Recently I had the epiphany that things typically associated with children and the elderly are becoming ever more prevalent among hipsters. I present the following photo evidence.
Knitting (Elderly)
Cooking (Elderly)
Cats (Elderly)
High-Waisted Pants (Elderly)
Face painting (Children)
Face painting (Children)
Wearing Costumes When It's not Halloween (Children)
Kickball (Children)
Toys (Children)
Crayons (Children)
Dressing Up Pets (Children)
Peanut butter (Elderly and Children)
One-Piece Pajamas (Elderly and Children)
One-Piece Pajamas (Elderly and Children)
(Photos are from Look at this fucking hipster, American Apparel, and flickr)These observations are really more of a love letter to hipsters than the kind of mocking associated with latfh.com. This is in part because I'm still confused if I'm a child, a hipster, or an elderly person. It is hard to tell as I share the same interests as those in all three groups. And I don't find ascribing to labels particularly interesting or necessary.
Also, I don't think it's a stretch to to understand how it happens that hipsters are drawn to things both juvenile and geriatric--it's a natural reaction when things typically accepted as "adult" (careers, having children) are becoming less valued among adults in their 20s (and even 30s). It's easy to mock hipsters because of their ridiculous appearance. And that's the point.
Baby-boomer hippies and squares alike, and all their varied promises, have culminated in a vapid, existential, selfish reality a generation and a half later, the product of slick urban Reaganomic coke-heads, suburban pretenders and the rural subsidized. What I'm really trying to say when I play scrabble at a bar, wear neon colors and care way too much about the welfare of a feline is "Hey Baby-Boomers, this is your legacy. Never before has a generation been given so much and done so little. Congratulations. Here we are. Hope you take as much pleasure in watching adults play kickball as we do."
