Privilege Meme

Bold the ones that are true for you.

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.

Dad had to drop out partway through for a stint in the Army in order to cover costs (he’s the only person that I know of who actually asked the draft board to move his number up…), but he came back after a tour of duty in Panama and got his B.A.

Father finished college.

See above. He then went on and got  an M.A.

Mother went to college.

When I found out that Mom went out of state for her college education, I started wondering why I got a ration about wanting to go more than a couple of hours away for mine…

Mother finished college.

Degree in Christian Education (not sure if that was a 2-year or 4-year degree program)

Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.

One of my great-aunts actually got her J.D. and became a lawyer. This would have been sometime in the 1930’s…

Was the same or higher socieoeconomic class as your high school teachers.

Yes. My father was a high-school teacher, so I was pretty much precisely of the same socioeconomic class as my own teachers.

Had more than 50 books in your childhood home .

Oh, yeah. Mom’s psych textbooks, Dad’s French Lit (some in translation), World Book Encyclopedia, the Childcraft Library, and a couple of Doubleday Book Club subscriptions had our front room looking like a library from day one.

Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. 

I don’t think we got quite to this point, unless you count my comic books. And I didn’t get most of those until I went to college anyway…

Were read children's books by a parent.

This is how my parents figured out that I’d learned to read on my own – I started following along as they read, and they initially thought that I’d memorized the words. So they tried it with a book from the library and guess what? I was, in fact, reading at 3 years old.

Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18.

My kindergarten teacher recommended music lessons for me, as I seemed fascinated by the piano in the classroom.  My parents bought a piano when I was in 1^st or 2^nd grade, and I started lessons in 3^rd grade. When our church organist decided to retire, my church signed me up for organ lessons when I was in Jr. High school, and I served as the organist through high school and into my college years.

Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18.

See above. I also took band classes as soon as they were offered (clarinet from 4^th grade  on, switched to bass clarinet in high school).

The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.

I have long hair, a beard, and habitually wear a leather jacket. The people who look like me in the media are usually bounty hunters, motorcycle club members, or tattoo artists. The people who talk like me, on the other hand, are usually portrayed positively (unless you factor in my remaining liberal ideals…)

Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18.

Nope. And shouldn’t have had the one I got at 26, either…

Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs.

My grandmother gave me a lump sum that covered a couple of years, and my parents covered most of the rest. I worked several jobs during those years for pocket money, and once I moved out of the dorms was covering my own room and board (and most of my books by the final year).

Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs.

Most, but not all.

Went to a private high school.

Went to summer camp.

I went to day camp a few times in elementary school, but I don’t think that’s quite what’s being asked here. I also worked at a Boy Scout Reservation during my college years, but that’s not quite it, either…

Had a private tutor before you turned 18.

Family vacations involved staying at hotels.

Most of our family vacations involved visiting relatives, and we camped out for most of them. We did take one road trip that involved a lot of stays in motels, since the rates weren’t that much higher than campground fees as it turned out… I didn’t stay in a hotel until after I got married.

Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18.

I used some of my own paper route money to supplement my parental supply of clothing starting after I started getting social pressure to wear certain brands – my parents had a clothing budget, so if I wanted a more expensive pair of jeans than the budget would cover, I had to cover the difference.

Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.

My grandmother made some noises about handing down one of her cars, but nothing ever came of it. I bought my own bicycles, too, since I was making money with the paper route.

There was original art in your house when you were a child.

Dad taught commercial art, so he had a few of his own fine art pieces around the house. I specifically remember a ceramic bust of Charles DeGaulle…

Had a phone in your room before you turned 18.

Never wanted one, actually. Who the hell would I have been calling?

 You and your family lived in a single family house.
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home.

I actually developed a bias against renters during my paper route years, as it was assumed in my family that anyone who rented rather than owning was either fiscally irresponsible or some sort of transient…

You had your own room as a child.

It wasn’t big, but it was mine and it had a door…

Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course.

Had your own TV in your room in High School.

Nope. Didn’t even have cable outside of a couple of free trial periods.

Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College.

This was as much a tax dodge by my grandmother as anything else – but she did turn over a mutual fund that she started in my name that I managed to keep from cashing out until after college was over.

Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16.

My first airplane flight didn’t happen until after I was 21.

Went on a cruise with your family(grandparents).

I’ve never actually been on a cruise.

Went on more than one cruise with your family.

Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.

We had a membership at the Pacific Science Center during part of my childhood – I specifically remember one summer when they did a Science Fiction film festival, with a weekly Buck Rogers serial as the opening feature . “The Incredible Shrinking Man” scared the crap out of me, and I put a mark on the wall to be certain that I wasn’t  shrinking myself. Said mark is somewhere around my current chest level…

You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

I wasn’t really aware of the heating bill specifically, but I did get to watch Mom going over the food budget, clipping coupons, and shopping at three different local stores to get the best deals. Dad also set up a sliding door system that isolated the kitchen area, which we then heated with food prep plus a space heater, so that we didn’t need to hang out in our bedrooms or the living room, which were all pretty chilly.