A cup made from plants?

We had a group lunch at The Brown Bag this afternoon, which is just a few minutes walk from our office. The food was very good, but a little pricey (like most places here), and as I was drinking my iced tea I noticed that the disposable plastic cup said it was environmentally sustainable and "made entirely from plants." I didn't even know such a thing existed.

High fructose corn syrup and mercury

The FDA found quantities of mercury in high fructose corn syrup, a "natural" sweetener that is used in nearly every packaged and processed food we eat.

The topic hasn't had much coverage yet. The Washington Post and U.S. News & World Report both ran short stories recently.

Go to this Web site. Really.

MediaStorm.

Getting picked up

A few smallish news Web sites have picked up some of my stories, AXcess News and Kansas City infoZine. All of our stories go on the foundation's Web site, and then if we're lucky, they show up elsewhere.
Jody said the only way we can be sure of whether our stories get picked up is to Google ourselves occassionally. I'll keep checking.

Richard Avedon exhibit, JAWS

Sunday Diana and I saw Richard Avedon's exhibit Portraits of Power at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. It was the last day of the exhibit that opened in September. Unfortunately we arrived at 4:30 p.m. and the exhibit closed at 5, but because we arrived so late we weren't charged admission. We both really enjoyed the exhibit, though we had to rush through.

And coincidentally, Bridgette emailed this link to me because she thought I might like it.

Last night I went with a few of the other interns to the National Press Club to meet some of the D.C. area members of Journalism & Women Symposium, or JAWS. The group met at a bar called The Reliable Source to discuss inauguration experiences. I met some very impressive women including the ombuds(wo)man for NPR, Alicia Shephard, the Washington editor of Glamour Magazine, Linda Kramer Jenning, award-winning investigative reporter Roberta Baskin, and a staff write for The Washington Post, Pat Suillivan.

Friday

We had a staff meeting and office pizza party today. I think we were all a bit too excited about the concept of eating for free (everything here is more expensive than we're use to, including food).

Tonight after work we're going to an exhibit at Howard University called "The American President," an Associated Press photojournalism exhibit featuring some Pulitzer Prize winning photos. The event is free, too.

I'm so glad it's the weekend.

20th annual Scripps Howard Celbrity Superbowl Poll

Every year Scripps Howard News Service polls about 130 celebrities asking them which team they think will win the Super Bowl, their best guess at the final score and why. The poll is then published by about 300 newspapers and Web sites across the country during the few days before the Super Bowl.

We were each assigned three people to try to contact, some have participated in the past and will be easy to get ahold of, and some have not. My job is to contact Ringo Starr, Stephen Colbert and Dick Vitale.

Amazing.

Obama's inauguration

My inauguration experience was surreal. There were so many people who, despite the freezing cold, were completely joyous. I blogged about my entire day for The Detroit News.

Inauguration tickets

I went to Sen. Carl Levin's office earlier today to find people from Michigan who will be attending the inauguration tomorrow. The senator's office was open all day for people who needed to pick up their tickets. I interviewed a lot of very excited people, among them, Michigan state Senator Martha Scott and Michigan surgeon general Kimberlydawn Wisdom. I blogged about it for The Detroit News, too.

Now I'm back at the office. I just finished a story on a band from South Carolina that is marching in the parade tomorrow. The story will likely run in the Anderson Independent, a Scripps newspaper.

Because Metro will be slammed tomorrow, we are all sleeping at the office tonight. We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning to report on the day's events.

The pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial

We reported on the concert today, getting crowd reactions and photos from near the Washington Monument, which is about a mile from the Lincoln Memorial. The crowd was huge and it was difficult to get around, but I did get to talk to quite a few people from all over the country and the world.

One guy I interviewed was a student in the states, but a citizen of Nigeria. Another man from London said he came to D.C. just to be a part of what is "a moment of hope for the whole world." It was a lot of fun, but pretty tiring. Also, the crowd made riding Metro nearly impossible, so we walked with our frozen feet back to the office.

Street Sense and the pre-inaugural concert

I finished my first story yesterday. It was a preview of the inaugural parade and it highlighted a few of the more than 90 groups selected to march.

The other day I bought a copy of Street Sense for the suggested donation of $1. Street Sense is Washington's only newspaper written, produced and distributed by the homeless. Seventy-five cents goes to the vendor and 25 cents helps fund the production of the paper. The articles mostly focus on social issues and homelessness. It is one of about 25 papers of its kind across the country. The main article in this week's edition was about violence against the homeless, specifically the story of one homeless man who was killed while sleeping outside in December. The paper also highlighted a few of its staff members, telling their stories and successes since working for the paper. One staff member said he had been working for the paper for a few months and can now afford some sort of independent housing. I think Lansing would benefit from having a similar paper.

Today the group is going to cover the pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial. The concert will begin at about 2:30 p.m., though we will be arriving early to get photos, video and "crowd color."

The apartment

First impressions: Washington

I arrived in DC less than one week ago but, so much has happened since then, it feels much longer.
Monday was my first day of my internship with the Scripps Howard Foundation and it went very well. It was basically just a day-long orientation. I am one of six Scripps Howard interns. The office I work in is nice and I was happy to be assigned to a desk that looks out of a large, 10th floor window.

Tuesday we went to the Capitol and received our press passes. We toured the Senate and House chambers, rode the underground trains and had lunch at one of the Senate buffets. Before lunch we stood amidst reporters and photographers eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of Obama, on his way to a lunch with the Democratic caucus. While waiting we saw John Kerry and Joe Leiberman, and even more exciting, Hillary Clinton passed me in a crowded hall, and was just inches from me and the rest of the group!

Today we started our first stories, which are all previews of the inauguration and related events. I am working on a parade story, since I was given the foundation's only press pass for the inaugural parade on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I will not be attending the swearing-in ceremony.