Oh, the places we'll go! First in a five part series

OUR FIRST DESTINATION: NORTH AMERICA

David Hsu, senior

Inyo National Park

Sierra Nevadas, California

"On one occasion, after a bunch of thunderstorms, [the Park] had Wilderness Packers pack trains of mules to carry equipment and food throughout the mountains. One mule fell down the side of the mountain, so it got injured, and they were trying to do a rescue. They brought in a helicopter, from the Army, I think, and were trying to rescue the mule [by air lift]. Well--it didn't work, for three times in a row. So it became the joke of the forest. They called it 'Operation Ass Lift.'"

Sarah Hawkins, senior
White House Internship Program,
West Wing
Washington, D.C.

"I think the coolest policy thing I got to do was the day of the blackout in New York. My boss' secretary was gone, and his deputy was gone, so it was basically me and my boss, and the power went out [in New York City]. We didn't know what was going on. The President was in California, the Chief of Staff was in Maine, and people were spread all over because in August, you know, the President works from Crawford, Texas. A lot of the principals take vacation because it's the only time they could leave. So people were spread out all over the country, the Press Secretary was with the President, and so all of a sudden, on the phone, I had the Vice President, the Chief of Staff, the President and the President's Secretary. Also reporters were calling and saying, 'What's going on? We need a statement.' I'm trying to manage that and talk to my boss, and we're making sure that [everything is] okay. It was so crazy, just two hours of pure adrenaline. But it was also a really cool experience because I actually felt like I was doing something to facilitate the management of the situation."

Lindsey Jarboe, senior
National Defense University,
Institute for National Strategic Studies
Washington, D.C.

"I think the biggest thing I realized is that the terrorism, the drug smuggling, the organized crime--there's no way to separate them. The bad guys do everything. You can't delineate anything clearly.... Have you ever heard of counterfeit Vaseline? Yeah. Apparently al Qaeda peddles it, and tons of other counterfeit merchandise like imitation Kate Spade purses and imitation clothes. They reap profit from those imitation products--but counterfeit Vaseline?"

Justin Richmond, senior
Utah State Penitentiary, Literacy Program
Salt Lake City, Utah

"When you go in [to a prison] for the first time, and the bars close behind you, and you've already signed the little waiver that says you could be used as hostage bait, yeah, it scares you. But then you get real comfortable, and really, I thought I was one of the safest people in the prison. If there had ever been a full-scale riot, I don't feel like I would have been scared at all because I think [the guards] would have done a real good job of protecting me. There would be times when there'd be a gang fight somewhere in the facility, and everything would get shut down. It really wasn't a big deal because there was never a fight where I was. They'd shut down everything and no one could leave, so I'd just spend a little more time with the prisoners. They couldn't go back to their cell blocks, I couldn't leave, so we all just hung out there for a while."