My free "dinner" consisted of crudités, cheese cubes, crackers, Fresca, and ice cream. Yes, so I didn't find the best dinner.  Which is why I made oriental Ramen with kim chi and Asian greens for dinner, when I got home. It's the best that I can do, when I'm away from home and missing my parents' home-cooked meals and the Whasian culinary adventures that I have with my (caucasian) boyfriend at school. Nonetheless, I'm glad that Free-Food-a-Thon is over with.  I still have the support of the majority of the other interns, which is good.  And quite frankly, I'm relieved that no one got a black eye today.  So read on about my final venture and final reflections.

I had a tasty lunch and a very active grassroots campaign today; just check out all the signs that my supporters made, copied, and plastered around the office for me! Nick's cockiness with me, in the form of taunting me and making smartass comments to me all day, was finally starting to show signs of cracking. He went from, "Yeah, we're gonna go to Italy and then take a shuttle into space for dinner; it's gonna be out of this world," and "So... still looking for lunch, huh? Are you actually getting any work done today?" to this:

Artair: I want to put this Chenwei sign on Tommaso's desk. 
Nick: If you do that, I'm gonna lose it.

What makes this even worse is that we share a cubicle space and sit literally 3 inches from each other at work.  Did I mention that he ripped one of my signs in half as well?  He did it very slowly, being sure to make his animosity known.  I hope he at least recycled.

And the divisiveness and tension of the Campus Progress office was only exacerbated.  Some new alliances were formed, others were broken.  No wonder the campaign trail can be so exhausting sometimes.  /sigh

Things are getting really nasty in the office.  Excerpts from the blogs of my competitors today:

Ashley: I heard Chenwei mutter this motto, once spoken by a true champion, under her breath this morning: ‘It’s just a job.  Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand.  I beat people up.’ (I may look like a tough little Asian-girl ninja, but rest assured, my penchant for beating people up is strictly metaphorical.)

Aditi: The interns have fallen prey to the sadistic social experiment concocted by and for the pleasure of our scheming superiors. Once a united group in which CP interns could feel safe and comfortable with whom they are is now plagued by factions, backstabbing and debauchery.

Nick: I would like to relay a short message to all of the interns in the office hating on myself, Ashley, and Aditi, and who are rooting for Chenwei as though she is a savior. “Change we can believe in,” Artair proudly repeats 27 times an hour. “She’s going to do it.” Well, not so fast kids. This party is just getting started.

And because he is so negative and mean-spirited, here is some more from Nick: And, immediately, I saw my sworn enemy: ‘Chenwei or the highway’ as she ought to be referred based on all of this false hope our naïve class of interns has invested in her (and I will be more than happy to escort them all to the beltway tomorrow).

...at the moment, at least. There is approximately one hour left for Friday, and I'm the only one who has blogged about Free Food-a-Thon at all today.

My breakfast of chocolate croissants, fruity danishes, fruit salad, and all the juice I could drink wore off pretty quickly. I had only been in the journalism conference debriefing meeting for 15-20 minutes until I left again for my lunch venture. This time, it was at the Hudson Institute to hear a lecture on the Coptic Christians in Egypt, and how they are being marginalized due to increasing "Islamization." Being from South Carolina, I’m sort of used to be surrounded by lots of conservatives. I’ve learned that they can sometimes be pretty cool people too, and I have a quite a bit of pride in going to school at USC—excuse me—University of South Carolina. (I forget that I can’t say “USC” outside of South Carolina, as everyone mistakes it to be Southern California.  Whatevs, our Cocks can tear up their Trojans any day.)  But I digress.

To be honest, I have a bit of a moral issue with going to some event, welcomed or unwelcomed, solely for the sake of getting free food. But… there is something bigger that overshadows my moral dilemma; ever since yesterday, I’ve felt that it is my duty to represent the “underdogs” in this competition. And repping the underdogs is totally more progressive than stealing food from the National Press Club.  (But also, I'm sad that I can't attempt to do the same, under our new regulations.) See, there is a unanimous agreement among all the other interns that the three winners thus far, “Hardeeharhar” Aditi Hardikar, Nick “Pastry” Pastan, and “Avarice” Ashley Wiers, are considered three of the four “favorite interns” in the Campus Progress office, with the fourth favorite being a certain video intern that is one of my competitors today. Conspiracies of the competition being rigged, and disillusionment and discouragement among the rest of the interns made me sad, but fueled my fire (and empty stomach) today. And besides, such widespread thoughts among a citizenry seldom bring forth a healthy democracy.

In the spirit of this week's Free Food-a-Thon competition among the Campus Progress interns, (by the way, your support for me would be greatly appreciated) I figured that I would dedicate this week's post to food. More specifically, I'll tell you where to purchase and how to cook Thai food on a budget. Yay Thai. And yay food.

I'm a Campus Progress intern for the summer, so of course I have to rep this fabulous place in at least one blog entry.  Today marked the beginning of a three-day period of fabulous festivities aimed just at fabulous young progressives such as yourselves.  Read on... and join the revolution.

I know that classical music is not the most popular genre among young people. If you have ever caught me shamelessly banging my head to The Clash's London Calling album in my apartment, you probably would have been surprised to find me, all dolled up, at the National Symphony Orchestra concert this past Saturday night at the Kennedy Center. I am a pretty big fan of classical music. I admit that I am no expert, but having taken piano lessons for eight years, growing up with classical music around the house, and having a boyfriend who is a cello performance major have both definitely developed my appreciation.  I become just as immersed into the music while listening to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 as I do listening to my favorite Kimya Dawson song.  It was strange, being among the few young people in an audience on Saturday night where at least 80%  had white hair.  You’re probably thinking, “Oh, old people.  They’re cute and funny but carry no excitement in their lives.  No wonder they enjoy going to these things.”  But you know what?  Listening to a well-developed and talented orchestra such as the National Symphony can be a lot like listening to a good indie, punk, or just plain rock album.  As proof, I will attempt to connect each piece performed by the NSO on Saturday night to a modern, non-classical song that I love.  Here it goes.