A (long) comment on hipsters

Hello, there! Remember me? It's Erika!

Oh, blog friends, we have been busy. It is summer time which means more time spent enjoying the glories of flora and fauna, along with the occasional street fest and constant evening and weekend hours with friends and family. We also have some professional endeavors in the wings that will have to wait to blog about just a wee bit longer.

I could bore you with descriptions of all the fantastic adventures we've had over the almost 2 months, but I'd rather just highlight a few and then get into my thesis/diatribe.

Highlights:
Prom Fundraiser for Holy Covenant Church celebrating their 20 years of being a reconciling congregation (meaning they accept GLBT folks and us, too!) Dressed up in crazy 80's prom attire and danced the night away at Hamburger Mary's.

Steve's birthday on 7/8/78. I took him to Hopleaf - we drank uncommon and tasty beer, while discussing religion.

Went to Big Star with Kyle and Amanda - finally tasted the $3 pork belly tacos by Paul Kahan. Heaven!

We both vigorously read through all 3 Steig Larsson books - you know, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. Officially want to go to Sweden, but still don't want to eat their food.

Listened to a ton of NPR. What else do you do without TV?

Another highlight, and lowlight, frankly, was heading out to see the band, She & Him, at Millennium Park for a free Monday night concert.


Do that many people love She & Him like I do? I guess so, since the place was packed to the gills. Even though we had our picnic on cement and couldn't even see Zooey D. or M. Ward- let alone hear them, I walked away with much to discuss and ponder... mainly - the ever present and abundant... hipster. The concert was mainly hipsters, and this isn't the first time that Steve and I have arrived at an event or restaurant surrounded by hipsters. So, I began to ask myself, "Am I a hipster?" Herein lies the thesis/diatribe I discussed above. (I know I'm supposed to be talking about our life without tv, but I think we're beyond that at this point. I think we can be permitted to discuss the thoughts and discussions that arise from the consequences of living television-free - such as attending concerts, like She & Him. K?)

Steve and I have been discussing the definition of the hipster for a while now. However, it really came to a head after visiting New York in January. We were in Williamsburg, a part of Brooklyn, and were forced to coexist in the land of hipsters for a day. Everyone, I mean everyone, was dressed exactly alike. The uniform: Plaid scarf, side swept hairdo (a bit scruffy looking, but coifed to the nth degree), Ray Ban Wayfarers and skinny jeans. Steve and I had to laugh at the number of men wearing what were obviously women's jeans. I kept imagining them in the dressing room wearing these women's skinny jeans and thinking to themselves, "Wow. I look cool (in women's jeans)." The conformity in this subculture was quite ridiculous especially when the whole hipster vibe embraces a departure from the norm. So, I decided to do a bit of research to not only figure out what it means to be a hipster, but why Steve and I kept running into them at events that interested us. Was our term too broad? Were we indeed hipsters???



Research is quite a laughable term in this case, since it really only consists of a Wikipedia search. But, I digress...

The term "hipster" was revived in the 90's and 2000's to describe "young, recently-settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with interests in non-mainstream culture and fashion, particularly alternative music, indie rock and independent film." Hipster culture is described as a "'mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior[s].'" Hipsterism "'fetishizes the authentic elements' of all of the 'fringe movements of the postwar era - beat, hippie, punk, even grunge,' and draws on the 'cultural stores of every unmelted ethnicity' and 'gay style,' and 'regurgitates it with a winking inauthenticity.'"

Okay - so based off of that... young? recently settled? I think we are beyond that at this point with our 32 years. However, one article did say that hipsters can be 18-34 year olds. Do we have interest in non-mainstream culture and fashion? Within terms of music? Yes. Film? Yes. Food? Yes. Fashion? No. Although I like to think that I can appreciate thrift store shopping and used to when in high school and college, I am now a mom. Clothes are best when clean and tolerated on a consistent basis when new. The "'winking inauthenticity'" is, I think, what Steve and I were picking up on in Williamsburg. Let's keep studying...

Hipsters embrace a "lifestyle revolving around thrift store shopping, eating organic, locally grown, vegetarian, or vegan food, drinking local beer (or even brewing their own)" and "listening to public radio." Uh-oh. We hit under a number of those categories. If in question check out my love for farmers' markets, my comment on NPR above and Steve's beer blog on tasting craft beer and brewing his own at beernaked.blogspot.com. Yikes.

Continuing Wikipedia research states that hipsters borrow from past trends. Time Magazine states, "'Take your grandmother's sweater and Bob Dylan's Wayfarers, add jean shorts, Converse All-Stars and a can of Pabst and bam - hipster." Okay. I don't wear my grandma's sweater, but I do wear her earrings and drive her car. As for Wayfarers, I have them and love them to death. Steve wears Converse All-stars, but we have grown into more evolved beers than PBR.

The Hipster Handbook states, "You graduated from a liberal arts school whose football team hasn't won a game since the Reagan administration and you have one Republican friend who you always describe as being your 'one Republican friend.'" Okay. This is getting scary. I really don't want to be a hipster, but Steve and I both graduated with our undergrads from a liberal arts school that doesn't even have a football team. We also have few, if any, Republican friends. It's almost to the point that we don't even admit we have Republican friends, unless it is to rehash something hilarious and dumb they said on facebook.

Finally, one quotation said that hipsters possess a "not-quite passive aggression called snark." I love this quote - really just because it uses the term "snark."

Okay, so beyond the Wikipedia research, I have my own conclusions. Yes, we fall within some of the categoical descriptions of hipsters. However, my own quantitative data reveals conclusive evidence that make us fall beyond the hipster definition.
First, we have a child. Hipsters don't have kids.
Second, my clothes are colorful and from stores like Gap and J.Crew. Steve would never, ever wear skinny jeans. (Yet, I do own a pair... maybe 2... shhhh....)
Third, we are not apathetic, passive aggressive or snarky. Sarcastic? Sure. Would love to find jobs in Europe and move away from the tea partiers and right-wing fundamentalists who call themselves patriots? Yes. But, we are hopeful, do-gooders, and do everything we can to help those less fortunate with compassion and candor. I don't think this is a hipster quality in the least.
Fourth and finally, we are too old for this. It won't be long before we have a house in the suburbs. We also believe in other boring and yuppie-like things such as upward mobility and saving for retirement.

But, we won't give up our need to continually educate ourselves on what is hip and cool. We won't stop listening to good music no matter how old we find ourselves. We won't stop shopping for the freshest, sustainable foods. And, we won't stop eating at the restaurants with all the other "foodies" and, probably, hipsters, too.

Therefore, I deem Steve and I "yupsters" - a combo of yuppies and hipsters. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and the term is officially mine.

So, here we go. Yupsters unite.