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How does your class background affect how you use the commons (public spaces, commodities and rights)?
As a privileged person, I receive enormous invisible benefits from access to the commons --in ways I've only just begun to understand. The infrastructure of services, the natural commons, the systems that preserve and protect private wealth, the "gifts from the past" of knowledge, etc. These are gifts that should flow to everyone, but in our economic system flow disproportionately to me.
As a child the parks that I visited were close by my home in Cleveland. As an adult I first worked and then many of our National Parks. My husband's family of origen always did this, but my dad preferred to stay at home. We were working class and did not have much money. My parents believed in reading so I visited the library frequently. Today my house is full of books, but I still visit the public libraries. I now also use local cllege libraries. I shy away from using bottled water although my husband and kids use it. However, we are united in our rejection of water privitizaton and consider it stealing. I advise people against bottled water because the plastic dissolves in the water and corporate irresponsibility and greed.
I do not know what you mean by commons? So, I guess that reflects my class background.
When we were kids, our working class environs made parks and libraries our destinations rather than bookstores or malls. Today, I am still working class (writer) while my brother is a studio executive. He still blinks at the Adventure Pass (a double tax on national forest use) but he ponies up the funds easily for it every year. I've been more prone to protest the Pass because there are years when I cannot afford it. In terms of other commons spaces, I notice that the middle classes nearby don't use our "brown" park, eschewing it for other parks that are "white" parks. Our park is subject to police raids that break up soccer games while the "white" parks don't experience police scrutiny let alone having to tolerate disrupted soccer games. It's outrageous how polarization has gone along racial lines and how that ultimately impacts the way people from the same town experience common spaces completely different.
Quite a bit of my childhood was spent in a rural area without many public goods except the public library and the lake.I would walk to these areas. No television read more. The churches supplied the main social life. One church for the lower class and one for the upper class. When my parent got back together for a couple of years and we lived on a base, when used the base's facilites (thought not the officers club) Living in the city now having worked my way up I now use a community center with a beach and public transit. With the gentrification of this city,I wonder how much longer middle and lower income will be able to afford things. Coming from my background, I do not feel comfortable using places that exclude the poor, thus I spend sometime fighting for environmental and social justice. The way things are going here us middle class may soon be excluded
I grew up working class in the 1960's, and my parents were immigrants. I have only in the last few years come to realize that my relationship to the "commons" has changed. As a child and young adult, I always felt like parks, libraries, schools, roads, and other public spaces and public benefits were things that belonged to the Other, the folks in power/folks more economically privileged than I was. It was only until I moved "up" the economic ladder that I began to feel that these things belonged to me as well, by virtue of being a member of the community. It's the difference from initially relating to these things as something I got lucky enough to be able to enjoy (and if I did something "wrong" I could get in trouble), to relating to these things as part owner (so, if for example, I saw that something was "broken," I would attempt to be part of the solution, since I was, as part owner, responsible.) Don't know if that makes any sense, but the difference is VAST to me.
Read earlier survey responses:
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
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