First off, the writer is one Beverly Willett, a former lawyer living in Brooklyn, who says of her $12 per hour holiday job:

“There was no way I could begin to whittle away at my substantial debt at that pay, and my physical and mental stamina make me a better sitter than a stander. But I needed to get back on my feet, and this was a way to start.”

Do you whittle away—in other ways?

There’s some Online JavaScript fun out there, like the credit card debt calculator at bankrate.com.

And they’ve also got a home budget calculator on the same site.

There’s quizzle.com, which I haven’t used, but which has been recommended as a good way to see your credit score, et al.

Mint.com is  a lot of fun. Well, as fun goes.

And I just like the name of the savings account smartypig.com.

Bright, happy interfaces are making navigating the shoals of this brooding, dark Recession seem less daunting. They just sorta make you want to read a blog about investing your $12.00!

The art world, so-called, has been hit by the recession, and that means our ways of thinking about art and making art will change, like it or not. Do you really think that art made to adorn the homes of the rich, or made to be invested in by the rich to make them richer, is the highest form of art? Artists and dealers are now looking for new forms of distribution, new business models.

You can read the interviews with Swan and other hardworking creatives, like Kevin Regan (excerpted below) on nyfa.org, courtesy of Hrag Vartanian.

Kevin Regan, who co-runs Famous Accountants in Ridgewood/Bushwick.

The recession has made me more cautious. I went from working part-time as a commercial artist to working full-time. I was fortunate in that I could do this, but it’s not really what I want to be doing. I would prefer to focus on art and work only part-time. Working full-time really gets in the way of making art. I have to confess that I’m actually deeply pessimistic about the possibility of making a living from selling my art—but that’s okay! I don’t care. I want to do it anyway. I just need a minimal level of financial security. And this is what I was doing. When the economy plunged it just began to feel very irresponsible of me to be leaning on my wife as much as I was. So I stopped. I was worried about money for a little while, not because we couldn’t pay our bills, but because I was worried my wife was going to lose her job. Her support is what allowed me to work part-time. Ultimately, I guess I’m pretty lucky.

I’ve had to cut back on time. Space, supplies, and storage have not been a problem—yet. Again, I think I’ve been rather fortunate. My big frustration is not money but time. There just never seems to be enough of it. I traded time for money.

I’m planning on showing Swan at 45projects in my upcoming Guilt Show, fyi, along with Regan’s Famous Accountants partner, Ellen Letcher.

I got a little dose of reality, in the subway:

The 86th Street Subway Stop of the 6 Train

An ad-hoc contemporary photo show — well, digital printouts — but totally cohesive in content. All for sale, of course.
O-Bar (did I get the name right?) was the African-American artiste in attendance, and he gave me his story of why he makes the work. He was pretty ambitious in his outlook. But would have taken 35 bucks for one image.

I downed two champagne flutes full of Veurve Cliquot at the opening; chatted briefly with a Photo Curator from the Met (who has great taste and is fun to talk to); then went back down to that subway and rode it back to Brooklyn.
No upbeat postscripts here. Just that lingering Recession feeling that pretty much permeates everything I see these days.
The NYC photography market is what it is.
Whatever it is.
Well, at least it is.

Exterior of Red Hook Lobster Pound, run by a woodworker

The Red Hook Lobster Pound is actually the brainchild/business venture of a woodworker, named Ralph, who has his shop next door. What’s cool is the artfulness with which he does both activities: He builds furniture out of recycled wood in his shop; and for his “store” he’s constructed a platform of wooden, rubber-lined tubs (kind of like dual jacuzzis for lobsters).

You get the DIY feel of the place, and it works.

Though I don’t eat lobster, the fact that he’s about to install a kitchen and serve Lobster Rolls to passers-by for $13 a pop sounds like he’s bringing a little bit of the seashore to this part of the ‘hood, which, today, is baking in the heat.

A small picture of the homemade tubs (thanks to Brownstoner.com)

Brownstoner took this pix.