Intelligence, Please…

JANUARY
The beginning of 2008 was a little rough for me. My girlfriend of over two years and I parted ways, albeit amicably, and this was very difficult for me. I knew by this point that I would be going to Washington for the summer, and I thought in the back of my mind “If she and I make it through this summer being apart from each other, I should marry her, for our relationship will have survived a tremendous stress and she would most definitely then be a keeper.” In retrospect, though, nothing could have been better…for both of us. I cannot thank the Almighty enough for looking out for me when I couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) look out for myself. My efforts to intentionally remain single since, albeit falteringly or under half-steam on occasion, continue to show me the destructive nature of my “bachelorous” tendencies, and the growth I have undergone since this time last year in this area of my life cannot be quantified. For this, I am truly grateful.

I also took my first stand against the liberal machine at Belmont University last January, submitting an opinion editorial to the Belmont Vision which responded to Dr. Mark McEntire, Assistant Professor of Religion, who had alleged in a previous edition of the Vision that, by inviting Minutemen Civil Defense Corps founder Chris Simcox to campus to give a presentation on illegal immigration, my friends and I had exercised poor judgment and were social miscreants and troublemakers. I am delighted that the Chair of Political Science joined me in offering his dissent to Dr. McEntire, too. You can find our pieces on pages 11 and 12, respectively, by clicking here.

FEBRUARY
What a time February was for politics! I joined several of my compatriots from Belmont University in a trip to Washington, DC to attend the 2008 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Over the course of just a few short days, I made friends which (I hope) will be with me forever.  From waking up at…scratch that, from not going to sleep so I could see President Bush speak at 7am to snapping gratuitous cleavage shots of Ann Coulter at her book signing to hearing David Horowitz weigh in on academic freedom on college campuses, this weekend was an incredible experience for anyone to the right of center.

MARCH
My friend and mentor at Belmont University, Dr. Vaughn May, Chair of Political Science, announced his engagement to his girlfriend Whitney. I couldn’t be happier for the pair, as they have now been married over six months, and their generosity toward me, to each other, and to the Belmont community is indeed humbling. Vaughn was also very gracious in agreeing to be the Chief Faculty Advisor to the Right Aisle Review, a conservative and libertarian newspaper my friends and I founded in the fall of 2007. He helped us spearhead our efforts, going to bat for us with the administration at Belmont and in cultivating support from other faculty members (the school requires us to have three advisors at all times — and by “us” I mean “The Right Aisle Review,” whereas other student groups need only one).

Also during March, Senator John S. McCain (R-AZ) clinched the GOP nomination for his 2008 Presidential bid. I was not a McCain supporter; rather, I began as a Fred Thompson supporter and transitioned into a Mitt Romney supporter (a best candidate to most electable candidate switch). Over the course of time, especially as the Democratic primaries dragged on and now-President-elect Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) held the national stage to talk about and really publicize their issues, I became aware of the perfect storm brewing for conservatives of all stripes everywhere. It was not long before I was a McCain supporter, if only by default, and if only to vote against whoever the other guy turned out to be. Truthfully, I was unsure of who the lesser of the evils was.

APRIL
April was jam-packed, so bear with me for a moment.

On April 1, in a regular-season matchup against the St. Louis Blues, the Nashville Predators trailed 3-2 in the third period. With their backs against the ropes, and rougly 6 or so minutes left in regulation, play was stopped for the final TV timeout of the game. For whatever reason — call it “Music City Magic” — I, along with 17,132 Predator fans, rose to my feet and began cheering the pressuring Predators. What began as typical after-play cheering soon morphed into a raucous din. Before long, every person in the building was on their feet, waving their “Growl Towel” and screaming their lungs out. The A/V team at the Sommet Center took notice and did not show any video clips or play any music, and the rink announcer Paul McCann shut off his microphone. For four straight minutes (what seemed like an eternity), Pred Nation stood behind their team and gave the Preds a “shot in the arm” (according to 3rd line Center #25 Jerred Smithson) and willed them to a 4-3 comeback victory over the Blues, as Defenseman #20 Ryan Suter and First-Line Center and Team Captain #19 Jason Arnott scored 9 seconds apart. Two days later, on April 3, the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Vancouver Canucks at Rexall Place in Alberta, and the Predators — the very same Predators who suffered drastic “fire-sale” roster cuts as former owner Craig Leipold sold the team to a local ownership group chaired by David Freeman, the very same Predators who pervaded hockey media as Leipold grappled with Research In Motion CEO Jim Balsillie and his slick attorney over deals to purchase the team (which included an under-handed move by Balsillie to begin taking season ticket deposits via Ticketmaster for a team called the “Hamilton Predators” — that’s Hamilton, Ontario where Balsillie just happens to own an arena), the very same Predators that the hockey world said “wouldn’t make it,” either to the playoffs or in the Nashville market — clinched their playoff berth for a fourth consecutive year. I have been to the Sommet Center for many a Predators game during the 11 years they have been in Nashville, and I have even been to some loud ones. But this four-minute standing ovation changed my life as a sports fan forever. The Predators are even using footage of the ovation in the team’s current pre-game promotional video, and the NHL filmed a commercial about the Predators, concluding with the message “For every goal…there are thousands of assists.” It is my great pleasure, as a fan, to be honored by the NHL in this way.

