Although no one I know under the age of 25 has a real job right now, it has recently come to my attention that I’ve been an unpaid intern at the Stranger since January, and apparently I’m supposed to start grad school at the end of this month. Oops. If you are devastated (there, there), I am too. Because I actually like writing police reports and neighborhood blog news roundups and having awkward conversations with strangers who don’t want to talk to me and then writing about them. Missing pets? Attacks committed with weird, improvised blunt object weapons? Paging through city council member agendas as thick as I am tall? PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS?!!!?! I’m all over it!
Then there was the time Cienna and I had to drive around the wilds of Places That Are Not Seattle taking a bunch of pregnancy tests and watching videos about the horrors of abortion in the name of investigative reporting. There are few things weirder than driving, decidedly un-pregnant, to a crisis pregnancy center in a Lakewood strip mall while listening to Lady Gaga and getting kind of nervous about the fact that you’re about to sort of lie to people who, though they are certifiably evil, at least think they want to help you. (Worth it.)
But best of all, I have been able to spend six months channeling what would otherwise just be fits of rage into posts about this year’s absurd attack on women’s healthcare by insane people like Kansas state Rep. Pete DeGraaf (R), who argued back in May that women should be prepared to be raped, because he always has a spare tire, and those are totally the same thing, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who used to support mandating the HPV vaccine, but went back on his word this week, because his base is crazy vaccines cause widespread promiscuity or whatever the fuck (ZZZZZZzzzzzz). Just for old times’ sake, here’s where you can donate to Planned Parenthood.
My tenure in the news section has never not been weird. I liked it anyway. But I’m really a poet*! (Do you feel deceived?) Last year I applied to MFA programs in creative writing, because my ambition in life is to have a degree in feelings art and never make any money. So for the next two years I will be writing and teaching writing to undergraduate art students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I leave tomorrow for Little House on the Prairie Tour ’11. (Brace yourself, it gets even nerdier.) The car is packed. My mom is coming with me. We’re stopping at the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead in De Smet, South Dakota. There may or may not be bonnets involved. I can’t wait. But I will miss posting videos of cute baby animals on Slog every weekend. It has been the realest.
*I know, I know.
I will miss you. Best of luck in poetry school. This is a haiku.
Megan, you’ve done a lovely job. Best of luck to you.
Also: I’m 36 and have an unpaid internship instead of gainful employment. You know all that “it gets better” stuff? NOT TRUE.
My best friend and I drove the Oregon trail last summer, and while there were no bonnets, we talked about it. Have a great time, and best of luck in your MFA!
Megan has been the absolute best intern. I will miss her so much.
*SOB*
I can’t think of a single witty thing to say. Goodbye and good luck. You’ve done a great job. (Can we have a Stranger Intern Hall of Fame/Shame up in here?!)
break legs!
Hey Megan! I don’t know if you’re the same Megan I met volunteering at 826 Seattle, but I’ve really enjoyed your time on Slog – and even if I haven’t met you, I wish you the best of luck in my old stomping grounds (SAIC). I’m sad to see you go – you’ve been one of the best Slog interns yet!
Best of luck Megan.
Btw, FYI if you perchance get a chance to go to the National Archives in D.C. they have the Ingalls homestead deed on display.
I second Cienna… but, Megan, with your way with crazy people, you’ll do great in an MFA poetry program. We will miss you! Thanks so much for all your very fine work!
Good luck!
I did the same tour some years ago, visiting Ingalls sites in De Smet and also in Walnut Grove, MN. Lots of fun.
Happiness in life is all about managing expectations. Get it right, and you’ll always be pleasantly surprised, instead of vaguely disappointed. With this principle in mind, I suggest visiting De Smet, South Dakota, with very modest expectations.
yours, Pa Ingalls
also, thanks for your excellent if uncompensated work here!
My grandmother wore a bonnet when she gardened. As a child she wore a bonnet when she picked cotton on her family’s farm. How “Little House” is that? Her parents came west in a covered wagon and she lived to see photos of the Martian landscape. I hope I live to 97. If I do, I’m going to wear platform shoes.
P.S. Good luck with school.
Great work. We’ll all miss reading your great stuff. Except the jerks. They won’t miss you. But they’re jerks.
Megan, sloggers will miss you! I have really enjoyed your writing. I was particularly fond of the morning news through your filter. Wish you could stay on with the Stranger staff. Also – De Smet, you lucky dog! Have fun.
It could be worse. You could’ve died of cholera.
P.S. Good luck!
As a Laura Ingalls Wilder fan and a grad student who studies poetry (yep, I don’t even write it, just study it — sorry, family!) I commend you. Wear that bonnet with pride. Best of luck!
Have fun with the anti-abortion billboards while driving through South Dakota….
I’ll give you pretty much the same advice I give everybody moving on from a job, even an unpaid job:
Thank god this is overwith, you deserve better.
Get out, don’t look back, and don’t regret burning a bridge even if you have to create the bridge and burn it on the spot as you leave, slamming the door saying goodbye (big finish).
There ya go, now get out.
@Cienna and Bethany — Awwwwwww. Thanks!
@Laura Q. — I think we did meet at 826! I’ve been volunteering there a little this year, and I did an internship there during the summer of 2009. Neat.
@Everyone — Thank you for your Ingalls clan trivia and kind words. You are the best readers a girl could ask for!
For real: all that work you and Cienna did on women’s healthcare rocked my world. Please tell me it’s not ending with your departure! Best of luck in Chicago. You’ll do beautifully. One of my favorite cities. Remember to look up! The architecture is jaw dropping. As for your trip, did you read the New Yorker article awhile back about Laura and her daughter’s fraught publishing relationship? It would be a good one for a road trip.
You did some great stuff while you were at The Stranger. Thanks so much for peeing on a stick in service of exposing the certifiable evil! And good luck in grad school!
Good luck Megan! The Sunday morning (yes, I Slog on Sunday morning too) news rundown won’t be nearly as fun. I hope that they will let you do a guest column now and again.