The Web Team revisits the North HIlls' family trying to live their California dream in the midst of the recession. The Maxwells consider themselves a typical middle class family, even though mom, Nikki, and dad, Bill, haven’t had steady work for months.
When we first met up with this family of five, they were trying to figure out how to spend less and still have a joyful holiday season. Nikki’s dad, “Grandpa Gus,” was pushing them to move to Oregon and live with him, rent free. But Nikki and Bill were not ready to give up their California life in the Valley.
See how life has since changed for Nikki, Bill and the three Maxwell children. Do you have any advice for this “middle class” family?
From the Blogs:
This Is The Hard Part - By Nikki Maxwell - You can't serve patience, optimism, irony or principles for dinner, but they'll help get you through these hard times.
17 Comments
At what point do you get so used to the attention and publicity regarding your dire financial plight that you make it so you stay there? Do you turn down job offers from people that see your story and want to help because they doesn't agree with your set of ideals (working from home) or because you don't want to give up the "fame" that your situation brought you?
We wouldn't know, Valley Girl, because we haven't gotten there. If the cameras were off, the articles not there, we'd still be enacting the same plan. With the attention above, we simply get to share our journey with others, in the hopes that it enables them to get out of their own fears and work towards a better life. We've already lost both friends and family to that fear and see it occurring to others right now. It's tough times, no doubt, but it's up to good people to try and make it a little brighter. I find myself so grateful for those kind and generous people who reached out to us and offered a helping hand. In the end, it came down to a very simple equation: time + expenses vs. money. While I would have loved us to dive into the wonderful projects we were offered, bill collectors do not accept ideals instead of payment. In the end run, we are attempted to descend as gracefully as we can to a sustainable level. We invite everyone to dialogue so those of us in need can do it together. I hope that answers you.
Good luck, Nikki.
Hi Web Team: Why did you pick this particular family?
Maxwell Family: What types of assistance are you receiving other than that from the food bank? What are you doing to save money or to generate income while you look for work? And, how do your children understand your situation?
I ask all of these questions because I think we all have to redefine the notion of wealth. As the Maxwells talk about living in their car in CA because it would be a lot harder to do so elsewhere, it seems as though they focus on an odd set of priorities. Does moving to OR lead to the erosion of their middle class aspirations?
The more I examine about this piece, the more superficial I find it to be.
Unfortunately, we're not making a documentary film on the Maxwell family. So, yes, a five minute web-video skims the surface of their situation. The video is meant to encourage the on-line audience to look at the notion of what it means to be "middle class," in an economic downturn, by profiling one family who is having to redefine what it means to them. And we picked this particular family because they were willing to open their homes to us and speak frankly about their situation in front of a video camera. Not, something that is easy to do.
Hey Suzette
Realize that we did 2 hours of tape each time and that gets cut into 5 minutes of video. It's hard to capture the whole tale easily. The reason the car comment came up is that my dad is pressuring us to move to southern Oregon where I don't perceive there are jobs for us. We are fighting hard to prove why we should stay here when it looks crazy on paper to do so. Why would I turn down free rent in Oregon? That's crazy. But nothing is free and I'm not going anywhere until I know how I can stand on my own two feet.
My mom moved me down to LA in 1980 due to the recession's impact in that region. All my professional life has been in LA. Everything I know is here and moveover, LA is the land of reinvention and opportunity. I percieve that the only way I may ever have income again is if I stay here. I won't go anywhere without an income secured. I can't even "downsize" my housing because I can't get a lease right now with no job. I'll stubbornly persist here until something changes.
We are finding creative ways to earn income too. The press thing is interesting because you "put it out there" and then
take what comes. Looking for employment right now is much the same. I keep putting it out there. I get rejected and I dust myself off and keep moviong forward.
The sad realiztion I came to is that neither Bill nor I have a viable career path any more. It all just went away- the years of carefully choosing roles to build my resume and his.
Nobody can hire us to do what we were doing before. Now what?
We're looking at many avenues to diversify our income streams and maximize our skill sets.
We are people who really did not expect to be in this place at this time and that's where our story fits into a deeper context. I'm just another mother trying to figure out how to survive and thrive in LA and not give up on the reasons we are here in the first place.
Nice piece, but very problematic.
This is by no means an attack on Nikki and Bill, but I find Nikki's reluctance to speak to being working class, unnerving. It's as if being so is a horrible thing. I don't agree that the "middle class mindset" is what allows her to think she can help others when her situation turns for the better or the fact that she believes her situation will turn for the better. I think that's just being a decent person, it has nothing to do with your economic status or what class you place yourself.
She speaks about not accepting a label, during these tough times and going to the food bank, etc. while she's very ready to label herself as middle class, even still asserting being close to her previous comment of being "smack in the middle of the middle class." ... Read More
Anyway, few of my thoughts. Really enjoy the work you guys are doing.
