New York

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the Human Rights First Annual Award dinner at Chelsea Piers in New York City. I never dreamed that one of the opportunities placed in front of me this quarter in D.C. would include a paid trip to the city that never sleeps! The annual dinner honored two distinguished human rights defenders; one from Columbia, Principe Gabriel Gonzalez and the other from Sandra Carvolho from Brazil. The two honorees were accompanied by founding executive director of HRF and newly appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner, who was interviewed by the former NBS anchor Tom Brokaw. The evening consisted of speeches by all the honorees, an interview of Michael Posner, a moving and emotional video of Principe Gabriel Gonzalez' fight against the suppressive government of Columbia, a fancy dinner (so fancy I couldn't tell you what I ate), and dancing to a live Brazilian Jazz band!

One of the responsibilities delegated to me was looking out for the arrival of Tom Brokaw. Upon Tom Brokaw's arrival I was to turn the opposite direction, completely ignoring his presence, and run to find the coordinator of the awards dinner to warn her of his arrival. While the directions seemed quite illogical I faithfully stood at the entrance 15 minutes past the start of dinner, at which I decided the grumbling in my stomach could no longer be ignored and abandoned my post for dinner. Thankfully, Brokaw appeared before the attendees 20 minutes later to kick off the dinner. -Jessica