Anatomy of a Hipster 101

" I forget what they call them, but she wears vintage band shirts like the Scorpions." A friend of mine ponders as he gets his hair cut by Lucky, a barber in Mariemont.
"You mean a 'hipster'?" questions Lucky
"That's it!", exclaims my friend and he laughs.



I guess in society we must be labled as something, even if we do not like it. So if i have a group in this label kingdom, I would be apart of the 'hipsterous radicous' family. ( I made that up) I guess I became more in tune with my so called 'hipster' when I lived in Chicago.
For those who wonder what a hipster is, pretty much related to the 'emo' family without the dark broken heart, love starved gene. 'Hipsters' can be found in any place that sells coffee and in thrift stores trying to find a one of a kind blazer and sweater vest. A 'hipster' wears there scares in a form of a noose and it goes well with that thrift store blazer they found. A 'hipster' is often smart and dabble in the arts and a is hard core liberal in every way.

Of course there are some different traits that I have apart for the 'perfect' 'hipster' such as the love for jazz and books with big words (I just wear fake glasses as a subsitute for the lack of wit). But I do maintain the other qualities that define or I should say label me as a 'hipster'. One is that i listen to funky music and underground bands that do not play on the radio such as Death from Above 1979, Bloc Party, and of crouse the poster boys of 'hipster' Ben Gibbard and his band Death Cab for Cutie. I do have a big love for coffee shops and coffee along with wandering about thirft shops to find some rad sweaters from the 80s.

I thought it would be fun to talk about this because I read a book last year called "Everybody Hurts: The Essential Guide to the Emo Culture". It was a funny, intesting look into who one can identify a emo and how to be one yourself from the movies, to your MySpace page. It was a fun book to read because it gives an example on how our society uses labels and how no matter what we do, and no matter how many 'Don't Label Me' shirts Hot Topic sells, we will always have labels. I hope that this is not confusing for a blog report, but I think labels are funny and interesting on how they develop. Labels are made by people who are outside that world, for example, punks did not decide to call themsevles punks, but someone described them in that word, and it just stuck.

It shows that there are groups of people who love similar things, and it is nice to know others who love Donnie Darko as much as you do. So labels are our way to idenify peole in the world, they are not the best way to label, but it is a part of our social development as humans that we must accept that it will always be there. I am called a 'hipster' but it does not bother me because I am similar to those people who like the same things I do, but I am aware of who I am and what I like and isn't that all that matters? So call me a 'hipster' I will wear my noose-tied scarf proudly and insult you for you taste in music. (sometimes)