Opportunities arise from gaining a new boss. Proposals shelved for years get dusted off. But new federal programs and new initiatives only happen when the employees who do the real work of government change their goals and work to make those new goals a reality. Timing, not ideology, determines who gets the glory. Much more often, the federal work force holds the brave new administration at bay with the semblance of change.
Old programs get new names to flatter new management.
Featured mystery writer Earlene Fowler discovered that once people started seeing her as a published writer, instead of as the office worker or clerk she used to be, their entire attitude changed, sometimes in ways Fowler neither expected nor wanted. Sometimes, perceptions shift because someone simply doesn't do what you expected them to do. I doubt if any of us on the Crescent Blues staff will ever view another email interview quite the same way after experiencing this month's Michael Moorcock interview , for example. But by the same token, what Moorcock wrote forces you to reexamine what you thought you knew about his writing, his music and his many other interests. Only then can be sure we want to change, or whether we need to.