The John-Henry Westen Show - December 22, 2021


LifeSite staffer calls on young culture warriors to enlist in revamped internship program

Topics
LifeSite internships
Hosted by
John-Henry Westen
Mentioned
Michael Hogan Brian Lemus Jared Taylor Blessed Mother Joe Biden Advent Parler
Unpacking Pope Francis' war on Latin Mass Catholics and why it matters for everyone else Justin Trudeau is the ultimate hypocrite who boasts of being for minority rights while crushing them

Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

184.36

Word count

2,296

Sentence count

146


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Alejandro Rodriguez came to LifeSite News as an intern and has now graduated and become a full-time staffer in the company's video department. In this episode, Alejandro talks about how he got into the program and how he was able to make the transition from an intern to a full time staffer.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 LifeSite News has internships. You might not have known that, but it's a really exciting program that we have and we run all the time now. Interns to come and help us with writing, with the technical side, with fundraising, with all sorts of things.
00:00:13.740 You're going to want to stay tuned to meet one of our interns who started off as an intern, is now a full-time staffer in our video department. Stay tuned to learn about LifeSite internships.
00:00:30.000 Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
00:00:49.740 Alejandro Rodriguez, welcome to the program.
00:00:51.640 Thank you so much for having me, John Henry.
00:00:53.100 It's an amazing thing. You came to us first as an intern, in fact, one of our first class of interns, and you've now sort of graduated, if you will, right into a full-time staffer with LifeSite.
00:01:05.720 So we want to talk to you about that experience. Let's start off. First of all, tell us how you got even into the internship program at LifeSite. How did you even learn about it?
00:01:15.300 Well, to be honest, it should be all thanks to you, John Henry, because I was watching your show. I believe it was on Joe Biden a while back, and it was the very first time that we heard about LifeSite internships.
00:01:25.620 It was during the lockdown, and I had a lot of free time on my hands because I was barely on summer break.
00:01:30.340 So me and my dad were watching your show, and we saw the ad on LifeSite internships, and my dad just told me, like, maybe that's something you'd consider doing during the summer break.
00:01:40.080 And I decided, okay, well, I'll go ahead and apply. And during that time, I was running the live stream at my church, and besides that, I didn't have any prior video experience, but I decided I'll give it a go.
00:01:50.560 I'll apply for the video production internship. And from there, I met Brian Lemus, who is the director of internship at LifeSite.
00:01:58.240 And it was just an amazing experience. We talked about the faith first and foremost, and one of the key words that we kind of clicked on was that we were here for God.
00:02:07.660 We were here for the faith, and no matter what God was calling us to, we would do that for him and for him alone.
00:02:14.940 So that's how I met Brian, and from there, I had a second interview with Jason Taylor, the video director at that time.
00:02:22.440 And him and I kind of clicked on the same thing, is that we were there for God.
00:02:27.240 And from there, I continued on to the orientation. And from there, I was able to meet nine other faith-filled interns who also wanted to fight for God, who wanted to give their best to him in every way they can.
00:02:43.560 And it was just amazing to be able to relate to others with the faith. So that's how I became part of the internship.
00:02:50.980 When you got into it, as things progressed, what did you find in terms of your professional development?
00:02:57.580 You went into video, something which you didn't have an education in so much so, but yet here you are hired into something that is very technical, and yet you seem to have gotten there.
00:03:11.360 And I know the head of our video department right now, Michael Hogan, is very pleased with what you're doing.
00:03:16.820 So what did that transition look like?
00:03:19.860 It was very different for me, because my degree was in philosophy, so you wouldn't think that a philosophy major would ever become a video person.
00:03:29.840 But like I said, my mentor at the time, Jason Taylor, gave me everything that I needed to know.
00:03:34.780 He taught me how to use Premiere. He taught me how to use Photoshop. He taught me how to use After Effects.
00:03:39.500 So he set me up for success for real. And then Brian, who also had some background in video editing, he also gave me some pointers.
