Write Stuff Cafe

Seems a little odd to say to someone, “I’m interning for a lit magazine.” In March, I turn 50. Half-way to 100 as my daughter likes to remind me. The last time I referred to myself as an intern was in 1996. I was an intern during my college years at George Mason. I interned with a non-profit called Share Our Strength, an organization with a mission to fight hunger and poverty. When I was an intern, the organization was only about 10 years old. Now, I went back to read over what they have done since my time there. This organization has raised over $600 million dollars to fund all sorts of programs to help kids and families. In 2010, SOS launched the No Kid Hungry campaign, which has continued to be a successful program to raise money and awareness for vulnerable children and families.

I haven’t thought about my time as an intern in a very long time. I remember traveling into the small office space in DC, a young college kid, excited to travel into the city. I was instructed to sit in front of a big desktop computer and research different articles about hunger, poverty, nutrition, etc. I also had to read different newspapers, searching for information and research to help the organization. I remember hearing about the plans for Taste of the Nation, an event that had started in 1988 and had raised $250,000.

Now, SOS has grown and added way more staffing. They moved from the tiny office space that I spent time in to a building all their own on 15th Street. And I have grown and moved from VA to MA. In the between time, I have been back to DC many times to advocate for kids. And to visit my brother who lives there. I just realized that during my last advocacy trip, I visited Planet Word which is right down the street from Share Our Strength.

And now I am interning again. A little different this time. I don’t go into a tiny office. Instead, I open up my laptop and enter the Submittable office space, reading all different fiction and nonfiction pieces, trying to decide what their fate will be, publish or not publish. When I interned the first time, I was taking classes on the days I wasn’t at SOS. Now, I spend my days running a school, still advocating for kids. And I intern in the evenings or weekends.

Back in 1996, I took that first step into working with kids and families. Pretty amazing to look back on the path that those steps led me to. Now, I am taking first steps into the publishing world. Wonder where those steps will take me?