Pen-Elayne on the Web

Humble Beginnings

In a very amusing post at the Mahablog, Barbara O'Brien rates the Democratic presidential hopefuls' "log cabin" score via their website bios. I'd probably get about a 5 on mine. My dad emigrated from Rumania as a teen, taught himself English, and put himself through college driving a cab among other things; my mom took care of her mother (after Baba suffered her first stroke) while she was still in school studying to be a nurse, and dedicated her working life to helping people in hospitals, elementary schools (she worked as a school nurse until she retired), day camps, etc. But you know, my brothers and I grew up in the Jersey suburbs and never really wanted for material possessions, and my dad retired after being a corporate CFO, and my brother in CA runs a successful accounting firm and has a nice house in Northridge, and my other brother in NJ (happy birthday, Jay!) lives in a beautiful house in Millington and drives a Lexus SUV and has a terrific new job (also a CFO, I believe) paying more than I'd probably see in a decade. Yeah, my "log cabin" index would probably be fairly low. Hey, does it bump the score up if I was harassed as a kid 'cause I was Jewish and fat and overemotional (and, um, still am)? How about if I throw in that I've always had a one-word job description (secretary) and so have both my ex (librarian) and current husband (artist)? Everyone knows the fewer words you use to describe your job the more "working class" it is, right? Except, I guess, for President or Senator or something...