Stories and Pictures from the Great Recession

Welcome and thanks for coming by. This blog is really an experiment that is a part of my masters thesis at NYU. For the past couple of years I have been studying a field called Visual Culture (huh?!), which NYU defines as this: the interdisciplinary study of images across diverse media (such as photography, television, and film), new media (such as the Web and digital imaging), architecture, design, and art (including traditional media such as painting and sculpture as well as new multimedia art forms) across a range of social arenas, including news, art, science, advertising, and popular culture. It emphasizes the role of visual media in everyday life and the importance of visual media in the dissemination of ideas in the public sphere. So basically every single thing in the universe.

When I was trying to figure out what I was going to write about, I knew I wanted it to be in the general realm of American culture, visuality, memory, the list goes on. But, I also wanted to challenge myself and write about something that I am reeeally interested in but know little about: the economy.

As I have begun my preliminary research, it seems like A LOT of people are confused about this recession. There are so many parts and pieces, bills and legislation, pundits and their opinions wielding many different narratives. But anyone who has even so much as glanced at a newspaper knows that it seems like half of Americans are jobless and the other half are ditching their mortgages.

Are you one of those people?

Can someone please tell me whats going on?

I know it can seem kind of intimidating to post a comment or image on a random blog, but I want to hear your story. Think of it as an experiment.