When I was growing up, after my parents divorced, my mom and I were living in an apartiment outside Albany, where she worked as a teacher for a Catholic school. She was only making like $13,000 a year, which, even in the ’80s was not a whole helluva lot. Needless to say, we made due with what we had. We even slept in the same bed during the winter because we couldn’t afford to heat the whole apartment.

I think the important thing is that we remember situations like these and allow them to inform us and the decisions we make. I try not to lose sight of where I came from and I feel especially compelled to do so because so many people do everything they can to forget. I think that is a mistake. We are who we are because of the experiences in our lives and if we deny those experiences, we deny ourselves and our abilities to help others get through the same thing.

Words can hardly express my pride at holding my finished book Transcending CSS: The Fine Art Of Web Design in my hands for the first time….

Speaking from experience, I was barely scraping by for a couple years. I only had a year and a half professional experience under my belt when the “Dot Bomb” went off in our faces. I found myself sharing a 1 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with 2 other people. I took up work as a bike messenger, since I was “too experienced” for the newly created Receptionist/Web Designer jobs of the time, and “not experienced enough” to work as waitstaff in the city.

I was forced to work as an Independent Contractor. No health insurance, no paid sick days or vacation, no worker’s comp, no disability, no physical protection whatsoever for one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. And just barely scraping by with 3 people in a 1 bedroom. I understand that my own decisions led to this circumstance, and in some ways it was the time of my life. However, it was a real eye-opener to me. I saw how difficult it is to build your way back out again once you’re living paycheck to paycheck. Any accident, injury, illness, and you’re screwed.

Plus, it’s always more expensive to be poor. I saw examples of this everywhere. For example, you don’t have the extra money to buy the 24-pack of toilet paper, you have to buy the 4-pack which in the long run is more expensive.

I could go on all day. In fact, I’m writing a comic book about it, so I’ll keep you posted there!!

@Mike: Yeah, I am a huge fan of 30 Days, and that episode (the pilot, if memory serves) was amazing. I just wish the seasons were a bit longer; it seemed like season 2 was over before it started. Tell Donna thanks for the other book recommendation too. Right now I’m reading several books, The 2% Solution being the social/political book de jour, but I will certainly add it to my list.

Donna also recommends Bait and Switch, also by Ehrenreich.