I performed a variety of office tasks while interning in the office of State Representative Lauren McNally. These included writing press releases and commendations, organizing lists of funding brought into the district or of contacts, reading and sorting the Representative’s mail, and other tasks. I was also occasionally asked to attend and take notes on advocacy meetings and presentations.

I think there was a moderately substantial value shift during my internship, wherein I gained a greater appreciation for “smaller things” about politics and the ways it can help people. In the absence of “larger” or more substantive legislative victories, which I discuss in more depth in the next section, it became more important than ever to take a sort of solace in these smaller victories, to learn to appreciate them as being worth the effort that was put into them. I obviously already appreciated the importance of small actions taken to help others, but I learned to individually cherish them more over the course of the internship, to not measure my/our success solely on the basis of sweeping legislative initiatives.

               While many individual legislators have wielded considerable power throughout American history, as in the cases of Lyndon Johnson or Mitch McConnell, I was instead interning for a rank-and-file Representative in the minority party. This is not to downplay in any way her commitment or her work on behalf of her district; I merely wish to illustrate the relative lack of power we had to affect Ohio’s direction. Our moderate legislative proposals were dead on arrival and our more ambitious policies were scarcely more than a fantasy. I was warned of this during my interview for the position.

               This doesn’t mean our work was worthless, though. While I was talking with Rep. McNally’s legislative aide, who served as my Consultant during my internship, we received a troubling call from a constituent. I do not recall the specifics, but she had been mistakenly billed back for several thousand dollars of benefits. Understandably, she was incredibly stressed by the whole thing, recounting her various attempts to get in contact with the right person before bursting into tears. I do vividly remember her gratitude at the aide’s efforts to ameliorate her situation, and it had a substantial impact on the way I viewed my internship going forward.

               Ultimately, I learned to take solace and enjoyment in these apparently “smaller” victories. A letter of gratitude from a constituent for a commendation that I helped write and mail out remains one of my fondest memories of the internship. I also recall being pleased with a press release from our office explaining certain important aspects of the P-EBT program, information that local journalists then hopefully conveyed to the public. These actions could hardly be considered headline news, but they were still actions I took with my limited power that positively affected people’s lives. Those actions were meaningful, and I got to experience that firsthand.

My ultimate career aspiration is to become a successful civil rights lawyer, to ideally fight towards many of those “big picture” victories on par with a Brown v. Board of Education or an Obergefell v. Hodges. However, civil rights work is rarely so successful, and the positive effects of even Brown have arguably been overstated. If I follow this career path, even at the highest level, I will certainly be beset by failures, feelings of powerlessness, and feelings of inadequacy. In those moments, the ability to take solace in smaller victories, in my attempts to help people, will be instrumental in remembering why I want to enter such a depressing occupation. This opportunity has hopefully given me the resilience necessary to stay on that path.