Mississippi Bound

Finally, I'm leaving Atlanta tomorrow (Thursday) and I'm going to Jackson, MS. My role down there is not incredibly clear - but it has something to do with finding engineers to do infrastructure assessments for some of the most-impacted counties in that state.

Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson, 
Look out Jackson town.

If you had asked me when I was a 20-year old undergraduate if I could see myself working for the Corps of Engineers on assignments in the Deep South, the esthete wannabe that I was back then would have laughed and proclaimed, "Nooooo waaaay!"

Wow, things have changed in just 6 years. HA-HA!!!!!

I've haven't been tuned into the news very much in the past two-days. But I'm reading my newspapers online - particularly the WashingtonPost. MEDIA NOTES is one column - written by Howard Kurtz - that I usually make a point of reading.

I particularly liked today's column. While reading the articles that cover various perspectives of the evolving 'blame game,' I keep coming back to the idea of RESPONSIBILITY that I mentioned previously. The relationship between politics and the media has devolved to such a state that, to me, politicians have learned that their 'credibility' and 'electability' is earned through the media. A politician's sense of RESPONSIBILITY to the lives of people that they serve is done through soundbites and public opinion polls. They don't see the CONNECTION between their jobs and the people whom they are supposed to serve. It seems like this adminstration still doesn't get that connection.

But, in actuality, I really don't like talking politics. I guess that's part of why I decided to become a civil servant. Walk the talk. Be the change you want to see. That sort of idealistic drivel. Politicians come and go. Career civil servants - we're like grass stains on cotton.