as they lay dying

from the washington post (yes, really, the washington post, not "the onion"):

"Corcoran College of Art and Design senior Lindsay Perkins said facing graduation from the Washington school has prompted her to focus more on her academics amid concerns an art degree will be worth little in a tightening nationwide economy.

"I feel like I have lost my motivation, because I don't know what to motivate myself to do next year," Perkins said."To some extent, I regret it. I don't know how to put it. I don't regret following my dreams, but maybe I regret the way I went about it. I didn't really set myself up for any place in society."

the article begins by saying, "at least one student..." was the reporter trying to pick this chick up in a bar? she was mooning over a pbr and he said, "why the long face?" and anyway, when was an art degree a segue into a real career? in the 50s or 60s? back when women couldn't get jobs in advertising anyway?

if i handed these anecdotal paragraphs into any of my journalism professors, i would have gotten an "f". hell, even a teaching assistant would have laughed in my face. where are the dreary jobless stats to reaffirm her angst? how much money have her parents tossed down the drain for their daughter's (now?) suddenly worthless degree ? has there been a trend of art majors switching degree programs? are art school apps down? transfers up? what, man?

or, haha, maybe they had white space from unsold ad spots and needed filler? "where's that crap bit from so-&-so about the arty chick? make it less than 100 words!"

in a separate but related note, the bleeding red ink ny times and its hemorrhaging daughter, the boston globe, remain in negotiations. however, at 11 p.m. sunday, after beating its head against the wall for weeks, the nyt handed the unions a copy of the federally-mandated notice it plans to file monday morning, stating that the paper will close in 60 days. in other words, "yes, we really fucking mean it. we will shut down this paper and you are all screwed. now pony up."

the globe is projected to lose $85 million this year. ad revenue in the 1st 3 months of 2009 are down 30% over last year. the nyt is seeking $20 million in cuts from the unions, half of which they want to slice from the boston newspaper guild. the major sticking point? lifetime job guarantees. yes. they actually still exist and 450 staff at the globe have them. are you fucking kidding me? i find this extra ironic (is that possible?) because massachusetts is a right-to-work state. employers can fire staff without stated cause. in fact, that's become a more popular option when the ax falls, because it's less likely to open the door for a wrongful termination suit.

i'm too lazy now to look for the link, but there was a story last week that a chicago paper had its reporters coming in (unpaid) on weekends to surf the net on sites like "tmz", "the smoking gun" and "perez hilton". they had to then get "wrap-up" stories ready for monday's edition. stories that were already in circulation, and were as many as 4 days old. the editor who brainstormed this drudgery apparently didn't seem to realize that the people he was looking to add into his paper's circulation numbers have already read these stories ON THE NET.

i just keep hearing this bit in my head:

DEAD PERSON:I'm not dead!
CART MASTER:'Ere. He says he's not dead!
CUSTOMER:Yes, he is.
DEAD PERSON:I'm not!
CART MASTER:He isn't?
CUSTOMER:Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.
DEAD PERSON:I'm getting better!
CUSTOMER:No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.
CART MASTER:Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
DEAD PERSON:I don't want to go on the cart!
CUSTOMER:Oh, don't be such a baby.