Also in April, the Right Aisle Review finally got off the ground and published its first edition. The RAR is a conservative and libertarian newspaper at Belmont University. It was the brainchild of a tightly-knit group of like-minded students who found themselves disgusted with the pervasiveness of social justice messages masked as “Christian Faith Development” in the school’s compulsory Convocation Curriculum — as if we somehow weren’t Christian enough if we didn’t subscribe to a particular value set propagated by senior administrators. Also, Belmont University has never had a political publication (of any ideological persuasion), and with the December 2007 announcement that Belmont had been selected to host the “town-hall” debate between the two major presidential nominees, the ground was fertile to launch such a project. I am proud to count myself among the organization’s founders, and I am equally proud of the support we have received from students and faculty alike. Hopefully we can keep momentum going into 2009 and begin expanding our grassroots efforts into other areas of campus life. We have done our best to assemble a voting bloc within the Student Government Association, many of us (yours truly included) getting themselves elected to seats in the Congress.

The Detroit Red Wings, who became the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, put my Predators to rest in six games of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. I was saddened by this, but if ever there was a season to revere as a moral victory, the 2007-2008 season was such a victory for the Nashville Predators.  The Predators gave the Red Wings more trouble than any other team in the playoffs, and I saw Dominik “The Dominator” Hasek play his last game ever. After giving up 3 or 4 goals to a hungry Predator team in Game 4 of the series, Detroit Head Coach Mike Babcock pulled Hasek from between the pipes and replaced him with backup keeper Chris Osgood, who went on to backstop the Wings to a Stanley Cup victory. I take great pleasure in knowing that my team, my boys, sent the Dominator into retirement, and that no other team could force Detroit to play six playoff games against them.

I was elected President of Belmont’s chapter of the Tennessee College Republicans, which is a member of the College Republican National Committee. I was (and still am) a little unsure of this, because I have dedicated so much of my time and passion to the RAR, and I sometimes wonder if I am doing the chapter a disservice by remaining its leader, when someone younger and more eager to grow it might be willing to take the helm.

Finally, on April 30, I celebrated the third anniversary of my last drink. I continue to be humbled by the support I have received from friends and family as I continue along the path in my journey through life. One day at a time, my life has become far bigger, better, and richer than I ever could have dreamed for myself. You know who you are, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

MAY
After receiving word that I had made the Dean’s List for the second consecutive semester, I celebrated by getting a tattoo — my sixth (by chance, the biggest one I have) — before shipping out to Washington, DC for a summer as a student intern. During the month of May, I lived in an apartment in Rockville, MD with students from the Universities of Kentucky and Miami (FL), and took the Metro 40 minutes into the heart of DC every morning to participate in a two-and-a-half week seminar on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The seminar was hosted by The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars (TWC), the very company who helped place me with a non-profit information technology trade association in Arlington, VA for the duration of the summer. You can read my blog from the seminar, including reports on various visits with ambassadors and policy experts, as well as some of the documentation drafted by me and about thirty other students during a mock negotiation, by clicking here.

Me with His Excellency Imad Moustapha, Syrian Ambassador to the US

(from left to right): US State Department Official David Staples (Near Eastern Affairs Desk), me, US State Department Analyst Alon Sachar (Near Eastern Affairs Desk)

Me with Israeli Embassy Liaison to the US Congress David Siegel

Me at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (cameras not allowed inside; take my word for it when I say that it was GORGEOUS)

JUNE
Once the Camp David III seminar had passed, I moved from Rockville, MD to Arlington, VA, where I lived the rest of the summer with students from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Iowa (the Iowan kid was WEIRD). I began work for the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) with a graduate student from the University of Kentucky. He and I worked in the Public Sector Group of the association under the Senior Director of Federal and Homeland Security Programs and the Vice President of Federal Government programs, depending on the legislative and regulatory business of the day, and the association’s policy priorities. From NASA to cybersecurity to ranking presidential nominees Barack Obama and John McCain on their respective campaigns’ uses of technology, I learned more about the world of IT and federal technology policy than I thought possible for a summer. It was a real privilege to work with Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) in founding the first-ever Cyber Security Caucus on Capitol Hill and with members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (chaired by Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT)) on a bill which sought to reform FISMA 2002. Many other activities in which I was engaged at ITAA helped catapult cybersecurity to the forefront of national political dialogue via the campaigns.

