Faces of the recession

As the holiday season approached one year ago, it was increasingly clear the global economy was in a tailspin. Wall Street and Detroit were looking for government handouts, real estate had tanked, and unemployment was creeping toward levels not seen since the early 1980s.

While CNET chronicled more than its share of layoffs and company failures, we also wanted to put what was happening to the technology industry in human terms. What resulted was our "Faces of the recession" series, a set of profiles ranging from a laid-off Circuit City employee to a woman who cut the cord from cable television and saved big bucks.

In recent weeks, we revisited some of the people and places from the series. We found they had hunkered down, making do with less, picking up odd jobs, or starting on new careers. While economists and politicians still bicker about how to right the economy, life goes on for everyone else.