Ouch, ouch, ouch
Fr. Daren had this privilege meme* on his blog. I thought it was kind of fun. By the time I was done I felt like some sort of spoiled brat. I certainly haven’t considered myself privileged - just kind of average. I mean, really... privilege people are those who are remunerated to attend parties and nightclub openings, right?

(*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. Or all three. And, as my late father would have said, “that and X-number of cents will get you a cup of coffee.”
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home. I’m not sure...but I know it was closer to 500 than to fifty.
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.
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. My sister went to camp. I hated the idea. I regarded it as some sort of familial deportation to be avoided at any cost. So, yeah, I guess I could have gone if I had wanted to but I wasn’t so privileged that I would have been sent against my will.
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.
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them. I hate to go into the car thing. The kids hold it against me. My first car was a hand-me-down Mercedes from my parents. After that they bought me an Opel. The kids have trouble believing that we were one of only two families in our town with Mercedes and I found the car to be rather flukish and embarrassing at first. Their hearts don’t swell with sympathy when I tell them that it didn’t have power steering and I failed my first driver’s license road test because I couldn’t parallel park it. And it was a diesel that was touchy about starting when the temperature would drop.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child.
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. Did those exist back in the day? If they did, I sure hadn’t heard of them.
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. Can I count the boat tour around Alcatraz?
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. I’ll qualify this by saying I did notice the furrows in my mother’s brow when she was paying bills. And my parents were quick to take umbrage with my prancing about the house in a tennis dress in January and fiddling with the thermostat to make myself comfortable.

and I’ll add #35.

Your parents bought you a horse. No, they didn’t. They bought my sister a horse. I was robbed.