Sips of Stories
This is a mug. It’s a standard ceramic mug, the model often sold in gift shops. It’s not special in shape nor in size -- it’s navy color and metallic writing are it’s only identifying features. It is a mug and its use is often limited to the consumption of hot beverages. However, it could be used as a pencil cup, it could store my most valuable jewelry, or it could hold a delicious ice cream sundae. It also, as it is intended, perfectly holds the cup of coffee dispensed from my Keurig each morning.
The mug’s navy exterior is smooth to the touch except where it is adorned with two metallic prints. Both prints are filled with what appear to be scratches that have created a rough texture. Look closer, they are not scratches. Look at the acorn logo, look at the dark lines within it. Are they sharp? Straight? No. They may have jagged points, but they flow like a creek or the roots of a tree, reaching for more life. Each of these flowing lines, like a tree’s roots, is created by spectacularly small, sharp lines. However, these lines came into being much quicker. Each line is a bolt of lightning, only a couple miles away surrounded by a stormy metallic sky. I wasn’t supposed to put this mug in the microwave.
Beyond my carelessness, this mug carries another story.
“Can I take this?” I asked my father while holding the mug. I had removed it seconds earlier from my family’s overflowing shelf of mugs while packing for my first semester away in college.
“That’s fine, but don’t break it or lose it. There will never be another one like it.” my father replied. He explained that Oakwood Homes, the name printed on the mug and one of my dad’s previous clients as a CPA, had gone out of business. I didn’t think much of it, but made sure the mug went unscathed while in my possession.
After my first year at Guilford College, I declared as an economics major. My sophomore year, I researched the crash of the United States housing market. After reviewing my research, my father insisted that we watch the movie The Big Short, which is focused on the crash of the US housing market, together. Finally, over winter break this year, we watched the movie together. Throughout the movie, Wall Street investment bankers in the face of opposition insist the US housing market is stable, and even infallible. It’s illogical, the signs of a market headed for a bust were there, my father and I agreed.
“They should have known,” my father argued, “Oakwood failed for the same reason years before, but they believed their market was above it.”
When looking at the US housing market as a whole, from about 2000 to 2006, real estate loans increased. Increased real estate loans caused an increase in the number of houses to be sold. The increase in house sales resulted in an increase in the price of houses. As the price of houses rose, real estate loans increased. These three factors continued to work in a cycle until 2006 when the number of houses sold fell along with the price of houses. The combination of a decrease in the price of houses with a stable fixed mortgage rate directly affected the balance sheet of households: homeowners equity in real estate decreased dramatically (a.k.a. the crash of the housing market).
This happened to Oakwood Homes beginning in the late 1990s. Oakwood Homes was a vertically integrated mobile homes manufacturer which, as my father explained, suffered consequences similar to those of the rest of US housing market, but years earlier. In 1998 Oakwood Homes began to incur losses in their mortgage business. By 1999, because of decreasing demand, Oakwood Homes was forced to eliminate almost 10% of jobs. Job losses continued until 2002 when Oakwood Homes declared for bankruptcy protection. Then, in 2003 after purchasing another mobile homes dealer, Clayton Homes, Berkshire Hathaway announced plans to buy Oakwood Homes out of bankruptcy protection, which was finalized in 2004. My father argued that Wall Street ignored the signs of a precipitating crash manifested by Oakwood Homes because it was a mobile homes business, “They believed that only people living in trailers wouldn’t pay their mortgage. They believed it could never happen to them and the greater housing market.”
This mug carries within each sip of coffee the importance of staying cautious, being aware, being present, and always remaining humble.
The mug’s navy exterior is smooth to the touch except where it is adorned with two metallic prints. Both prints are filled with what appear to be scratches that have created a rough texture. Look closer, they are not scratches. Look at the acorn logo, look at the dark lines within it. Are they sharp? Straight? No. They may have jagged points, but they flow like a creek or the roots of a tree, reaching for more life. Each of these flowing lines, like a tree’s roots, is created by spectacularly small, sharp lines. However, these lines came into being much quicker. Each line is a bolt of lightning, only a couple miles away surrounded by a stormy metallic sky. I wasn’t supposed to put this mug in the microwave.
Beyond my carelessness, this mug carries another story.
“Can I take this?” I asked my father while holding the mug. I had removed it seconds earlier from my family’s overflowing shelf of mugs while packing for my first semester away in college.
“That’s fine, but don’t break it or lose it. There will never be another one like it.” my father replied. He explained that Oakwood Homes, the name printed on the mug and one of my dad’s previous clients as a CPA, had gone out of business. I didn’t think much of it, but made sure the mug went unscathed while in my possession.
After my first year at Guilford College, I declared as an economics major. My sophomore year, I researched the crash of the United States housing market. After reviewing my research, my father insisted that we watch the movie The Big Short, which is focused on the crash of the US housing market, together. Finally, over winter break this year, we watched the movie together. Throughout the movie, Wall Street investment bankers in the face of opposition insist the US housing market is stable, and even infallible. It’s illogical, the signs of a market headed for a bust were there, my father and I agreed.
“They should have known,” my father argued, “Oakwood failed for the same reason years before, but they believed their market was above it.”
When looking at the US housing market as a whole, from about 2000 to 2006, real estate loans increased. Increased real estate loans caused an increase in the number of houses to be sold. The increase in house sales resulted in an increase in the price of houses. As the price of houses rose, real estate loans increased. These three factors continued to work in a cycle until 2006 when the number of houses sold fell along with the price of houses. The combination of a decrease in the price of houses with a stable fixed mortgage rate directly affected the balance sheet of households: homeowners equity in real estate decreased dramatically (a.k.a. the crash of the housing market).
This happened to Oakwood Homes beginning in the late 1990s. Oakwood Homes was a vertically integrated mobile homes manufacturer which, as my father explained, suffered consequences similar to those of the rest of US housing market, but years earlier. In 1998 Oakwood Homes began to incur losses in their mortgage business. By 1999, because of decreasing demand, Oakwood Homes was forced to eliminate almost 10% of jobs. Job losses continued until 2002 when Oakwood Homes declared for bankruptcy protection. Then, in 2003 after purchasing another mobile homes dealer, Clayton Homes, Berkshire Hathaway announced plans to buy Oakwood Homes out of bankruptcy protection, which was finalized in 2004. My father argued that Wall Street ignored the signs of a precipitating crash manifested by Oakwood Homes because it was a mobile homes business, “They believed that only people living in trailers wouldn’t pay their mortgage. They believed it could never happen to them and the greater housing market.”
This mug carries within each sip of coffee the importance of staying cautious, being aware, being present, and always remaining humble.
While reading your writing experiment, I connected with the line: “They may have jagged points, but they flow like a creek or the roots of a tree, reaching for more life.” This is a beautiful line. It makes me look back at the picture of the mug to really take in the letters. Your line expands my mind from just seeing the gold letters to imagining what else they can be.
ReplyDeleteThis line moved me: “…each line is a bolt of lightning, only a couple miles away surrounded by a stormy metallic sky.” It is a lovely way to describe the lettering of the coffee mug and I can see what you mean! It does look a bit like lightning with the gold surrounded by the navy blue.