Home, Sweet Home

I made it back to Texas! Washington was great, but it’s always great to be back in the flat land of Lubbock. Obviously, I am going to greatly miss DC. The friendships I made there are fantastic, and I will certainly keep in touch with all of them. In addition, the lessons I learned in DC, about poverty, cultures, and just life in general, will certainly last a lifetime. Each day at my internship was tremendously interesting; I learned such important things about such an important issue. In addition, spending time with all of the friends I made there was great. It didn’t matter if we were at a museum, playing games, or just sitting around, we had fun through it all. I left my internship on fantastic terms and was told I have a letter of recommendation and a great reference whenever I want it, which is obviously a huge bonus. I have also met many fantastic and influential people, both at Cato and not, that can help me throughout my future. It will obviously take a while for the whole semester to sink in, but what has already hit me is how amazing of a semester it was. I am very blessed to have had this opportunity.

Thank you for letting me share my semester with you. I had a blast reflecting each week by writing these, and I hope you enjoyed reading them. It was great to hear everyone’s comments, stories, and advice as you related to me experiencing different cultures, doing research, and dealing with big city life!  Simply put, hearing all of these and having many people experience my semester with me made it truly unforgettable. Thank you for helping make this an unbelievable semester!

the great Cato crew!

Great friends and great roommates

My scholar, Michael Tanner, and me
Mike was fantastic the whole semester 

The Estate on the Potomac

Less than a week left! It’s crazy to think how quickly this semester passed. For my last weekend in DC, I went sightseeing outside of DC. On Sunday, we went to Mt. Vernon, George Washington’s estate. After spending so much time in the city over the last few months, it was very different to be in a place with open spaces (it may take a bit of time to get used to Texas again). On top of that, we were fortunate enough to get a nice day to see the estate. The entire place was very cool! While we would consider it fairly large by our current standards, it must have been massive in its day. The entire estate at Washington’s time was 8,000 acres, but it’s a *mere* 500 acres now. Going through the rooms of the mansion and around the grounds of the estate, I could definitely feel the heritage that was still present.

On the dock at Mount Vernon

There are many animals around the property, including sheep and even camels. Because of this and much more, I could definitely feel how different life must have been in his time. Finally, George Washington’s tomb is on the grounds. It was interesting to see how unique the tomb was, especially after seeing the tombs and graves at Arlington National Cemetery. It was most definitely worth the trip down, and the views across the Potomac toward Maryland from the back were spectacular.

            It’s going to be very difficult to leave Cato next week, as everyone has been spectacular and my work very interesting. After spending a couple of weeks away from my usual reading, it was nice to be back at it. Most of my reading this week was directed toward income and wealth inequality, specifically many discussions on Thomas Piketty’s very important 2014 book, Capital in the 21^st Century, a surprise New York Times best seller last year (I don’t know why, it’s a 700 page scholarly work that’s not exactly riveting). Nevertheless, many studies were broader than that, covering everything from capital flow through different classes to whether or not inequality itself has any adverse effect on the economy as a whole (I know, riveting). The subject of inequality is very broad, so the theories and studies cover a wide range of factors. As income inequality is perhaps the most divisive and salient issue in economics and policy today, reading and doing research on the topic certainly feels important.

Story of the Week: TWC is big on networking and its potential benefits. However, perhaps my greatest “networking” triumph has nothing to do with TWC’s idea of networking. Across the street from my apartment, there is a pizza and burger place. They cater well to having so many students so close, as they have half price pizza on weekdays before 6:00. After ordering on Friday, I asked for a drink and the lady behind the counter goes, “you come every week, this order’s on the house!” I calmly smiled and told her thank you, though I was celebrating on the inside (who wants to spend money?). Finally, my unbelievably consistent routine has paid off!