$972,000 Payday for Recession-beaten Couple

Countless bloggers, reporters and plain old curiosity-seekers have crisscrossed the country in the last year to get a bead on just how the recession is playing out for the real people. We’ve covered the filmmakers behind “The Recess Ends,” run a piece by the Man in a Van project and noted the many film and TV projects focused on reflecting the recession. TheAtlantic.com‘s intrepid reporter Christina Davidson has actually compelled authorities to action with her road-trip coverage of an elderly Sacramento couple in ill health who lost their home and landed on the street. The story got the attention of the Committee for Veterans Affairs, and days later, the couple received a check for $972,000 – the amount of 18 years of military pension back pay owed them…

New Blog with Tips for Self-Employed

Did you know that you can get free legal work from a Harvard-educated attorney? (Well, almost-attorney.) Or work from home for $16/hour? (Hey, it’s better than unemployment.) Nice little tidbits like these can be found on a smart new blog, Create a Gig, which focuses on “career reinvention and low-cost entrepreneurship.” We like the sound of that: Cheap + empowerment. What could be better? The site is run by an acquaintance, marketing exec Jonathan Cropper, who’s got a good eye for leads that will help you in the new world of work. We hope he keeps at it. Check it out:

This blog is for people who want or need to reinvent themselves professionally and personally.

Everyday, we post new ideas for people who are dislocated and are looking for new ways to use their skills to generate income.

A few key blog entries:

• Start a Business in China
• Excellent Blog on Microfinance
• Inspiring Wall Street Journal Article

Best Blogs for the Recession

Why didn’t we think of the hilarious chart over at Unemploymentality.com? On notebook paper, it “graphs” the number of blogs against the unemployment rate. Jobs down = blogs up.

We don’t have numbers to back that up—as wordyard explains today, it’s hard enough to tell how many people are professionally blogging—but it at least feels true. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of new websites about budget living, job hunting, economic policy, layoffs and more. A Google search for “ unemployed and blog” turns up more than 3 million results. “Laid off and blog” gives you more than 7 million.

So how to distinguish the smart, funny and useful from blather about not having a job? Last week, we compiled a list of the Top Ten Blogs for Surviving the Recession for our friends at Blogs.com. Here’s an expanded version of that list to bookmark if you want to understand the latest news, cut your spending, or get a damn laugh.