Wow...I volunteer and I see plenty of people too proud/scared to go to homeless shelters, even in cold months. These are people who had/have jobs, and have families, or who were veterans. Good on you for writing a letter about this strange notion of 'hardship' that completely ignores the shoeless, starving people right in front of us everyday.

I heard a news clip one evening (and my mother happened to be over) where 150 refinery workers were losing their jobs. The man they chose to interview was complaining that he would barely be able to cover his $2000/month mortgage. Sure, it's sad. But if the worst that would happen is to downsize into a smaller home for a time, he should feel lucky.

NPR's idea of what is 'hardship' is beginning to annoy me.

Oh Christ, Caitlin Shetterley. She used to write a column for the local free paper that consistently made me gag. All stuff along the lines of "I bought a big bag of designer clothes and then I went shopping at Whole Foods and my dog is soooo cute! Teehee!" If I didn't know better I would think it was someone writing a parody of what they viewed as a typical empty-headed yuppie.

So yeah, it does not surprise me at all that she thinks the minor inconveniences of having to work for an hourly wage (OMG!) and moving back in with her parents are worth an NPR segment's worth of hand-wringing and whining. Hey Caitlin? I'll buy a house for you if you pay me back by shutting your fucking piehole.

I stopped listening to NPR years ago because their classism is nauseating. Just a bunch of uppity white talking heads who have no concept of working-poor but think they do.

I like the CAKE. Hmmmm

Typical attitude of the bourgeois.

Eh, I think it's interesting. I'm glad to hear about the variety of hardships that folks are enduring in this recession.

I mean, my story is pretty privileged. I didn't lose my job, I quit it. I have a graduate degree. My partner makes enough money to pay the bills, mostly, while I've been unemployed. I've been able to get well-paid part-time temp jobs. But the fact is? I moved cross-country and don't have much of a personal OR professional network where I live now, so finding a new job has been terrifically difficult. I've racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt and I'm approaching the limit on my card. I can't afford to get a haircut or buy any new clothes (these are not trivial things when you're job searching!). I don't have health insurance. None of this is the same - or as painful or life-threatening - as homelessness, but it's real hardship.

You say:

"This Recession Diary does an injustice to economic hardship. It likely resonated with the public radio producers, staff, and talent..."

I have to wonder if perhaps it also resonated with the NPR audience, the very people they make this content for? I'm sure you'd like NPR to be for the entirety of the national public, but, fact is, their listeners are people like you and me (with you here on your blog so proudly sporting your PHD). In any case, because you are the NPR demographic you feel you have a right to criticize it, but in this case I think you entirely miss the mark.

Isn't ALL hardship relative? Couldn't I just as easily say that your defense of the "Americans who work one or more demanding jobs" is a complete "a slap in the face" to the millions of people throughout the world who die of preventable diseases or who don't have enough to eat... ever? Your righteous indignations reveals only a politically correctness acquired from an equally privileged point of reference.

"Isn’t ALL hardship relative? Couldn’t I just as easily say that your defense of the “Americans who work one or more demanding jobs” is a complete “a slap in the face” to the millions of people throughout the world who die of preventable diseases or who don’t have enough to eat… ever? Your righteous indignations reveals only a politically correctness acquired from an equally privileged point of reference."

THIS.

I don't know anything about this woman or her family or what she may have done or written in the past, but asking her (or NPR) to take into account, at every available moment, the starving folks of the world/AIDS/child rape/poor people/kittens in an essay she presumably wrote about something crappy that happened to her (however she perceives it) smacks of self-righteousness.

It IS frustrating to think that the worst thing that has ever happened to these folks is that the writer got a book deal they couldn't buy a house with--so very sad, I know--but wishing harm/hardship or a certain understanding thereof on that family is downright hateful. We should wish to bring more to those with less, not less to those with more.

We all have different stories, and they are all valuable if you care about actual humans and humanity. If NPR had featured a story about a poor family struggling to make it work (which they have done, plenty) people would just be complaining that they romanticized the subaltern or simply used them for a story before hoofing home to their cushy, warm apartments filled with Whole Foods fare.

I don't really have anything of value to add, but I'm curious. Lisa, how did you make the teeth?

Anyone who sees owning a house as a right ("not even enough money to buy a house") is at a different level than many. I don't earn enough money to buy a house and I would NEVER EVER say that I was poor. It would be an insult to those who are poor. Not everyone can buy a house. It's just how it is.

Thank you for sending them this letter! I'm just going to rant a bit here, so apologies in advance..

This reminds me of similar piece on All Things Considered about an upper middle-class, middle-aged lady who left her publishing job and moved to another state just as the economy tanked. She had been an upper-level employee at her other jobs, published etc., but wasn't able to find a job in her field after she moved. So, eventually she got desperate and had to take an entry-level retail job. She talks about how tough it was, how humbling, about how she learned so much about herself, blah, blah, blah. It was such a life-altering experience, being forced to slave along with the proles that she discovered she wanted to be a therapist and was going back to grad school. Okay, so I'm thinking, maybe somebody who used to be upper middle-class had to learn how to live off a minimum wage paycheck and do menial work. This is interesting.

Here's the kicker though--she said she was working these jobs a whopping 10 hours a week! TEN HOURS A WEEK. My eyes nearly rolled out of my head. Yeah, sure, she was in real tough economic circumstances if she had enough money saved up that she was fine supporting herself off of like, $50 a week. She definitely wasn't slumming it, hoping to collect some material for a book. How can you say you understand the hardship of working a low level service industry job when you don't experience one of the main things that makes these jobs suck--having to work over forty hours a week if you want to come ven close to paying all of your bills?

