Did Someone Say Silver Lining?

Today is the 169th day anniversary (depending on who’s counting) of the country’s economic crisis. So along with the ongoing doom, gloom, and stellar performance of the markets today, I decided to celebrate by mentioning a silver lining or two.

First of all, I have heard this phrase used more often in the past six months than in all my 25 years. In fact, I’ve heard so many silver lining proclamations (including recently while I was on the treadmill at the gym) that I’m not sure there are any storm clouds left at all.

Here is how a number of sources are weighing in:

According to philanthropist Jennifer Dowley from Berkshire Massachussetts, “The silver lining for nonprofits is the fact that donors will always care what happens to their communities. That doesn’t change.”

“The silver lining to the slumping U.S. economy is that neither the Obama administration nor the Democratic-led Congress has the stomach for massive new war funding or even to continue Bush-style grandiose Defense Department spending,” says Debbie White, About.com liberal political guru.

Now that consumers are more hesitant to commit to new talent, many fashion designers are lowering their prices and moving dress production from Italy to New York. Even so, Stephen Courter of Ohne Titel in Manhattan see a silver lining. “I think we are still so small, with lower overhead than the established labels, that we have less to lose.”

A writer for NBC in San Diego goes as far as to call our weakened economy “trashed,” (which gave me a good, loud chuckle at work this morning.) Like most things in southern California, the city’s take on silver lining is equally amusing. The title reads: Trashed Economy Has Silver Lining.

“There's an upside to the economy getting trashed: landfills around the state are receiving considerably less garbage,” says the anonymous writer.

In my opinion, one of the best things about this whole silver lining phenomenon is that it is contagious. I watched as the term spread like wildfire across the networks. Silver linings abound! And they seem to apply to anything. Rachel Maddow may not believe that the economy is worth it’s weight in silver, but she sure believes there was something lining Iran’s satellite launch announcement last week.

“Here‘s the photo, that they released last summer that supposedly very impressive scary missile launch,” she says. “Check out how this photo is totally photo shopped. They just duplicated the same missile all over the picture. Their photo shopping is worst than the North Koreans. So that is the potential silver lining for this otherwise worrying news. The silver lining here is that they might be total BS artists and, of course, we all hope that they are.”

“Hardware stores [in Ohio] are seeing a silver lining to the economic downturn as homeowners take on projects themselves and start seeking eco-friendly products,” says writer Nick Sabo of the Wooster Daily Record.

Furthermore, the poor little tourism folks of Aspen, Colorado are feeling important again. (From what I hear, clouds there are typically gold lined, so silver’s got to be a tough pill to swallow.) After real estate sales dropped 40 to 50 percent last year, and possibly more in ski resort valleys, locations like Aspen have had a surprising recovery in recent months.

“Is there a silver lining in these enormous economic storm clouds? Well, from the perspective of the ski marketing folks, they feel wanted again. …What would Aspen and Vail look like this winter if the only ones bringing home the bacon were real-estate agents?” says writer Allan Best.

Many journalists have really run with the whole silver-lining spin, explaining how the bad economy can be a good excuse. “The recession may be nerve-racking, merciless, seemingly intractable. It may leave your job in peril, your 401(k) in shreds. But apparently, it is not without its uses,” writes Alex Williams of the New York Times.

After deciding it was high time to find a new nanny, Dani Klein Modisett, theater producer and comedian from Los Angeles, explained to her current nanny that it was necessary to downsize her staff due to the economy. Then promptly hired another. “It’s the silver lining of the recession cloud. In fact, it comes in quite handy,” said Modisett.

White lies aside, my favorite silver lining quote comes from Graydon Carter, Editor in Chief of Vanity Fair. In the January 2009 issue, Carter writes that whether this is the Second Great Depression, or the Great Retrenchment, or the Great Reckoning, or whatever we decide to call it, there has to be a silver lining somewhere.

“Perhaps all those expensive educations and burning talents that wound up on Wall Street moving money around will be redirected to fields of endeavor with some tangible output,” he says. “… After the collapse of Wall Street in the 1920s, the culture stopped being all about money, and the country survived and ultimately flourished. Amid the wreckage we’ve created, America will most certainly rise again, and it might even be a better place to live and dream.”

Amen, I hope he’s right. What a terrific quote, and much more on that tomorrow…

Farewell To A Few Old Friends

2008 was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. For me, it was a year of ironies. Life alternately ransacked my sensitivity and held me tightly in its arms, high above the late '08 wreckage.

I felt comforted in ways unimaginable, then red-faced and embarrassed in front of those I love. I felt betrayed, and forgiven. Near the end, and starting over. Then after a stomach-wrecking week of "skiing" with my old college friends, I somersaulted down the steep hill of recovery and lied on my back with stars spinning around my head for another couple of days.

When I emerged from my self-inflicted transitional haze, 2009 seemed to taste a heck of a lot like 2008. The only differences so far are the lack of parking spaces at Flatirons Athletic Club, and a vague feeling of job-security with tax season right around the corner. Se la vie!

For a week and a half after Christmas, I agonized about writing a Year-End Self Criticism blog. I thought, what better way to wrap up last year's mistakes than in a hankerchief little hobo pack tied to the end of a stick? That way I could easily catapulted it through the air so that it would sink to the bottom of the river forever. But then I remembered that a) I am no Huck Finn and b) the only bottomless river in Boulder is the foot deep, smelly Boulder creek, and a year's worth of mistakes wouldn't make it very far down that stream.

After much thought, I decided to ignore the age old literary tradition of retrospection. Instead, I followed in the footsteps my critic-hero, NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd, and I took the entire month of December and half of January off (unlike Ms. Dowd, however, I did not write the cover story for Vanity Fair during this time).

This is not to say that my time during the holiday spent unproductively. Even the three lecherous nights of drinking and, well, more drinking with old college friends gave me a much-needed pep of camaraderie and belonging that I've been missing since our days of theme parties and final exams. Neither was my time off all sweet things and Christmas cookies. By far, the most painful part was coming to terms with my new year's resolution.

This year I have vowed to increase my financial stability. I knew that after having visions in my head of strangling my super-saver, penny-pinching friend who recently quit her job and moved to Argentina, the problem was clearly mine. So, in a smooth intervention move, my best friend Jess offered to take me out to brunch at the St. Julien Hotel on the condition that I bring my bank statements and any other pertinent clues to determine where my money has gone. I am (un)happy to say that her sharp detective skills led her straight to the culprit: overdraft fees.

So with the new year under way and my guilty confession behind me, I've begun to focus on exciting new ways to manage my money. You can probably look forward to such riveting blog topics such as "shopping in my own closet" and "getting rich slowly." Practically the only good thing about the current financial crisis is blending in. My brown bag may not stand out as much this year, and no one will care that I've colored my scuffed patent-leather Mary Jane's with a Sharpie.

In closing, it just wouldn't feel like 2009 without a quick peek back over my shoulder. So in light of my resolution, I'd like to bid farewell to a few of my favorite 2008 indulgences... Farewell to the frequent Brasserie brunch, Rodney Strong 2006 Pinot Noir, after-work snacks at Radda Trattoria, and dining out four times a week. Farewell to new Mac lipstick, last-minute plane tickets, and premium bottles of tequila. Farewell to (fake) mink stoles, gold chains, Anthropologie shopping sprees, and white-blonde hair appointments. You will be missed.

All I have to say is that the only thing better than saving money, eliminating overdraft fees, and moving to New York this year is an article that I read recently entitled, "How to Keep Your New Year's Resolution." According to statistics, the average American restarts his or her resolution 8 times throughout the year before sticking to it.

I'm at three and counting...