DC Bound
Today, I head to DC for a week. This is all kind of last minute. 4 days ago I didn't even know this was going to happen.
Here's the deal. I'm interviewing on Monday with the D.C. Public Defender Service. Regular readers of my blog (a.k.a. people who have better things to do with their time by grace my little corner of the blogosphere with their presence instead) will remember that I thought I messed up bad when I interviewed with these people at Duke. Apparently not. Out of 600 or so initial applicants, they've weeded it down to 60-90. And I made that first cut. Of course, the odds of getting 1 of the 6 available positions (especially when they are looking for Spanish speakers and are probably looking for diversity) are long.....but they are "shorter" than they used to be.
Anyways, my initial plan was to go up today, spend the night at the residence of the illustrious Jacob Grier, and come home after the interview tomorrow. Then, at the last possible moment, I signed up for the Equal Justice Works Career Fair. That's the largest gathering of public interest law organizations in the nation. Now I suddenly needed to be in D.C. again on Thursday and Friday, especially after snagging interviews with the New Hampshire Public Defender and the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy. Plus there's a number of organizations I might give a resume at the Table Talks.
The thought of driving up today, interviewing with D.C. PDS, driving back down tomorrow, attending to my responsibilities at Duke (and they are myriad), driving back up to D.C. and again staying at the residence of the indomitable Jacob Grier, and doing my interviews there....I gotta tell ya, it makes me tired just thinking about it. I would be far too worn out for my interviews. And ultimately, what matters most is that I get a job. I don't relish neglecting my duties here and I'll do what I can from D.C. But I need a job.
So I'm spending all week in D.C. I'll be staying at the residence of the wonderfully generous Jacob Grier. Maybe I can say hi to Holly Kirk (my old friend from high school who goes to Georgetown) or David Barzelay (he of the much-cooler-blog-than-mine) (come to think of it, that describes Jacob, too). I'll spend Tuesday and Wednesday holed up in a coffee shop near Jacob's place, doing whatever classwork I can and preparing for my Equal Justice Works interviews.
And, so off I go. Pray for me. Wish me luck. Tell me I should consider other career opportunities.
I don't always end with a song quote like Mike, but as I head out of Durham, the words of Nellie McKay (in a mix CD I need to send out) pop into my head:
"Goodbye little zip code
How can I go wrong?"
- Nellie McKay, "Change the World"
Here's the deal. I'm interviewing on Monday with the D.C. Public Defender Service. Regular readers of my blog (a.k.a. people who have better things to do with their time by grace my little corner of the blogosphere with their presence instead) will remember that I thought I messed up bad when I interviewed with these people at Duke. Apparently not. Out of 600 or so initial applicants, they've weeded it down to 60-90. And I made that first cut. Of course, the odds of getting 1 of the 6 available positions (especially when they are looking for Spanish speakers and are probably looking for diversity) are long.....but they are "shorter" than they used to be.
Anyways, my initial plan was to go up today, spend the night at the residence of the illustrious Jacob Grier, and come home after the interview tomorrow. Then, at the last possible moment, I signed up for the Equal Justice Works Career Fair. That's the largest gathering of public interest law organizations in the nation. Now I suddenly needed to be in D.C. again on Thursday and Friday, especially after snagging interviews with the New Hampshire Public Defender and the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy. Plus there's a number of organizations I might give a resume at the Table Talks.
The thought of driving up today, interviewing with D.C. PDS, driving back down tomorrow, attending to my responsibilities at Duke (and they are myriad), driving back up to D.C. and again staying at the residence of the indomitable Jacob Grier, and doing my interviews there....I gotta tell ya, it makes me tired just thinking about it. I would be far too worn out for my interviews. And ultimately, what matters most is that I get a job. I don't relish neglecting my duties here and I'll do what I can from D.C. But I need a job.
So I'm spending all week in D.C. I'll be staying at the residence of the wonderfully generous Jacob Grier. Maybe I can say hi to Holly Kirk (my old friend from high school who goes to Georgetown) or David Barzelay (he of the much-cooler-blog-than-mine) (come to think of it, that describes Jacob, too). I'll spend Tuesday and Wednesday holed up in a coffee shop near Jacob's place, doing whatever classwork I can and preparing for my Equal Justice Works interviews.
And, so off I go. Pray for me. Wish me luck. Tell me I should consider other career opportunities.
I don't always end with a song quote like Mike, but as I head out of Durham, the words of Nellie McKay (in a mix CD I need to send out) pop into my head:
"Goodbye little zip code
How can I go wrong?"
- Nellie McKay, "Change the World"
posted by Ben at
10:33 AM
3 Comments:
You're gonna do great, Ben!! Nevertheless, good luck. I'll be shooting up plenty of prayers about EJW this week (as a fellow attendee), so I'll be sure to include your job search in these prayers.
By
Anonymous, at 10/23/2005 5:21 PM
If you happen to hear of any good jobs for computer scientists or at least people with a computer science/English background while you're up there, let me know. Because if we both ended up in D.C., that would kick serious amounts of ass.
By
Mike, at 10/24/2005 7:31 PM
Oh, and also, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you, though as I've often said, anyone who doesn't want to hire you given your qualifications is insane. And not in the good way.
By
Mike, at 10/24/2005 7:32 PM
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