00:03:46.820 And he also gave me feedback on what to build on from the experience of my internship.
00:03:52.000 And even Michael Hogan, he gave me pointers on how to shoot a video.
00:03:58.000 He also had some videography skills under his belt. So then he taught me how to shoot.
00:04:03.160 And I kind of watched the videos that LifeSite had out already. And I just took down notes.
00:04:09.480 And I thought, OK, I'll just kind of build my brand, so to speak, and just kind of build up my skill set behind what was already done at LifeSite.
00:04:17.220 And then as I was transitioning with Michael Hogan in charge of the video department, that made the transition easier because we all became on the same page.
00:04:28.020 We had some different creative ideas, but we were able to talk them out, bounce them back and forth.
00:04:35.340 And I think we all grew as a video department because we were so open to each other.
00:04:39.680 We were willing to listen to each other.
00:04:41.440 What was, if you would say, what was your number one takeaway from the internship?
00:04:45.940 You know, you have to be open to the will of God.
00:04:48.480 I mean, could you imagine a philosophy major ever being a video person at all?
00:04:53.620 I mean, it's strange to even think that, just odd in general.
00:04:58.760 But really, it shows that you don't know what God has in store for you.
00:05:02.940 I mean, you probably wake up one morning thinking that you're going to go to class and then someday you're going to go get a job as a teacher someday.
00:05:13.800 But in order to do that, you've got to get your master's.
00:05:15.960 But when I got into this job, I didn't think this would be like a career option at all.
00:05:20.840 But now that I am here and now that I'm learning more things along the way, I'm just realizing there's a reason why God put me here.
00:05:28.980 And, you know, this is where he needs me to be.
00:05:31.180 And that's what I always pray for every morning and every day is to come Holy Spirit, descend upon me, give me your wisdom.
00:05:37.840 Because I don't want to do this for myself, because if I'm doing it for myself, then it means nothing.
00:05:42.560 So that's why I have to just give it all to him.
00:05:45.380 And I have to give it all to our Blessed Mother, because I pray the rosary and I ask her, what do you want me to do?
00:05:51.180 And she hasn't told me to do anything different yet.
00:05:54.120 So I'm just going to keep plugging forward and I'm just going to pray for the best.
00:05:58.300 So we just had a staff call.
00:06:00.720 Now, people have got to understand, there's 62 people who work for LifeSite.
00:06:05.520 It's a phenomenal work.
00:06:07.940 And one of the most incredible things about it is it's such a family.
00:06:11.060 It's an incredible group of supportive brothers and sisters who are all fighting in the same direction for life, for family, for faith, for culture.
00:06:19.800 And really doing so with all of the talents that God provides them with.
00:06:24.640 And it's incredible.
00:06:27.500 It's a beautiful team.
00:06:29.760 It's something that you feel privileged and honored to work with and work for.
00:06:34.300 And we pray every single morning that, you know, this work is a work of our Lord's, that we don't run LifeSite per se.
00:06:43.600 Our Lord does.
00:06:45.080 And we seek to do as well.
00:06:46.200 I wanted you to speak a little bit.
00:06:47.500 You touched on it some about your professional development for interns who are thinking to come on in our various departments.
00:06:55.920 What would be your advice or counsel to them based on their own professional development if they're looking for that?
00:07:03.040 Just be open.
00:07:04.140 Just be willing to be surprised in general because you don't know what you're going to learn from one day to the next.
00:07:10.160 I mean, I was always surprised about one little thing I didn't know about before.
00:07:16.920 And, you know, I was just like, OK, well, I'm going to trust that this person who's my mentor, this person who's my supervisor knows what he or she is doing.
00:07:25.460 And I just am going to follow them all the way.
00:07:28.700 So don't suspend all of your beliefs when you start out.
00:07:31.780 Just don't go into it thinking I know more than anybody else because you don't.
00:07:36.960 Honestly, there's always going to be someone who knows better than you because there's always something to learn.
00:07:42.260 No matter how long you've been in school, no matter how long you've been in your specific career, there's always something for you to learn.
00:07:48.280 So I just say just be open.
00:07:49.980 Wanted to also get to really the class of interns, if you will, or I know now that you're full-time staff at LifeSite, there's a sort of whole LifeSite family.
