New Money

Steph and I attended a rival university's reunion today. It was lacking one main ingredient... fun! At least that was our perception.

I had an interesting discussion/debate with Stephanie about old vs. new money. I prefer new money; Steph prefers old. Both of our perspectives are based on our socializations. Steph was raised in New Canaan and found old money folks to be very welcoming, philanthropic, and with a calmer demeanor. My perception of old money, in contrast, is based on attending law school in CT with "Skips" and "Trips", and interactions with two folks in particular:
1) a man from college who is bleeding money who borrowed money from me and before paying me back made a contribution to my college; he also criticizes anybody who works in corporate America (even poor immigrants trying to support their families), even though he is a teacher who drives a hybrid and lives large in SF. He is the type to criticize poor people for eating fast food instead of organic fruit.
2) a woman from law school who described the deeply-ingrained habit of incest and molestation in her family.
Meanwhile, my perception of new money is colored by the scrappy, materialistic, upward mobility of my family; being Jewish and Puerto Rican -- I've seen their struggles and seen them rise up the ranks (also members of both of my backgrounds have no choice but to be new money based on their historical relationships to the US). Moreover, I am loud, and love Extreme Makeover (a recent episode, involving a cleft palate, made me cry tears of extreme joy). Stephanie thinks these people are gauche and loud and drive Hummers. And, she's right... We're both right...
Steph and I did disagree over who was more likely to be Republican. I posit it is old money, due to dynasties and generations of wealth preservation/a great interest in estate tax issues.

Anyway, on the cab ride home, the frikkin cab guy charged me for two zones plus a $1 gas surcharge and even after I called him on it, he insisted I pay $9.80. it really pissed me off. I didn't give him a tip. I even slammed the door on him. How new money of me. However, the freemasons really want me. What a paradox I am.