Today I had a long-awaited opportunity to cover the White House. I had a chance to shoot the Bushes coming back from the ranch in Crawford, TX.

My supervisor got my security clearance this afternoon. I was supposed to be to the White House an hour and a half early, so after clearing security I had plenty of time to get familiar with the press office and chat with other journalists. I enjoyed reading the letters and news cuttings posted on people’s desks or on the bulletin board.
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Yesterday, I began the process of saying goodbyes for the week. My roommate, Jake, left Wednesday morning to go to a student legislature conference. Jake and I developed a close friendship over the summer, so it was sad to see him head back west.

Tonight I will start packing my belongings to come home. It will be very good to be back in Greenville, although I will miss the fast pace here. Tomorrow is our graduation ceremony with Elaine Chao, the Secretary of Labor, as the speaker. My program director asked me to give the invocation to open the graduation program.

Monday I went to the annual meeting of Le Club des Chefs de Chefs. The organization has to have such a fancy name because its members are the personal chefs of world leaders. Last night they gathered at the Willard InterContinental Hotel and prepared their leader’s favorite dishes.
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At the beginning of this month the Washington MTA enacted a fare hike for subway and bus transportation. The base fare went from $1.20 to $1.35. Unfortunately I was too busy at the time to protest, go on a hunger strike, or even get seriously annoyed.
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After lunch Sunday I went with about six other students out to McLean, Virginia for a tour of USA Today. After a lengthy subway ride and transfer to metro bus we arrived at the stunning 1,491,000 square foot Gannett-USA Today headquarters. The glass-walled building is made up of two office towers connected at the bottom by an airy atrium.

The complex boasts a fitness center, masseuse, grill, salad bar, deli, two Starbucks, a bank, a gift shop, and a travel agent. The scale of the building and quality of the décor create an impressive image.
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Thursday was a great day. For the first time this summer, I had visitors from Greenville. Actually, the excitement began Wednesday evening when my dad arrived in town so that he could make it to a Thursday morning meeting. I spent the night with him at the Capital Hilton, which gave me access to a continental breakfast and put me closer to my office. Although we knew that we should be getting to bed or doing homework (respectively), Dad and I kept each other up pretty late enjoying each other’s company.

That afternoon, I met up with my aunt, uncle, and cousin–the Lohr family. The Lohrs were in Virginia for a bell choir convention in Norfolk. They very kindly treated my friend Eric and I to supper in the food court at the Ronald Reagan building. Eric and I very much enjoyed the time we had with the Lohrs.

Last week students from AACS-affiliated schools around the country assembled for the Youth Legislative Training Conference at the Leadership Institute. Gail Nicholas of BJ Academy was the sponsor for South Carolina, and her delegation was largely from BJA. I had hoped to catch up with the group, but my work and class schedule didn’t permit.

Michael Murphy, a teacher at BJA, was vacationing with his family in DC as well as joining the Academy group for some of their activities. After I finished my economics final exam Thursday night–a reason to rejoice in itself–I headed over to Arlington to see Michael. We hadn’t talked for some time, and several hours blew by as we sat in the lobby of a Hilton Garden Inn and caught up.

I’m sorry I have been so delinquent in my blogging (and virtually all other communications) recently. My academic workload peaked this week. The good news is that now it’s over. I have completed my classwork. Thursday night I had my last final. It was a challenging econ test with maybe a half-dozen essay questions. It took me 2 hours and 20 mins to complete.

Over the next few days I will work to update DC Report with news and photos from the last week or so. There have been some exciting events!

One thing that makes DC unique is that it manages to keep a small city feel despite its size. I love that I often see friends and fellow interns as I work around the city. More than once I have run into tourists multiple times in different parts of the city.

Last Sunday I had another “small town” encounter. On my way back from church I met two guys in a Metro station near Georgetown that graduated from BJU (in 2000 and 2003). I recognized the younger guy from one of my philosophy classes. Both graduates are now in law school and were in DC for a conference.
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On Thursday (July 14) I took a tour of the Washington Bureau of the Associated Press. I’ve always found AP interesting because it so ubiquitous. You could accuse AP of having monopoly power, although I haven’t seen evidence that they abuse their position in the industry.

