My TV tendencies on sick days sure have changed. In junior high, I was all about Ricki Lake’s drag queen makeovers and raver showdowns. But today, as I languished on my futon, Oprah’s show caught my attention because it was about how ordinary people are affected by the recession.
I found that the segments were really well done, once I got past the fact that Oprah was sitting behind a raised desk of sorts (is that the norm now? what happened to the couch Tom Cruise jumped on?). The best segment: Lisa Ling’s special report on the boom of tent cities. She interviewed quite a few people who were middle-aged and formerly middle-class. In an instant, they lost their jobs, and quickly fell behind on bills. Some have been living in the tent cities for almost a year. The really sad thing is that they have relatives who might be able to help them; they’re just too proud or too afraid of being a burden to reach out.
Read more about the show and watch some clips here. I highly recommend it!
