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Danny Davis is a staff intern this summer at FOX CITIES Magazine.

Hello! My name is Danny Davis and I’m one of FOX CITIES Magazine’s newest interns. I’ll be blogging and writing with FOX CITIES Magazine for the summer of 2015. I’m currently a senior at Lawrence University and am majoring in government with a minor in philosophy. At Lawrence, I am an opinion writer for The Lawrentian — Lawrence’s student newspaper. Addtionally, I currently serve as the president of the Lawrence Interfraternity Council and the treasurer of the Lawrence Unversity Nordic Ski Team.

My career in journalism had humble beginnings. During the summer of 2013, I decided to retire from my five year career in competitive swimming to pursue a broader range of extracurricular activities. Much to the shock of my parents, peers, and friends, I gave up a 30-hour-a-week affair with swimming to write 500 word articles about economics symposiums and sparsely attended jazz perfromances in the Lawrence University Chapel. But, my dilligence persisted and I eventually found my niche in the op-ed section of the paper.

My first op-ed ever, titled “Is Twitter making us #Dumber?” was the true starting point of my writing career. Writing an opinion piece with no experience is a nerve wracking affair. I was so nervous about writing the piece that I immediately regretted submitting the piece to the paper at all. However, a handful of professors and students were kind enough to reach out and congratulate me on an interesting first piece. Since then, I’ve strived to submit an opinion piece each week during the academic year and contine to thrive from the support of friends and family.

I’ve written about a broad range of topics. Be it the Israeli-Palestinain conflict, sexual assault on college campuses or Lawrence University administrative policies, I draw on many sources of inspiration for my work. I’m a rituallistic consumer of print journalism and set aside an hour each day to reading the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Economist each day. Additionally, I’m an avid fan of late-night comedy news shows such as “The Daily Show” and “Last Week, Tonight with John Oliver.” Still, I generate my best ideas by talking about them with my friends and family. Additionally, I freqeuntly borrow and critique recurrent ideas from independent bloggers and news sources from around the web.

Besides my work with the Lawrentian, I’m a lover of video games. I’m an avid fan of the “Mario Kart” and “Legend of Zelda” series. I’m a ferocious consumer of Indian cuisine and devout drinker of pale ales. Most importantly, I’ve found my new athletic niche in  cross-country skiing. Starting my sophmore year of college, I began classic-style nordic skiing with the Lawrence University Nordic Ski Team. Since then, I’ve gone on to compete in the American Birkiebiner, a 34-mile race in Hayward and regularly train on roller skis in the summertime.

This summer, I hope to further develop my skills as a journalist and gain a better understanding of the logistical and editorial process of print magazines. The FOX CITIES Magazine has big plans for the summer interns. I’m especially looking foward to covering events at EAA AirVenture this summer, as well as using my time as a staff intern at FCM to explore the Appleton and greater Fox Cities community. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for my blog posts later this summer!