Good grief.

Is there anyone NOT doing this meme? Really? I'll have you know I'm joining in under duress, just because the peer pressure is too great to withstand. Michelle, thy name is lemming.

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
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor. (Um, not really. I have a relative who's an RN and paramedic, but that's not quite the same.)
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers. (There were classes?)
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home. (most of them mine)
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. (Ehhhhh no. I don't think so. I've had more than 500 in my house, granted, but not when I was a kid. No one else in my family really read that much -- there was no fiction to speak of at all except for what I bought.)
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 (the only lessons offered in town were piano lessons; anything else would have meant driving to somewhere else altogether)
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively. (Um... more or less. White brunette females -- yes. Overweight white females, less so.)
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.
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
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. (Cheap as we could get it, but generally new, yes. If I had hand-me-downs, I didn't know it, and thus I'm not going to count the occasional bag of something my mom may have gotten, as it was by no means the rule.)
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them (Yep. It was an old blue 78' Olds that my dad bought for $500, but it had not previously been theirs. I think this only counts by a technicality, though.)
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child (Yes, but it was all either done by my mom or my grandmother. If you make your own art, does it count?)
23. You and your family lived in a single-family house (Yes, but we lived in a small town in rural Oklahoma. They didn't have their first apartment building here until the mid 80s.)
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home,
25. You had your own room as a child (After I was 7 or 8 or so; before then my brother and I shared a room.)
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18
27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course (Yeah, but it was free and my math teacher offered it)
28. Had your own TV in your room in high school(Yes, but my dad was the cable guy -- and I mean the only cable guy, sole proprietor/owner/cable guy for three small towns; when his little TVs got too old or worn out to use on the line, he gave them to my brother and I. He certainly never purchased one for my use, nor would I have had cable if he'd had to pay for it. I was the only kid I knew with a TV in my room, though. How times have changed.)
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.
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up.
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.