I wonder if in another 10 (or 20) years I'll look at the world this way. Kids these days - what do they call em "hipsters" - they're just being ironic. Better still, what will ironic young people look like in the future? The brilliance of this sign is that it can easily stand the test of time... the name might change -beatnik, hippie, hipster - but the idea - young person embracing non-normative ideologies in an effort to be different only to look like / be like everyone else (irony, right?) - stays the same. I found this sign in a thrift store in Brattleboro. I love the incongruity of labeling something "ironic young people", in an effort to help those tortured youngsters find the trappings of their non-normative counter-culture costume. What's fascinating here is that the point, really, of going thrifting for your hipsteroutfit is to try and find something unique and different, not something labeled or designated. Maybe this sign is more for parents out and about who need a little help figuring out what to get their angst-filled 20 something.
My life is about to change. For the next three years I'll be in an MFA program in Tempe, Arizona. This crazy interdisciplinary program feels all at once like the best life-choice, and the most terrifying life-choice I could make. The past 6 years here in New England have shaped and changed me in a lot of ways, and it's strange to realize that this chapter is coming to an end. I have some idea of what the coming years and projects are going to look like, but at the same time I have a lot of unanswered questions. There are so many things that I want to do (though really, I don't think I know anyone with short wish-lists), and I'm hopeful that I'll at least get to some of them.
