But before we praise the unsung interns, let us remember that they too, are part of the culture of Washington. No one in this town really attempts to produce anything. This arcane ritual apparently involves pretending to care what someone else, no matter how boring or trite, says. As soon as you see someone more important, you hand over your card and move to the next person. Anthropology majors wishing to study this ritual need go no farther than the next Student Council meeting to investigate similar phenomena at the University.
Interns frequently mimic the protocol of their superiors.
College students working for Congress, federal agencies, lobbyists, and think tanks quickly learn to spend their time reading the Post, surfing the Internet, hitting on anything that moves and quitting early to make happy hour. It's all part and parcel of the Washington experience. I hope I have not soured any incoming first-years on internships. They are important of the college experience, and rightly so. If you can convince your parents that you actually are learning anything in college besides how to tap a keg, you ought to be able to convince them to subsidize a summer internship.