What is a Hipster?

Yikes, this is a pretty tough question actually and I don’t know a good way to go about this, so I’ll start off with something I find fascinating about what people think on the topic of “who I am”. So I’ve made some new friends the past couple semesters in college and have gotten pretty close to them. And I’ve noticed a common theme on how they describe me as their friend. I’ve been hearing from them and even a professor of mine in Hunter that I fall into the category of what a “hipster” is. When I asked some of my other friends that I’ve known for years, they answer me with statements like, “hmm I thought you already knew that.” Some can even trace back the exact moment in time when “the hipster in me unleashed itself” (to quote a wonderful friend of mine).

I mean I have a general idea of what they look like, how they behave and so on (from media/ word of mouth), but I really never saw myself as one because I don’t really understand what it means to be one (is that hipster of me to ask?). Sure, I do enjoy thrift shopping (who doesn’t like clothes that no one else has in their closet? Or the fact that you can get a really awesome jacket for like…nine bucks?! Can’t that just be me being a “fashionista” or something?) Yeah I have reusable bags that I use for groceries…but um…last time I checked we should all be doing that! Perhaps my taste in music is pretty underground and it includes bands that won’t even show up even if you shazam it with your fancy technology, and my hate for mainstream may be obvious, but can’t that just mean that I prefer lyrics that have some meaning to me over corny lyrics that are in a song because “bitches” rhymes with “riches”? And sure I paint and sketch and occasionally go to a museum from time to time…but that can just mean I like art? Right? Right. But when one person has all those qualities combined, it makes them a “hipster”. It’s tough for a couple of my friends to even grasp at the idea at how “I’m so hipster” because it’s rare for a Bengali girl to have those qualities and “get away with it”. I’ll admit, I haven’t met another Bengali girl who dresses or is into the same activities as me, but I’ve met “white people” who do have similar taste as mine (does that make me white? I guess not?) But I’ve been thinking this whole time it’s because we’re all different and we express our styles differently and we’ll occasionally meet someone who’s into the same weird things as us…but statements like that would just make me a “hipster”.

I consume a lot of media daily. The minute I check my email, I am quick to get sidetracked by the many stories that are posted on my yahoo login page. I social network, I YouTube oh so much and I have found myself sitting in front of a computer hours on end without realizing how much valuable time I have actually wasted. I do not own a snazzy phone with internet and all that jazz yet, but I have a feeling I will be boarding that train very soon.

This video is pretty funny to me,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZDMLQM2Ps4&feature=fvwp&NR=1