faulker009

The following is a guest blog from Lillian Swift, a writer from Northern Arizona University.     -- Sir Bacon Unemployment Benefits continue to be major issue in 2012 So many different families and individuals across the United States have been stricken with the perils of unemployment over the past few years. Aside from just the bottom line of losing money that provides, families have also been stricken with the perils of losing their benefits. This is when many turn to unemployment benefits to help get them through the tough times. With people facing long stretches of unemployment, many individuals have been forced to take a fight to the courts to battle for their unemployment benefits.  Capitol Hill will soon be facing a decision regarding a proposed extension of unemployment benefits. An alteration would certainly be welcome to the many who struggle looking for a new position during these tough economic times. However, until the people in Washington can make moves on ...

Growing up in the late 70’s, there was nobody cooler than Arthur Fonzarelli. The leather jacket.  The comb.  The juke box. The comb. Every young boy wanted to be The Fonz. Every young girl wanted to do something with The Fonz. They just didn’t know what. A couple of years ago I got a chance to meet Arthur.   The real Arthur, Henry Winkler. It was a a brief meeting, make that a VERY brief meeting. But I shook the right hand of THE FONZ. Aaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy! My two older kids, then probably 10 and 8, were with me, but as hard as I tried to explain, they couldn’t help but think… …why is my dad so excited about seeing that gray haired old Jewish guy? What can I say, he’s the Fonz. Unfortunately my Happy Days trivia knowledge has disappeared like Richie’s older brother, but I can still remember some episodes like they were thirty years ago. Richie and Potsie going to the stag party. Richie and the Fonz double dating with Laverne and Shirley.  Fonzie jumping garbage...

Four hours, 46 minutes and 36 seconds. 60 blogs. Late Friday night, someone from Los Angeles took nearly five hours out of their life to read the story of mine. I hope it was Steven Spielberg. Thanks to my new friend at sitemeter.com, I am able to follow the up-to-the-second traffic on my website and see who’s out there. I’ve never tried heroin, but I can’t imagine it being any more addictive than that friggin website. Friday night’s display absolutely blew me away. Thankfully it has become somewhat of a regular occurrence for somebody new to check out a handful of my old blogs. But 60? Wow! Good thing I don’t know who you are or you would have a new BFF. For those of you who have never been unemployed, I don’t really expect you to truly understand the real feeling of being kicked in the gut. I certainly didn’t understand it when I was told nearly twenty months ago that my services were no longer needed. I certainly didn’t understand it nine months later when my contract ran out an...

After the disappointment of the last 18 months, I have really tried to go about my job search in private. Sure, I have mentioned quite a bit here, but I have intentionally left out a lot of the details so that there wouldn’t be a trail of crumbs in my secret double life. But when you drop a little bombshell that you are about to interview for a “dream job” in the middle of the 15th paragraph of the 103rd blog, you really get to find out who is reading this thing. Well Thursday morning, I posted that blog. By lunch I had heard from a bunch of friends via phone, email and text messaging, sending their best wishes. Now deep down, I know a lot of friends have started reading the blog, which makes me feel great, but you still don’t know who is reading what and why. Or when for that matter. Case in point -- I showed up to my son’s baseball practice on Thursday afternoon and was greeted by the coach who said, “we need to talk.” My first thought was my son missed a bunt sign or something. As y...

So what is a blog? Well, according to dictionary.com, a blog is: An online diary A personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author For me, it has been all of that and A LOT more. It has been a place where I have been able to be honest with you and honest with me, while dealing with the disappointment of a busted career and a broken heart. It has been a place where I have been able to live and re-live the amazing moments that I’ve shared with my family in the last 18 months, thanks to that broken career. And perhaps more than anything, it has been a place where I have connected with new friends and reconnected with old ones who have shared their stories and shared their support to help me, and them, as many of us have entered this new world of being brave. Since I started writing this blog at the beginning of the year, I have done my best to be as honest as possible. At first, the writings were of ...

First and foremost, I want to send out my condolences to the families of the Coal Miners who lost their loved ones in the recent tragedy in West Virginia. To be perfectly honest, I am not someone who can truly relate to what those brave men did for a living to provide food and shelter for their families. That being said, I have nothing but respect for the way they approached their lives and I pray that their families can find peace during this most difficult of times. The reason that I bring this up now is because of an email I received following my appearance last week on CNN. It comes from Jeffrey: I wish you the best of luck and hope you find a job soon! Hey can you pass along a message on your blog today.   There is a son, Zac Harrah about 6yrs old who is about to have is 7th birthday without his father.  His father was one of the miners in the coal mine disaster last week.  The local news paper is asking for people to send his son birthday cards for support....

Hi and Thanks. Those three words were on the subject line of a recent email I received from a loyal reader. On the surface, it looked a whole lot like so many of the other incredible emails of support I have received since I started writing this blog nearly four months ago. But there was something inside that was not so ordinary. The note, from a wonderful 26-year old with her entire life in front of her, spoke about how she recently moved back in with mom and dad because her paid internship had ended and she couldn’t get a full-time job. She was working two jobs and was still not able to pay the rent to live on her own.   She said that many of her friends are going through similar troubles and that it's hard not to get bogged down in the negative. I hear you sister. She said that my blog inspired her to restart her own blog in “an attempt to express some of my feelings about this new world I’m entering.” That’s where many notes I have received just like it, ended. But not hers. Sh...

There are as many emotions in unemployment as there are colors in the rainbow. Today, I am feeling them all. Anticipation, excitement, fear, sadness, excitement... This Thursday my anonymous blog will no longer be faceless. Last Friday morning, I woke up to five emails in my sirbacon mailbox. Four of them said I had won the Irish lottery. My apologies to two of my musical heroes, U2 and Sinead O’Connor, but I deleted those emails without opening them. But it was the fifth email that informed me that I had won the American lottery. I opened that email faster than my kids open a package from Santa. It was from a producer at CNN, who said she enjoyed my blog and wanted me to appear on their “30-Second Pitch” segment. For those of you at work during the day, that segment is where CNN gives unemployed people the opportunity to pitch themselves for 30 seconds to millions of viewers (and possible employers). Actually, it wasn’t me that she was contacting, but Sir Bacon, the kind-hearted facel...

Dear God, I know you are busy, but I hope you get a chance to read this note. As I’m sure you know, these have not been the best of times for me. I’m sure you have a plan, but at the moment, I don’t see it. To be quite honest, right now I feel like everything is against me. EVERYTHING. I’ve searched high and low for that ray of sunlight, but all I can see is clouds. Big black clouds. I really need something positive to happen. And soon. The situation with my mom is as bad as ever. The good news is I was absolutely correct when I thought we were on the verge of another bipolar episode. The bad news is it is here. She’s not sleeping, probably not eating. She is back to believing that the world is against her. Wait, I believe that last part. But I am sleeping fine. I went to lunch with her last Tuesday and I barely got a word in. She was changing topics faster than a game show. She used all the cliches that she always does when her chemicals are imbalanced. She repeated all the 40-ye...