The Recession Kitchen

What would the death of the Boston Globe mean?

It's May 4th. The deadline for the Boston Globe's unions to make drastic cuts has been extended and passed. The paper has warned it will file notice that it will shut down. They're serious this time. The guillotine has been sharped. Today could be the day the death order is signed for the Boston Globe.
If it happens, the message board stampede will declare the collapse of another liberal media outlet beneath it's own ponderosity. The former print and part-time-print punditry will line up in front of high-def television cameras to bemoan the scourge of Internet and technology's ad-dollar-siphoning gluttony. A photographer will snap photos of longtime journalists wiping tears from their cheeks, their hair askew, the way print reporter's hair tends to rebel. And deadline's will come, pints of beer will pour, and at about 7:07 Jacoby Ellsbury will knock his bat against his spikes and dig into the batter's box as the Red Sox make their first visit to the new Yankee Stadium.
There would be something appropriate if it comes to pass that the Red Sox are preparing for the Yankees when The Globe's fate comes down. After all, it was the New York Times Co. who bought the Boston Globe in 1993 for $1.1 billion, and it is the floundering New York Times Co. that is now threatening to shutter  Globe.
There are few entities that embody New England's loathing of New York more than the Yankees. The Yankees, are the epitome of flash and cash, brazen bravado. This past winter, when slugger Mark Teixeira hit the free agent market, many Red Sox fans longed to see the slick fielding switch hitter in a Boston uniform. In the end, Teixeira selected the Yankees. After all, he said, he always  wanted to be a Yankee. Every baseball player dreams of suiting up in pinstripes.
Baseball isn't the only arena where New York arrogance rubs New Englanders the wrong way. When Macy's bought Jordan Marsh, the marketing wizards couldn't wait to change the name of the store, and they've been battering shoppers with advertisements that promise the "magic of Macy's" ever since. And every summer, the accent of Cape Cod shifts. Fried clams become fried claaeems.
Now, New York is coming for the daily newspaper.
Let me be clear, New York is not out to get Boston. That would be a parochial paranoia beyond reason. I'm offering, rather, a peak into the psyche of many New Englanders, who, like all people, are incredibly proud, and are incredibly possessive of what they consider to be theirs. One of those things is the Boston Globe. For 137-years the Globe has been published and for 137-years it has had a tenuous relationship with its readers. To many Irish Bostonians the Globe has always been the Brahman paper, and as such, has always favored British Colonialism over Irish Independence. To many Boston Catholics the paper, which drove the exposure of decades of child abuse in the Church, is anti-Catholic. To many Boston African-Americans, the Globe has a long history ignoring their communities. And to many Boston sports fans the Globe has long preferred the woe of a story about losing, to the bliss of a story about winning, and would rather attack athletes than cover the game.
So, why should should the Boston Globe, a New York-run, anti-Irish, anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti-Nomar paper be saved?
Because it is New England's. Because it is the paper of record. The Boston Globe offers the first draft of history in New England, and for almost a century-and-a-half it has been documenting New England, and the passions of New Englanders. Because when it's focus is right, it can uncover rampant abuse in the Church. Because when reporters have resources that a big paper can offer, and the job security that a union can offer, they can alert the nation that their President has signed is allowing torture. Because the Boston Globe, for generations, has defined what a newspaper should be, from literary sports pages to a gritty metro section, to political reporters who work sources to get stories, to environmental writers who find out what things like fish, birds and beaches mean to people.
I know because I grew up in a Boston Globe household in central Massachusetts. I first looked at it for the weather forecast, hoping to find probable snow days. Then I discovered the sports pages. The Globe taught me how to read a box score, Peter Gammons taught me about farm systems, Bob Ryan informed me that the Celtic's reign in the 1980s was over, and that Len Bias was dead. In high school I discovered Derrick Z. Jackson and decided that I wanted to be a metro columnist. I went to undergraduate school in New York, and then graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern. When I graduated in 1998, my goal was to make it to the Boston Globe in five years.
I've since settled in Chicago. But that dream of writing for the Globe is still there. At least for today.
But if it goes, the chance to better the Globe will go too. If it goes, the model will remain lost, never to be restored. If it goes we'll have to find someone else to be anti-Irish, anti-Catholic, anti-Black and anti-Manny. If it goes, my dream goes, too. If it goes, it's gone. All of it.

