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Stimulus Times is the tiny, fledgling indy magazine launched today by Scott Kingsley, who was until February the Journal's assistant managing editor for visuals. When I dropped him a note after the axe fell, he replied with thanks, adding, "I'm a resourceful fellow and I'm determined to make the best of it." And he has, bouncing into print and a blog with what he calls, for now, a quirky little "weekly newsletter" about the East Side of Providence.

The lead video catches three business owners talking about their work, saying pretty much whatever's on their minds at the time: An antiques dealer, a florist and the owner of a small grocery in Fox Point quickly make their mark as characters in these vignettes.

Scott's own tale, Starting All Over Again, is improbably wonderful. He picked up a hitchhiker who turned out to be NPR's Christopher Lydon, the original host of NPR's The Connection, now a visiting fellow at Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies.

I explained that, appearances aside, I really was not living in my car. Watching him take in the mess, I knew he was not convinced. "What did you do?" he asked. I gave him my old card. "You were somebody there," he said. I nodded. "I thought I was." While driving toward the train station, we started talking about Stimulus Times. "Great name," he said, suggesting that Stimulus Times might be a good vehicle to get to the honest bottom of the economic mess. I interrupted him and our eyes met again. "Chris," I said, "that is not us."

"So, what is Stimulus Times?" THE VOICE asked.

I responded with vague notions of trying to have a little fun in the face of pending economic ruin . . . perhaps offering clever insights here and there . . . possibly explaining some of the big numbers in the stimulus package . . . 787 BILLION?!?!? ... maybe clarifying "derivative swap" for those who didn't get it the first time. "I'm not a big thinker, Christopher. I just want to entertain folks while they have a coffee and a sandwich."

Scott, the professional photographer, was flummoxed enough to forget to take a photo of his famous passenger.

How I Got the Axe is former Journal reporter Laura Meade Kirk's account -- as unvarnished as the headline -- of getting laid off while laid up, broke and unpleasantly divorcing, all with four kids.

...I then hobbled to HR to listen to the company spiel about the layoffs. Blah, blah, blah. "Do you have any questions?" I was asked.

"No," I replied. But holding out my arms, with the IV lines hanging, I did say: "Your timing sucks."

I then signed the requisite forms and crutched off to the elevator, fighting back tears. I wasn't going to let them see me cry. I punched at the buttons, but the elevator never came.

Of course not. Just my luck.

So I crawled down the stairs, on my hands and knees, careful to make sure my crutches didn't catch the IV lines and rip them from my heart.

It all seemed so fitting - I'd poured my heart and soul into 75 Fountain St., and here I was crawling out, every ounce of me spent.

Yikes. This was the nadir. There's a happy ending.

I suspect the Wordpress blog will become more frequent as the buzz grows and the tools become second nature. I've already lobbied Scott to add a comments form to the blog.

Last night, in an email, Scott wrote, "We were so focused on the print thing ... yet everyone has responded to the website. When will I learn???"

With snarky good humor, Stimulus Times invites you to "Share your axe story." Been laid off? How'd that go? You might write about it (wryly, perhaps) and send it to Scott by email. There'll be lots of interest. Because if there's one thing that's growing in this economy, it's the number of folks who got the axe.
--posted at 6:32 a.m.

Later: Scott has a pdf of today's print edition up now, and it's completely different from the Web site. Scott writes about the real Stimulus, and yet another Projo alum pops up: Past 7 to 7 Newsblogger Brandie Jefferson writes a Stimulus blog... on paper. Mix it up, guys.

 Tags  blog Scott Kingsley Stimulus Times

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