The Economic Crisis, Vox Populi

Over at The Nation's website is a new feature entitled "Jobless in America." There, the magazine is compiling the stories of unemployed readers, in their own words. More stories will be shared as they are submitted. Some express anger, others frustration, others a deep, pervading sense of despair. These stories are a must-read for anyone trying to make greater sense of this economic crisis.

The more media study I do and the more I work on my Master's thesis (an analysis of stories both pre- and post-subprime mortgage collapse), the more concerned I grow that our shared experience is told from the (ad)vantage points of the powerful and elite (for more on this see Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States or Clifford Christians' Good News). This series is important, then, as it tells the crisis not from the perspective of CEOs, regulators or legislators but through the words of average people like you and me. Check it out.