The 99% and a personal biography of class

Some very interesting stories about the effects of rolling 99% of people together:
Megan's story on her blog Craft is the New Black. I loved reading her story and I totally endorse her call for all stories to be heard.

Megan cited her inspiration as this piece by Tiger Beatdown called The Percentages: A Biography of Class. It is brilliant. I loved every short and every long sentence in it. I may have to buy a new printer so I can print this out and stick on my wall. When she writes about middle class students seeing the working class as an idea, I was nodding furiously, right back at university remembering the way unions were exalted as the pure and wonderful way forward for working class men (tactics for making working class women invisible were widely practised and could be a post by itself). It didn't entirely square with my memories of watching the TV news in scared silence to find out if Dad would go back to work the next day or not. That's silence while Dad listens to hear what the union bosses have decided, let alone the freezing works management. I would like to write my own biography of class in my life some time soon, and I encourage everyone, anyone, to read the two articles and write their own, whether for private or public consumption. Where is the moment when you realised that you were invisible to the popular discourse? I think everyone has at least one. My experiences with the system when I was a very very new mother in East London/Essex also come to mind.

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