It's been a few weeks since I left my internship with HeadCount but it certainly won't be forgotten. Once I got back to Texas (a distant departure from NYC) and started swapping summer job stories, I immediately realized my stories take the cake. Between meeting Bob Weir and Marc Brownstein, not to mention spending every workday inside the Relix Magazine office, my time spent as an Intern was not only educational and exciting, but musically speaking, legendary (and I don't use that term lightly).
Since the HeadCount office is in a relatively "quaint" space, I got to interact with everyone in the office and had ample opportunity to learn about every layer of a nonprofit that does a surpising amount of work with limited time and resources. While there were some stereotypical “intern” tasks, like filing paperwork, making copies and mailing registrations forms, each chore came with a strangely satisfying feeling, knowing that thanks to my efforts, each one of these copies represents a person able to go to the polls for the first time. On top of all the cool work I did over the summer registering voters and talking to the jam world's finest, I also got to go to whichever HeadCount artists’ shows I desired.
One of the many great things about my time with HeadCount, was the freedom I was allowed to pursue my own interests within the organization. If I read an interesting news item all I had to do was mention it to the office and get the go-ahead to blog about it. An hour later, I was a published blogger! In addition to interesting musical issues circulating, I was able to research candidate info that was sent to our 51 teams around the country. I helped brainstorm new ways to get young people and musicians interested in the election process, one of my main causes. Most of my time with HeadCount was exciting and provided a lot of opportunities for me to stretch my creative muscles in an open and relaxed environment.
I had such a great time during my internship I postponed my flight back home ten days. Within those ten days I was able to catch three nights of Sound Tribe Sector Nine and two nights of Phish at Jones beach. Interning for HeadCount was a true musical adventure.