Well folks, my day could not have gone any better. Plan or no plan, every situation unfolded as though it were my destiny to achieve the height of competitive free fooding. Although I have tons to say about the day, let’s get right into just how my evening unfolded.

Lunch went off without a hitch. I left CAP at 11:43. I got on the 42 bus to DuPont circle. And, after navigating a car on 20th street that was fully on fire, I arrived at the Washington Hilton. Strolling in with my messenger bag and thrown together press letter, I calmly explained to the registration attendant that I work for Campus Progress, a youth non-profit organization that empowers students by helping them run campaigns, publish progressive magazines, throw amazing events, etc. He explained to me that the Gear Up conference was really a conference for teachers and only 30 students were in attendance. Without missing a beat, I responded, “I know but I saw that the plenary lunch is entitled “Youth Leadership Summit Report” and I was hoping to cover and learn more about your youth leadership summit.” “Oh, that’s great he said. Rose here will take care of you.” And, take care of me she did! After tearing off a press pass for me, she walked around the booth and sent me on my way. “The lunch is right down the stairs she said. It looks really good so hurry up or you’ll miss it.”

To start my blog POST today, 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.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any wowing stories to tell about my free-food escapades for dinner last night. It’s hard to keep your level of competition up when your competitors are so far beneath you. Instead, I will tell a short anecdote in order to convey one thing: IT’S ON.

So, in my last post I bragged about my lunch plans. Well, the sad truth is that they didn’t exactly get off of the ground flawlessly. My photographer Aditi and I headed off to the prestigious Franklin Club on a mission: get a $75 lunch courtesy of the National Council For Public Private Partnerships. Posed as two journalists who want to write about the NCPPP for the Campus Progress web magazine, Aditi and I, armed with a letter from our editor, strolled into the jackets mandatory Franklin Club dreaming of shrimp, lobster, crostini, and something with vegetables (Aditi doesn’t do meat). However, before we get into the thick of what transpired upon our entrance to the Franklin Club at 1300 I (Eye) St, let’s back-up.

My whole life, people have been asking me. “Hey, Nick, what are you? Where are you from? Are you Puerto Rican or Spanish, or something, right?” For years, I have given the same response to the total disbelief of everybody. “No man, I’m not Hispanic, I don’t speak Spanish, and no my last name really doesn’t have emphasis on the second to last syllable.” Weekly, I have casually given this answer to countless people who for some reason can’t accept the fact that I might not be Hispanic. In the past, these comments have made me chuckle or led to interesting conversations but today all of this speculation finally paid off.

As a 21 year old D.C. native and exclusively East Coast dweller, I don’t and never have gotten it- “it” being the quintessential dessert that west coasters have been enjoying for decades and decades—this almost half melted, counter-intuitively healthy and multi-purposed snack, meal, and dessert—frozen yogurt (affectionately referred to by many as ‘Fro- Yo’).  Until this summer, I didn’t even really know what frozen yogurt was or what all the fuss was about. Then, a few short weeks ago, Tangysweet, the first of at least three frozen yogurt places slated to open this summer cracked its trendy, frosty, party having doors, inviting DCers in for this creation.  Yesterday I ventured with my supervisor, Arielle, to help get the swirl on the nation capital’s second summer frozen yogurt opening, Mr. Yogato. 

This betrays all of my loyalties. As somebody born and raised in D.C., I have spent all my life weeding out the people who pretend to be from D.C. but really reside in Bethesda, Rockville, Potomac, Arlington (you get the point). So, when I sat down and thought about writing for Social Capital, I was elated at the idea that now I would get to show off my intimate knowledge of my city by telling everybody where to eat, party, see free stuff, etc. Then, today, I sat down at the desk to write and I had nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. I thought about lots of fun cheesy things I used to do with my friends pre 21, places I go to eat, and sketchy bars that I have been dragged to but I couldn’t help but think that I have all summer to post about those things. Instead, all I could think about was something outside of my city, something that touches almost every place that people who falsely claim D.C. actually hale from.

Last month, we here at Campus Progress begged, pleaded, and flat out bribed our illustrious network of chapters to fill out a survey, which we told them would take no more than 5 minutes and held the possibility of infinite knowledge as one lucky participant would win a $50 gift certificate to the progressive online bookstore Powell's Books. Apparently, the thought of a fresh, shiny, new book doesn't get people's hearts racing like it used to but a greater percentage of people still filled out the survey than voted in yesterday's Puerto Rico primary. Therefore, without further ado, and because our lawyers compel me to both follow through on our promise and share the lucky winner's randomly chosen name with the world, I present to you the 2008 chapter survey winner: Alexander Furnas. Alexander is a Wesleyan University student who just earned himself a shopping cart full of Kant or a basket full of.......Lord Byron? (Don't worry, I hear they have DVDs too). But seriously, thank you to everybody who filled out a survey. These are incredibly helpful for assessing our ability to support our young progressive network. We have read them all carefully and look forward to continuing the most important work being done in this country.