I am so tired of the mainstream hipster culture that appropriates styles and symbols from marginalized groups (people of color, queer folks and of course, queer people of color, just to name a few) and churns it into a capitalist monster with a revenue upwards of 1.3 billion US dollars! Did you know the president of Urban Outfitters Richard Hayne is a straight, white, card-carrying, flag waving REPUBLICAN? Philidelphia Weekly knew it when they published this article on him. My favorite quote from the article: "hayne projects a Dick Cheney-esque aura of no-nonsense gray flannel gravitas."
It is not just hipsters or hipster culture that is wack, but they are one damn annoying aspect of a larger history of capitalist cultural appropriation and exploitation. Did I mention gentrification? I meant to. I did find this article refreshing from Racialicious.com. In the article, the author self-identifies as a "conscious hipster" and presents a Third Space à la Homi Bhabha (love the nerdy academic name-dropping) for the hipsters of color. Score! I love the reaffirmation that this camel can roam around in her skinny jeans, spandex, and high-tops while still separating herself from the white, soon-to-be-republican-once-they-make-enough-money hipsters. That said, these are the shoes that I want:
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