4.21.2010: Leadership Columbia State Government

We met at 8 a.m. at Hollywood Theaters to climb on a bus going to Jefferson City. I was a little out of sorts because I did not have time to drink my usual 3 cups of coffee and they didn't have any on the bus. Oh sure, some people had their own cups that they purchased on their way in, but they weren't sharing.

We took a tour of the Missouri State Capitol, very interesting, if you missed it in 5th grade I strongly suggest you do it now. Our tour ended in the Benton Gallery, loved it. Benton illustrated the history, good and bad, of Missouri on the four walls. In one of the scenes it had a woman changing a baby's diaper, showing the baby's bare bottom. There was a period of time when this was covered up for decency's sake.

We sat in on the House Sessions, man they go through some paper. For the 45 minutes we watched there must have been 5 or 6 kids constantly passing out papers to the representatives. If they started working strictly from their computers, I am sure we would save a small forest in no time. Two days later, I heard that two representatives from the House nearly came to blows. Missed out on that little bit of excitement. But, that's okay because we did get to tour the Governor's Mansion and get the scoop on all the First Ladies.

We had lunch with a couple of lobbyists. I felt they were very open and forth coming about their jobs and the things they lobbied for. After lunch, we did the whole Supreme Court thing; it was a lot of legal stuff.

Lesson Learned… Wake up early enough to drink coffee.