the hipster in me - a post laced with generalizations

Oh no...did you read that heading right?! G has long known my aversion to social media and mobile technology (is it contradictory I have a blogger account?). After reading this article in the Times, I felt a strange sort of comfort knowing that there were youngish people (tricenarians and younger) who still appreciate low-tech things like typewriters. I bet this crowd is similar to the crowd that still appreciates rotary phones, takes an interest in farming, buys vintage, prefers low-tech toys over electronic ones, or like the article says, knits or keeps bees.

What do these people all have in common?! I will go out on a limb and propose that they're all hipsters, if not in the full sense of the word, then to some extent. And the fact that I too appreciate all those things makes me like them (to some extent). YUCK! I also like going to wineries for cheese and wine, appreciate the stylings and modern-mixed-with-classic design of West Elm and Room and Board furniture, and yeah, I do shop at Whole Foods - does that make me a yuppie too? Double YUCK! Although I'd like to think that choosing a career in public health makes me immune to such labels, I still fit many of the attributes of a yuppie, as described in the yuppie wiki page, such as "enjoying the cultural attractions of sophisticated urban life and thought," but I am NOT out of touch with the hardships and concerns of those less fortunate than me. I also have been shopping at Trader Joes and farmers markets before yo mama was born. I also knit in college before hipsters started selling their knit goods on etsy.

My point? I was a hipster and a yuppie by the age of 12 in 1993 - a time when I spent many hours listening to slow jams, SWV and David Benoit and all his smooth jazz friends while thinking about sports and boys and how awkward I was.

Perhaps my excellent foresight has something to do with my early coolness. I have a pretty good track record of calling things (e.g. after all his man-whoring, I called Tiger Woods as being 'done'. I also called this: people's driving habits and style are directly reflected in the way they drive shopping carts.) I was way ahead of my time. Strange kid - but way ahead of my time. Maybe hot pink flower-patterned jumpsuits will finally catch on.