"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain
Perspective is EVERYTHING.
I live on $1,900 a month and today I discovered that Amy's (organic vegetarian food producer extraordinaire) canned chili is NOT delicious. (Try their frozen lasagna. Mmm hmm.) I only get out of the house to go to the gym and for social gatherings because A) I have no job to go to everyday, B) the (unpaid) work I do all revolves around the computer, and C) I am lazy*.
*This last point is sometimes hard for people to believe because I'm licensed to practice law and my next career move is toward my PhD, so I will clarify. I am PHYSICALLY lazy. Mentally I'm kind of a big deal. : )
Anyway, today's post is clearly going to be a bit rambly. My point is that I am broke and unemployed and eat canned food. Oh, and despite my previously held beliefs, being broke has not resulted in my longed-for bikini-body-ness. *sigh*
I could be upset about the state of things. I could be despondent.
Instead, I am happy. I feel blessed. I have a roof over my head, an amazing support system comprised of friends family and my boyfriend, food to eat (even if it's canned and even if it prevents me from being ready for a bikini), and enough money to pay my basic bills. I have more than many many people in this world, in this country. And to see things in that manner, to be happy and feel blessed for what I do have instead of focusing on what I have not, is an exercise in mastering perspective.
Thanks to David Lacy of the in-development syndicate tentatively named iPinion Syndicate (and slated to feature yours truly as a contributor - shameful self-promotion, I know) for the head's up.
MSNBC claims that 'Obamanomics' is working.
I find myself having a hard time even pronouncing that word. Say it with me now: "O-ba-man-no-mics."
As for me, I was one of those early ship-jumpers who became disenchanted with Obama when he showed what I believed to be his true colors during his first year. I have been *slightly* revived with his step toward repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy and with the success of the health care bill (though for me, without a public option, it wasn't the success I had hoped for).
Still, I am not yet convinced. I fear Obama is another Herbet Hoover, when I was really hoping he was our next Roosevelt.
I am also loathe to trust what the corporate media has to say regarding the recovery of the economy. I fear the media is telling us that it is recovering in an effort to make us spend money out of a false belief that it is recovering. If we believe it's recovering, we'll be more likely to spend than save, and as a result the economy will in fact recover. Sort of a reverse-catch-22.
Still, whether or not the economy is actually recovering is an important point for unemployed Americans and therefore for This Unemployed Life. As with Obama in general, I'll believe it when I see it. And as always, this blog takes a stance, but encourages you to form your own opinions.
So what do you think? Is 'Obamanomics' working?
Thanks to Shannon at Cinnaholic for sharing this interesting article.
The author appears to be anonymous. Comments cannot be posted. The blog itself appears to have been created for the sole purpose of publishing this one article. So what does it have to say that's so top secret? Well, it's anti-American propaganda, in truth. And Big Brother doesn't like it.
The information line in the blog reads "Posted in Truth by lancefreeman76 on April 5, 2010." Even if the article can be traced back to the man behind lancefreeman76, perhaps he felt comfortable posting this article because he's already fled the country.
This is America. Where we technically have freedom of speech and are allowed to critique our government. But as "America: The Grim Truth" points out:
"America is actually among the least free countries on earth. Your piss is tested, your emails and phone calls are monitored, your medical records are gathered, and you are never more than one stray comment away from writhing on the ground with two Taser prongs in your ass."
Read More
Thanks to Demos for the head's up.
According to a report released today by the Economic Policy Institute, America's young workers account for 26.4 percent of unemployed workers, even though they make up 13.5 percent of the overall labor force.
Tula Connell, in a blog for AFL CIO, has this to say:
"The Kids Aren’t Alright" also describes the unique challenges facing jobless young workers, those between the ages of 16 and 24. With no prior work history, many lack a safety net of personal savings and do not qualify for unemployment insurance. Workers under age 35 also have more debt, relative to assets, than any other age group."
Well, I can certainly speak to that last point. With $130,000 in student loan debt, about $10,000 in credit card debt, and the only asset to my name being my 10-year-old car with a blue book value of about $3,500, I do believe I am the example of which Ms. Connell speaks.
Good luck to us, youth of America! Between the sheer number of us out there, baby boomers still working and unable to retire in this economy, the catch-22 that you can't get experience until you've got experience, no savings, and a high debt-to-assets ratio, it's no wonder we're the first generation not expected to do better than our parents!
I've said it once and I'll say it again: now is the time to follow your dreams! Financial security may not be within your grasp, at least not any time soon, so why on earth would you not be doing what you love???!!! Read More
Because I am a human being with a life outside this blog, I often forget that my readers only know as much of my story as I tell them. At some point in the last month or so I decided that my path away from the law and toward writing will include a trip to graduate school. Somehow I have neglected to fill you in, faithful reader, so here's the story.
When I chose to go to law school I had been ready to apply to MFA programs in creative writing. When I decided to forgo the latter for the former, I promised myself that one day I would get my MFA in creative writing, if only for myself. In fact last year I had met with professors at USF to learn more about their night school MFA program. Good thing I didn't go that route, because I would have incurred $35,000 or more in student loan debt (icing on the cake, really, for the $130,000 of law school debt I already have).
At some point in my recent process of self-discovery one of my co-editors on the blog As It Ought To Be contacted me with some invaluable information. He let me know that there are a number of MFA programs across the country that fund. That is, they waive your tuition and pay you a modest living stipend and in exchange (usually, but not at all schools) you teach a class for the university each semester. So you can get your MFA without incurring a dime of student loan debt. In fact, they pay you to go to school.
What? Did I die and go to heaven?
I was summoned by the EDD for an in-person appointment today. This is the first interaction I've had with EDD outside of applying for Unemployment Insurance and receiving my checks bi-monthly.
I assumed this was a one-on-one appointment where they would grill me about my job search and make sure I was actually trying to find work. Instead what I found was a workshop filled with 24 other unemployed people in the same boat as me. The workshop was slated to be an hour long because immediately after it conclusion another hour long workshop was scheduled to start.
If they are doing these workshops every hour on the hour, back to back, daily, there could be upwards of 1,000 unemployed people a week attending these workshops. Yikes.
The workshop itself turned out to be mostly the handing out of fliers, with some explanation or highlights of what the fliers had to offer. Each of us was given a 17-page packet and 17 individual fliers. So much for green!
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