Get your (soy) milk here! No cow purchase necessary

As a newly minted freelance-only reporter, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately on advice handed down by other colleagues. Like many of my unemployed friends, I try not to get bogged down in the news about the future of journalism, and continue to seek employment (freelance or otherwise) in this field.

While reading Mark Luckie's blog this summer, I was incredulous when he suggested that being unemployed allows to you explore your creativity, and think in new ways. However, Mr. Luckie continued to produce material on his 10,000 Words blog, and was recently hired by the Center for Investigative Reporting's California Watch. (congrats Mark!)

So, like many other reporters (unemployed, underemployed, facing furloughs/job insecurity), I wondered how do I give away my stuff for free? If I do give away my reporting then doesn't it devalue my work? Why would anyone pay me for it if they can get it for free?

But, determined to stay active and involved in journalism-esque pursuits, I wondered what kind of reporting would I be willing to give away? Two hours into an existential discussion with my husband about my chosen profession it came to me--a food blog, called Recession Cooking.

My sister and I tossed around the idea a few months ago, after I had made an apple cake with some less than fresh galas and pink ladies. I have to eat every day, and Recession Cooking is a way to cope with the economic downturn, eat healthy food made from scratch, and share my recipes with others.

And like both my grandmas (and most of my family members) I get intense satisfaction from making people happy with my food.

So please check out Recession Cooking--I hope to post to this blog at least once a week (and if I am a "full-time" freelancer for much longer, it may be several times per week.)

Because the reporter instinct never really shuts off, I'll share a beautiful quote from a conversation I had in July with a nice man at the bus stop in Downtown Oakland. During a recession, he said, "Now is the time to learn about the self. It's about character building."

RIP Chauncey Bailey

I walk past this spot every day on my way to work. Unfortunately, the owner of the parking lot doesn't do a great job of keeping up with the weeds or the trash. Now the dead weeds mingle with the trash and clutter the sidewalk.

It was a pleasant surprise to see the chalk and flowers memorial on the spot where Chauncey Bailey was murdered two years before. I noticed that two of the flowers even had Rainforest Alliance certified logos on the wrappers.

When I passed by at lunch time, only one of the flower arrangements was left, and it had been pushed to the edge of the sidewalk in a larger pile of dead weeds and trash. I grabbed it off the pile and placed it back at the top of the heart, on the edge of the sidewalk. That evening when I passed by after work, they were all gone and it looked like the pavement had been half-heartedly swept.

It's pretty sad that this reporter doesn't have a decent plaque or bench to memorialize his life, or bring attention to his death. Perhaps my highly motivated and active neighbors in the Gold Coast/Grand Lake district could organize a trash pickup and keep the downtown area a bit cleaner.