Hey Daye
I do appreciate your comments and they are true. I am very confused these days and I'm trying to make sense of a rapidly changing landscape. My candor in wanting to share our story is because there are many other confused people out there trying to make sense of it all, too. Two years ago, we expected to earn $100K and now we simply can't. It's a major transition of thought and I do believe that what we are experiencing is correlary to what the country is experiencing. We simply can't keep doing what we are doing.
Things have to change. I think labels are part of that and I think we have some major class issues happening in our society.
I struggle with labels, obviously. But you are right, it's easy to wear a label when you are "middle class" and much harder to know what to do when you don't qualify for that label anymore. When my parents divorced I was five and my mom and kept the trailer. She avoided a life of "food stamps" by marrying a jerk with a job and a house. But she is a hard worker, just like my dad, who taught me to work hard and follow my dreams. They worked hard to change their station in this world- my dad escaped WV coalmines by testing well for the Air Force and he was taught computers after that. He now works from home as a guru in the IT health industry. He is buying houses with money gained when he sold his computer company a few years ago.
My dad was struggling the whole time when I was growing up and my mom moved us to LA to try and survive. I worked in coffee houses in the early '80s when people would say "a dollar for a cup of coffee! highway robbery!" As a result of my expsure to people with money, I wanted it myself. My parents drilled into me that I could be successful if I worked hard. I started a paper route when I was nine and have have a job since then until September of 2008.
After we taped this video, I have decided to call myself working class and it seems to feel right. I also toy with other labels like "struggling class" or "classless heathens."
Thanks for posting Daye. I love talking about social construct issues and how we can all work together to get through this mess we're in.
Nikki
Thanks for sharing your even more of your story. I can't even imagine taking care of a 3 kids and each other in the midst of all this. But people have and are doing it, so good luck to you guys.
I'm glad that you're feeling more comfortable with the working class label. As an adult I can't claim what I always thought my parents were, but even looking back I don't think my family was ever really middle class. We were a working class military family with good credit, that's it.
As an adult I've embraced that even though I sit behind a computer instead of work in a factory, that doesn't exclude me from the working class. I just can't imagine calling myself middle class if I'm living paycheck to paycheck. Enough of my soapboxing.
Thanks again for sharing.
-daye.
Shereen! Thanks!
I am excited to see some debate happening. The week after
we shot this follow up video, Oprah did an episode on class in America. I found it very interesting and I am of course feeling it very personally right now. The reason I do any of this press stuff (which does not compensate me directly) is to help stimulate dialogue and to help people.
It's also therapy. When I was laid-off in September, I started answering press queries on www.helpareporter.com as a way to figure out what to do with myself. I had a pretty good plan mapped out and my career was going as planned. And then things changed. I had no idea what to do with myself. Bill had income at that time and so I started "seeing what energy was out there" for me. While I faced rejection with most of my business contacts and leads, I kept getting responses to queries from reporters. It started with opinions about rice cereal and such and quickly got personal for me. I found that answering th wqueries helped keep my brain sharp and my was improving my writing and speaking skills. I'm a pretty "behind the scenes" type of girl, so this has been uncomfortable to be getting direct attention.
When the clip on Good Morning America showed ( where I was crying after a bad meeting) my mom (in WV) was embarrassed.
She said "Can't you get press for something *good*?"
I agree, but things are just not going according to plan these days.
My first national press came with a story about letting go of our "nanny" who was a friend living with us for years who helped with the kids ("Uncle Dave") and I was shocked that people cared. But it was an early warning bell of the coming turmoil because "middle class" types were letting go of help and that was causing a lot of havock in the economy.
Every nanny site on this continent picked up that AP story and suddenly when I googled myself, I came up in strange places. It was fun and a little surreal. Since then, I've been involved in a number of stories and I consider it an honor that my story might help someone. Sharing it helps me.
It has meant a lot to me during these months of depression and transition that we are getting some energy and attention from the outside. It does help me get through the hard times, even when I get stung by feedback.
In tough times, it boggles me that these people won't take a basic job to fill the space until a better opportunity comes along. Any job, even at entry level, is better than no job. Work at Starbucks if there's nothing else! Ideals are best put to the side when survival comes into play.
They should go with the free rent, then get entry level jobs while they build up their skill sets for new careers. They can move back when they have money again. What is so difficult about that?
It seems to me if this family really wanted to work they would work. What are the ideals they are aspiring to? I whiff a bit of elitism here - like maybe they are too good to compromise their values? I am all for not compromising, but maybe their values need to change. If it were me, it would be simple: Take what you can get RIGHT NOW. Your dreams aren't as important when you've got kids. Show your kids how to put food on the table and be upstanding citizens. And yes, by all means, keep going for your dreams, but don't cry poor and "whoa is me we're losing the middle class dream". YOU are responsible for your lives. Your are able bodied people who, deep down, I believe want to end up on some big talk show and get a book deal and become famous. Which is super, but don't put your kids thorugh this meanwhile.
scary! i hope kcet keeps track of this family...update their saga.
