Hipsters

When I first heard the term, "hipster" was probably back in high school.  At the time, I didn't really know what that meant other than it was a word used to describe a certain type of person.  Often I would hear people use it to describe someone who is somewhat full of themselves, with their ego riding on their sense of style.  I think I viewed those who wore overly baggy clothes and listened to hip hop music as hipsters.  Intelligence was not a factor in what made you a hipster. 

After high school, the term evolved a bit for me, but it still revolved around those who depended on their appearance to give them an ego boost.  I started to associate people who wore trendy hats and think rimmed glasses as the true hipsters.  I never really liked the term though, and would refrain from using it myself as it was another word that categorized people into a group that was easily judged by others before they were actually understood. 

Since then I moved to Milwaukee where the hipster subculture is huge.  I see people all the time walking  around with goofy hats and thick rimmed glasses.  I say "goofy," but that doesn't actually mean I think it's a repulsive style.  I myself have a goofy hat I like to wear and although I don't wear my glasses often (I hate not having great peripheral vision),  they are thick rimmed.  I just think wired framed glasses look bad on me..  Being that the hipster subculture is so much more prevalent in Milwaukee, and hearing the term fly around more frequently, I decided to do an urban-dictionary search of the term.  Surprisingly, the top result provided a much different meaning than the one I generally imagined when I heard the term. 

If you haven't heard of Urban Dictionary before, it's a website that was created with the purpose of defining words and phrases you wouldn't normally find in a regular dictionary because they have evolved from everyday speak.  When I read the definition of "hipster" off this website, which was written back in '07, the description was much deeper than I had ever imagined it could be.  It is described as more of an underground cultural revolution taking arise from values of independent thinking, progressive art, and open-mindedness.  I won't be able to summarize the article very well here, because its says a lot in an already summarized form, so I posted a link below.  It's funny, after reading it, I actually see myself falling into the "hipster" category in quite a few ways. 

Good or bad, I try not to categorize myself into groups of people, especially one that has such an unstable meaning amongst others.  Furthermore, this is NOT the official definition of "hipster," and there is no official definition of the term.  As you can see by going to the link, 2.5% of people voted the definition down in disapproval.  None the less, I think it's and interesting take:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster&defid=2705928