About half a year ago, I decided to get a new pair of glasses. My vision was getting a little worse, and my old glasses made me look as though my GPA were .5 points higher than it actually was (better put— I looked nerdy). So I got some thick rimmed Ray Bans, and, although I can rock them pretty darn well, I commonly hear jokes about my being a hipster. At first, I was immediately repulsed, thinking of all the negative stigmas of these tight jean wearing, weird hairdo having, sarcastically minded urban dwellers; but after much thought and soul searching I can now accept being called half hipster.
The first time I was called a hipster was actually before the purchase of my hipster glasses. My one friend I’ve had since grade school (shout out to Shannon Connelly: current Beaumonster, former St. Ann Sabre) called me a hipster because of my personality and musical preferences; those being my appreciation of local businesses, my pride in being different, my dislike of following the crowd, and my enjoyment of lesser known, indie music. I took great offense to her playful accusations, but the more I thought about it the more I could identify with the hipster ideology.
But I still didn’t like being called a hipster because there is more to it than ideology; attitude, dress game, and personal traits are also big factors in what it means to be a hipster. Although I had a good idea of what a hipster was— going to school in Ohio City and living right near the one and only Coventry— I had to turn to the internet to better my understanding of a hipster. Referring to the humorous yet resourceful site urbandictionary.com, I learned more about what it means to be a hipster. Using this I came to the conclusion that I am hybrid hipster.
As I said before, I have a lot in common with the hipster ideology, I have hipster glasses, and I like indie rock, but that’s about it. I don’t dress at all like hipsters; no skinny jeans, piercings, odd retro attire, or obscure haircuts. I am a practicing Catholic and not an atheist like the typical hipster. And I do not have the snarky, judgmental, and stuck-up attitude that usually comes along with the label ‘hipster.’ But realistically, who does fit the perfect description of a hipster; I have yet to meet one myself. Nonetheless, the name hipster brings all of those traits with it, and I’m far from such characteristics.
