Prime time
Ted Nesi '07 raps at 10 Downing,
then gets to party with the Blairs
Reprinted with permission of The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, Mass.
http://www.thesunchronicle.com
By Gloria LaBounty
Sun Chronicle Staff
ATTLEBORO -- Attleboro resident and Wheaton College junior Ted Nesi was studying in London and interning at Labour Party headquarters last fall when he got a request he couldn't refuse.
His boss asked him to help out that day at 10 Downing St., the historic office and residence of the British prime minister.
So Nesi went through security, then went as directed down a small side road to a little townhouse with the famous number "10" on the door. There he knocked, and the woman who answered ushered him to the offices upstairs.
He ended up helping to put together invitations for Prime Minister Tony Blair's Christmas party, but the best was yet to come.
Nesi offered to help out at the party, and found himself not only taking coats at the door, but also meeting Blair, and then standing close by as the prime minister gave a speech.
The night was the highlight of a four-month stay in England that changed Nesi's perspective not only on that country, but also on his own.
"Going to a different country made me look at our system with new eyes," said Nesi, the son of probate court judge Anthony Nesi.
"It brought me back to the basic questions about democracy, citizenship, and the relationship of people to their government," he said.
It's a curiosity that stems from his interest in politics and his penchant for journalism all bolstered by brightness and a non-stop enthusiasm for what lies ahead, and for what he already has behind him.
Beginning of odyssey
Nesi and several other students left for England in August, then spent the first two months taking classes in London before being assigned to a two-month post related to their major.
Political science students like Nesi were placed with parliament or party leaders, and he was assigned to the Labour Party, doing data entry, answering telephone calls and keeping lists.
His brief time at 10 Downing St. and his close encounter with Blair gave him a new appreciation for the prime minister's leadership qualities and political acuity, especially when he spoke at the party about his legacy and his future and all that was left to do, even though he has said he would step down by 2009.
"It was like he was making it clear he was staying," Nesi said.
Despite the initial controversy over Blair's support for the war in Iraq, he said, the prime minister is very popular within his party even though he is to the right of it politically.
Countrywide, Blair's approval rating is below 50 percent, but that is not uncommon, Nesi said, and as long as he remains in control of the party, he will remain in office.
That has been the case so far despite the war, which is not as much of an issue in England as it is in this country because far fewer troops have been committed.
Most people do not support the war and accept the fact that it was based on false information, Nesi said. Meanwhile, the past 10 years have been good economically so people do not have much reason to complain.
While Nesi did not sit in on a session of Parliament, he did watch on television one Wednesday afternoon when Blair submits to questions.
"They call it the Punch and Judy Show," Nesi said as the session goes back and forth between Labour members who bring up issues that are basically complimentary, and conservatives who try to trip him up.
"He demolishes them," Nesi said, which is one of the reasons why Blair remains popular.
Nesi relished his work so much that he offered to return to London to work for the Labour Party in 2009.
By then, he may know if he will pursue politics or journalism as a career. As of now, he's still trying to decide if he wants to be part of it, or write about it.
He got a unique view from both angles in England, where the press is cutting and critical of politicians, and where citizens take an interest not only in their own country, but in the world. Newspapers abound, he said, and cover a lot of international news.
"It is very much a reading society," he said. "I learned so much there."
When he returned to the U.S. in mid-December, he was struck by the lack of curiosity here, and the tendency to focus inward.
"I felt almost claustrophobic," said Nesi, who wondered if people here just don't care about the rest of the world, or if they simply watch or read what is fed to them.
"That seems dangerous to me," he said.
Many Americans are not even paying attention to the scandals currently facing the Bush administration, he said, including his peers, who have become apathetic and who become informed in limited fashion.
"A lot of people of my generation are getting their views from The Daily Show," he said, referring to Jon Stewart's program on Comedy Central.
That narrow take on the news is not for Nesi, who absorbs information from multiple sources and who gets involved in campaigns like those of U.S. Sen. John Kerry and U.S. Rep. James McGovern.
He admits to being an idealist, and holds up as his hero Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the country's 32nd president.
"He used government to help people," Nesi said. "He did things that affected people's lives."
People like Roosevelt drew him to politics, but he also likes to report. While in London he sent articles to the student newspaper, the Wheaton Wire, and will become a regular contributor in the spring.
He also loves to act, and was involved in the Triboro Youth Theatre until he graduated from high school. Now he is part of the Triboro Musical Theatre and was in its recent production, Into the Woods.
But it's real-life drama he prefers, and he will head to Dublin and Munich during spring break to visit friends. He hopes to get back to London to work someday, and to travel around Europe much more than he was able to do on weekend breaks during his internship.
"Everyone should go abroad," he said, and everyone should pay attention to what is going on elsewhere.
Apathy, he said, "is the biggest threat for my generation."