Via Cake Eater Kathy, it’s “the Privilege Meme”.
The point is to bold each of the statements that applied/applies to me.
Original source: 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. So I do. Yaaaay Will Meagan, Angie, Minnette, Drew and Stacy!
Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college—I think for a semester or two (Schwoops. As Keith Moon is my witness, I thought I’d heard it was a semester or two, but Mom emails to say she actually went to three years of college. My bad).
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor – UPDATED: Mom emails to note that a distant relative on her side was an attorney and governor of Iowa.
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers – dad was a high school teacher.
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home – I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 5,000.
Were read children’s books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18-–Not really – I learned cello in the elementary school orchestra. When I was 14, my dad paid one of his friends to show me a couple of things on the guitar. I think it was four lessons. It was useful.
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 – it’s kind of a dumb statement. White conservative Christian males take a lump or two.
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18 – I think I was 33. And I regretted it.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs – Dad helped out. And I got a decent scholarship, and a couple of grants.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp – In seventh and eighth grade, I won scholarships (thanks, American Legion!) to the International Music Camp on the cello. One week sessions that were spent practicing like mad for a huge honkin’ concert in the International Peace Gardens.
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels Once, when we were going to the Tetons and the car broke down, we spent most of the vacation money getting the car fixed. We had enough to stay a night in a hotel in Livingston Montana. We went to the occasional lake cabin, though, which was a lot more fun.
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 – Um, mostly? But from, like, Woolworths and Penney’s?
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child – Yes, but Mom painted it all. She was quite talented.
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18 – I didn’t have my own phone until I was 26.
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home-
You had your own room as a child From age twelve on – always shared with my brother.
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course – huh?
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College – no, but I bought a CD when I was 16 with my radio earnings. 12.6% at the height of the Carter Stagflation!
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
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—such as were available in the middle of North Dakota? Yes.
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family—The commandment to not waste heat was pretty clear.
UPDATE: The Night Writer did the meme – and added:
The point is to make us feel guilty about being born with certain advantages. To which my response would be, “What is your point?” I hope this wasn’t the result of hundreds of thousands of dollars sunk into a research study of the obvious. I mean, couldn’t that money have been better spent on something like finding out why monkeys scream during sex? Perhaps a better response from me, though, would be “So what?” — as in “So what do you want me to do about it?”
Am I supposed to go around feeling meek and guilty for an accident of birth over which I had no control over? I mean, that was a decision made way above my pay-grade. Similarly, should I be upset over the injustice that Michael Jordan gets the privilege of being 6′ 9″ with mad skills, or that Sean Connery gets that voice? Or should I go to Japan and have people treat me differently, in overt or subtle ways, because I’m different? They probably would, and I’d probably be upset about it, but the only thing in my power to change about the situation is my attitude.
The subtext of the meme was fairly clear – the authors tipped their hand with the “are people like you portrayed favorably on TV” question, as if such a question weren’t meaninglessly-broad enough to be useful only to…
…pop sociologists, I guess.
Dude. You are Mr. Fancy.
Geez, was your dad Thurston Howell?
Tell me about it. Little Mitch Fauntleroy.
A) Your mom reads your blog? I must remember to keep my language clean.
B) I took my paper route money and also got a 12+ % CD. Also bought a 14.5% 2.5 year debenture. For that one, turned out the investment place wasn’t a bank or S&L so they weren’t insured (hey, I was 12 years old, I didn’t know these places could go bankrupt). So when interest rates fell under the Reagan Revolution, the place went under as all of these 14+% debentures came due. I had my first lesson in economic matters…….risk vs return. I felt like Alex Keaton did when he lost all his stock money in the sugar cane plant that got hit by a hurricane.
The only ones I could truthfully answer “yes”:
If you had a computer at home when you were growing up (we got a Commodore 64 when I was in junior high)
If you had more than 50 books at home when you were growing up (more than 50 and less than 500 including a now-outdated set of World Book Encyclopedias that my family still owns but still adores)
If were read children’s books by a parent when you were growing up (I started reading when I was about 4 years old but my parents assure me that they read to me before that)
If you had or will have no student loans when you graduate (I’ve never taken out a student loan because I’ve been working full-time all through my undergraduate and post-graduate degree program –how that translates into a sign of “privilege” escapes me)
You and your family lived in a single family house
If your parent owned their own house or apartment when you were a child or teen (they paid it off before I graduated high school)
If you had your own room as a child or teen
If you have ever flown anywhere on a commercial airline (yes, thank God President Carter deregulated transportation in the 1970’s so that most working people like my family could finally begin to afford to fly. Now if we could just do the same to health care, we’d finally have affordable health insurance)
If your parents took you to museums and art galleries as a child or teen (we went to the Science Museum in St Paul and a few smaller historical museums that were open free to the public)
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home (but not 500)
Were read children’s books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18 – 3 yrs of piano lessons – on a piano given to us by my aunt for free btw – which I quit when my grades were bad and my dad said I had to quit either Boy Scouts or piano lessons. I picked piano and stayed in Scouts.
