Are we facing a Depression soon?

Last year, I came home from Whole Foods after having purchased organic granny smith apples at $1.49 a pound, to which my mom responded with "that's kind of expensive." Today, conventional apples cost $1.69 at the local grocery stores.

Maybe it's prevalent and I'm only realizing it now, but I feel as if this week was emblematic of the current food crisis. JJ and I stopped by the Briarwood Family Residence to donate some bags of clothing for the families and the recreation specialist told us about how they are really in need of food. Yesterday, when I spontaneously decided to cut my Child & Adolescent Psychopathology class to go to AA and JJ's Sociology of Poverty with my old professor, a guest speaker from St. John's Bread & Life Soup Kitchen took over the class. Food shortage, New York City Council, donations, volunteers were among the gamut of words being used.

A few friends are having difficulties finding stable jobs post-college and "it's the economy" is no longer a deflection of personal responsibility. It's the economy. And as the value of the American dollar drops because the Federal Reserve is printing more money to pay for the War in Iraq, I receive an e-mail from a friend telling me that by the time I graduate with my MA, we'll all be facing another Depression. My heart and hands hurt when a small middle aged woman approached me, with my arms full of produce, asking me for fifty cents.

I have my own issues regarding emergency food charities and private charities in general; I'm not pro-privatization here, but you'll probably find AA and me volunteering at the soup kitchen this summer.