If you're not fancy any more (downward mobile).

[Anonymous]

I'm curious - for folks who used to be UMC but are now poor and feel like reminiscing.

1) What's your background, and why aren't you fancy anymore?
2) What ways of fancy life do you hold onto as a poor person?
3) Anything else to add?

Mine:

1) I'm 4th generation of a medical family (pediatric heart surgeon, gynecologist, others) from Ukraine. When I was 10, uncle got sick with terminal cancer. He lived in the US. To be near uncle in his last months, our family abruptly sold our home for $20k in 1998, gave away the land, packed what we could carry in a few suitcases and moved to a dirty part of Brooklyn. Goodbye UMC life, hello poverty for years. I'm not fancy any more. I earn $60k/yr, and live modestly in Arlington.

2) My fancy poor person habits are: collecting a library for my children to inherit; spending far over budget on their education and mine; mostly food organic/heirloom/biodynamic on a budget.

3) My husband is also a poor fancy person. He's a manual laborer, dropped out of high school, no college. His family were a furniture factory owner, dentist, high-up feds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious - for folks who used to be UMC but are now poor and feel like reminiscing.

1) What's your background, and why aren't you fancy anymore?
2) What ways of fancy life do you hold onto as a poor person?
3) Anything else to add?

Mine:

1) I'm 4th generation of a medical family (pediatric heart surgeon, gynecologist, others) from Ukraine. When I was 10, uncle got sick with terminal cancer. He lived in the US. To be near uncle in his last months, our family abruptly sold our home for $20k in 1998, gave away the land, packed what we could carry in a few suitcases and moved to a dirty part of Brooklyn. Goodbye UMC life, hello poverty for years. I'm not fancy any more. I earn $60k/yr, and live modestly in Arlington.

2) My fancy poor person habits are: collecting a library for my children to inherit; spending far over budget on their education and mine; mostly food organic/heirloom/biodynamic on a budget.

3) My husband is also a poor fancy person. He's a manual laborer, dropped out of high school, no college. His family were a furniture factory owner, dentist, high-up feds.

You grew up in a Soviet country in the 90s and now live in America and think you had it better there and then?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think UMC and “fancy” have anything to do with each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious - for folks who used to be UMC but are now poor and feel like reminiscing.

1) What's your background, and why aren't you fancy anymore?
2) What ways of fancy life do you hold onto as a poor person?
3) Anything else to add?

Mine:

1) I'm 4th generation of a medical family (pediatric heart surgeon, gynecologist, others) from Ukraine. When I was 10, uncle got sick with terminal cancer. He lived in the US. To be near uncle in his last months, our family abruptly sold our home for $20k in 1998, gave away the land, packed what we could carry in a few suitcases and moved to a dirty part of Brooklyn. Goodbye UMC life, hello poverty for years. I'm not fancy any more. I earn $60k/yr, and live modestly in Arlington.

2) My fancy poor person habits are: collecting a library for my children to inherit; spending far over budget on their education and mine; mostly food organic/heirloom/biodynamic on a budget.

3) My husband is also a poor fancy person. He's a manual laborer, dropped out of high school, no college. His family were a furniture factory owner, dentist, high-up feds.

You grew up in a Soviet country in the 90s and now live in America and think you had it better there and then?

Do you think USSR didn't have social classes, like a communist utopia? Or that qualify of life was so poor that UMC there is equal to poor here?

Adding question:

4) what poor person thing do you hate and avoid like the plague? I hate thin cheap fabrics that stretch and droop. I avoid these at all costs, especially for my children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think UMC and “fancy” have anything to do with each other.

My kids ask for a reading of Fancy Nancy at least 5 times a day. So now the word is stuck in my head and wanted to use it playfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious - for folks who used to be UMC but are now poor and feel like reminiscing.

1) What's your background, and why aren't you fancy anymore?
2) What ways of fancy life do you hold onto as a poor person?
3) Anything else to add?

Mine:

1) I'm 4th generation of a medical family (pediatric heart surgeon, gynecologist, others) from Ukraine. When I was 10, uncle got sick with terminal cancer. He lived in the US. To be near uncle in his last months, our family abruptly sold our home for $20k in 1998, gave away the land, packed what we could carry in a few suitcases and moved to a dirty part of Brooklyn. Goodbye UMC life, hello poverty for years. I'm not fancy any more. I earn $60k/yr, and live modestly in Arlington.

2) My fancy poor person habits are: collecting a library for my children to inherit; spending far over budget on their education and mine; mostly food organic/heirloom/biodynamic on a budget.

3) My husband is also a poor fancy person. He's a manual laborer, dropped out of high school, no college. His family were a furniture factory owner, dentist, high-up feds.

You grew up in a Soviet country in the 90s and now live in America and think you had it better there and then?

Do you think USSR didn't have social classes, like a communist utopia? Or that qualify of life was so poor that UMC there is equal to poor here?

Adding question:

4) what poor person thing do you hate and avoid like the plague? I hate thin cheap fabrics that stretch and droop. I avoid these at all costs, especially for my children.

Maybe you should take a trip to Ukraine and complain to them about how hard it is for you to afford biodynamic produce here.