Last year, CityTalk started as a blog about local events and later incorporated interviews from people in the community. The blog was fun to write but after evaluating the evolution of the blog for this year, I decided it could be updated more often if content was easier to come by. Interviewing people in the city and writing opinion columns on happenings was alright, but content could be more interesting for readers and content updated more often.

Starting yesterday, I began an internship with the city of Shawnee. Every Wednesday, I will go into the city for about an hour and a half to work on small projects for the city and get a feel for what such a job might look like. In comparison to my writing prompts from last year, I think this internship will be much more interesting for readers and also more exciting for me to write about. I hope to include some additional interviews and opinion columns but mainly focus on sharing a behind-the-scenes look with readers. Here is the first of my weekly blog entries:

Week one:

There are a few things to note for those who have never been to City Hall. For what it’s worth, City Hall is located in downtown Shawnee and is in the “old” part of town. It has a small town feel in the middle of the ever-expanding town. Remnants of the town’s history are still evident though when you walk into the building and a mural of the town’s history greets you as you walk into the building.

The next thing you might notice if you walk past the open doors of offices are boxes of light bulbs. CFL, or compact florescent lamp, label the outside of the bulbs that were purchased when the city was under budget last year in energy spending and had to purchase something allowed under grant funding. The city budgeted for the light bulbs based off estimates by a seperate party but the actual cost of the light bulbs came in at one third of the cost of the original estimates. Instead of getting the planned 8,000 bulbs, the city received 25,000. Every Shawnee city event now includes light bulb distribution, a light-hearted reminder of some of the silly loop holes in government.

Having been a reporter with a primary focus on news writing since I first started on staff, I have seen enough government happenings to start to distrust all forms of government. Seeing the people who work at the city of Shawnee in action, though, makes me question my thinking. The local government has to deal with unfortunate mistakes like the light bulb mix-up every day as well as stay on budget planning public and city services all at a level of government where citizens actively vocalize their positive and often negative opinions on city decisions.

On my first day, I was given four smaller projects, but projects nonetheless that the city would consider for different aspects in their government. Again I was surprised. The level of trust in the assignment was refreshing. Since the start of senior year I have found myself in a confusing juggle between childhood and adulthood, prompted by the varying ways adults around me have treated me. This first day finally gave me confirmation in my adult abilities.

I look forward to learning more from behind the scenes. There will be more to come next week.