|
How does your current class position effect what kind of vacations you take?
Vacation? What's that ? As a working class, single parent, I am just making ends meet. I'm lucky if I get to spend time and money on mini-outings, like going to a park, movie, etc... with the price of gas these days, even driving to a park becomes a financial burden. My son is now old enough to work, hopefully that will change things for us.
It mostly affects whether we take a vacation at all. We haven't taken any time off (couldn't or we'd lose the place) in five years. Before that we took lots of little overnighters, always camping. But in the last five years most of our free camping spots have become pay-to-play camping spots. As public lands now carry a double tax (a.k.a. - ""Adventure Pass"" or RATT fee) working class folks like us find ourselves more often than not, at home or just going back to work. My seven year old recently asked us, ""Mom, Dad, what's a vacation?"" He was serious.
As a divorced mom putting two daughters through college, I have very little money to spend on vacations. Fortunately, I am one of the few people who does not like to travel very far. I have been able to spend a week here and there with friends or relatives. I live in the NH countryside, so it's not hard to enjoy nature anytime! I also look for ways to spend vacation time that will put a minimum amount of CO2 into the environment.
Well, as I only make between $12,000-$16,000, my vacations have been curtailed quite a bit since my big salary dropped. I used to travel to Europe fairly often, and now I'm lucky if I get out of town overnight. I've also gotten used to staying in a hotel, so sleeping on a floor isn't a reality anymore since I've become disabled. I can take time off any time I want because I'm self employed, but it's not paid-vacation.
I have always been proud of the way our family vacations have been simple and as inexpensive as possible. We had no extra money in the early days, so it was no sacrifice. We camped a lot, but we also had the privilege of staying in a small lake place owned by my in-laws. We have sometimes had exotic vacations in places like Thailand, where we always stayed in the cheapest accommodations and traveled via "local" transportation in an effort to "get to know the people." I think I'm still fooling myself, after all these years.
My family never took vacations and we (including our neighbors) thought anyone who could afford to rent a cabin for two weeks was rich and I found out when I came to Boston that our town was a working class summer resort town. My family in NH will camp sometimes or go to Atlantic City. My mother did go back to visit Canada when us kids were up and gone. (she's from there ) When my nieces were younger I used my vacations to have them down. I save some vacation days for emergencies or activities with volunteer and activist groups I belong too. About the only time I've gone away is with a volunteer group I belong to. After living in a summer resort town,I feel a little queasy about being a tourist knowing behind all the glamour there is poverty and the tourist trade only benefits a few and not always the worker. These jobs are often just seasonal and I feel queasy about having one class wait on another for usually low pay. It's like one groups desrves to be waited on by people whom they don't think are good enough to live near them or go to their schools. Also now often don't think their worthy of public help when rents go through the roof or they get sick or help them with education.
I used to camp with my family and always envied the kids who stayed in hotels. Now that I can afford it, I stay in hotels and my son is envious of the kids who camp (I know richer people camp too, and that there are many ways to camp, but my families camping had to do with the lack of money). I am trying to find a balance for the sake of my son.
Read earlier survey responses:
June 2007: How does your class background affect how you use the commons (public spaces, commodities and rights)?
May 2007:How do you see class differences in the way that holidays are celebrated?
April 2007: How does your class affect what you eat?
March 2007:Has class status affected your family's mental health and or access to services? How?
February 2007: How do you feel your class situation has impacted your experience in or with sports?
December 2006: What responsibility do different economic classes bear for reducing their contributions to global warming pollution? Should wealthy people assume more of the cost of fixing the problem?
November 2006: For those who have served (or who are currently serving) in the military: Have you encountered classist attitudes about your choice to serve? For everyone: Do you see a class divide in terms of who serves in the military? What does this mean for the military and the country?
October 2006: How is television perpetuating stereotypes or classist portrayals? What are some examples of characters, storylines, or news stories that you have found particularly troubling?
September 2006: Higher Education can be a class marker, the access channel to "upward" mobility,or class liberator. What are the connections with class and higher education for you?
August 2006: How does class affect how you spend your non-working hours and impact your vacation options?
June 2006: What are the ways that you see class or classism play out in your spiritual community or congregation of faith?
May 2006: When did you first become aware of your class or class differences? How old were you?
February 2006: How do class differences impact your relationships?
January 2006: What privileges should we all have?
Are there any privileges none of us should have?
December 2005 Survey Question:
How do class issues come up for you during the end-of-year "consumer" holidays?
November 2005 Survey Question: Please tell us about your experiences of class, class differences, and classism in your education/school.
October 2005: Tell us about a time you've either been an ally to someone or had someone be an ally to you around issues of class.
September 2005: What are the ways you see the race and class divisions exposed by Katrina?
August 2005: What class did you grow up in? What was good or bad about your class experience growing up?
July 2005: What are your strongest memories connecting race and class?
June 2005: The New York Times and Wall Street Journal each ran their own series on class. What is your response to the recent press on class?
May 2005: The good, the bad, and the ugly of cross-class relating
|
