Sorry. I'm bitter today.
Nov. 7th, 2003 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pearwaldorfThe best definition of hipster I've ever seen.
And to answer![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
entelein's query, I guess it's not so much an economy thing, but the hipster thing in general. In the past few years, Portland has been completely overrun by transplant hipsters who create their own little strange vortexes of self-righteous scenester idiocy, and then bitch about how scene-y Portland is, when it's just a mutually reinforcing wanky cycle.
And as a native, I think the thing that offends me the most about it all is that none of these people have anything really personally invested in the move beyond the fact that Portland has somehow become this indie hotbed where you can live cheap and go to shows. For god's sake, people are asking about the scene at Portland State University (which, I might add, is a third rate urban school that nobody would go to if it weren't in their hometown/the last resort before a lifetime of pumping gas) and taking it into serious consideration as a decision factor. I have a friend who had a crush on a scenester and she once talked to him about how Portland used to be, and he said, "I don't give a shit about how this town was five years ago. I care about how it is now." And that to me speaks volumes about how little these people care about the places that they inhabit, and the lack of consideration of how their presence will affect the neighborhoods they've lived in after they leave. And they will leave, for the next new "it" town. The first wave of gentrification is usually the young white "bohemians" who aren't afraid to move into "sketchy" neighborhoods, and once it seems safe for the "normals," the gentrification proceeds apace, and so on and so forth. And then the people who helped the gentrification along bitch and moan about the evil capitalist apparatus that causes poor people of color to be displaced from their homes without ever looking at their role in the matter.
And there's also the issue of indie snob/scenester wank, but that's not something I really feel like getting into. That was probably more than you wanted to know, and is only marginally related to the employment issue, so, sorry.
*degenerates into incoherent mumbling*
And to answer
entelein's query, I guess it's not so much an economy thing, but the hipster thing in general. In the past few years, Portland has been completely overrun by transplant hipsters who create their own little strange vortexes of self-righteous scenester idiocy, and then bitch about how scene-y Portland is, when it's just a mutually reinforcing wanky cycle. And as a native, I think the thing that offends me the most about it all is that none of these people have anything really personally invested in the move beyond the fact that Portland has somehow become this indie hotbed where you can live cheap and go to shows. For god's sake, people are asking about the scene at Portland State University (which, I might add, is a third rate urban school that nobody would go to if it weren't in their hometown/the last resort before a lifetime of pumping gas) and taking it into serious consideration as a decision factor. I have a friend who had a crush on a scenester and she once talked to him about how Portland used to be, and he said, "I don't give a shit about how this town was five years ago. I care about how it is now." And that to me speaks volumes about how little these people care about the places that they inhabit, and the lack of consideration of how their presence will affect the neighborhoods they've lived in after they leave. And they will leave, for the next new "it" town. The first wave of gentrification is usually the young white "bohemians" who aren't afraid to move into "sketchy" neighborhoods, and once it seems safe for the "normals," the gentrification proceeds apace, and so on and so forth. And then the people who helped the gentrification along bitch and moan about the evil capitalist apparatus that causes poor people of color to be displaced from their homes without ever looking at their role in the matter.
And there's also the issue of indie snob/scenester wank, but that's not something I really feel like getting into. That was probably more than you wanted to know, and is only marginally related to the employment issue, so, sorry.
*degenerates into incoherent mumbling*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-11-07 06:50 am (UTC)Though, to be strictly technical, I'm a transplant myself...but my family came here when I was eight, so I didn't exactly get a say in the matter. Plus it seems like everybody I meet here now moved in the last 2-3 years, so being here for 14 makes me practically ancient by New Portland standards. Jesus.
The first wave of gentrification is usually the young white "bohemians" who aren't afraid to move into "sketchy" neighborhoods, and once it seems safe for the "normals," the gentrification proceeds apace, and so on and so forth. And then the people who helped the gentrification along bitch and moan about the evil capitalist apparatus that causes poor people of color to be displaced from their homes without ever looking at their role in the matter.
Hello, Alberta Street!