From the day
Perspective: The Anxious Local · Sight
The neon glow of the discount pharmacy sign flickers against the sleet, highlighting a headline about Condé Nast slashing budgets that makes my stomach do backflips. I’m clutching my coat tight, staring at the $3.27 gas price on the chalkboard and wondering if I’m some kind of newbie for thinking things would actually get cheaper this winter. Inside, the shelves are picked over, but a stray Zhu Zhu Pet sits abandoned near the register, its mechanical chirping sounding like a frantic warning I can't quite decode. Between the grey silhouettes of dampened wool coats and the looming threat of more layoffs, the world feels like it’s shrinking down to the change in my pocket.