the recession diaries

Getting an unemployment check is a lot like surviving a car crash with injuries. Yeah, you’re happy you’ve survived, but it would be nice to be able to walk without crutches soon. I’m not sure who these people paying off their trips to India with their unemployment checks are, but they sound nothing like the…

So far the bulk of the mail I’ve received stems from my piece, “Is College Worth It?” I’ve gotten everything from pity to appreciation to flat out ridicule. The ridicule has been the most interesting to read. Quite a few have reacted as if I owed them money. Many have questioned why after writing about…

The more I talk to my 20-something friends, the more I hear the same sentiment. We’re supposed to be the generation of promise, but with our degrees and hard work being greeted by the worst economic crisis in decades, it’s sometimes hard to continue believing in that promise. Now many wonder if Generation Y will respond similar…

About four years ago, I and a friend were robbed at gunpoint leaving the Washington, D.C. club Love. It was Howard Homecoming time, the club was located near the projects, we shouldn’t have parked where we did … you can guess what happened next. I wasn’t really afraid.  The second I got back to my friend’s…

Close your eyes and imagine the East Coast/West Coast beef of the ‘90s. There, you’ve just met my parents. Want to stop by for Thanksgiving? I met the idea of moving back home with about as much as excitement as I did returning to the dentist that ripped out of my wisdom teeth without Novocain.…

The primary concern of a parent is to feed, clothe, and shelter their children. But with the cost of tuition rising higher and financing options dropping faster than a bill collector’s patience, parents are learning they’re going to have to be a little savvier with their financial planning if they don’t want to be overburden…

I’m dreading April 12th this year. It has nothing to do with me turning twenty-fly. I’m fine with that. Who doesn’t want to save money on car rentals? What concerns me is that unless something changes between now and that day I will officially join the 47 million Americans without health insurance. No offense to…

For those of us out hustling for dwindling ends, all that talk in Washington and Wall Street seems pretty far removed from our every day lives. If you are like me, the words “stimulus,” “bailouts” and the dreaded “R” word—Recession, make your eyes glaze over. For many of us, the economic crisis means, turning down…