Week 7:
U.S. Conference of Mayors

July 15, 2014

Monday:

Annnnnnd we’re right back at it! Now that the holiday is over and we’re far enough from the annual meeting that people need to start doing stuff (it has been very laid back around here the past two weeks!), the office is buzzing again. This is the week where I’m going to be putting together a rough draft of my paper, as I only have a few weeks left and this will take some time. The structure is an introduction, a section on early childhood education, a section on the minimum wage, and then a conclusion. The paper will probably have to be heavily footnoted because the material is so stat-heavy.

What’s exciting about this paper is that it’s more than just writing a research paper. Dave and I are going to be deciding what message we want to craft, what we want our key findings to be, how we want to display those and what format will best suit our purposes. The audience is the mayors at the August 11 meeting in New York, and from there, we have autonomy to shape the message however we feel will best meet the needs of the meeting. I’ve had experience at Cornell putting together meetings and conferences where I am able to shape the message, but now I’m putting those skills – picking out what’s important and relevant – to use in a project that has policy implications. Dave and I aren’t sure where exactly my paper fits in to the meeting, or, quite frankly, if it will fit in at all, but it will be nice to produce a product that can be of real use.

Tuesday-Friday:

Income inequality! I won’t get into the ins and outs of what I’m writing, but I will say that I’m looking at three pre-k programs, and all have had positive results in terms of children’s test scores – not terribly surprising! I’m also looking at a few policy studies for minimum wage, along with some academic papers. Dave has said that this paper should be more academic-based, which plays to my advantage, as my final class this year at Cornell was Methods of Public Policy Analysis, where we used data to answer questions and write academically. Dave has been working with me by conceptualizing and then guiding me as I fill the paper with the pertinent information.

Other than the paper, Dave, David and I keep up on Nationals Baseball, the World Cup, and all other headlines and news stories. Those conversations are some of my favorite, because they are informing, about the topics and the people speaking about them!

A new development that started rolling on Thursday was the involvement of some other players in our early education portion of the paper. Crystal Swan is our health staff person, who also is in charge of topics related to children under the age of 5. As pre-k is generally for 4-year-olds, this is an area that Crystal may be able to get involved in and help us out with information. She came down to Dave’s office, and I presented the ideas and structure of my paper to get some feedback. She is a great resource, and was able to give some directing advice and new places to look for information. Dave is also planning a meeting with Susan, voluntary pre-k school organizer for Jacksonville, who has given us data (that I can use in my paper!) and will be able to explain it to us. The education pieces are moving!

Outside of work, this was my first week going to Jazz in the Garden, and I quite enjoyed it. There are live musicians playing jazz at the Smithsonian sculpture garden, and you can go and grab some drinks and enjoy the smooth music and nice weather! I went with a few girls from the small group I joined, and it was delightful. Listening to jazz while sipping from a $6.50 cup of sangria does seem slightly elitist, but it was fun and the atmosphere wasn’t uppity at all.

Saturday

When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! Parker and I were determined to hit a beach, so we road-tripped it over to Ocean City, Maryland, for the pristine 10-mile Ocean City beach. Tommy came along, and we set out on a 3-hour journey eastward to the coast. The drive was beautiful; a lot of the Maryland countryside was farmland, and Parker and I joked about being back in Iowa quite a bit. Once we hit the beach, we ate our packed lunches and hit the waves! They were small, but this was my first time in the ocean and in salt water, so I never would have known that those waves were especially small if Parker hadn’t told me. We did the thing where you jump into the wave and let it carry you into shore – it was exhilarating and all I want to do now is go to the Pacific Ocean to catch some real waves. It was a great day at the beach, complete with a southern barbecue dinner and plenty of Luke Bryan, thanks to Parker.

Sunday:

GERMANY WINS!