Tips for New Freelancers (Surviving Freelancia)

There are several ways things can be destroyed. They can be burned, disassembled, broken down by the natural forces of decay. The destruction of America's newspapers has illustrated another path to obliteration. They've been smashed, like  an automobile's windshield or a hapless Cub fan's mirror. And all of those tiny shards, strewn across the streets of our nation, well, those are the former staff writers, editors, and copy desk denizens who suddenly find themselves broken away from their former unit, suddenly freelance.
Having one's career re-birthed in such a manner can result in a daze-inducing concussion. It's easy for anger to be supplanted by delirium or despair. Depression, that every-day-is-cloudy type of depression, can be a constant shadow. The rapid re-organization of goals and aspirations can seem cruel. The desire to turn every day into a Saturday is very real, and is very much a Siren upon the rocks.
Will you make it as a freelancer? Maybe. It might be possible. The market is undergoing a monumental shift. At the same time publications are realizing that they do, um, still need copy, there are thousands upon thousands of desperate workers who have adopted the mantra "some work is better than no work." Pay rates are dwindling. And even if you do get work, even you do have a contract, there is no guarantee that you'll actually be paid.
Welcome to Freelancia.

To give you the very best chance at making it, here are five tips.

1. Freelance is a real job
Sure, you won't be trekking to the same office every morning. But it is critical to accept your new position as every bit as real as that of a staffer. It may not have paid vacation or contribute to your social security, but if you do not set up a business you won't have a chance. Oh, friends and family may not understand this. They may very well think of you as unemployed. Gently remind them that not only are you employed, you are a small business owner, and as such, you are part of the backbone of America.

2. Diversify
You know the saying "You can't be all things to all people?" Try. Work in as many niche markets as you can, find as many different clients as you can, and, as soon as you can, join the journalism associations in those markets. They will help you find new contacts, they may offer databases on who is paying how much, and they may even help you get your money.

3. You are a creditor
You are a contractor providing goods in advance of payment. You must research your clients to determine their financial health. Seriously, I never thought it was possible that I could have a contact on work, fulfill that contract, and not get paid. That was until I received a note, actually three copies of the same note, from the attorney's for the Chicago Sun-Times, alerting me to my rights as a creditor to a company in bankruptcy. If any of my invoices had fallen prior to the company's filling, I may have had to file a claim form with the bankruptcy court.

4. Be visible
As a freelancer it can be very easy to go unseen, to do all of your work by phone, e-mail, and instant message. You can become an invisible fountain of brilliant, tight, copy on deadline. But it is far better to lunch with your editors and join a soccer team or crew of beer swilling softballers. There are several reasons for this. First, the more visible you are, the more work will come your way. Also, if and when things start picking up again, the freelancer who is known as a person rather than an email address will be more likely to receive a full-time job offer. Finally, the life of a freelancer can be  lonely. Spending huge blocks of time alone at a computer ain't what people were meant to do. And, if after freelancing for a while, you do try to go back to work, you may be asked questions like, "Do you think you'll be able to go back to working with other people?" Referencing your spot on a softball team can help allay the fears that you're a social outcast.

5. Work Ahead
Even if you put together a group of great clients, the time will come when one, two, three, four, or all of them hit a rough patch. When money gets tight, the first thing a publishing company will do is push back payments to its freelancers. This may seem like something straight out of the mouth an 18th Century coal miner, but expecting payment for your work will lead to nothing but trouble. Seriously, if you have a client who always pays in 30 days, expect them to pay in 120 days. That way, when they do take longer than expected, you won't be paying overdraft fees on your bank account because of their delinquency.

