Today I asked a realtor about the public library in a community I am interested in moving to and she said nobody has ever asked her that before. I guess that makes me not very typical!
Although with many libraries digitizing their collections, I wonder how many physical libraries there will be in the future, other than repositories for rare books/manuscripts. The main lobby of Yale’s Sterling Library used to be full of card catalog files. They are now all gone. How many people under the age of 30 know what they even are (like rotary phones).
Public libraries are still serving as a community hub. Their emphasis may have moved away from physical books, but they still have programs (for adults and kids), provide free WiFi, provide a space to work (vital now with so much work from home), have public access computers, etc. In times of crisis libraries typically are a key support location for a community (warming/cooling center, place to charge your devices, information center, assistance with job searching, etc.) The pandemic is a stark exception to this rule, a crisis time where libraries are not allowed to be physically open to provide these vital community services (one reason why many work from home people are stuck working from home with the library not an option).
I think College Libraries (like Yale) have a different purpose than public libraries. Their key role is mostly as a place to work alone or in groups (often with access to state of the art technology).
I am anxious for the libraries to reopen. I mentor some kids and one of the places we would have used during these HOT HOT days of summer were the libraries. We could have gone to a library to read, color, play games inside.
Our libraries host all kinds of classes and community meetings, everything from how to can vegetables to how to use your cell phone.
It used to crack up my German friends that when I couldn’t think of a German work I’d often blurt out a French word. No one ever guessed I was American, though my grammar and accent weren’t flawless enough to pass as a native German either.
I’m not a typical American in many of the ways mentioned in this thread though we did succumb to cable a few years ago.
And apple pie is my favorite, but only homemade ones.
You are not a typical American if you end every sentence with “eh ?” .
I’ve worked for the same company for 31 years, and I’m only 50. I don’t know how after that happens in America anymore.
Also, sadly, the fact that I started saving in a 401k over 25 years ago makes me atypical.
I don’t like coffee, ice cream, alcohol, potatoes, or the movies.
In the US, workers age 45-54 in 2018 had median tenure in their jobs of 7.6 years.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.t01.htm
I stopped at coffee on that list @sryrstress . Everything else I like!
Ways that I may be different from the pack: I’m the daughter of two immigrants. I never had fast food, white bread, or soda (where I lived soda was “pop”) growing up I still don’t consume any of those. We didn’t speak English at home, and we didn’t own a television or a car until we moved to a suburb and needed a car.
When my daughter and I walked the Camino (in Spain)people thought we were Italian.
I love reading about our differences!
My grandfather on my father’s side came through Ellis Island in 1913. His father was murdered and he quit school and went to work eventually owning a successful business. All three of his sons went to Harvard.
My mother’s family came from England in 1639, one of my relatives signed the Declaration of Independence.
Only in America!
My varied heritage is similar with ancestors who came over on the Mayflower, another who signed the Declaration, and others who came in the early 1900s. Starting with my grandparent’s generation they made sure my mom and dad went to college even though only one of the four had finished high school. The others had to work, so dropped out in 4th or 8th grades. With my dad’s side it was both kids who got to go to college. With my mom’s the money ran out after the first two (my mom was the second).
Thinking about it makes me think it could be fairly typical American even if not the majority as per stats of college grads.
We made sure our kids went to college too. My grandparents instilled the value of education in us when we were young. We’ve passed it on. (Education is more than school, of course.)
I vote. Every election.
Unfortunately, @yauponredux may be our winner.
I don’t think “typical” is about whether you like apple pie or sports.
Maybe it’s more about whether we’re “me” consumed, as opposed to the broader “we.”
@Bromfield2 - Me too. First on either side of the family born in the US. Didn’t speak English at home, no fast food, no soda, no processed anything. I didn’t know what a TV dinner/frozen meal was until college. I still have sometimes use the French or Italian word for something instead of English, (especially food item). The only sport my parents watched was soccer although I love almost all sports myself. We eat every single meal as a family around the table. Even now that we are empty nesters, meal times are special.
I’m not typical because I have to go back five generations before we find an immigrant. One of my ancestors wintered at Valley Forge with Washington. Others came over with William Penn.
My MIL loves to mention that one of her relatives came over on the Mayflower. My Cuban BIL loves to counter with, “My relatives came over on the B.F. Goodrich.” My father is Czech, spent his childhood in Canada, and immigrated to the U.S. during high school. My mother’s parents were born in Canada, but she was born in the U.S. I was the first on either side to go to college. My brother was second.
My father’s position on immigration astounds me. Evidently, he doesn’t realize he is an immigrant.
I haven’t owned a car in over 25 years and I’m the only one in my household with a Driver’s License. My D17’s Common App essay was about walking everywhere and not experiencing life through the windows in the back seat of a car.