Summer in the City
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Turns out the tattoo I got last summer was prophetic (oh em gee, have I just become a character on Heroes?). Earlier today I formally accepted an offer to be a summer intern at the national office for Lambda Legal. Specifically, I’ll be interning with the Fair Courts Project, which works to keep ideologically anti-LGBT people out of the judiciary and instead encourages the appointment of judges who are objective and fair when LGBT people come before them.
Since that means I’ll be staying in the city, I will be apartment hunting in May. In some ways this makes my life easier than one of the positions I interviewed for that would have had me traveling to Trenton or Las Vegas or Santa Cruz. Specifically, I’m not going to have to worry about storage or finding a place to crash late-summer while I apartment shop in the weeks right before school. On the other hand, NYC is expensive, so I’m probably looking at a commute from Brooklyn or Queens or the northernmost reaches of the Isle of Manhattan. I’m almost certainly going to need a roommate, too. Start letting me know if you hear about people likely to be looking for roomies or tenants this summer – I hope to find a place where I can stay at least through graduation.
I had many interesting interviews from very different kinds of organizations before getting and accepting the offer from Lambda. I interviewed with the federal and local government agencies, drug law reform impact litigation organizations, disability rights organizations, the police department, and more. LGBT rights is, of course, a very familiar and natural place for me to go. Sooner or later I’ll have to acknowledge that I am becoming a lifelong professional queer activist.
Anyway, busy, busy, busy. I’ve got a big stack of homework to do, extracurricular commitments aplenty, the last big writing assignment of the school year, and rehearsal this weekend. If anybody wants to drop by and distract me with a glass of wine and a neck massage…
Yay prophetic ink!
If I lived there, I would totally sublet you a room.
Jere Keys Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
thanks
YAY what a great internship to have! So much right down your alley! I can’t help you with an apartment, or roommate, or wine, or massage, but I can, and shall, toast you here and now with my Arbor Mist Strawberry White Zinfindel!
And I didn’t know you had a tattoo!
HUGS…
Jere Keys Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
That’s actually my second.
Congratulations. Sounds like a perfect fit for you and hey, hopefully that means if I make it to NYC this summer I can see you. It’s all about me, I can admit that.
Good luck on the apartment hunting.
Jere Keys Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Well, I’ll almost definitely be there.
Congratulations! I’m really glad that you were able to get the internship you wanted. It seems like things are going your way again. Good luck with the job and with the apartment hunt.
Jere Keys Reply:
February 20th, 2010 at 8:34 am
thank you.
Yay for a jerb! Good luck finding an apartment! I didn’t see, but is it a paid internship?
Jere Keys Reply:
February 20th, 2010 at 8:38 am
No. There are such things as paid summer positions, but not in public interest work (government and nonprofit organizations). Since I’m in a program at school that specifically trains and supports me in plans for a career in public interest, they provide a stipend of funding to cover my summer living costs. I can also take out more loans if that won’t be enough.
CONGRATS!!!! Regina Spektor?!
Jere Keys Reply:
February 20th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Sorry, I was actually thinking of the 1966 classic by The Lovin’ Spoonful.
See what happens when I come in late? Everyone has said everything I was going to say. But congratulations anyway! I hope you have a great experience with the internship and find a really cute apartment (and roommate).