ON THE BREADLINE: CINDY DEL ROSARIO TAPAN
March 31st, 2009 Posted in ON THE BREADLINETapan, of New York City, was the online managing editor of National Geographic Green Guide. She was laid off last December.
How do you cope with getting up every morning? What motivates you?
My two-year-old is what enables me to get out of bed every morning. Actually, she sort of requires that I get up every morning–so I hardly feel like I have much of a choice. If I did, I’d probably opt to stay in pajamas and watch bad television all day, sulking about how I used to be a hot employable commodity, and now I’m just an unemployed wannabe yogi.
How do you cope with getting to sleep at night–or getting any sleep, period?
In a word: Ambien. It’s not pretty but it helps. Sure, I’m concerned about addiction and dependency–but I believe in short-term relief, and know that I’d be a far more miserable person if I wasn’t getting my zzzzs every night.
Give an example of the sorts of changes or cutbacks you’ve had to make in the way you live your life.
We’ve given up our coveted Manhattan parking space, our twice-monthly cleaning lady, and have reduced our daughter’s day care to twice a week. But surprisingly, there haven’t been quite as many changes as I originally thought. It’s funny how you always manage to survive with what you have.
Share with us some of your recession gallows humor.
A good friend suggested that I refer to this as funemployment, which is my favorite thing to say to people who look upon me with pity-filled eyes. I often say that I believed in the whole “everything happens for a reason” line until this unfortunate thing happened to me. (I guess that’s not funny per se, but sometimes the sarcasm makes people laugh.)
What, if anything, gives you hope that the future holds better things?
Obama gives me hope. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t see him as a messiah or able to do the impossible, but I just think that if anyone else was in office during this shitstorm, I’d be in much worse shape. At least now there’s legitimate reason to think the future might actually get better.