I learned quite a bit from the tour. One thing I didn’t know is that AP is actually a non-profit newspaper cooperative. Virtually every major newspaper in the country is a member of the cooperative. AP’s structure has evolved over time, so that today other groups–like online news sites–can also subscribe to AP news service. The Associated Press is also much older than I realized. It was founded in 1848. AP likes to brag that the standard transcript of the Gettysburg address was recorded by an AP reporter.
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Late Wednesday afternoon former President Bill Clinton had a book signing at the Barnes and Noble at 12th and E Street. Individuals had reportedly been waiting in line since the night before to get their books signed. Many fans camped out with lawn chairs, umbrellas, and coolers. As I was leaving work I decided to stop in to see how difficult media access was at the event. Although the event staffers were very hyper, I was able to get signed in and through security in less than 10 minutes. I was escorted behind a curtain and onto the photographer’s shooting gallery.
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Wednesday we had our first site briefing of the summer. The briefing covered the White House, although the event was actually held in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building because our group was too large to fit in the White House press room. Our first speaker was White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett. Bartlett was introduced to us as the youngest man to have walk-in privileges to the Oval Office. Bartlett worked for Karl Rove’s consulting company in Texas and through that experience got involved with George W. Bush’s gubernatorial campaign. He has stayed with the President ever since.

Bartlett manages all aspects of White House communication, both responding to breaking news and shaping the long-range strategic communications of the administraton. These responsibilities are broken up among the White House Press Office, and the Office of Media Affairs, Communications, Speechwriting, and Global Communications.
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This weekend was a whirlwind. After the wedding I spent Friday and Saturday night at home. Sunday I expected to head back north with John and Darla. As we were preparing to leave town Sunday morning word came that Charlotte Moore had been born to Mike and Deanna Moore. John and Darla and I decided to go to Columbia, SC, to see the newborn instead of going directly to DC.

Thanks to an amazingly low fare from Delta I decided to fly back to Washington from Columbia, sparing John and Darla an extra four-hour leg on their trip. I was able to catch up on a lot of reading for class during the two flights. My travel itinerary going from Greenville to DC was somewhat amusing: Greenville > Columbia > Cincinnati > Washington/Dulles > Falls Church > Georgetown.

Back at Georgetown I had Monday off which was a great chance to get caught up on things.

Last week I saw my work in print for the first time this summer. My photos ran in the Chicago Tribune and the Boston Globe. A photo of filmmaker Michael Moore ran in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, June 25, on the back of Section A. I don’t have a hard copy of the Boston Globe yet, but a photo of one of DC’s pandas ran in the Sunday, June 27, edition on page A17. My photo illustrated a story by a fellow writing intern.

Working for a news wire, I have the advantage of broad exposure. Newspapers around the country could potentially use my photos. The only disadvantage is that I have no way of knowing who uses my photos unless I happen to see the photo in print. I found the photo in the Chicago Tribune, and a coworker vacationing in New England spotted the Boston Globe story. So that is to say, keep an eye out in your local paper. You may see a photo in print before I do. Let me know if you spot any photos credited to Michael Collins / KRT.

This weekend I ran home to Greenville for a day and half. My brother and sister-in-law were kind enough to let me ride down with them, so I was able to be here for the marriage of Stephen St John and Rebekah Ogorzalek Friday night.

It’s very good to be home. I have enjoyed being with my family, seeing friends at the wedding, and sleeping in my own bed. I am sorry that the brevity of my visit hasn’t allowed me to catch up with more family and friends.

There is now a new gallery with a sampling of my news photos from the past several weeks. Included are my first photos of a head of state, coverage of Bill Clinton’s book release, the Michael Moore press conference, and James Dobson speaking at the National Press Club luncheon.

As is the case with my other news galleries, not all of these photos have run on the KRT wire.