Internship: Plains, Georgia

Korrin B.

July 18, 2010 - 8:41 PM

I have decided that a year of my life needs to be dedicated to living in some small farm town, learning how to do hard work in the hot sun and studying how to soak up the beauty in simplicity.

This weekend, along with the other interns, I spent the weekend in Plains, Georgia, the hometown of President and Mrs. Carter. Plains is about three hours south of Atlanta and is home to about 650 people and 11 churches. Its downtown is about the size of a city block in Eugene and contains a Jimmy Carter/Peanut souvenir shop, an antique store, a café, a small inn, and maybe about two other gift/book shops.

When we all stepped off of the bus in Plains, I put on my sunglasses and let the heat engulf me. We had a bit of free time before lunch, so we wandered around downtown a bit. Upon entering the souvenir shop, I was presented with various peanut and peanut ice cream samples. The shop was filled with Jimmy Carter campaign buttons, t-shirts, old newspapers, and just about anything you could think of. There was also a wide variety of peanut related products for sale and witty country signs, such as "Opossum: The Other White Meat."

The annual pig pull festival also happened to be going on, so we wandered down the street toward that as well. I stopped for a lemonade from one of the food vendors. Watching the lemonade be made was like watching some very scientific chemistry experiment before my very own eyes. First, she cut a lemon in half and stuck it in a juicer. Then, she put ice in a cup and added two different liquids to it from different containers. Next, she added the freshly squeezed lemon juice and then swished the drink back and forth between two cups. Needless to say, it was amazing. "Thank you, ma'am, enjoy," she said with a sweet southern twang, and we walked off in a state of pure bliss.

Before continuing through the tiny festival, we stopped off to walk through the Jimmy Carter Presidential Campaign Headquarters and got to see a little of the history behind his election. I think my favorite campaign bumper stickers had to be the ones that showed a cartoon-like drawing of his famous smile followed by the text, "in '77." As we walked back to the bus to meet up for lunch, I enjoyed looking around at the local crowd, seeing simple families enjoying a summer day.

We had lunch at a little cafeteria-style restaurant across the street from downtown called "Mom's Kitchen." Mom's involves walking through a line with a tray and pointing out to the friendly staff on the other side anything you may desire. I ended up with rice, black-eyed peas, a fried cornbread patty, and a grilled cheese sandwich that a friend of mine has taught me to love covered in sliced pickles. I also had some of my friend's corn on the cob. It was all gloriously heavy, deliciously simple southern food. I later learned that "Mom" has been known to cater the Executive Briefing event for The Carter Center as well.

Our next stop was a tour of the historic inn in downtown with Mrs. Rosalynn Carter. The inn has been renovated with the help of the Carters and each room represents a decade in which Jimmy Carter has lived. Everything in the rooms from the furniture and decorations to the toilet and refrigerators are actually from the different decades. It was a very neat place to tour and would be a very cute place to stay.

Mrs. Carter was very sweet when talking to us. She had so many stories to tell and seemed as though she really wanted us to get the most out of being in Plains and being interns. I enjoyed hearing her tell us about some ghost stories from an apparently haunted house that we would later be passing on the way to President Carter's boyhood home. Mrs. Carter's voice was so soft, sweet, and welcoming. Before she left, we got a group picture taken with her and she said she'd see us in Atlanta next week for our question and answer session and photo opportunity with the Carters.

We left the inn to head off to President Carter's boyhood home. When we arrived, we were greeted with bags of boiled peanuts and we sat around in a semi circle on wooden benches, waiting for President Carter to arrive. President Carter was just as sweet as Mrs. Carter had been. He stood in front of us and told us about what it was like growing up in Plains and how African-Americans had been truly important to him throughout his childhood. He mentioned his "Daddy" with a wonderful Georgian accent many times throughout his stories. We also got to ask some questions at the end and get a group photo taken with him before he left. He was a very humble and kind person and seemed very open with us, expressing his thanks for the work we do as interns. It was also fun watching him walk off through the grounds of his boyhood farm with his grandson, Jason Carter, who was recently elected to the Georgia State Senate. They would stop at the fig trees and at the well. It was nice seeing how down to earth a former president can be.

We all walked around the farm a bit before leaving. I enjoyed walking through his old home and watching the blacksmith at the farm make j-hooks. I think my favorite part, however, was eating a fresh, ripe fig right off of one of the trees.

We left to nearby Andersonville next to do a short visit to the National P.O.W. Museum before having dinner and then settling into our hotel in the small, neighboring town of Americus.

The next morning, we woke up early, got dressed in our Sunday best and headed back to Plains for quite a unique experience. Periodically, when President Carter is in Plains, he will teach an adult Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church. The interns were invited to come to his lesson this Sunday.

Before entering the church, each of us was scanned by the Secret Service with a security wand. If you had a purse, they wanted to go through everything. If you had a camera or a cell phone, they would want to hold it and push some buttons and take some pictures. Despite all of the security measures, they were all really nice people and carried on some conversation with us. They knew we were Carter Center interns.

Before President Carter actually entered the room, we, and the rest of the audience, were instructed on every way to act while President Carter was present by an adorable southern woman. She spoke very frankly in a way that kind of made me giggle a little.

Next, President Carter entered the sanctuary, as did Mrs. Carter and his grandson and great-grandson. Mrs. Carter and the family went and sat down in the pews while President Carter stood up in front of the group. I was impressed again by his very humble and personable nature. It was more like he was carrying on a conversation with all of us than he was talking at us. He asked for everyone to shout out where they were coming from and there were people present from all around the world. His lesson was on the seven deadly sins and this one focused in particular on pride. President Carter is a great speaker and it was great seeing him speak about something that he was so clearly passionate about. I like that he related a lot of what he was teaching to the work that he has done around the world and to current government policies here in the U.S. In particular, he talked about immigration and undocumented workers. I enjoyed the experience.

The interns left after President Carter's lesson, although it was soon to be followed by the Sunday worship. We drove down the road instead to the high school that President and Mrs. Carter attended when they were young. It has since been turned into a museum. I enjoyed looking at the tiny desks in the classrooms and wondering how in the world high schoolers could fit in them. After the museum, we once again loaded the bus and began our travel back to Atlanta.

I greatly enjoyed our trip to Plains. I think that it added a really wonderful aspect to my internship, helping to make me feel more connected to the organization. I liked its personal nature and its obvious interest in its interns. President Carter introduced our group to the whole congregation and shared some detail on the work we do. I got goosebumps being honored by a former president in front of a group of people like that.

In addition to adding to my internship experience, however, Plains also further pushed me into a state of love with the countryside and the ideas it comes to represent. Oddly enough, there is something very romantic about the idea of sitting in a rocking chair on a porch, swatting away flies, sipping lemonade after a long day of work on the farm. There is something about living simply and creating what you have through your own work that sets my heart fluttering. I think it's time I invest in a good, wide-brimmed hat. I'm going to need it to keep the sun out of my eyes.