Barbara Enriech, she ain't.

I thought you said you were gonna break the rule of having a picture in every post. :p

I don't know if you could do this type of story with an actual "poor" person.

They'd be too busy working to put in time to do a "recession diary." Also, their story wouldn't be so flowery, as they haven't been taught to write like a self-important upper class whiner.

I appreciated your letter. I myself am lucky and privileged enough to be able to follow my dream of being a musician (never an easy calling), but who knows how long that will last.

I think any person who thinks they work hard and/or suffer economic hardship should read the classic novel by Edna Ferber "So Big." It's a turn-of-the-(last)century story of a young woman who growing up had everything, then lost it all to become a cabbage farmer outside Chicago. Her re-evaluation of what was important in her life, and subsequent joy at the simple, difficult life she came to lead, is touching and inspiring.
It may give any truly poor, hard-working person some hope for happiness, and a middle class person going through a rough patch some perspective.

You're surprised that NPR panders to the upper classes? Where do you think all the left-wingers are?

Was anyone else irked by the fact that it was Shetterly's partner, Dan, who had to ask her Dad for money? Not only that, but it didn't sound like Dan consulted with her before making the call. It seems incredibly awkward that Dan would ask his father-in-law for help instead of Shetterly asking her OWN father.

I'm glad you wrote the letter to NPR.

In addition to everything else, Dan makes it sound like home life is such a drag after he spends the day working on his MA and is "challenged," etc.

I suppose what bothers me overall is that there is no critical analysis of any of it, whether the second shift that the female partner lives with, the economic privileges of both of them, or the ideology of "hard work will pay off for everyone."

A good reason to stick to democracynow. org.

I don't know. True, this is not genuine financial hardship, BUT I do think it's interesting to hear how the recession across the economic spectrum. I think that's actually one of the most striking things about this deep recession - it hits people at all levels. I don't think that people should have to win the "Oppression Olympics" to tell their story.

Uh.. do we have to be in financial trouble to hang clothes to dry?? Or to have landline phones with... "basic features"?! shock horror!

I have been guilty of dismissing the woes of former CEO's who made millions and are now "struggling" on "just" several hundred thousand a year. However; I have a much harder time evaluating the struggles of the middle class. I have never in my life qualified as middle class. I have not yet earned more than 20K/year with a family of four. I still think of people who make 75K/year as wealthy, but I think they have a much tougher time adjusting to a decrease in income.

Wealthy people may lose some money, but their adjustments to their personal budgets rarely include losing their homes, cars, and all liquid assets.

Poor people are used to struggling. They have always made due with what they have. Not that they enjoy being poor, it is just familiar territory.

Middle income people get burned(in my opinion) because those middle wage earning jobs are the first to go. Adjusting the middle income budget to one or zero earners typically involves the loss of a home and/or a vehicle. Furthermore, these people are not experienced at managing on very little money and struggle to adopt thrifty grocery habits, modify their standard of living (Cutting the cable TV, satellite radio, and super expensive cell phones causes separation anxiety), and what my mom always called "Bill juggling."

I am not qualified to be the arbiter of misery. I don't know how much they should be suffering. I know that for every miserable moment in my life, someone else is having a worse time. I don't know that the struggle is not equivalent. At least in the mind of the individual, as the severity of their struggles will be measured by how much strife they have personally experienced in the past.

I don't know anything about this woman or her previous work, so I can't speak to motive here, but I will say that I think some of you are being too harsh. No, this is not the same a being completely destitute and homeless, but moving back in with your parents and drowning in a sea of bills definitely sucks. The fact they are not in the worst possible position a human being can be in does not mean their story has no value.

Many of us have stories about how the recession has impacted our lives. The fact that some of us come from a position of privilege does not invalidate our struggles; nor does talking about them invalidate the struggles of those who have it even worse.

You know, I think it's really interesting. I grew up relatively poor (I always had food, but it often came from govm't food distributions). We were below the poverty line my whole life anyways (I have a hard time calling myself "poor" because I did have so much more that many others).
My boyfriend grew up upper middle class.
We are now both in the same boat as each other. We make about the same amount of money. I live at home with my mom (I can afford an apartment, but choose not to), he rents a cheap room in a house.
He is absolutely miserable with his financial situation (this is the poorest he's ever been), and I couldn't be happier with my financial situation! (This is the wealthiest I have every been).
It just goes to show you how even two people in the same situation can have very very different views about their situation they are in.

Oh, and to Shetterly's husband...why would you go out and drive two and a half hours every few days to go to grad school and then work bartending jobs (which can actually make quite a bit of money) when your family is supposedly suffering?!?!? Same to Shetterly herself...why would you continue this freelance work (which probably paid out less than the bartending jobs) when you could just go out and get a job? Go work at Target or something if one of the big fancy companies that can offer you the high-profile job you think you deserve isn't hiring!

I disagree with the post. The story is probably very relevant to many of the listeners of the show. Why should every piece be about the least advantaged or a visible minority? And think of what's going on there. This couple is representative of the new economy: freelance - no benefits, no job security, no pension, not even a several-month contract. When the economy falters, these people have no safety net. Thank heavens they have parents who will take them and their baby in.

And then there's the parents. Gone are the days when the only role of grandparents was gifts and babysitting. The extended family concept crept back, so kids are often now responsibilities for life.

Oppression Olympics! *FWEET*