Hi guys,
Thank you all so much for your congratulations and well wishes for my friend. I’ll be sure and pass your kind words on to my friend and her grandchildren.
All this has gotten me to thinking about how truly, truly blessed I am.
And low and behold two of my favorite writers (Sara Zarr and E. Lockhart) had these cool surveys on their blogs about privilege, so I decided to give it a shot.
Yesterday I told someone that if you could only know ONE thing about me the thing that would tell you the most is that I grew up on a farm, and as I answered these questions, almost all of them related to that fact.
I think that’s why the question of privilege has always been a very, very touchy subject for me because all my life, depending on who I’m with, I’ve always felt guilty for being rich or nervous about being poor.
We always had lots and lots of food because…well…we grew most of it. (Given the apocalypse, farmers will totally be the last ones standing.)
But we didn’t waste money. Ever. In fact, we didn’t waste anything. (Bacon grease makes great gravy; fabric scraps make beautiful quilts; do you know how much grass you can grow using chicken litter as fertilizer? I do.)
But on the flip side of that, we had a swimming pool! (But only because Mom and Dad figured out that building a pool was a lot cheaper than taking a vacation every summer just so my sister and I could swim at hotels which is all we wanted to do on vacation anyway).
We drove new cars! (Because, in the long run, that was more economical than doing constant repairs.)
And I had a huge yard and animals and things that kids who live in town associate with privilege, but on a farm it doesn’t translate. It’s like being jealous of a guy who owns a shrimp boat because he eats a lot of shrimp.
When you grow up like I grew up you learn to take care of everything–especially money. So you get to live well for less.
But on the other hand, when a lot of kids spend a Saturday afternoon at the museum with their mom or dad, my mom and dad were usually working. But when you’re a farmer’s kid, that usually means you’re working right there with them, so…
1. You learn how to WORK (which comes in really, really handy when you’re holding down a full-time job and consulting on the side and writing a couple of books a year).
2. You learn how to feed, clothe, and just generally provide for yourself.
3. You learn a lot about your parents when “Take your daughter to work” day is…well…EVERY day.
So maybe I didn’t have a whole lot of the indicators of privilege listed below, but don’t let that fool you. I was one of the luckiest kids I’ve ever known.
And I’m a good person to know in the event of an apocalypse.
From What Privileges Do You Have? – Based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.
Bold the true statements.
1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college (and grad school)
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college (and grad school)
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor. (Actually, both my parents were working as college professors when I was born. Now my sister is an attorney.)
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers. (Actually, I was in exactly the same class as my high school teachers since my mom WAS a high school teacher.)
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home.
9. Were read children’s books by a parent
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
(I guess so, if they mean people who use proper English and buy a lot of sweaters from Eddie Bauer. However, I HATE the way people from rural areas are portrayed by the media. Much less people involved in agriculture.)
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
(I was fortunate enough to get scholarships to cover all of my college and graduate school expenses. But it wasn’t a trust. Nope. Just a $250 tuition waiver here and a $500 book allowance there.)
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp
(But this one really depends on how you DEFINE summer camp. I mean, if you mean the go away for all summer and get care packages camp then no way. If you mean FFA leadership camp, then yes.)
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
(I had new clothes, that’s for sure, but I also had my fair share of hand-me-downs. And also I had a really cool mom who sewed a lot of my clothes. A lot of which I still have–but can’t fit into.)
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
(We’re big “don’t buy someone else’s lemon” people. We tend to buy new cars and keep them for at least 10 years. If you do the math, that’s economically a very sound policy.)
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child
(I’m going to say yes even though I don’t think this question is referring to paintings that my Grandma and Aunt Mary did. But those are priceless to me, so I’m counting them.)
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
25. You had your own room as a child
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
31. Went on a cruise with your family
(My mental picture of TORTURE is a cruise with my family. And I’m pretty sure I speak for my entire family when I say that.)
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
(Make the torture stop!!!!)
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
(I remember going to museums and galleries, but I’m pretty sure it was with school groups.)
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family
(We didn’t have heating bills. I was, however, utterly aware of how much wood we had on the porch.)
Total Score: 16
ps…I feel compelled to point out that when I talk about a farm I’m not talking about a “my uncle has 5 acres and a pet rabbit” farm. That’s not really a farm (as defined by the USDA. And by me.) Our farm isn’t big by farming standards, but we do our part in the whole “feed the world” thing. And that’s cool.
gallaghergirl1213 says
December 21, 2012 at 1:01 am18