Me with TWC students in the office of Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN 5), my Congressman

I also took a train one weekend from Union Station to Wilmington, DE where my brother met me and took me to Middletown, DE.  My brother lives in Middletown, which is home to Saint Andrew’s School where my brother works as the Associate Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, in addition to being a proud member of the Class of 2000. To give you an idea as to the beauty inherent in this part of Delaware, Dead Poet’s Society was filmed at the school. Yep, my brother wakes up to that beautiful campus every day. It is a rarity to see my brother, who left home to attend SAS after the 8th grade, spent his summers as a camp counselor, and went straight to Villanova University where he earned a BA in Economics before heading out into the “real world.” We spent the weekend doing a LOT of fishing, eating like kings, and laughing about our family. I am so blessed to have such a character for a kid brother.

This was apparently the biggest pickerel my brother had ever seen come out of Noxontown Pond.

Morgan with a nice little smallmouth bass. Who catches the biggest fish? That's right, I do.

JULY
While I continued to work at ITAA in July, I also took a course entitled The Congressional Arena at the Ballston campus of Marymount University as part of TWC’s requirement for successful completion of the summer internship program.  Taught by John Forkenbrock, Executive Director of the National Association of Federally-Impacted Schools (NAFIS) and a 20-something year Capitol Hill veteran, the course explained, in more detail than I think I probably cared for, the ins-and-outs of the Federal Budget-making process, including Nixonian-era history and modern-day processes. John promised me that, since he taught me what “reconciliation” is, I now know more about the federal budget process than 90% of staffers on the Hill. I’ll take your word for it, John. As part of the course, I had to write a strategy memo — fictitious in nature, of course — which would demonstrate my understanding of the legislative process and which demonstrated the potential to maximize issue influence on a member, committee, or bill. I received the only perfect mark he has ever given on that assignment in his years of teaching. If you’re lucky, I’ll post it here one day.

I celebrated my 28th birthday in July. This may mean nothing to a lot of you, but it meant two things to me: first, that I was now getting “old,” and second, that, given the momentous celebration of April 30, it was another milestone for a guy who once thought he wouldn’t live to see 25. My parents flew to DC for the weekend and went sightseeing with me (my recommendation here goes to the Newseum, a 6-story museum about American journalism in the heart of the District on Pennsylvania Avenue, between the Capitol and the White House — be warned though that the price of admission is $20; in any other city, you wouldn’t think twice about spending this on a museum ticket, but it’s a little off-putting in DC where virtually every other museum is free; nonetheless I submit that the money is well-spent here) and then took me to dinner at Morton’s Steak House in Georgetown. One of my dorm mates from prep school in Massachusetts, who now lives and works in DC, joined us for an evening of great food and even better conversation. My BEST friend and his wife, who live in Alexandria, VA, could not make it — his father’s birthday was the same weekend, so he and his wife flew to Chicago to celebrate with his father.

And speaking of my BEST friend, I had a helluva summer hanging out with him and his lovely wife. It was my great honor to be his Best Man at his wedding in August 2007 (I even cried at the reception as I gave a speech that was supposed to embarrass him), but it was even cooler to hang out on the weekends with him. We took boats out on the Potomac just about every weekend, and although we never caught anything (not that I think we would have wanted to in the Potomac) we tried our hands at fishing several times.

Fishing on the Potomac with my BEST friend and brother from another mother, Scott

AUGUST
The end of the summer was somewhat bittersweet. While I was glad to return to Nashville, I knew that I “fit” in DC; from the pace of the activity to the cultural offerings to the work I did to the political atmosphere which inheres in it, I felt for the first time in my short life that I knew where I was supposed to be (although I am a long way from hammering out what I am supposed to do). My TWC program ended early in the month, but I stayed behind for an extra week to house-sit for one of my supervisors at ITAA and to celebrate my BEST friend’s birthday and first wedding anniversary with him and his lovely wife. I remember flirting with our waitress at the Melting Pot in Ballston while concurrently explaining to them why it is I shouldn’t date right now, and how they prodded me to continue dating. There may have even been a bicycle-riding metaphor in there somewhere (read: “you don’t learn if you quit trying after falling off”).

Happy Anniversary Scott and Jennie!

