Learning the way to government – My Fellowship experience

Lauren Reid
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:58:36 +0000
Commentary

Code for America Fellow Michelle Koeth wrote a great blog on her fellowship experience and about how she came to spend her fellowship with us here at Civic Commons.

As I was packing up my work notes, thumb drives, and books a few weekends ago to fly back home, and consequently being flooded with memories of this year, I also began thinking – who is going to read a blog post that I write about my closing thoughts of my fellowship. I’m not a notable internet technology personality, or journalist or entrepreneur. But, I am an everyday American who wanted to do something for their country by using my technical skills. Maybe there’s someone else like me who might read this. Because above all, I want to communicate that the times are changing, and at least through technology, I understand now how average Americans can get more involved in their government.

I was an American who felt isolated of the government world. I paid taxes from various jobs in the private sector; I voted; I went to law school with government loans, and became a member of the Illinois, and D.C. bar, and at least from that I understood the judicial system. But how cities worked, the struggles they face, the people that work in them and their stories, and their vision of how to improve their organizations – that was all completely foreign to me.

My perceptions of government, truth be known, were generally negative. Before Code for America, I’d often feel very bitter taking the metro to work on a Federal holiday, to work another long day to get in my billable hours at the law firm. Everyday, I’d hear sensational headlines about wasted tax dollars, disaffected citizens, and slain troops. On days I drove to work, I’d often sit in traffic for hours as some government motorcade made a mess out of downtown D.C. And I felt powerless to change any of it, until I heard about Code for America.

Read Michelle’s full blog at Code for America.