“It was a slender man, not more than one and twenty years old… A brown beard, not too silken in its texture, fringed his chin…As for his dress, it was of the simplest kind; a summer sack of cheap and ordinary material, thin checkered pantaloons, and a straw hat, by no means of the finest braid” (29).
There are some who would call me a hipster. I always deny it, of course. Part of being a hipster is denying that you are one. But I suppose I must allow that they have a point. According to Urban Dictionary (a latter day Webster’s of crowd-sourced wisdom providing definitions for every cutting-edge slang term and Internet meme one could ever wonder about), hipsters are: “a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter.”
Well, I just happen to be a 21-year-old artist with radical politics who has been known to associate with “Men with long beards, and dressed in linen blouses, and other such new-fangled and ill-fitting garments; reformers, temperance lecturers, and all manner of cross-looking philanthropists; community men and come-outers,” as it were (House 58).
Oh, and UD continues: “Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers, and are often be seen wearing vintage and thrift store inspired fashions, tight-fitting jeans, old-school sneakers, and sometimes thick rimmed glasses” — Right? Did you see the description of my clothing at the top of this post?
Finally, “Although hipsters are technically conformists within their own subculture, in comparison to the much larger mainstream mass, they are pioneers and leaders of the latest cultural trends and ideals.” As for the truth of that, I guess that will remain to be seen in the continuation of this blog.
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