Thread of light runs through dark stories on foreclosure crisis
No one takes pleasure in seeing unforeseen circumstances dishevel the lives of families. Yet, these stories can generate something more than sympathy.
A fairly simple map in Monday's Daily Herald puts a chilling emphasis on perhaps the most dire economic issue of the day.
Portraying ranges of foreclosures with the use of various colors in each Chicago-area zip code, the map is dominated by deep shades of amber and expansive blocks of deep brown, colors representing zip codes in which housing foreclosures have increased, respectively, from 38 to 78 percent and 78 percent or more in the past year. Here and there, you see only small splotches of gray or light blue indicating areas with smaller increases or stability in foreclosure activity.
It is a striking image of an economic crisis. And Anna Marie Kukec's story closing a four-day series titled "The Dream Foreclosed" adds an ominous note from researcher Geoff Smith, who has been tracking local foreclosures: "We're expecting the turmoil to continue. After that, it's unclear."
Far from reassuring words. Yet, the picture is not without hope, and it's that sense that we most want you to take away from the series of stories by Kukec and Deborah Donovan.
Stories like those of the Neubauer family in Grayslake, Daniel Belz of Glen Ellyn or the Fugates of Carol Stream can be hard to read. No one takes pleasure in seeing how unforeseen circumstances dishevel the lives of whole families at the most fundamental level.
Yet, these stories can generate something more than sympathy. Thanks to the unselfish openness of the people who let us tell them, such narratives give poignancy and life to situations that may be lurking for anyone. They can point us in directions that may help us avoid a similar fate ourselves.
For those of us who aren't so lucky, additional elements within the series give further aid. Donovan's interview with a home ownership counselor, for example, offered advice for homeowners facing the possibility of losing their homes. Various stories in the series described federal and state government efforts to get control of the crisis.
Presentation editor Tim Broderick's graphic illustrations like the foreclosure map and, especially, a vivid visual description of the foreclosure process -- which a DuPage County judge has since commissioned to be reprinted as a handout for people facing foreclosure -- provided guides that can help homeowners navigate a frightening, confusing and embarrassing ordeal.
In one story for the series, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Kukec that he's been meeting with representatives of all facets of the foreclosure crisis in recent months, and he offered a key piece of personal advice of his own.
"What I've been leaving those meetings with is that people who are facing problems don't reach out early enough. They don't know who to talk with," Paulson said.
Hopefully, they -- and you -- do now.
It's hard to predict whether your American Dream may suffer debilitating shock waves. The greatest lesson of the series may be simply that it can suffer them. But equally important is the lesson that it can endure them. Perhaps as a benefit from that knowledge, our next foreclosures map will be dominated by some softer, more comforting hues.