[Apryl-P]

It seems to be the “in” thing these days for someone to say they grew up poor. What is considered poor these days? What about middle class? What makes a person middle class vs. poor?
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User Detail :  

Name : Apryl-P, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, City : Oak Park, State : MI, Country : United States, 

[Anna23836]

I grew up in a poor family. As a teenager I was always embarrassed at how little money we had. All of my closest friends came from middle-class families. It didn’t bother them that I didn’t have the same kind of opportunities to do what I liked or to buy things that I liked. But it bothered me. I think that at the very beginning they didn’t realize how bad our financial situation was because I put so much effort into hiding it.

Now that I’m older and supporting myself financially, I look back at those times and feel sad. I feel sad for my parents, because I was ashamed of them. And being older and wiser (I hope), I understand there is nothing to be ashamed about. And that’s why I tell people about my poor childhood: to prove that I’m not trying to be something I’m not.

User Detail :  

Name : Anna23836, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 21, City : Helsinki, State : NA, Country : Finland, Education level : High School Diploma, 

[Dan]

I’m a white kid who grew up in the middle of the worst ghetto in Milwaukee. After sixth grade, I was forced to go to the suburbs with a bunch of rich, spoiled, white kids (not all, mind you, but more than at my old school). I find it occasionally useful to say where I’m coming from when trying to convince other white people that I have some clout when talking about matters of race, poverty, classism, capitalism, etc.

User Detail :  

Name : Dan, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 17, City : Milwaukee, State : WI, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, 

[Cat32422]

I grew up poor. My mother was single (two children) and worked when I was younger and then became disabled when I was a teen. I feel that I was poor because: we lived in trailers or houses that were in bad need of repair. The kitchen cabinets would fall off the walls, etc. And we could not afford repairs. The little furniture we had was donated. The couch had holes, the mattresses had holes, everything had holes. We always lived in dangerous neigborhoods where I did not feel safe to go outside. We always ended up living next to a major road. The house always smelled like car fumes. We could not afford clothing and so the only time I got clothes was when people from my mother’s workplace would donate used clothes to us. I would usually have one pair of pants and a few shirts at a time. We never had enough food. Each day I would have no breakfast, free school lunch, and then a very small dinner. We could not afford for me to participate in extracurricular activities and we couldn’t get school supplies. I tell people I grew up poor. I tell them because I think a lot of people have this view that there are no poor people in America. I don’t think it is cool that I grew up that way. But I do think it made me a stronger person.

User Detail :  

Name : Cat32422, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 20, City : Tampa, State : FL, Country : United States, 

[Danielle]

It is very telling that all the topics having to do with wealth or a lack thereof deals entirely with money. I guess it really is true that money makes the world go round. Call me naive, but I have always thought differently. I grew up in rural Ohio (and I know that monetarily poor in the city is far different from monetarily poor in the country), my family was monetarily poorer that field mice. However, there was never a time that we did not have enough. We planted a garden, canned foods, ate leftovers, helped our neighbors and vice versa. When the local men went hunting, all shared in the meat brought home. When a neighbor killed a cow for meat, all were let in for a share at a very low price. I don’t think I ever ate vegetables from a store until I was away from home for the first time. We lived close to family and we always had enough. While I know we did not have alot of ‘things’ or money, I feel I grew up far richer than any of the ‘rich kids’ in my school. I grew up knowing without a doubt that I was loved, with a strong sense of community and responsibility, and knowing how to take care of myself. I earned a college degree and joined the military. I have lived all over the world and still, there is no place like that small back woods town that I grew up in. Money matters aside, I think rich or poor depends on how you were raised. I have known many inner-city kids who like me do not really feel the pinch of not having money because of the values their parents, granparents or other responsible adult instilled in them. I have known rich kids whose lives are a mess of therapy because they felt their parents, or other adults, valued money more than them. Perhaps, we need to go back to values more than we are ready to admit. Nobility (class) lives within, it is not defined by monetary worth or where you grew up.

User Detail :  

Name : Danielle, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 30, City : Kapolei, State : HI, Country : United States, Occupation : US Military, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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