1 post from February 2008

The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college (for 1 year at a business college. I helped her with her homework. I was 14.)
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children's books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively (Talk like me? yes but only since my mother refused to let me adopt the rural Ohio accent that I was surrounded by. Dress like me? Nope, hence the italics.)
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them (I didn't get my driver's license until I was 21.)
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house (sometimes, yes)
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child (most of the time, yes)
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 (but only because our dog saved my father's life and was Dog of the Year for 1976 so we got to fly from California to Atlanta.)
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up (ha! I was happy to go to Murphy's Mart, which was a Kmart knockoff)
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

I tell people I was poor growing up, but they don't believe me very often. I guess I didn't realize how unpriviliged I was compared to everyone else I've know who has done this meme. But I will say that a number of things are very urban-centered as points of privilege. Which is less privileged? Living in a condo? or living in a trailer? And I think having a car at all before you were 18 should be seen as a point of privilege and not just having a new one given to you. I mean if your parents can afford to give you a car at all that is privilege. Few of the kids I went to high school had access to a car, let alone a car of their own. But it is interesting to have some random list of things used to describe your economic class. And since many of the items that aren't bolded for my childhood are able to be bolded now, does that mean I still am unprivileged? Or does it just mean that I understand what it is like to lack privilege? And this only describes class, not sex or race which can affect your privilege as well.