News flash kids- it's not that we are not trying to get hired, we simply can't right now. Both Bill and I have resumes and careers that are not valid. It's not like we are turning down great job offers, or even lousy ones.
What should we do? Working at Starbucks is the old comeback. Newsflash again- they are laying off people too. It's just not that simple. We do have a three year old. We are living very simply in many ways. We have one car, a don't use credit cards. Working actually costs money. It's a balancing act and I understand that it is true for many people. We have a lifestyle predicated on earning a certain income and now we have no clear way to keep that up. It's easy to be flip and say we should lower our expectations, reduce our costs and whatnot. But again, it's just not that simple. UP until now I have enjoyed sharing our story with others because I felt like it help shed a spotlight on a different sector than those who are getting big media. People who bought into the middle-class American Dream and who are now sitting holding a bag. I don't beleive that I'll ever see a pention in my life.
I can't support my family on the non profit career I have spent 20 years to create. I am looking for out of the box and creative solutions to the problems we are facing now.
I like helping others. Ironaically, I've done a lot of career coaching with reporters who are facing the lay-off ax when they interview me.
I realize that we sound elitist. When I was on GMA saying that I feel bad that I can't buy my kids fancy popsicles and
we can't go to Disneyland, I felt like a total loser. But we did buy a bill of goods and now it is all gone. I am pissed off. I've worked hard and now I don't have a lot to show for it. It is sad.
What gets me is when I do the math in my region, I have no idea how parents who are working at a lower rate of pay are making it. I really don't. Times are scary and we are all looking for ways to make it through.
I happen to think that hard times are the BEST time to put your values to the test. If we can get out of this feeling like we made good choices for our family, that's all that matters. All we can do is take it one day at a time and keep plugging away.
And just for the record, I've also turned down media opportunities with money attached ( Wife Swap is $20K) because those opportunuties conflicted with my ideals and values also. I don't have enough kids to garner real media attention. I'm just a normal sized family trying to figure out what the heck to do. I used to be praised for my "long term strategic planning" skills and now those skills are broken. The future is so hard to predict right now and it is hard to make decisions that will position my children for a successful life. And we do measure that in more than income.
I am willing to leverage my new-found skill for getting press into something that earns income for my family. Right now, any skill I think I can leverage, I am going to do that. But I need people with line items to be able to pay me to do anything. A book deal wouldn't even save my ass really. The publishing world is just as crazy as any other place.
But I am going to keep trying to help others by applying the lessons I'm learning the hard way and sharing them as long as that feels good and positive for my family. I may launch a career as a transitional coach. I may write more grants that can help create a job for me if funded.
What's actually cooking for me right now is my out of state relatives are hooking up their friends with money to get my help to assist them in re-investing in the LA area this summer. People want to buy houses here again and I have the contacts to help make that happen. If successful, I get a commission.
Commission and gig based income is probably what is next for us. Without stable jobs available in our fields and the promise of jobs with pensions, this is the next best option. Lots of people are in our boat and finding themselves "accidental freelancers" with non-traditional freelance skills.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/JobClub/story?id=6806042&page=1
Good news! I got a job! And not just *a* job, but a life-altering dream job.
Here was my criterion that I finally got hammered out:
1. I needed a job with an LA salary that justifies me stayingf here
2. I wanted to leverage my skill set, resume and background in non profits management and consulting
3. I need to work primarily from home
I recently secured a position as an Executive Director for a private meidcally related foundation. I will be developing the
foundation's work from home in a role that is tailor made for me. I am excited about the work on all levels. I have never had a better first day on a a new job than when I started last week in my home office. I appreciate this opportunity so much and I shocked that so many of my dreams are now working out despite all the challenges that have been coming my way lately.
My time as part of the Socal Connected family doing these pieces helped me to clarify my own objectives and come to a clearer understanding of what I wanted to do with my career in the present day. Bill and I never expected anything but smooth sailing with our careers and this recent spate of "bad economy blues" has been hard on us. But I feel really happy to be coming out into the light again.
I had just come to believe that my salary alone as a non profit professional in LA was not going to be enough to support our family. I am happy to say that I was wrong.
I CAN do this. I just had to get out of the box enough and open minded enough to let a new energy into my life.
Thanks web team for being part of my journey and I hope you all enjoy this good news story! Bill, the kids and I are all so excited about my new job and being able to keep on keepin' on here in LA.
RSS: SoCal Connected
socalconnected@kcet.org
Nikki Maxwell says :
Thanks for checking out our video! While the subject matter is not fun, getting some positive attention is nice and we love sharing our story with the hopes that it will help someone else.
Hang in there everybody!