Monday, January 21, 2008

Too Depressing For Words...

As if it isn't difficult enough already, now there's this article in the Washington Post.

Highly Skilled and Out of Work: Long-term Joblessness Spreads in the Middle Class

My mid-life crisis just acquired a new layer.

Seeing as I'm already down with the flu today, I think I'll go back to bed now and contemplate the direction of my life...

P.S. The woman featured in this article, Caroline Dixon, is someone I knew when I was at the American Forest & Paper Association. The American Forest Foundation shared space with AF&PA and she was just down the hall from my office.

10 comments:

Angie K. Millgate said...

Aw Tewksey! I am sad to hear you are not feeling well. Me neither. I will lay in my bed and commiserate with you from here.

With love,
Angie

Anonymous said...

So much for the value of getting a degree.

(sigh)

This doesn't mean you won't get a job. People are getting jobs. You will be one of them.

I hope you start feeling better soon.
-Phoebe

Sideon said...

Need me to FedEx some chicken noodle soup (and a batch of cookies)?

Feel better soon, Tewkes.

March 8-12 - I'll be in DC again for a conference, and this year only slated for one 2 hour presentation. Would LOVE to see you again and have dinner!

Anonymous said...

That article just gave me a heart attack. My mid-life crisis has more layers than the grand canyon.

Ugh. De-fib please...

Jess said...

Oh man. That stuff is scary. But you are skilled and your skills are in demand. You'll be fine.

J.M. Tewkesbury said...

Abgue: Do the words "I feel like death warmed-over" have any meaning? That would be me. Ugh. Thanks for the love!

Phoebe: I was thinking the exact same thing. The really bitter pill is, the longer I'm un-/under-employed, the more my already enormous student debt continues to grow.

Sideon: Yes, please. Chicken noodle soup and cookies sound divine right now. And March 8 - 12 sounds lovely. I'd like to think we won't be here anymore, but we probably will be. I'll try to give you a call later this week, when I'm not sounding like some prepubescent male or a 5-packer a day.

Di: Sorry. Yeah, not a fun article. I told Bee about it and she told me I should avoid reading that kind of stuff. She's right, of course. When you're done with the defibrillator, could it pass down here to my end of the table? Thanks.

Jess: Thank you! I hope so.

hm-uk said...

Jeezus, that was a grim article. I hope, hope, hope that things pick up soon. It's hard to watch people you care about struggle that much over a lousy fricken pension, mortgage or health care insurance.

CRAP.

J.M. Tewkesbury said...

Aitch: Ironically, D.C. is one of the more "recession proof" areas in the country. If it's grim here, I wonder what it's like elsewhere... The whole situation just propels me that much more to explore the self-employed route. Daisies, anyone?

Merujo said...

When you're feeling better, you, the Sasquatch and I really have to have our coffee klatsch date at Mayorga. I'm finally feeling better-ish after a long haul from Xmas til now with the creeping lung crud.

Be well!! Big hugs from almost well zone!!

Anonymous said...

Merujo: We definitely need to do that. Name a day. My calendar is WIDE open. I need to get out of this stinkin' house. I'm going nuts!