Driving home the other night, the old A.P. Carter song “No Depression” came on the radio. The voices, recorded decades ago by ribbon microphones, ached like ghosts in the airwaves and brought to mind Woody Guthrie, soup kitchens and freight trains.
If things get as bad as some predict, what will be the ubiquitous sights and sounds?
When I arrived today on a house call wearing jeans and a blue-collared shirt, my customer said that I looked like I’d just finished riding the rails.
I’m a bit fond of anachronism and hope poverty fashion leans toward the old instead of any post-bling bling thing.
How will we power ipods and synthesizers when we’re standing around steel-drum fires?
http://homelessdave.com/hdwashingman.htm
For Kat over at the Eating Liberally blog, our glum economy makes her recall The Waltons – the TV family that aired through President Carter’ s energy doldrums.
She quotes President Carter:
In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.
And comments on how we are doing, consumption wise, in 2008:
“…some folks will continue to fill their cupboards with Campbell’s soup–the only stock that didn’t tank when the Dow sank. But more and more Americans are rejecting pre-fab faux foods in favor of DIY dining. Today’s New York Times cites a report that, as of May, “53 percent of consumers said they were cooking from scratch more than they did just six months before,” driven by the rising cost of convenience foods. Hey, when you’re unemployed, there’s plenty of time to hone those handy Depression-era skills like how to make your own stock, grow your own veggies, and can tomatoes.
We’re reverting to old-timey modes of transportation, too–there’s been a dramatic spike in bike sales and train travel in recent months. And many of us are buying less, learning to make do, and turning off the lights when we leave the room. We are, at last, achieving Jimmy Carter’s dream of a simpler, less-stuff driven life…”
“No Depression” was revamped for my generation by alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo.
Please don’t go thinking that I’ve jumped on that leaky freighter called Paranoia; I’d prefer to keep a humorous and proactive mindset as this crisis progresses.
