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Hand Over Heart, Heart Over Stomach
“People come here to see how the sausage is made, but some of them become vegetarians.” – Quoted on Overheard Texas Lege (@overheardtxlege on Instagram) Located in an office across the street from the...
View ArticleDefending and Defining Our Place at the Social Work Table
As an aspiring social worker at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, I am no stranger to the stereotypes, assumptions, and misconceptions about social work that exist outside of...
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Budget Week: The struggle is real
As a social work intern with the Legislative Study Group (LSG), I am the staffer assigned to the Texas House of Representative’s Appropriations Committee. In this role, I have a front-row seat to the...
View ArticlePersonal Privilege Speech
Mr. Speaker – Members, We have entered the last month of the 86thLege! As a social work intern and policy analyst with the Legislative Study Group, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears have gone into these...
View ArticleWhat I’m Taking With Me
Over the past two weeks, I have been responsible for 105 bill analyses on subjects that have been referred to the Texas House of Representatives’State Affairs ,Criminal Jurisprudence, and Natural...
View ArticleMaking Change Happen
What is change? Change, a verb meaning to make or become different or a noun meaning the act or instance of making or becoming different is, first of all, subjective. What everyone wants to see change...
View ArticleEnd of the 86th: Finding Myself at a Loss for Words
It is my understanding that I am writing one of the final blog posts for the session for the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work Austin Legislative Internship Program Blog Series for...
View ArticleTo the Place Where Hope Becomes Capacity
As the 86th Texas Legislative Session has come to a close, I have found myself reflecting more and more on all of the hard work that is done over the course of 140 days. The fact that two years of...
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Call For Papers: Financial Capability and Asset Building- Achievements,...
Call for Papers Financial Capability and Asset Building: Achievements, Challenges, and Next Steps (2020–2025) The 2020 Financial Capability and Asset Building (FCAB) Convening Financial...
View ArticleFive Ways to Make University Easier
When it comes to managing time at university, it can be an incredibly overwhelming and jarring shift from a relaxed school life. Because of this, people who are just starting their first year of...
View ArticleEverything’s Bigger In Texas
Since accepting the offer to participate in the Austin Legislative Internship Program, we have been told over and over again that we will be working with some very important people within the state of...
View ArticleBeginning an Unusual 87th Texas Legislative Session
Earlier this week, the Texas Legislature kicked off its 87th Regular Session, as 14 University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW) students kicked off their immersive legislative...
View ArticleThe Art of Balancing
As an individual focused on drug policy and the justice-system in a highly conservative state, I thought rhetoric would not surprise me, but I was wrong. I have surrounded myself with social workers,...
View ArticleHaving an Impact in an Unsure Political Climate
As an eternal optimist, I believe people from different backgrounds and beliefs not only can work together, but this is how true progress happens and a better world is built. It became harder for me to...
View ArticlePolitics with a Heart
During my graduate studies, I’ve been confronted time and again with the perennial question, what is it you study? To dispense always, in tailored anticipation, political social work: i.e., “politics...
View ArticleLegislative Poetry
We have been repeatedly told that this experience interning at the Texas Capitol will be fast paced, to say the least. We will be stressed out and overworked in ways that few people can understand. We...
View ArticleSurviving a Crisis
Before I even started my legislative internship, the 87th legislative session was foreseen as a challenge, due to balancing the fulfillment of the democratic process while adhering to COVID-19...
View ArticleThe Importance of Representation: #LatinasInPolitics
My experience graduating from the University of Michigan in 2010 made me realize the importance of representation. The lack of diversity at my university pushed me to go into education. I wanted to be...
View ArticleA Journey of Unknown
On January 12, 2021 the Texas Legislature kicked off the 87th Legislative Session. Long before the start of the session, myself and 13 others from the University of Houston Graduate College of Social...
View ArticleAt What Cost?
My experience in this legislative session so far has only fueled the deep-rooted rage and frustration within me that has persisted since the start of my social work education. For many of us, social...
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