So much more than a house

In 'Picturing the Crisis', the author Paul Reyes reminds us that while we can all remember the horrors of the Great Depression, something just as terrible is happening. That is, the housing crisis. However, something so terrible can be a work of art. In the Great Depression and in other crisis, the pictures were easy to come by when compared to today's world. The housing crisis is something hard to take pictures of. There are no breadlines, no hopeless faces looking over a desolate farm. What there are things to take pictures of are empty homes. Bare walls. Half finished homes- and dreams. This appeals to a sensitive side of the reader. When thinking of what I want in my life, a house is near the top of the list. I see the pictures and read the article and worry what is to become of me and my future family. This is what Paul Reyes is trying to do. His audience is the American, and the New York Times is well suited to carry it to every one of us. His tone is one of somberness, but of beauty. His purpose in writing is to find something beyond the empty homes, the holes in the wall, and the scratches on the table. Every person has a story, and every house has had a person. This crisis is tragic. Unemployment is very high, and the college student has much to worry about. But this very tragedy contains a sense of true beauty.