The Average American, Part 3

Bob Burns (l), The Average American, with author Kevin O'Keefe
photo by Jonathan Olson

Kevin O'Keefe searched high and low for The Average American. Starting with 281,421,906 candidates (the US population on April 1, 2000), it took O'Keefe a full five years to discover that the one person who met all 140 criterion was, indeed, the man that had been the school custodian during O'Keefe's senior year! His name was Bob Burns, and he lived in Windham, Connecticut, just minutes from the O'Keefe family home. You can learn more about Bob here and here.

So here's installment number 3 of the qualifications for being The Average American. See how you compare to the list yourself.  Once again, this is not my list and may not be what you would consider "average," but is the list that Kevin O'Keefe compiled based on the 2000 US Census and conversations with people whom he met as he traversed the nation.

*chief local politician is a Democrat
*local governing council is mostly Democratic
*reads local newspaper daily
*has read or has started to read at least one book within the past year
*uses landline phone
*uses mobile phone on a regular basis
*home is within range of cell service
*believe friends are "extremely" or "very" important
*home has a paved parking area to his garage or carport
*favorite way to spend the evening is in the home
*home is between ten and fifty years old
*home has between four and six living-purpose rooms
*grew up within 50 miles of current home
*has a kitchen
*hasa clothes washer
*hasa clothes dryer
*has an automatic dishwasher
*has at east one full bathroom
*brushes teeth daily
*visits the dentist annually
*showers daily
*has a Christmas tree every year
*has a credit card
*has an ATM card
*has household credit-card debt
*uses the Internet
*has played video or computer games over the past year
*is a football fan
*is a baseball fan
**political viewpoints are three, four, or five on a scale of one to seven
*owns jeans
*has done better financially than parents
*has at least one living parent
*has at least one living sibling
*represented by at least one Democratic US senator
*has a Republican US House representative
*takes annual vacation time
*has listed phone number
*eats at McDonald's annually
*lives within 3 miles of a McDonald's
*lives with twenty minutes of a Wal-Mart
*shops at Wal-Mart annually
*is between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 10-1/2 inches in height
*lives in the middle majority of the nation's populated areas

How did you do? Are you even in the ballpark to be considered "average"?

Well, now that you've met The Average American, you may enjoy seeing what National Geographic considered to be what the "average Joe or Jane" looks like. It's Today's Bonus, and a great way to spend 75 seconds!