Enjoying a little fondue at the Melting Pot in Ballston

I returned to Nashville with about 10 days before classes began but my work was far from done. I had spent part of July planning a “Welcome Back” edition of the Right Aisle Review along with my Editor-in-Chief and working on a budget and grant proposal with my Chief Financial Officer. It was time to get out the editing goggles and go to work with the 20-something submissions we had received from our staff writers. Several grueling days later, we were ready to publish about 3 days after classes began. I don’t think anyone at Belmont expected us to a) survive, if not b) improve. We did both, and the RAR has enjoyed a lot of success this year. I am privileged to work with such a motivated group of people, and when I reflect back on my experience at Belmont some years from now, I will remember founding and helping to manage this enterprise with warm gooey feelings.

I met with Belmont’s President’s wife, who had asked me and the president of the College Democrats (who has enriched my life in so many inestimable ways — thanks, Meeshers — and who has challenged my politics and my character and who has helped me want to be a better individual for its own sake, and whom I now trust with personal struggles and count among my closest friends) to speak to a gathering of Trustee spouses shortly before classes began. She and I were not friends before this day; suffice it to say that a) I think most of the unfriendliness was my fault, and b) that I grew up a little in the nation’s capital. She calls it a “great bipartisan effort;” I call it an opportunity I’m glad I took to join her in being an ambassador for the student body to the Trustees and their wives as Debate ‘08 approached and to begin forging the wonderful friendship that has blossomed as we have tried to figure each other out through the many activities in which we are involved together. She also tries to set me up regularly with her friends (a true measure of her trust in me), but I think she’s starting to know better. I was also humbled by the President’s wife asking me to speak to Trustee families after I became part of the default voice of the Right on campus through a sort of “lightning-rod” publication like the RAR (read: taking a chance on an unlit powder keg). We (RAR) are more muted now, but our inaugural issue had some ideological teeth in it!

SEPTEMBER
With classes in full swing, a successful RAR recruitment drive capped off with a handful of new members, and regular meetings with administrators to plan for Debate ‘08, it was time for the Nashville Predators to get back to work. My dad and I visited the practice facility on several of the days of Training Camp, hoping to get a glimpse of some of the rookie prospects. I met starting Goaltender #39 Dan Ellis one morning, which was a real treat for a superfan like me. It was fun to shake his hand and say “Welcome back to work.” I also met up with HockeyBuzz.com blogger Brandon Felder (see the blogroll to the right) and got to chat about some of the drills and players. I also met up with several other Predators fans, this time from the Twitterverse, some of the regular posters on the @PredFans account, including @pwnicholson and his wife @clarasax. Yes, it was getting to be hockey time in Tennessee! It wasn’t until later in the season that I met the likes of @codeyh and his wife. But I have had a great time bouncing around forums and the Twitterverse with this crew (among many others too numerous to mention here) — they are just as much a part of brightening my daily doldrums as some of the philosophy texts I read.

Meeting Goaltender #39 Dan Ellis at Nashville Predators Training Camp 2008

OCTOBER
Wow, where to begin with October! Hockey season was back and everything was right with the world all of a sudden! I also volunteered for Debate ‘08 for five straight 7am-9pm days, working with three other students under CNN’s Special Events Coordinator. As the result of our hard work, all four of us got to attend the debate! The debate itself was kind of disappointing, but to be immersed in the experience is something I will tell my great-grandchildren about, should I ever be so lucky as to have any! I appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on the day of the debate with the president of the College Democrats to field questions from callers all over the country wanting to know more about the candidates and the debate itself. Both of us also did brief spots for MSNBC and FOX News Atlanta. I was blown away by the school’s faith and confidence in me to be an ambassador for the school to literally the entire world, who was focused in on the then-upcoming debate. The highlight of debate day was, without doubt, meeting John and Cindy McCain. Again, I was a supporter by default, but it was an honor to shake hands with a senior statesman, and Cindy McCain is every bit as elegant in person as she appears on television.

(from left to right): Cindy McCain, Belmont University President Dr. Robert Fisher, Belmont University Sophomore and RAR Managing Editor Eric Deems, Senator John S. McCain (R-AZ), and me

In late October, the Right Aisle Review published its second edition of the year, a sort of post-debate/ pre-election edition, featuring an opinion article by yours truly offering policy recommendations regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for whomever eventually won the bid for the White House.

The post-debate/ pre-election cover

NOVEMBER
It is difficult to talk about November without mentioning the election. Obviously, my candidate of choice did not win. But in all honesty, I think both parties failed the American people in nominating the worst possible candidates. I listened with great earnest as President-elect Barack Obama told me in his acceptance speech that he knew I did not vote for him and that he would be my president too. At this point, the only thing that makes him my president is the US Constitution, but I will wait patiently and respectfully as the legacy of his presidency unfolds to make final judgments. At the end of the day, I am eternally grateful to live in a country where political power changes hands regularly and peacefully.

