Blamblog - Brett Lamb's Blog

Monday, April 20, 2009

The End of the World

I guess I'm not the only person who stopped reading Leah McLaren, because her self-pitying column in the weekend Globe barely sparked a peep from the internet. Nothing from Torontoist; nothing at Sooey's. I used to love to hate the nepotism it-girl, but gradually stopped bothering to read her column as the years wore on, she began to repeat herself, her ink persona became dated and even her own enthusiasm for fluff flagged. I began to feel about her the way you felt about Susan Boyle the other day, "Isn't it nice that someone with nothing really going for them at least has something ..."

Several weeks ago I stumbled across her column and only felt pity as she described an acquaintance who worked in the financial industry and was finding life much more deep and meaningful since being laid off. I imagine that's what a lot of auto workers are thinking: "This is great! More time for yoga!" Oshawa and Windsor are going to be the happiest -- and most limber - places in the country. McLaren's recession optimism lasted up until this weekend's column ... when it was replaced with utter panic:

My grandmother grew up during the Depression. As her family's fortunes fell, she remembers hobos at the back door begging for table scraps. For my mother, growing up in the fifties, it was all pony club and tennis lessons. There were no ponies for me as a child, but things were comfortable. Just comfortable enough that I always assumed that, with a little hard work and perseverance, better things were coming my way.

Turns out this was a naive assumption.

Ok, remember that this is the person who pretty much walked into a job as a columnist at the Globe and did nothing with the opportunity but provide colour commentary about the shallow set. I think that almost counts as a pony. No, wait ... three ponies.

She goes on:

Just the other day, my mother called me up to tell she was worried about her husband...

"I told him it could be worse," she said. "We could be like you - no job security, heavily in debt, just starting out in the world. I told him we shouldn't be worried about ourselves; we should be worried about you."

She's not just starting out in the world ... she's in her mid-thirties.

Who are these people? Are they acting overly dramatic because they're jazzed about the Fame remake? McLaren is a high profile columnist at a national newspaper. But wait, there's more ... there's going to be a CBC tv movie based on her next season. Leah Mclaren didn't just get laid off from her job making brake pads in a factory in St. Thomas. She's not going to starve.

The column concludes:

Which was when it hit me: Not only was I unlikely to get through this recession unscathed, I probably wasn't going to get an inheritance either. It had never occurred to me that I might need one, and just as I thought I might, the prospect was evaporating like a distant mirage.

Here's the name of one person who is going to get through this recession unscathed: Leah McLaren. I'll bet my pony on it.

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