Michael Janda

I had a great experience in Jackson, Mississippi last week for some speaking gigs...made new friends...learned some things. Here is a list of some of my "take aways" from the 35 hours and 47 minutes I spent in the state. 1. Jackson is Mississippi's largest "city" weighing in at 175,000-ish people. (The entire state has roughly 3 million residents mostly living in smaller towns throughout.) 2. The bulk of Mississippi looks a lot like northern Indiana where I grew up...flat...and watery. (But I only saw areas from Jackson to Hattiesburg.) 3. In Mississippi there is "good catfish" and "bad catfish" (in the rest of the nation there is only "bad catfish") and you can order it in a ton of restaurants, including a Thai restaurant I ate at with the design professors from the University of Southern Mississippi. 4. If "Southern Hospitality" wasn't invented in Mississippi, it was certainly perfected by the catfish eating population. Not only are the people super-duper nice...they are also super friendly. Several new acquaintances felt like old friends. Even the gas station cashier and hotel staff referred to me as "darling" and "honey" and were always eager to chit chat. 5. Mississippi has several regions including: "The Delta" - north west area, "The Hub" - Hattiesburg area more to the south, "The Gulf Coast" - any coastal city in the southern part of the state. (There are a few others, but that is all I caught in my conversations.) 6. The main Universities are: "Ole Miss" - University of Mississippi, "Mississippi State" - Mississippi State University, and "Southern Miss" - The University of Southern Mississippi. 7. I expected accents to be more of a southern drawl like my Nashville friends... but it just wasn't as distinct as I had expected. Don't get me wrong, the accent is "southern" for sure. Just not as sharp as I had anticipated. 8. Don't fly US Airways to Jackson. My plane was a few minutes late landing in Charlotte. I ran to the gate. My connecting plane was still there but the jetway door was closed. They wouldn't let me on and rebooked me for a flight 5 hours later. "Thanks" US Airways... you are on my black list. While I was in Jackson I spoke at two events. First, I had the privilege of speaking at the Ad Fed Luncheon (AAF Jackson) at Table 100. Following that event I spoke to the design students at "Southern Miss." Both events were great and I always feel grateful when opportunities to share some of the things that helped my career be successful. Here are some pics and tweets from the events...