Traditionally, young people come to the big city with a dream; then, when that dream inevitably fails to materialize, many of them move away to some smaller, more forgiving town and cry silently, years later, at what might have been. Now, the fucking tables have turned.
Who are the techno-serfs who work for peanuts assembling furniture, making deliveries, giving massages and preparing meals via odd job websites like TaskRabbit and Zaarly? They're surprisingly cheery folks who are unreasonably happy taking crap wages from strangers, if the Observer's investigation is to be believed.
In the olden days before the U.S. economy devolved into a pure gold-and-canned-goods bartering system, Wall Street guys were the ones who rented all the gaudy, overpriced good apartments. Now that Wall Street's been decimated, who will the real estate industry turn to, to unload all those new condos with "Wii rooms?" Oh, they will sell these pricey spaces to "bloggers," it says here. Hahaha.
The New York Times announces the weddings. Phyllis Nefler pits the couples against each other in that weekly battle royale we call Altarcations. This week: Creative class cage match and a Real Housewives cameo.
Journalism training in Korea has all the hallmarks of a good reality show: Cub reporters must drink themselves silly, stay awake around the clock, sleep together, and stab one another in the back. It makes Columbia look like Coney Island.
Lest they offend their many laid off friends, anyone who's kept their job in print media will tell you they're one of "the lucky ones." But privately, survivors talk of the malaise sweeping medialand. This is one of them.
Things have gotten so bad that unpaid corporate interns are literally starving. Across America, interns are desperately prostituting their fresh young smiling faces in return for a single box of Little Debbie muffins, so they may live another day.
Here's the thing about losing your journalism job and starting your own internet/freelance business: Suddenly you work, eat, sleep, drink and even exercise in one tiny space. Laura Rich almost went crazy.
The ongoing collapse of the American economy means middle-class college grads must behave like coddled aristocratic twits and secure internships through their parents' largesse.
New York magazine profiled seven city residents who lost their jobs in the economic meltdown. The most heartbreaking? That would be Marc Thomas, 44, failed dramatist.
