Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Recession Blues: The Green Guide Dies!

How desperate I felt at reading the postcard in my mailbox today: "We are writing to let you know that effective with the Winter 2009 issue, both the print and digital editions of The Green Guide will no longer be published." I introduced all my guests to the magazine. It was bought just over a year ago by National Geographic, which filled me with delight because everyone knows how powerful that glossy has always been. Who would have imagined the recession would make publishing The Green Guide impossible? Why did they have to go and buy it from Wendy Gordon in the first place! The result is an excellent green publication will cease to exist. This makes me very sad. Wendy Gordon now blogs at Huffington Post. I wonder how she feels to know her baby has been turned out in the cold and abandoned, killed, in fact? National Geographic did not give its new publication much of a chance. So, I'm singing the Recession Blues. We have not had guests for two months but at last a few reservations are trickling in. At Seamen's Bank and the Wellfleet Public Library, cardboard boxes stand open, ready to collect canned food for the needy, but otherwise the economic crisis is not evident here, although carpenters do struggle to find work, For Sale signs have become more prevalent, and police cars lie in wait, eager to pounce on anyone who drives above the speed limit, a means of raising money for the town. The retirees are secure, but even shellfishermen must feel the crunch. When people have no money for groceries, they certainly cannot afford oysters. Pretty soon we will all need to set up shacks on the beach like this one called "Home Sweet Home."