Where is Superman when you need him?

It's been a while.

I am afraid of the economy. I am afraid of what is to come. I am afraid of what might happen if this stimulus package fails...who knows if it's going to pass or if it is even going to work. I'm not an economics major, I don't know whats up. But I do pay enough attention to know that things are getting very scary and messy and just plain fucked up.

And here I am, at the edge of the rest of my life, facing all of it. I see people my age losing jobs. I see people my age unable to find jobs. I see people my age staying in school for another 2 years because hey, it's not like they'd be able to find employment anyway, right? I almost feel like me having to have a 5th year of college is a bit of a blessing in disguise. At least I know that for the next two years I won't have to pay back any loans or brave the real adult world.

That's not to say I don't go unaffected. I'm still lashed with solemn headlines blaring from the New York Times website when I open my computer each day and every time I pass by a newsstand I shrink a little. I shrink in the same way I shrink when a homeless person asks me for money and I have to say (and mean) "Sorry man, I don't have any cash". I shrink because I see the pain and hardship, I see the storm in the distance, I see the impending doom biding its time and I feel like there is nothing I can do about it. I'm just a poor college student. I can't do anything. I'm living in my safe collegiate bubble full of loans and discounts. But lately, I can't help but feel like this economic crisis is really beginning to seep into my world....

...and then today, things really did get a little more real than just headlines on the paper.

I received an email from my Product Design professor that read:
No tour tomorrow. Meet in class and I'll fill you in on the economic conditions of our tour spots.
Cheers,
Kiersten

Reading that email and listening to President Obama's speech made me realize that shit is getting really real, folks. I don't know exactly what that e-mail is saying but I do know that my classes are now affected by it. And I do know that my degree may not be worth a whole lot when I graduate. And I do know that our country is in for one hell of a ride that I hope our new president can navigate.

Yet....I DO know that from where I stand, at the proverbial edge of the cliff, I can't let this cloud of darkness and depression consume me. Its my job, in this moment of zen, to take a deep breath, exhale and get ready to fight for the life I want, head on, with the tools I have at hand. Momma didn't raise no sissy woman and Poppa gave me too much pride to crumble.

Good Luck America!