Once upon a time there was a boy named Brendan. He went to high school. He liked to sleep in. He liked to eat pizza. Most importantly, he was nice to his mother. Even though he had a steadfast circle of friends, he longed to be friends with Calvin Klein, Kenneth Cole and Ralph Lauren. […]
About Cari Gulbrandsen
The distance between us … and them!
The other day, I saw a billboard that reached out and slapped me across the face in a very figurative way. An enormous billboard for a domestic violence campaign asserted, “Sally is not one of THEM, she is one of US”. I also heard the radio commercial version of this campaign, encouraging listeners to empathize […]
Is paying for housecleaning classist?
Transactions between those who obtain cleaning services and those who perform them are laden with class issues. I have often been unpleasantly surprised by comments coming from people who I thought were progressive feminists or humanists: “My place is such a mess, I’m so glad the ‘cleaning lady’ is coming,” they declare, apparently without consideration […]
Tales from the Pink Ghetto
My own experiences related to classism are set in the administrative world of work. Frankie Valli once crooned, “If you go for your diploma, you can join the steno pool.” As I suspect many would agree, the administrative dimension of the work world is indeed a “pool,” where undercurrents of classism swirl quietly even when […]
