You, Too, Can Go Bankrupt will officially be out in October, 2026, but copies for review and for select events will be available in June.
YOU, TOO, CAN GO BANKRUPT
You, Too, Can Go Bankrupt
1. June 6, 2009: Down East Maine
Saturday evening, and I'd driven thirty-five miles on rural two-lane highways to arrive just past dusk at Devin's one-bedroom rental, a few dozen steps behind the house where his landlords lived. Devin had spent the winter here, might spend next winter too, though was going to have to move out by Father's Day. In this part of Maine, landlords might get $1,200/week during the summer for a space like Devin's. Off-season, Devin paid $600/month.
Drinking red wine, we settled in at the table. We'd long been casual acquaintances, Devin and I, hadn't seen each other in over a decade, but a half hour earlier we'd greeted each other with a hug. We were the same age and had mutual friends. He'd already been in Alaska when I arrived in 1985. Back then, in his early thirties, he'd been the city manager in a small rural Alaska municipality, earning a good income. Over time, he'd lived in Fairbanks, Juneau, and Anchorage, working various jobs, just as I'd done. Like me, he played fiddle.
I was here on a trip with my girlfriend, Rosa, who was visiting her eldest daughter and two grandchildren. On a free night, I contacted Devin, who invited me over. Devin had moved to Maine with his wife and daughter fourteen years earlier. The plan had been to remain long enough for his wife to earn an architecture degree, and then move on, which Devin hoped was back to Alaska.
But his wife, now his ex-wife, didn't graduate in four years, and only recently returned to school—and long-delayed coursework. Though Devin had a master's in Management Resources, which meant he had the credentials to consult, the jobs for which he was best suited had never been plentiful in this part of Maine, and more recently had virtually disappeared. Several years back, a venture with two partners sputtered before the trio dissolved the business. Meanwhile, Devin and his wife had another child, a second daughter who was now eight years old. The past months, on nights he had custody, Devin could delight how his girl loved climbing the ladder to the loft, where there was a mattress, and she could fall asleep dreaming beside her shelves of books.
Devin poured me a second glass of wine, smiled crookedly, pointed to the corner at a small desk strewn with papers. His bills, he explained, and continued that he'd set aside tomorrow to deal with them. After the divorce, his wife had gotten the house, and he'd lost almost everything in the settlement and lawyer fees. For income now, he was doing weather-dependent odd jobs outdoors, making $10-$20/hour. He owed hundreds to various local businesses, and thousands to the credit cards. He estimated he was $20,000 in debt, and going deeper daily. Though contemplating bankruptcy, he hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Well, I'm probably going bankrupt in the next months, I told him.
No, he exclaimed.
I nodded. Bankrupt, I said.
You're kidding.
No joke, I said, shaking my head. You're twenty thousand in debt? I'm more than five times that.
He whistled. A hundred thousand? No way!
More like a hundred ten. Maybe a hundred fifteen today.
Devin kept shaking his head, looking at me. How'd it happen? he asked.
I sat there, looked down at the wine glass, raised it, took another sip. I wondered how to even begin to explain. After all, it had been years since we'd seen each other.
These things don't just happen. Didn't you think you were getting in too deep? Why didn't you stop at twenty? Or forty? Man, a hundred thousand under. What were you thinking?
It's not like I ever thought it would come to this, I said.
What were you thinking, man? Devin raised the wine bottle and topped my nearly full glass. What the hell were you thinking?
That's the first chapter. Here's the rest of the book before the final formatting:
You, Too, Can Go Bankrupt
Chapter 1: June 6, 2009: Down East, Maine.................................……………………………......................1
Chapter 2: An Introduction to Money...................................……………………………………………………......4
Chapter 3: June 23, 2009: New York City, Two Phone Calls............………………………………..….............14
Chapter 4: College Money...............................……….............………………………………….........................23
Chapter 5: November 16, 2009: New York City, Post-Tour........……………………………………..…….............33
Chapter 6: The Road, Circa 1978............................................……………………….................................36
Chapter 7: November 25, 2009: New York City, Thanksgiving Eve, and a $64,000 Offer..………………......41
Chapter 8: North Carolina, Part 2..............................................………………………................................56
Chapter 9: December 13, 2009: New York City, Dreams and Thieves.................…………………...............64
Chapter 10: North and West..........................................................…………………………………...............74
Chapter 11: December 15, 2009: New York City, a Quarrel...............…………………...............................80
Chapter 12: Further North, Further West....................................…………………………........................…86
Chapter 13: December 21, 2009: New York City, Winter Solstice (and a Lawyer, at Last)..……………....100
Chapter 14: Illness and Convalescence...................................................................……………..........110
Chapter 15: December 27, 2009: New York City, on the Phone with My Seattle Naturopath……………...121
Chapter 16: Those Fabulous Credit Cards: Juneau............................………………………….....................125
Chapter 17: December 29, 2009: New York City, Job-Hunting........………………………………………............137
Chapter 18: Juneau to Anchorage, and Beyond: On Being Alaska's Fiddling Poet...………………………......143
Chapter 19: January 1, 2010: New York City, New Year's Details (Not Resolutions)…………………………....154
Chapter 20: More Books, More CDs, a Life on Tour..................................………………………………….........158
Chapter 21: January 16, 2010: New York City, Quarreling and Conferencing..……………………………………..175
Chapter 22: Allons à Lafayette..............................................…………………………………………...................…188
Chapter 23: January 22, 2010: New York City, a Leisurely Walk and a Browse at the Strand ……………………….198
Chapter 24: Welcome to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, Crawfish Capital of the World..………………………………...207
Chapter 25: January 29, 2010: New York City, Fear, Family, and Further Absurdities...………………………….......217
Chapter 26: Leaving Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, Crawfish Capital of the World..…………………………………......229
Chapter 27: February 9, 2010: New York City, at the Attorney's.....................……………………………..................236
Chapter 28: Another Look Back...............................................………………………………………...................251
Chapter 29: June 6, 2010: New York City, Bankruptcy Court, and Beyond............……………………………......254
Chapter 30:December 21, 2025: New York Mills, Minnesota, A Cultural Center Residency……………………….269