Mississippi, the good and bad (Jackson: appointed, middle school, living)

[viverlibre]

Popular things about Mississippi:
Religion
Football
Youth sports
Hunting/fishing
Friendly people
Family
SUVs/Trucks
Gambling
Good food
Beautiful falls and mild winters
Little government intrusion into everyday life (for the most part)
Relatively low cost of living
The talent pool is not deep; therefore, easier to shine for the motivated and capable.

Less desirable things about Mississippi:
Last in many state ranking categories.
Very little growth of good jobs and not much prospect of growth.
Brain drain - see above for cause. To make this worse, the less than motivated stay and rapidly reproduce.
The Delta is a third world county that needs to be evacuated, but see above for what actually occurs there
Gluttony
Sloth
Hot, humid summers.
Lack of natural scenery - no mountains, rocky streams or deep, clear lakes.
Barrier islands - if not for these our coast would like that of AL or FL.

[Neshomamench]

Popular things about Mississippi:
Religion:

...a specific kind of religion. If you are not a Christian, you will find people in Mississippi can be very distant to downright hostile.

Football:

Yeah, people here like Football. This is not unique to Mississippi.

Youth sports:

Yep, I have observed obsessive parents acting like a middle school sport will determine the entire future of a kids life. However, to be fair, I dont think that is just a "Mississippi problem."

Hunting/fishing:

It does have those things.

Friendly people:

I keep hearing this and I really have not seen it to where it would be statistically greater than many other places. In retail, I see an amazing amount of indifference and shockingly uneducated people. I have also never seen so many people talk on their cell phone while they should be courteous enough to interact with another human for 10 seconds. People wont even put down their phones for 10 seconds to finish checking out in a line. It also seems that all that "friendliness" is predicated on you being pretty much identical to the person you are talking with. The xenophobia here is off the charts, as is the racism, from both major demographics. I will admit I have meet some wonderful people who are "native."

Family:

Mississippi ranks almost dead last in number of unwed mothers.

SUVs/Trucks:

I have a truck and an SUV...so I am not taking a swipe when I ask, how does this metric make a place better? In the spirit of your use of the word "popular" yes, they are popular.

Gambling:

I gamble a little, so again, it is not a swipe, just an observation, but this is a horrid industry to hang your hat on.

Good food:

I heard this as well. I have been horribly disappointed by the food so far. I have asked everyone "Where to eat?" and generally think the people around here don't know what good food is. I understand that I have not tried every place yet and I am starting to find places that "are not bad" but come on, I did go to all the "highly recommended places" and that didn't work out very well.

Beautiful falls and mild winters:

Yeah, I like the weather here so far.


Little government intrusion into everyday life (for the most part):

This depends on where you live.


Relatively low cost of living:

Without a doubt. An absolute truth.

The talent pool is not deep; therefore, easier to shine for the motivated and capable.

In what though? There are so few industries here of any size. Are you going to shine as a cashier at Newks...with no real plans to get an education?

______________________________

Less desirable things about Mississippi.......

Last in many state ranking categories:

Yes.

Very little growth of good jobs and not much prospect of growth:

The only growth I see is white flight. Seriously, in the Jackson metro area, almost everything driving growth is people moving farther and farther away. People are not moving here and there is not much business growth, you just have people moving away from bad areas.


Brain drain - see above for cause. To make this worse, the less than motivated stay and rapidly reproduce:

This will keep this place from growing. Of all the problems this area has, until you solve this, things will just get worse.

The Delta is a third world county that needs to be evacuated, but see above for actually occurs there:

I have no real opinion on this.

Gluttony:

I have no opinion on this.

Sloth:

I have no opinion on this.

Hot, humid summers:

I dont think this is really a "bad" thing. Most of the South does and plenty of the South is worse than much of Mississippi.


Lack of natural scenery - no mountains, rocky streams or deep, clear lakes:

I agree.


Barrier islands - if not for these our coast would like that of AL or FL.

I honestly dont know if that is true. The Mississippi coast is not bad.

_________________________

You posted your opinions, I posted mine. I am not looking to start a fight. I am simply stating what I see as someone who is looking at the place without a bias towards it. I have no desire to be unhappy where I live and I am and will be happy in Mississippi. While I am here, I will live a rewarding and interesting life making the best of it. Having said all of that, I can still observe what is good, bad, unique, interesting and dangerous and simply missing about the place.

[Delta-SSiPP]

Originally Posted by viverlibre

Popular things about Mississippi:
Religion
Football
Youth sports
Hunting/fishing
Friendly people
Family
SUVs/Trucks
Gambling
Good food
Beautiful falls and mild winters
Little government intrusion into everyday life (for the most part)
Relatively low cost of living
The talent pool is not deep; therefore, easier to shine for the motivated and capable.

Less desirable things about Mississippi:
Last in many state ranking categories.
Very little growth of good jobs and not much prospect of growth.
Brain drain - see above for cause. To make this worse, the less than motivated stay and rapidly reproduce.
The Delta is a third world county that needs to be evacuated, but see above for what actually occurs there
Gluttony
Sloth
Hot, humid summers.
Lack of natural scenery - no mountains, rocky streams or deep, clear lakes.
Barrier islands - if not for these our coast would like that of AL or FL.

Depending on what a person is searching for, a person may have different experiences from different parts of the state. The Delta has it's charm, born and raised there and proud to be from there.