Oh, one more thing. Welcome!

Swine Flu Strikes the Newsroom

I offer a conversation taking place in newsrooms across America:

Editor-in-Chief: (Staring at CNN coverage of Swine Flu outbreak) We need something good and local on this swine flu thing. Get someone at the university to explain how this god damned thing jumped from pigs to people, how are they tracking it, what the hell does it all mean? Get that guy who did that piece on the flu vaccine shortage a couple years ago, remember that sidebar he did on the 1918 flu? That was great.

City editor: Koprowski?

Editor-in-chief: Yeah, Koprowski!

City Editor: Corporate laid him off. Health care reporter. Non vital.

Editor-in-Chief: What about that bi-lingual girl we had covering immigration? She can go find out what the Mexicans are saying.

City Editor: She's gone, too. Diversity stories don't sell car ads.

Editor-in-chief: Don't we have anybody who covers the county health department?

City Editor: Sure, that's Barnes.

Editor-in-chief: Well, have Barnes do something.

City Editor: She's in Washington.

Editor-in-Chief: Washington?

City Editor: Yeah. She covers government. Federal, City, County, Municipal. She covers it all. She's great.

Editor-in-Chief: What the hell is she doing in Washington? Can't she cover the delegation by phone?

City Editor: She's not covering the delegation.

Editor-in-Chief: What?

City Editor: We had a local bowling team of teabag guys head to the capital to protest taxes. We sent her along.

Editor-in-chief: Good call. That'll be a good piece. Well, let's get a freelancer on it.

City Editor: You really slashed my freelance budget.

Editor-in-chief: Have Flannagan do it, he'll write it for cheap. I pay him $25 a story and he works like a... I'll call him..

(Phone rings)

Flannagan: Hello.

Editor-in-chief: Timmy! It's Bowes down at the Clarion, we need you to do a story for us.

Flannagan: (Moans)

Editor-in-Chief: What's up? You don't sound good.

Flannagan: I think I got the Swine Flu

Editor-in-chief: Sheesh, you should go see a doctor.

Flannagan: Freelance. No insurance.

Editor-in-chief: Don't they have that $25 clinic down on Maple?

Flannagan: Hey, when are you guys gonna pay me for that invoice from January?

Editor-in-chief: Gotta Go, Flannagan. Call me when you feel better.

City Editor: So?

Editor-in-Chief: No go. Hey what about Soletti?

City Editor: In Sports?

Editor-in-Chief: Sure, don't Mexicans play high school sports?

City Editor: I guess. I'll check. (walks over to Soletti's desk). Hey, man, what are you working on?

Soletti: I've got to design these two features pages, then at 3:00 I have a baseball game, from there I have to shoot over to a tennis match, and then there's the spring football practice at 5:00. After that I need to come back here, write those up, get them on the page, and by then baseball scores and the playoff finals should start coming in. What's up?

City Editor: Bowes is wondering if you can get us something on swine flu for newsside?

Soletti: Are you kidding me?

City Editor: Nothing big. Just make a phone call or two and put it in the system. I'll tack it to a wire story and we'll be good.

Soletti: Dude, I'm slammed.

City Editor: Two calls. You can call that pitcher from the baseball team! What's his name? Cabrera, right? He's Mexican. Maybe he can tell you something. Maybe someone in his family has it.

Soletti: He's Dominican.

City Editor: Oh. OK. Get me something by 3:00. OK. Big story. Total coverage.

