recessions r us

forget bread lines, for these times: mac and cheese lines!

2009-04-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

This happened on wednesday around Penn station, every time I walked by this little restaurant, there was a line of 2o people waiting. It was hard to believe, 8 cents for a mac and cheese!, I tried to remember what else can you buy with 8 cents? I'm still trying.

/A.

wall street art

2009-04-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

I always find that street art is a very creative mirror where we can observe the reality we live in.

These are a bunch of images I found around NY.

/A.

More pops: VoX Pop's redemption

2009-04-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

This time the recession brought Ditmas Park community together to raise $64,000 to pay for Vox pop's redemption. After all Vox pop's fine is paid and is waiting for the Department of Health to issue the permit to open to the public again.
AR

Recession POP!

2009-04-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

This recession gets everyones creative juices to work!

/A.

enjoy and relax

2009-04-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

Sit down, have a drink and enjoy this happy times, with these series of paper-cuts glued all around NY. They struck me for their boldness and happy feeling, very much in contrast with their message.

you can follow them here: http://twitter.com/enjoybanking

/A.

Home Sweet Hemorrhoids!

2009-04-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Tony Limuaco, Brooklyn, NY

How would you like to tell people that you live behind the huge
Hemorrhoids sign?

Here's a photo I took for your blog. This is the one of the Luxury condos
that went up over night on Flatbush, Brooklyn. So far only 4 units are taken in the
front, the rest are empty.

Post and photo: Tony Limuaco

Logo designs in the times of Cholera

2009-04-07T04:48:00.000-07:00

Logos by Brian Joseph Studios

Recession's Superheroes

2009-04-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

We got out of the subway yesterday at Wall St. and were so impressed to see hundreds of people walking by with white pillows. They were all having a pillow fight "just for fun"...when we asked why at Wall St, a woman said "because people are angry at the banks"... The pictures show some of the people we encountered in the area. Some people who did not come prepared from home with a pillow, crossed to Century 21 to purchase one. We so much wanted to join them. To have fun while protesting is not a bad idea these days... so we went to Century 21 to buy a pillow and got caught in being consumers... 4 hours later... with tons of feathers on the ground...they all flew away...no doves want to be around Wall street anymore!. Not enough crumbs for everyone.

Dana Szarf and Annie Rosenthal, Brooklyn NY.

$ Crisis 101

2009-04-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Our friend Alejandro who created our Recessions R Us logo wrote: one more time this crisis explained but this one with pretty graphics. Check out this web site by Jonathan Jarvis:
http://www.crisisofcredit.com/

Marquez's Guernica in Guaynabo City

2009-04-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Photo by Celia Gonzalez, PR

Once upon a time, some depressions ago, I read “How to tell a Story” (Como se Cuenta un Cuento), a book part of a Series of Workshops directed by Garcia Marquez. In this book Gabo tells us about his obsession about the Creative Moment, and how he became an addict of Team Writing, of Collective Stories…He writes about an occasion when going through the pages of a Life magazine he found a huge photograph of the burial of Hirohito. In the photo, Garcia Marquez recalls, there is the new Empress, Akihito’s wife. It is raining. In the back, out of focus, the guards with white raincoats, further in the back the multitude protecting themselves under umbrellas, newspapers and clothes. In the middle of the photo the Empress, alone, skinny, totally in black, black veil, black umbrella...At that moment he (Garcia Marquez) realized there was a story, not about the Emperor’s death but about that umbrella the widower was holding.

The house in this picture is in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. During a year I have driven by it a minimum of 6 times daily, back and forth from my children’s school. A few days ago, stuck in traffic, with Recessions R Us in my mind, I looked up and discovered the flag, immediately after the pink Cadillac in the garage and almost at the same time the gold bold eagle on the fence. I don’t know the family that lives in the house; I guess they are Americans living in Puerto Rico or at least “Estadistas” (Puertoricans who favor the idea of Puerto Rico becoming a state of the United States). Either way I can’t help but think that America and its signature Dream are depressed. I have been tempted, 6 times a day, to stop, ring the bell and introduce myself. In Puerto Rico, people are really friendly. I haven’t been. In the mean time I am sure the flag has a story, and it's screaming it to the sky.

Celia Gonzalez, Puerto Rico.

Tiserrie on USQ: Pret a fermé

2009-04-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

The landlord wanted to triple the rent from $35,000 to $85,000 after only 3 years of renting and after spending several millions on renovating his store...
The lease was up and there was nothing else we could do in order to avoid these actions. He took us to court and eventually we decided it was time to move on. After negotiating we brought it down to $60,000 a month, which selling croissants and coffee doesn't really cut it!

Ronald Harrar, NYC

"Grinding through the Recession"?

2009-04-01T13:03:00.001-07:00

There are some really odd effects that the economy is having on the world, that have been covered in the news recently. There was a story I heard on the radio about how dentists have seen a rise in the number of people they are treating who have cracked teeth. They think it's because people are grinding their teeth more at night because of financial stress! Really wild.

Post by David Kim, NYC

Here's an article about it:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/18/tough-economy-sets-teeth-grinding/

F**K Wall Street

2009-03-31T13:40:00.000-07:00

Photo by Dave Wildman

This piece of graffiti or urban art, depending on your viewpoint, was taken a few weeks ago in Brooklyn NY. It's probably been there for some time, but I stumbled upon it smack bang in the middle of the current recession and had to snap it with my corporate soft focus Blackberry! The full text across two faces of the building reads, "open your eyes, no more corporate bullshit fuk wall st". This part of Brooklyn was part of the thriving industry that once existed here. Up until recently it was probably prime for redevelopment into luxury housing over-looking the circa 1869 waterways of the Gowanus region. Perfect for gentrification. There were definately positives from the recent boom activity, but it was all happening at an unsustainable pace. More measured purposeful steps are what we now need, at a pace better suited to the majority.

Dave

No Trailer No VOX

2009-03-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

Our Local Coffee place not serving anymore.

For us there has been a heavy cloud, or some form of free floating anxiety drifting about, zapping our optimism. So in an effort to turn this negativity into something more productive, and hopefully helpful, we are reaching out to you to share thoughts and images of how this new economy is touching our lives.

Our local furniture place had to close due to lack of biz.

Left Behind

2009-03-21T17:27:00.000-07:00

So my Dad told me that this project in Yuba City, California was under construction but then the money ran dry. The builder just walked away. Structures like this are dotting the landscape of Cali.

Photo by Herschel H. Todd