I spent Thanksgiving this year away from home for only the second time in my life; the first time I was a teenager in a hospital, but this time I flew to Chicago to meet my BEST friend and his wife and to spend the holiday with his parents, who have been like a second family to me since the moment I met them in 1997. We had great fun tooling around the city, taking goofy photographs, and I probably could have spent an entire week at the Museum of Science and Industry. Were it not for having a living, breathing nuclear family of my own, I cannot imagine better company to join in offering my thanks to God for the many blessings in my life.

Scott and me at one of Chicago's landmarks, the Water Station thingy on Michigan Avenue

DECEMBER
Even this last month has been one of dynamic changes in my life. After attempting 18 hours for the first time in nearly ten years of bouncing in and out of college, I still managed to earn five A’s and a B, maintaining my spot on Belmont’s Dean’s List for the third straight semester. I was crushed by the weight of self-doubt as the semester began, thinking surely I would fuck something up along the way. Certainly I have endured my share of personal trials, but everyone involved, including me, seems to have come through relatively unscathed (or at least not bleeding, at any rate). I am constantly amazed at how much bigger and better God’s plans for my life are for me than those which I concoct for myself. I am grateful for old friends who have continued to champion my personal successes, and exceptionally grateful for new friends at Belmont — the school where I always figured if I could just keep people at arm’s length and mind my own business while I finished my degree (finally), everything would be fine. Again, I am SO grateful that God put just the right people, at just the right time, with just the right information into my life to teach me about me. You know who you are, and I love you from the bottom of my heart.

Christmas was exceptional this year. My brother came home for the first time in a few years, and my baby sister who works for Holland America Cruise Lines and spends her days at sea, travelling the world, also came home. My older sister lives here and Nashville, as do my parents. For the first time in a long time (dare I say first time ever?), despite all of our idiosyncracies and interpersonal dynamics, I felt like we were going to be okay; we are going to make it as a family. Santa Claus was, of course, very good to me (or bad depending on how you take it), loading me up with books I will used when I write my senior thesis in political science this semester. I want to know if all this internet-in-politics hype is everything people are making it out to be. Will web 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis, social networking tools, and social media outlets) really re-democratize American politics? Will people really take advantage of the wealth of information now available to them for the cost of a cheap computer and an internet connection (and in many cases, just a cell phone with a comprehensive data plan) and make more informed choices about policies and candidates? Will voter turnout increase? Or will career politicians learn how to leverage the technologies and continue to wield a paralyzing grip of power over an apathetic and unsophisiticated population? Will these online tools just become the very same echo chambers that traditional media outlets have become? Will we be stuck at square-zero forever? Certainly Barack Obama showed the world the potential for the internet to connect people and disseminate messages…but if the Republicans learn to do it too, will it stick? The philosophy thesis (I am a double-major) will be more difficult because I have a few starting points but no questions to ask. It seems like I just sort of absorb philosophy and take a lot of it at face value. The few topics with which I have approached my instructors are too big for undergraduate work or have been answered in a myriad of previous academic discourses. Not helping things is my nearly limitless scope of interest in philosophical topics. Perhaps I will do something in philosophy of mind — who knows?

Finally, to cap off the year, I spent New Year’s Eve with people who are just like me, doing what we do best: standing around, drinking coffee, and making complete fools of ourselves stone-cold sober.

WHAT DOES 2009 HOLD IN STORE?
That seems to be the million dollar question right now. Rumor has it that I will soon be inducted into Belmont’s Gamma chapter of the Phi Sigma Tau Philosophy Honors Society. Rumor also has it that, if I play my cards right, I might finally finish college. I am presently buried under a mountain of graduate school applications, the first of which is due Monday, January 5 and I should probably be working on it instead of this. But I digress. I want very much to move back to Washington and strike out on a career in the federal policy world, be it in government or in the private sector. My experiences in the summer of this year opened my eyes to a world below the surface of what we read in the paper or hear on the nightly newscast. I seemed to thrive in DC, and I hope the plan for my life includes a tenure there, even if only for a few years. I will be applying to seven or eight schools in an attempt to earn a Master’s of Public Policy. Where that takes me or whether or not it happens remains to be seen. In any case, I have reached a point in my life where the things I have to complain about disappear frequently over a cup of coffee, and that the possibilities seem limitless. Thank you for coming along with me on this reflexive little project. Now, as they say, “Onward and upward!”