Another project that I will be undertaking is creating an addition to the website so that there will constantly be updates to "Reagan in the Midwest" on the Sagamore website. There are already some links that lead to some Eureka- related pages but I will be starting a trend of essays in a way. I don't know if essay is the right word but it is the first to come to mind. On each one I will dive into certain characteristics of Reagan, how they were learned while he was in the Midwest and reiterate the importance of those values for those in leadership positions. I will not only be focusing on Reagan but Abraham Lincoln will be getting just as much attention, if not more. So it is like "Lincoln and Reagan in the Midwest." Also Jay hinted of me possibly connecting Eureka and Sagamore in even deeper ties, but no more on that for now.
Also I will be helping out for the upcoming Office Depot Foundation event but I need to get more information on that first before I begin to speak about it.
I left Sagamore at 5 PM on Friday, arrived back home around 5:30 put on some jeans and then was picked up by Brian and we headed to Grace Community Church for the fundraiser event for ULICAF (United Liberia Inland Church Associates & Friends) in order to support Dr. Sei Buor and hear Ambassador Bull speak again. The fundraiser started at 6:30 and ended around 9:15. At the fundraiser I was able to eat some Liberian food and it was delicious! I arrived back at home around 10 exhausted.
On Saturday I decided to go to the Indianapolis Museum of Art and it was a pretty nice museum. I found it very interesting to go to the West Africa section and check out all of the Liberian artifacts now that I have had the pleasure of meeting many Liberians! It was a pretty nice museum but I believe the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art) is actually better. Just my own thought. I explored downtown Indy after that, went and saw a movie and then went to sleep. On Sunday I went grocery shopping and did some things that needed to be handled in Eureka.
Today I went into work as usual and began to dive into my first project of creating a memo for Assignment Detroit. I met Jarrod, another intern who was on vacation last week who is majoring in Economics and minoring in PoliSci, so the inverse of my studies. I worked on the Detroit project until about 4 PM until my assistance was needed to help set up for tonight's event.
Tonight Byron Johnson, the author of More God, Less Crime: Why Faith Matters and How It Could Matter More. He signed my copy of the book and I spoke with him for a few minutes. He actually collaborated with Jay back when he worked in the White House. His presentation was good and I was the only intern to stick around for it so they let me be the "clicker" for his powerpoint. He was a very kind and genuine guy. I read a few chapters of it and from his overview of it I know it is a good read. It reminded me of taking Dr. Thurwanger's honor seminar class about the prison system. Byron Johnson spoke about recidivism and has solid research that truly proves Christian faith dramatically lowers those rates as well as the importance of establishing mentors for prisoners that will keep them accountable once the exit the prison system. The mentor should be someone they knew while in prison in order to have a sustained relationship and someone who will "keep them in check." There are many arguments by the academic world that it religion does not belong in prisons or that there is a separation between church and state but whether someone is and atheist or Christian they should realize that THIS WORKS. Nothing else ever has and there is solid evidence for his theory but the academic world, who claims to be open-minded, actually becomes a walking contradiction when they close their minds to new ideas that actual show results. I recommend you read this book.
After the presentation I stayed after in order to help clean up and it ended up being Beverly and myself. Jay and Byron were leaving and he told Beverly and I to take a half of a day off sometime this week since we stayed so late. I don't think I am going to take the offer honestly, there's so much to do. Beverly and I left around 8:30 and I arrived home around 9. I watched a documentary called Grown in Detroit that is about a school in the city that is for girls who are raising children or are pregnant. It boasts a 90 percent graduation rate and the girls of the school can take their children there and they teach them about urban agriculture and how to profit from it as well as feed their children. It was truly and eye-opening film.
It is 10:50 right now and I am exhausted. For the most part all of the exciting events are done with for the remainder of my time here and the rest will be focused on research. There are pros and cons to that.
Also check out the Sagamore website! I am now under the "Interns" tab with a bio! I apologize if there are grammatical errors but I am honestly too mentally drained to go through this post and attempt to correct them! SagamoreInstitute.org
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