Went to a private high school – on scholarship all 10 years I attended. There was a kid in my 10th grade class who made more on his stock portfolio that year than both my mom and dad made combined.
Went to summer camp – Boy scout camp from 11-17 (which I paid for myself by selling Xmas wreaths and plants during scouting fundraisers), church camp from 13-18
Had a private tutor before you turned 18 – Mom’s 2nd cousin who was a HS math teacher, for a few months in 8th grade when my math grades were horrible. If my mom could afford him, he only charged a nominal fee.
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them – *snork*…yeah right. I didn’t even have my LICENSE til I was 20 because my mom and after I turned 18, I, couldn’t afford the insurance. My first car was 14 years old and cost me $200. I just loved riding the bus to school in 11th grade when other kids were driving Jeep Wagoneers and Saab 900 turbos and brand new Mustang GTs to school. In 12th grade my mom drove me to school so I got dropped off in a brown 1973 Buick Electra 225 and then a tan 1972 Ford station wagon.
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18 – I got my first phone when I was 22 and my uncle got pissed because for 3 days he tried to call my mom and I was connected to the U of MN dialup modem line for the entire evening and early morning.
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home – I inherited the house from my mom a 6 months after I moved out. With the exception of 2 school years at UMD and 1 year with my (at the time) future wife, I’ve lived where I live now since 11/74.
You had your own room as a child From age twelve on – biological only child. Had my own room until I went to college.
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 – a couple family vacations to see relatives in Cali.
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up – the Science museum in St. Paul. No art galleries except when the school took a field trip there. My HS is 2 blocks from the former Walker/Guthrie/sculpture gardens.
About the only “priviledge” I can claim while growing up is that I am a white male in this horribly sexist, racist society (We’re SO sexist and racist that I don’t understand how women can get out of the kitchen and put on shoes and quit popping out the kids or a black man can get anywhere other than the plantation).
I can’t begin to count the number of times our electricity was shut off because we couldn’t keep up. I remember one year in jr high, we had turkey legs 2-3 times per week because they were on sale for $.19/lb.
Screw you and your “priviledge” (not directed at anyone in particular here)
I wonder if going to a camp sponsored by the Salvation Army is what they had in mind?
That wasn’t camp, PeterH. That was rehab.
-Father went to college
-Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
-Were read children’s books by a parent
-You and your family lived in a single family house
-Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
-You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family
MB doesn’t stand for “Mitch Berg”. It stands for “Million Bucks”.
Heh, or from The office…
“They are sending me to management school. Well, actually anger managment school.”
Does a rented single wide count as a single family house?
>Had a private tutor before you turned 18
I was a private tutor before I turned 18. College football programs pay good money to tutor their star players, and star football players like to blow-off their tutoring sessions to go out and drink.
1. Probably had more than 500 books (definitely do now)….maybe less than 500 but waaay more than 50.
2. Was read to by parents
3. Went to Girl Scout camp
4. Stayed in hotels (do motels count-it was the 60’s so the “motor lodge” was ubiquitous) on vacation-my brother and I thought every single little motel was fancy heaven.
5. Not all clothes were new, but every fall before school started they sure were.
6. Had “original” art-an Andrew Standing Soldier (Black Hills Indian artist).
7. Was a reading tutor during high school for elementary kids but I was never tutored-I sure could have used it during Algebra II in 9th grade.
8. Lived in a single family home which we owned-
9. Had my own room but from 2nd grade through 9th, my brother and I actually shared a room with a wooden partition down the middle of what was supposed to be one room. He was lucky, cuz the 2x4s were on his side and they made a neat shelf that ran around the perimeter. Interesting now that I think about it.
10. Parents did take us to museums, etc. We lived in the midst of some interesting history besides (Leadville, CO).