00:07:59.680 But within the internship itself, I think, is a beautiful experience of peer interaction and close friendships that you develop and maintain.
00:08:11.320 Tell us a little bit about that.
00:08:12.820 Yeah, so we have a little alumni chat that we go around and share little tidbits from what we learned each day.
00:08:20.140 So on Friday, we usually have like a faith formation thing where we get together and we share what we've learned from the week.
00:08:26.200 And we also talk about certain virtues.
00:08:28.920 We learned like a friend of mine, she started doing St. Alphonsus meditations during Advent.
00:08:34.200 And she does it right before she goes to bed.
00:08:37.360 And she does it so that she can remind herself that before she goes to sleep, she may not wake up the next morning.
00:08:43.160 So she always goes to sleep thinking, I'm just going to submit myself to the Lord.
00:08:47.780 And I'm going to meditate on myself and what I need to work on.
00:08:51.840 And if God helps me get up the next morning, then I have something to sleep with, to sleep on and take it to the next day.
00:09:00.580 Or if I die, then at least I'm thinking of God at that night.
00:09:03.800 So I think that's a really good way to end your day is to meditate on our Lord.
00:09:08.700 And that's just one example of the things that we talk about.
00:09:13.100 And as an alumni group, it's we bounce back and forth ideas based on the faith.
00:09:19.020 And I know I should be doing more spiritual reading more often.
00:09:22.680 And I always have my brothers and sisters in the alumni cut to keep me in check.
00:09:27.280 Since you are one of those that made the transition from internship to full-time staffer, what was the transition like?
00:09:34.140 It was hard at first because I went from something I was used to before to something I wasn't used to.
00:09:42.860 And it was different for me.
00:09:44.420 And it was hard, but it was also very fulfilling.
00:09:47.260 And I have to say that at the end of the day, I'm really glad that I got hired at LifeSite News.
00:09:51.100 I can't imagine working anywhere else.
00:09:53.220 I mean, this is my home.
00:09:54.580 Amazing.
00:09:55.040 Well, thank you so much for that, Alejandro.
00:09:56.860 And I want to tell you out there, if you or one of your children, perhaps, or someone you know might be interested in serving at LifeSite, where we do, we defend life and family, faith and culture to the best of our ability, as our Lord has called us to do, please get them to apply at LifeSiteInterns.com.
00:10:17.240 For LifeSite News, this is John Henry Weston.
00:10:19.440 And may God bless you.
00:10:20.240 We have been warning everyone who would listen and attempting to build up alternative platforms to continue to reach you.
00:10:30.200 We have established ourselves on all sorts of platforms I'm going to explain in a minute.
00:10:34.480 But the most important thing to do is come direct to LifeSiteNews.com because there we will always be.
00:10:41.460 But we've also established ourselves on platforms like Parler and MeWe, and our videos can be found on Rumble as well.
00:10:48.880 We would love to see each of you on those platforms too, as they are not censoring or suppressing the truth that we are sharing every single day.
00:10:58.240 More than these alternative social media platforms, we highly encourage you to subscribe to our email newsletter.
00:11:05.180 We have really built up a large list of loyal readers on our email marketing platform.
00:11:10.160 And we have prepared several backup plans for, well, I want to say if, but it's really when, we are removed from our current platform as well.
00:11:20.820 Additionally, I really encourage you, as I said before, to make it a regular habit to go directly to LifeSiteNews.com.
00:11:28.300 Make it your homepage.
00:11:29.900 While all of these different platforms are an excellent way to curate your news, going directly to our website means that you will never encounter any censorship or sudden loss of LifeSiteNews reporting.
00:11:42.880 Here's the thing.
00:11:44.340 We will never stop sharing the truth.
00:11:47.720 We founded this organization with the mission to be the life, family, and culture source for men and women who seek to know the truth.
00:11:55.840 We have established a track record of honest reports, and this will never stop, even with censorship happening around the globe.
00:12:05.720 Again, I'm encouraging you to join us on Parler, MeWe, Rumble, and on our email list.
00:12:12.120 You can find all the direct links in the description of this video.
00:12:16.940 May God bless you and keep you, and we are so thankful that you've chosen to follow and support LifeSiteNews.
00:12:22.960 I'm John Henry Weston, co-founder and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews.