Recession's Effect on Charlotte, N.C.

Every week it's the same. I wait impatiently outside the back door of a research facility and after a while someone on staff finally comes to unlock the security door. My arms are full of lab tests and medical supplies as I stand there in silence fighting cold and exhaustion. It had been four months since I resigned as an administrator of an artesian gallery in the SouthPark area of Charlotte. After emptying my entire savings account I took a job at Network Express as a medical supply courier to try to tie up loose ends while waiting for my financial aid to be approved for an IT program I applied for at the Charlotte campuses of ITT, TechSkills and New Horizons tech colleges. It was a time for bold decision-making. In two months I had gone from earning $36,500 per year at the artesian gallery plus another $200 per month from Catharsis at soundboyamerica.com - to earning $200 per week total, paid bi-monthly working as a courier.

It was November, 2008. That night was Election night.

I had been listening to the results on the radio in my van all night. Everywhere I made deliveries people were talking about it. Like many others, I thought the US would never have a black president, mostly because I did not know who Barack Obama actually was. Eventually I understood. The Council on Foreign Relations simply needed a facelift, and after eight years of the current administration it also needed a brain transplant. Soon after that I quit the courier gig and started work as an assistant manager in retail while going to school full time. I finally received financial aid from techskills.edu and I began to settle in to my new life of having no life for at least a year. I was making only $50 more per week in retail than I was as a courier, with twice the headache.