Meet Our New Interns

I'm very excited to introduce you to our new batch of superstar interns. Actually, I'll let them introduce themselves.

Sydney Beveridge's parents named her after the main character of a made-for-television movie. Instead of becoming a lawyer like her fictitious namesake, she pursued opportunities in the public service and media sectors. She graduated on a rainy day from Swarthmore College, and then on another rainy day from Columbia Journalism School. In between scholarly pursuits, she worked at Citizens Union, a longtime New York City good government group, and contributed content to the organization's publication GothamGazette.com. She also appears on EastVillageRadio.com as a substitute deejay and guest.

Ben Smith is a Software Engineering major just finishing his sophomore year at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. When not tackling complex equations or coding late into the night, he can be found reading Stephen King books in his dorm room, watching shows like Doctor Who and Mystery Science Theater 3000 (a proud export of his home state, Minnesota), and dominating the pink wedge category of Trivial Pursuit. Ben's summer goals include catching up on two years' worth of missed sleep and actually finishing Godel, Escher, Bach.

Kristen Steagall is a twenty-year-old Virgo who acts like a Libra and dances like a Taurus. Born in Suburbia, Illinois, she wiled away her youth fixing casseroles for neighbors and carpooling. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, where she is a third year Russian and Eastern European Studies major at the University of Michigan—she's not Russian so don't ask. Kristen likes to live in a past tense, future perfect kind of world and her foot is often quite intimate with her mouth. John Brown gives her inspiration in her daily life and she likes to think that she can bake better than Martha Stewart.

You'll start seeing their contributions to the site very soon. Let's give former interns Matt Soniak and Allison Keene a standing ovation. Don't worry, they're not going anywhere. Matt will continue answering your burning questions, and Allison will keep delivering bi-weekly Dietribes and weekly Weekend Links.

And we should thank everyone who applied this time around. You made this decision a difficult one.