On the heels of Tony Kushner admitting he's not able to support himself as a playwright, another blow to the creative lifestyle:
When Tyler Cowen was 15, he became the New Jersey Open Chess Champion, at the time the youngest ever. At around the same age, he began reading seriously in the social sciences; he preferred philosophy. By 16 he had reached a chess rating of 2350, which today would put him close to the top 100 in the U.S. Shortly thereafter he gave up chess and philosophy for the same reason: little stability and poor benefits.
My god... if our nation's chess champions can't support themselves...
(P.S. If you're not detecting the tongue-in-cheek, I've got a tumblr you'd love.)
