Saturday, August 1, 2009

Flattering write-up of Jackson in airline magazine

Southwest Airlines' "Spirit" Magazine has profiled our fair city, and they're fans. For those of you feeling down on Jackson, take a read.

21 comments:

Kingfish said...

When have you seen an airline magazine write a negative article about a city?

Justin said...

Don't you remember Delta's Sky Magazine's article - "Buffalo - If any American City Needs An Enema, This is It?"

Anonymous said...

Don't matter how many flattering spreads the city gets in magazines Jackson is flat broke and the downtown miracle is DOA.

Matt Eichelberger said...

That misses the point, guys. When has anything nice been written about Jackson in our lifetimes?

And KF, wasn't it Kirk Fordice who had the slogan "Only Positive Mississippi Spoken Here?" I swear, the party of "Morning in America" is the party of "Midnight in Mississippi." (No positive reference to Blue Mountain intended.)

Anonymous said...

Do you own property or a business in Jackson Matt?

Matt Eichelberger said...

Anon @ 5:20: Nope. I rent an apartment Downtown. I'm pro-Jackson because Jackson is the economic engine of our state. Better Jackson = better Mississippi.

Plus, Metro Jackson is home to me. I want good things for it, and the people who share this place with me.

Justin said...

I'm pro-Jackson, because I'd much rather live in a place with buildings with character and trees -- not in a subdivision in Madison, Ridgeland, or Rankin County.

Anonymous said...

Throw a little gasoline on the fire Justin. I'm pro Madison because it is quiet and an nice place to raise a child. I'm also pro Jackson because it is our state capital and can attract/host nice events. This doesn't have to be us versus them. This competitive/jealous/pissy attitude on both "sides" only hurts everyone.

Anonymous said...

Jackson may be the political engine of Mississippi but it is not the economic engine. Sorry to disappoint.

Julie said...

Thanks for posting this, Matt! You're so right that a better Jackson means a better Mississippi. It's fantastic that so many people will now read about the great things going on here! And Anon @ 7:51, thank you for being a good Madisonian neighbor! I wish that everyone would come to realize that things don't have to be us/them. It takes all types...some folks (like me) don't want to live in the 'burbs; others don't want to live downtown (or in the city at all), but it doesn't mean we need to want each other to fail. And we should all want a strong capital city. It only helps all of us.

I think it's truly awesome that people not even from here--in this case, the company that publishes Spirit--recognize the great things going on here. Jackson is only the fifth city the magazine has featured, and they didn't have to choose it. They were impressed with the energy and passion of our people, and that's why they chose us. (I had no involvement with this...I just have knowledge of it.) I honestly get really frustrated that so often, our own people don't "get" it, when people not even from here obviously do!

Oh, and Anon @ 5:20, I don't own a property or business in Jxn, either, in case you want to know. I live downtown, in an apartment I rent...but even before I moved downtown, when I lived in Rankin County and worked in Ridgeland, I was a huge proponent of all things Jackson (in fact, back then, people always used to assume I lived in Fondren).

Anonymous said...

I thought the Kirk Fordice slogan was "I'll whip your a**."

Matt Eichelberger said...

Anon @ 8:31 pm - Enlighten me.

Anonymous said...

Kingfish raises a good point - they don't write negative pieces. That's why they pick cities - like Jackson - that they can write positive things about. Quite a compliment for a group of outsiders to see the positive change going on in the city and feel compelled to do a feature piece on it.

n said...

As a former employee of Bomgar and a friend of Joel's, I am glad that they included Bomgar in their writeup. However, it's a bit ironic that the article is about Jackson and Bomgar, as a Ridgeland company, isn't even in Hinds County, let alone Jackson.

Anonymous said...

The downtown crowd needs to fudge the borders since they're lacking bonafide success stories with actual numbers.

Julie said...

Anon @1:02 and Christopher, doesn't that just go back to that us/them mentality, though? The article wasn't just about downtown, for one. It was about Jackson. Granted, Ridgeland is not Jackson, and vice versa, so I take your point. (Lord knows, I'm among the first to point out that Madison and Ridgeland aren't Jackson. But it's all our metro area, and I think they saw an interesting story in him.)

Also, for what it's worth, the "downtown crowd" didn't write the article. Spirit Magazine did. It's an editorial article, not a paid advertisement or anything that would allow anyone here to control content, so nobody in the "downtown crowd" was fudging any borders. In fact, if I were a betting woman, I'd wager that had they been in control, they'd have used something like the huge success story that is Parkway Properties as just one example of a bonefied successful business that is also committed to Jackson in a big way.

Rodeo star said...

"Fudge the borders---bona-fide success stories"....this deserves no response as it is clearly written by the "obsessed one" about all things good/Jackson.

Success stories" not here? Wake up, or better yet, GROW UP and get a life [or better yet, a job]

Anonymous said...

Didn't Parkway recently slash their dividend?

Anonymous said...

If you don't stop these ad homs guys like 8:31PM above they'll drive away your good readers.

Kingfish said...

Um, have you checked Parkway's share price?

Julie said...

Actually, I havent, but I just saw that they just reported an earnings increase this past quarter. I'd say this past year, in any business, shouldn't be taken in isolation, wouldn't you? The fact--and my point--remains that it's a NYSE-traded company that's done really well and could have been located anywhere, but specifically chose to remain here in Jackson. That was just one example...there are successful businesses in Jackson, in addition to in other areas of the metro area.