TISL

This weekend I went to Nashville, TN to the capitol with SGA for TISL. TISL stands for the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature. It was great! I'm a member of frosh council so I got to atttend with some members of SGA. It was about 22 of us. The University of Memphis had the largest delegation there and several won the offices of Governor, Speaker Pro-Tem of the House, Attornet General, and something in the Senate, I cant remember the name of it. But I really had a great time and I learned a lot. We went up there and had to pack 4 business outfits and the whole process was very formal. Before I went up there, I HATED politics. It was all just a stupid proceess and full of corrupt people who lie and make laws. (just to sum it all up) But between the time I got there (thursday) and the time I got back (Sunday) all of that changed. I have a GREATER appreciation for the whole process(even though i still believe a lot of the people are corrupt).

So basically this is what we did. Each day, we went to Capitol hill and went into the chamber where the TN representatives go. It was like, this big podium thing(the "well") and thats where the Speaker of the House sat. The judge guy with the gavel is what i called him. The rest of us (house member#.....is what he called us) sat at these podiums and passed and failed bills. It was like that stuff I used to watch on TV. Well, not watch. More like, pass by on TV when I was looking for a good movie. And some of those people were hilarious. The bills were very ...debatable. They ranged from gay marriage to bringing firearms on college campuses to smoking by college buildings doors. Some passed and some failed. But I met a lot of people and learned parliamentary procedure. I really want to go back next year. It was nice because it was business during the day( from like 9 to 7!) but fun at night! we went bowling, and to the arcade thing or whatever it was, and to hooters and a bunch of stuff i dont feel like mentioning. And even better. The school paid for everything.