Class: the bleeding edge of social change

I've been having adventures in the meaning of class and how class privilege works in my own life. I was raised "landed class". My parents both grow up in families where they owned their own homes. Then, when they got married they bought a home. By the time I graduated from high school our family owned three pieces of property. I was raised "educated class". Both parents had bachelors degrees. My dad had a doctorate. I earned a bachelors (and when I decided to pursue a second career, earned a masters.) So I carry class power and privilege (along with my skin color privilege) with me wherever I go. However... Now I am an upperclass attitude inside a working poor body. I rely on food stamps and unemployment, my spouse, and piece-work to make the food and shelter and health care commitments I have. The first time my beloved went with me to a grocery store she was horrified. Watching me select organic vegetables. High end processed foods. Watching me walk past sale items and select products based on how much I enjoyed them, without once looking at the price tag. She recalls feeling physically ill. -I've had to learn that money isn't something that just automatically appears if you work hard. -I've had to learn that without money, it is hard to make money. -I've had to learn that if you spend money on priorities like organics, you might not have money for priorities like fixing a filling in a painful tooth. Slowly I'm learning to think like someone who needs to pay attention to money. Slowly I'm realizing that I hold the belief that paying attention to money is "crass" and is not done by civilized people. Slowly I'm learning to erase that old message. I'm wondering if unlearning that message, which is carried by people who share my class background, is a fruitful place for us to start unlearning classism. Maybe my next blog post will be about how the privilege operates in my life. Even now when I actually don't have the money, just the attitude!