Read through any newspaper or watch the evening news, and you’ll see the arguments for 2009 being the worst year — not to mention the end of the worst decade — piling up.

It’s enough to make you suppress those dreams for a better life, a bigger house, a flashier car: the standard American Dream. All the bad news about the economy, job losses and bank bailouts makes you want to hold tight to everything you’ve got.

Take a risk? Forget it.

But don’t tell that to Jamie, 49, of Kenosha, who is back in school with dreams of earning multiple degrees and finding a research job.

“If you work hard, you can do anything,” she said, while walking a treadmill at a local gym recently.

Jamie, who declined to give her last name, said she quit college years ago to work. Now, with a part-time job and raising two teenage boys, the poor economy motivated her to take classes at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Eventually, she hopes to earn master’s and doctorate degrees.

“That’s my dream, so I might as well stay in school while the economy’s so bad,” she said. “Shoot for the stars. Why not? You only live once, right?”

Dreams have changed

A Parade magazine survey in November showed how much Americans’ goals, hopes and attitudes have changed during the last 18 months:

— Four out of five people said they’ve felt the impact of the down economy.

— Sixty-nine percent said they had lost a job, taken pay cuts, or know someone who has faced job loss.

— Seventy-three percent have had to make changes, such as cutting spending, delaying vacations or postponing home improvements.

Dianna Marx, 60, and her daughter Kathryn Guthre, 32, are both nurses and don’t anticipate losing their jobs. But both said they have been affected by the recession.

Marx and her husband moved to senior housing where they don’t have to worry about maintenance costs. Guthre’s husband was laid off briefly during the summer.

While talking over coffee, both said they’ve lived within their means and blame the nation’s economic problems on others who spent more than they could afford.

“The problem with our country is everybody always wants,” Marx said. “They can put it on credit and pay for it later. It’s, ‘I want, I want, I want.’ We’ve become such an immediate gratification and materialist country. People still gotta be better than the Joneses, and we gotta knock that off.”

Hitting the gym?

At the same gym where Jamie was exercising, a 59-year-old Kenosha man talked about his hours being reduced and his wife losing her job. A 52-year-old hairstylist said she’s postponing her retirement at least a year.

Forty-three percent of respondents in the Parade survey said they are exercising more to cope. Still, Jeff Vance, a personal trainer, said his business has dropped at least 50 percent.

“I’ve always lived under my means, but if it gets any worse, then I’d probably have to seek other employment — if there is any to seek,” said Vance, 50, of Racine.

“Most of my friends ... are self-employed. They’re over the age of 50, so they’ve ... made enough of a nest egg to survive it. I think the younger people will be faced with the biggest problems in the future.”

Learning to cope

The Parade survey also looked at how people are coping during tougher times:

— Thirty percent said they volunteer more for a charity or cause.

— Fifty-eight percent said they are spending more time reading for pleasure.

— Thirty-five percent are rediscovering community or religious groups.

Ellen Hauser, an assistant professor of sociology and political science at Carthage, is helping students tackle some of those methods in a January term course called “The Pursuit of Happiness.”

The course won’t provide any direct answers for finding happiness, but Hauser hopes to introduce students to varied methods, written works and spiritual devices that put them on a route to more fulfilling, happier lifestyles.

“I don’t think there’s one answer,” Hauser said. “I think it depends on the people. And the point of the class will be to expose students to different ideas, and they will need to formulate for themselves what they think would work for them.”

Hauser, who said she didn’t design the course with the economy in mind, said she hopes the students gain a better understanding of themselves and choices they can make to increase their happiness.

“For me it is a combination of some good mental health practices as well as spirituality,” Hauser said. “I really think meditation and a spiritual connection makes a big difference. I don’t want to sound like Oprah, but gratitude — the whole idea that when you count the things you have and the things that you’re grateful for — it changes your dynamic.”

Young people optimistic

More from the Parade survey:

— Fifty-two percent said they believe if you “work hard and play by the rules,” you can have a solid middle-class life.

— Sixty-seven percent strongly believe “the American dream” is about the opportunity to achieve through education and hard work.

— Sixty percent defined it as the liberty to do what we want.

— Sixty-eight percent still consider their dreams within reach.

Those attitudes are evident on college campuses, where students’ wide-open possibilities excite them.

“I think if anybody’s determined, they find a way to make it happen,” said Vanessa Munoz, a Carthage College student from Kenosha who will graduate in May with a degree in criminal justice.

“It’s all what you want to do. I think in the world now, people realize that if you don’t have an education, there’s nowhere you really can go. And if you don’t have a degree, you’re going to have to attain your means by other ways — probably not the best (ways) either.”

Munoz, 21, said she is looking forward to “the new chapter” in her life. She’s excited about learning in a new environment and wants to apply the skills she’s learned in college to help troubled kids.

Students know hardships

Still, college students are not removed from the nation’s hardships.

Jessica Hosendove, a Carthage freshman from Chicago, said the economy has pushed her to work harder for what she wants.

“My mom always tells me just because you have this now, doesn’t mean you’re going to have it later,” Hosendove said. “She always tried to instill that in me from the beginning. But when I came to college, that’s when I actually realized that, ‘Yeah, that’s true.’ I’m going to have to start looking at things from a different angle.’”

Hauser acknowledged that’s been a painful lesson for Americans to learn, but said she thinks 2010 will be an improvement, based on indications the economy is improving.

“I also think that having gone through what a lot of people have gone through is making people in some ways learn what creates happiness,” she said. “People are rediscovering family nights at home, board games and rediscovering that you don’t need fancy cars and a lot of stuff.

“I think it’s a painful learning process to have those things taken away, but I’m optimistic that we as a country are learning more of what really brings happiness. It’s not fat bank accounts.”