Yesterday, in seminar, the white girl in my AAS class told a funny story

Well, it was immediately funny to about half of the class (3 or 4 people) and our professor. The rest of the class chuckled along a half-second later, but I remained puzzled. I tossed the little anecdote around in my head once everyone was done laughing, but just couldn't quite figure out what was so funny about it. Not being afraid of a little classroom embarrassment, I decided to ask to be enlightened. 

Her statement was this:

"When I moved back to the US from Asia, I remember being so embarrassed when I was going somewhere with my friend and I was like, "Your Dad drives your car?!"

What was so outside my range of understanding that I could not comprehend was that she was used to having a driver.

I, on the other hand, distinctly remember phases of my childhood in which we didn't even have a car. Imani Perry was telling us about a trip she took some students on to Chicago, and how almost none of them had ever been on public transportation before, and some of the kids in our seminar nodded along like they sympathized, while my own face was screwed up with incredulity.  (What a great demonstration of the contextual nature of comedy--humor depends entirely on social capital.)

I know I shouldn't be surprised, but sometimes I forget what kind of people I'm dealing with in this place.

Professor Perry also made an interesting statement while those of us from money-less backgrounds were prefacing various statements with that fact--she said that by virtue of being here, we are among the ranks of the Black upper-class. 

I had a conversation in a Sociology seminar last semester about social class at Princeton. A lot of the people in that class were from more privileged backgrounds than myself, and the dominant viewpoint of the class was that Princeton serves as this great equalizer, where you can't tell what class anyone is in because we all roll through in Princeton gear and it's just not that big a deal. I voiced a dissenting opinion, and highlighted the ways in which Princeton serves to propel those from lower-class backgrounds into higher social status.

My sociological education here is unparalleled, but sometimes I wonder whether the social education I'm getting here isn't just as important: I've learned so much about different kinds of cheese and tea, the proper way to pop a cork, how to pronounce "crudite", what Brooks Brothers is, how to be an effective bullshitter and a functional alcoholic. I have taught people how to read a bus schedule, how to get various stains out of fabrics, where to look for streaming television shows or online coupon codes. Maybe equalizer is the right word. Maybe both sides are gaining the social capital we need to interact with the other half. 

I don't know how to drive. We're getting to the point where I may never have the opportunity to learn. ...Will I be the person with the driver someday?