Akron where?

Before I left Akron, OH to begin my internship in Washington DC, at least one professor advised me not to be intimidated by the ivy-league credentials of those I would be working with and for. At first I took this advice as well-meant coaching and encouragement, but with a grain of salt. How would/could a student from the University of Akron really measure up to those from Georgetown or Harvard? And yet here is a lesson that I have already picked up and passed on to a fellow Midwesterner (my wife): it doesn't matter where you are from. What matters is how hard you work and the results that you produce.

The first several times that I introduced myself to my coworkers, I would say "I'm from the University of Akron. That's in Ohio." The other interns that I worked with seemed to need this extra information. The government-employed analysts, however, did not. Nor did they seem to care.

What I also learned was that attempting to overcompensate for an imaginary Midwestern stigma was unnecessary, even a bad idea. I did not need to have a "Napoleon complex" about my background, nor did I need to attempt to over-sell my other attributes or abilities. Hard work and results are visible and valued, regardless of who you are and where you are from. This does not mean that all you need to do is work hard. Good luck helps (and I suppose political skills will also eventually become important in my career too). But if a Midwesterner has a chip on their shoulder when they come to DC, my advice is: get over it.

Hiatus, yes; what next?

Many life-altering changes in the past months are making it difficult to predict the direction in which this blog may turn in the near future. Primarily, I must report that I am leaving Akron, OH and becoming a DC-metropolitan area resident. While a few visits home for the recent holidays have meant that this transition has been mitigated/moderated (I'm not sure which word is more appropriate), at the same time it seems as if everything is happening so fast.

Meanwhile, I had started this blog as a means to prepare for the end of my Akron, OH life - to prepare for my Master's program's final examination and then perhaps to report a few of the more interesting aspects of my Fall '05 internship in Washington, DC (a period of time that was in fact so busy that updating a blog quickly became one of my lowest priorities).

Well (no) readers, should this now become a blog of a DC "insider"? Certainly not, for I am no insider. I still view myself as an outsider trying to break into the local DC network, though (as I mentioned before) I no longer feel like tourist.

Should it then be framed as such? As a Midwesterner trying to reconcile his current skills, experience, and beliefs with this new environment? Maybe yes, but maybe no; I can envision both benefits and problems with either option of such a choice - the politics of DC are indeed real and will have a significant impact on my future.

I suppose for now I will simply give no answer and leave you again with fewer updates and reports while I continue my attempts to learn about my place within this new environment and my role within it.