The US lost 2 million jobs in the last three months. Unemployment hasn't been this high since 1983. So aren't you worried about how this is affecting New York marriages? A certain magazine is!

New York's Emily Nussbaum is writing an important "reported essay" on the subject. But don't worry! This piece will NOT be "cartoonish," but "novelistic."

Hello! I'm working a reported essay about the economy and New York marriages, with the goal to create something nuanced/novelistic, NOT cartoonish or simplistic. I don't need to use full names, but what I'd particularly love to do is talk to a wide range of people, weaving together a kind of impressionistic portrait of a city in the midst of renegotiating the ways we plan for our futures, divide finances, think about our families, etc.

Here are a few examples of people I'd love to talk to:

- A stay-at-home mom whose husband is laid-off — which might mean positive effects (Dad's closer with the kids) or negative (wife has to go back to work and doesn't want to.)
- Someone going through a divorce, or alternately, who wants to divorce, but can't because it's become so financially difficult.
- A couple for whom money has always been an explicit issue (like a wealthy man who has remarried after a divorce, or a couple with family money that has crumbled.)
- A 50/50-style working couple in which one or both have lost their job(s), and the division of household labor has changed.
- A group of male or female friends who are open with one another about the changing dynamics within their varied marriages.
- A couple who come from very different class backgrounds.
- A childless couple worried about whether they can afford children, or a couple with one kid who are debating whether they can afford a second.

And of course there are many other possibilities — these are just examples! Couples can be gay or straight, but they should be New Yorkers (any borough.) The model for this is something like my piece on families with both adopted and biological kids (http://nymag.com/news/features/35817/), in which I featured three different families with a continuum of reactions to their kids...

If you know anyone who might be good for me to talk to, please pass their contact info along, or give them MY contact info, which is below. I'd be happy to talk to anyone about the ideas behind the piece, on-and-off-the-record issues, and anything else that's a concern! Thanks! And any ideas you have about this subject are welcome as well...

So, yes, if you needed proof that the lifestyle mag that is New York is entirely 100% unsuited for this brave new recessionary New York City we'll all soon inhabit... well, you could've looked at the "Best of New York" issue this week, but this piece ought to do the same.

We're especially excited for the couple "from very different class backgrounds." That means like a Grup married to a (sadly now unemployed!) banker, right?