Quick Blog #3

Quick Blog # 3: Experiencing Class and Classism

Please answer the following three questions about class. You need only write a brief paragraph for each question.

1. Describe an experience where you were privileged or advantaged due to your class/socio-economic status.

New York is a very claustrophobic space to live and being raised in rural New England, that claustrophobia hits me ten fold. The apartment I live in with my Dad has this hall way where you have to side step around a person if they happen to be passing through. In bathroom (I’ll keep it clean) the toilet paper is literally hugging my elbow as I’m sitting down. That’s one of the many adjustments I have to make living here.

           

2. Describe an experience where your  were oppressed or disadvantaged due to your class/socio-economic status.

I came across a group of actors that got a kick out of telling racist jokes. They asked me first if it was okay to use them and, curious as I was, I told them to go right ahead. They were funny, so I went back to my Dad’s apartment to see what other types of racist jokes were out there. The ones I found were a lot more uncensored then what my buddies were saying, something I could see fueling a white supremacists desire to lynch a person. So I eventually went up to my acting buddies and told them I’d appreciate them not using anymore racist jokes when I’m around. They were glad that I told them this, it actually took me a bit of time to tell them not to use these jokes, so I remember one woman telling me how she wished I could have said something sooner. 

3. Write about an experience where you witnessed an incident of classism (remark, behavior, and attitude) and your reaction to it.

I went over to a friends house, this was when I was living in Vermont, and I could tell by the unkempt rooms and how cramped the living space was, this guy didn’t have the financial wealth my family had. He had a Game Cube Nintendo, which at the time I didn’t. Material qualities aside, I could tell from being around him and his parents, despite his families economical short comings, they still wanted to do what they could to provide loving parental support and a good education.

            When way I cope is by heading up to my father’s church. There’s so much space up there it’s criminal. This isn’t a church, it’s more like a castle and I can just go onto my dad’s computer, check to see if rooms for classes, or gatherings are empty and go to them to juggle, rehearse lines, or just read. If I were not my father’s son I wouldn’t even be able to pass the front entrances.