The Next Depression Will Be Televised

I recently posted a link to this Boston Globe piece to my Facebook page and moved on to other reading. Yet I cannot quite forget one aspect of the piece: a key distinction between a potential "new" Depression and the "Great" Depression of the '30s.

Drake Bennett (who must have been named after a soap opera character) writes that, unlike Great Depression-imagery of block-long bread lines, Dust Bowl storms, and other public displays of poverty, a new Depression would be notable for a general lack in public suffering. Here's a snip:

[A] depression circa 2009 might be a less visible and more isolating experience. With the diminishing price of televisions and the proliferation of channels, it's getting easier and easier to kill time alone, and free time is one thing a 21st-century depression would create in abundance. Instead of dusty farm families, the icon of a modern-day depression might be something as subtle as the flickering glow of millions of televisions glimpsed through living room windows, as the nation's unemployed sit at home filling their days with the cheapest form of distraction available.

There's something eerie and profoundly sad about that image, a Depression marked by increasing isolation and media anesthesia. I can't seem to get that image of flickering television screens off my mind.

Read the entire piece: Depression 2009: What would it look like?

Shameless Media Plug - KPIX

Last week I was interviewed by KPIX (San Francisco) about the rush to profit from Obama paraphernalia (you know, buttons, pins, and the like). I enjoyed the chance to chat with reporter Thuy Vu, (even though they went with my most boring quote).

Difficulty seeing this video? Point your browser here: http://cbs5.com/video/?id=41842

Worse than the Depression?

Here's a little reading that illustrates our current economic fears. A snip:

"The economy faces a slump deeper than the Great Depression and a growing deficit threatens the credit of the United States itself."

Read the entire piece: http://www.reuters.com/article/Finance08/idUSTRE4AB7HT20081112

Friday Fun Post - Keith Olbermann in a Minute

A clever collection of Keith Olbermann special comments



Trouble seeing the video? Visit this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MaJLbJDuAc

Starbucks and Omnitopia

One of the primary themes of omnitopia is the conflation of the entire world into a miniaturized enclave. At Starbucks, an enclave of privilege in a time of increasing economic angst, the "world" becomes "a comfy chair."

Safeway Googie

Think of this as a placeholder post for some forthcoming work I want to do, photographing googie shopping centers.

I grew up in the land of Publix, back when they had those bold V-arrow signs at the entrance, practically daring you to ride past the door.

South Beach Miami still has one of those glorious sites, but most of the rest of the Publix where I grew up have been dulled into submission, their googie accents homogenized and muted to oblivion.

So I was particularly delighted to spot this Safeway in Portland. Not like a publix, of course, but this Safeway is pure googie: streamlined swoops and plate-glass, a building set to fly.

I borrowed my daughter's camera, one not notable for its night-time shooting capabilities, and snapped a few shots.



(Photographs by Andrew Wood)

Day Off

...Taking the day off, enjoying Veteran's Day.

Don't forget: Thank a vet.