makes your day. I also turned in my honors research paper... thank goodness.
Friday: This day was a little more lax because it was Friday and people were just ready for the weekend to start. I tied up a few loose ends and did some more slideshow brainstorming. I picked up on a rather youthful topic for the day's slideshow... no shave November. I picked up a list of ten of Washington's bearded individuals and did a slide show on facial hair. It was fairly strange, but it was soo much fun to do and was something out of the ordinary for national journal. It made for a lively friday.