When I saw the flyer, I said, “This is a joke. This is not real.”
The flyer at UDC read, “Late Show with David Letterman is looking for bright, energetic women and men who are interested in the television industry. Applicants from all majors are welcome.”
I sent a cover letter and resumé, like the flyer requested, but they never replied. However, I’m not giving up.
I’m making a film to tell David Letterman (and his successor, Stephen Colbert) my story about being homeless and how I studied for my GED and wanted to learn more and more. I researched grant money and received a Pell grant. Now I go to the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) and live in subsidized housing.
You never know where the next adventure is coming from. I’m now an intern at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where I help tourists find artifacts such as Miss Piggy, Julia Childs’ kitchen, and the Woolworth’s lunch counter that was the site of an iconic 1960 sit-in by four black students during the Civil Rights Movement.
Here’s how my internship happened: I was across the street from Barnes & Noble selling Street Sense. I saw this a well-dressed man who looked like a lawyer or doctor or politician. He was carrying a briefcase and a Sprite when he collapsed.
I was the first one to get to him. I’m trained in CPR, so I rolled him over, undid his tie, unbuttoned his shirt, and took his jacket off.
There were two other people there. One woman, a manager of the building, pushed me out of the way and did chest compressions. Then a man named Bill took over until the ambulance came.
After the man recovered from his heart attack, he took the three of us to lunch. It turns out he was the head of Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. I told him I needed an internship and he put me in touch with people who ran the Smithsonian’s internship program. One already knew me because she was my Street Sense customer.
Now, with the help of Bryan Bello and the Street Sense film group, I’m making a film I plan to take to New York and show to David Letterman.
I may take a sleeping bag and, if necessary, sleep outside the Ed Sullivan Theater until I find someone to talk to and give my film to in the hope of receiving an internship on “The Late Show.”