-End-

All it ever does is rain (leaving some time to think dairy)

I'm dying to get outside to plant some more things. Next up: Swiss chard. But every time I get a few minutes to plant, the skies open. Planting in mud is not a good idea. Remember, working wet soil is lethal to soil structure.
The good news is that the carrots have made their debut. They germinated on Sunday. So, we now have peas, carrots, spinach, two kinds of lettuce, and onions all growing in our garden. I hope to have some photos soon (again, rain.)
In the meantime, I've been doing some research on dairy.
The good news is that the poundage of dairy includes liquid milk. So, drinking a gallon of milk would knock 8.6 pounds off of that 9.26 pounds of lower fat dairy I'm supposed to consume in a week. Still not sure I could stomach and additional 0.66 lbs. of low fat sour cream. Maybe I could do a third of a pound of sour cream and a third of a pound of low fat yogurt.
My other news is that I am looking into some lobbying data, and it turns out, not surprisingly, that there is a lot of cash in cows.
Stay tuned.

Waiting on mammoths

Being that they survived last week's snow, I'm slightly less concerned about the fate of my onions and spinach. Though fear lingers. It's sub-freezing, the wind is whipping, and snow is falling at a rate that has me confident that I'll be starting my week with a shovel in hand. It does not help matters that word from Boston is that Opening Day there is in doubt.
I'm have more tomorrow. Until then, grab a book or someone you love, find someplace warm, make yourself a drink, and settle in, 'cause baby, it's cold outside.

USDA: Family of Four Spends $819.40/month on groceries

Last week, the Chicago Tribune ran a story that included a rather stunning statistic attributed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture: that the average U.S. family of four spends $817 a month on groceries. I immediately attempted to track down this stat, but what I found was a bit more complicated than the Tribune story would have readers believe.

For the last century, the USDA has developed food plans based on cost. According to the agency, these plans are used in a wide range of applications. For example, bankruptcy courts use them to determine how much individuals need to spend on food, family courts use them in determining child support payments, and the military uses them to estimate expenditures on feeding service members.

Currently, the data is issued by the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP), which develops four separate food plans.  These plans are based on cost and nutrition, and comprise a "Thrifty Plan," a "Low-Cost Plan," a "Moderate-Cost Plan" and a "Liberal Plan."

Each plan offers a breakdown of what the agency calls "market basket choices" by 15 age-gender groups. For example, under the 2007 Low-Cost Plan, the most recent posted on the site, a 2 to 3 year old would consume 3.25 pounds of vegetable per week, while a 19-to 50-year-old-male would need to consume 9.39 pounds of veggies, and a 19-50-year-old woman would get only 7.13 pounds of veggies. Under the Liberal plan, the toddler gets 5.31 pounds of vegetables, while dad gets 12.26 pounds, and mom gets 12.18 pounds. (I wonder if the Liberal Plan requires some of that to be arugula.)

Once each basket is put together, the CNPP then determines an estimate of what the weekly and monthly food bill would be for families under each plan. These projections are released monthly and can be found on-line going back to 1994. The most recent projections were released in January 2009, and found that under the Low-Cost Plan a family of four, with one child 2 to 3 and another 4 to 5, spends $153.30 a week and $664.20 a month on food, while the same family on the Moderate-Cost Plan spends $189.10 a week and $819.40 a month on food.

Consider for a moment that the average weekly unemployment check in the United States is $293 a week. Under the USDA's Low-Cost Plan for a family of four with two young children, food alone would eat up half of that check. By the way, under that Low-Cost Plan, the adult male would eat less than a pound-and-a-half of beef, pork, veal, lamb and game a week, and would get no coffee or tea.

In the coming weeks, I am going to attempt to shop based on the Low-Cost Plan*. I want to determine several things:

1. How difficult is it to apply the plan to real life?

2. How much time does it take to apply to real life?

3. How does it affect quality of life?

4. How much does it challenge one's culinary abilities?

5. How much will it satiate my hunger?

* This week, I spent $44 on groceries. Admittedly this number is misleading because I'll be using several items purchased in earlier weeks in my cooking, but I am skeptical of the $153.30 number, and believe I may be able to do better, and have coffee.