I am so glad Baltimore magazine brought this list of “The 10 Most Hipster Campuses 2014” to my attention. I may have otherwise never had a chance to read these opening sentences: “Hipsters appreciate more than rocking flannel and chugging Pabst Blue Ribbon. They also appreciate skinny jeans, bands you never heard of and, above all, a place of higher learning where they’re able to find like-minded individuals.”
Remember, people, hipsters are not just about the flannel and Pabst! They’re also way, way about the jeans! (It’d have to be about more than flannel and PBR, or else most of my Northern New York redneck relatives — whom I adore — would qualify.)
Anyway, the point is College Magazine hath made a proclamation: Maryland Institute College of Art is the 10th “most hipster” campus in the United States of America! College Magazine calls MICA “the artistic heart in the hipster chest of [C]harm [C]ity.” I think it’s supposed to be a compliment.
They really get it wrong when they peg Fells Point as the most hipster-oriented neighborhood. Now, hipster is poorly defined — is it about chugging beer? being artistic? environmentally conscious? well dressed? poorly dressed? living in a warehouse? living in a condo? — but if MICA kids are hipsters, let me tell you that they are not spending most of their time in Fells Point. More like Station North, Mt. Vernon, etc.
Still, it’s nice to be praised/sneered at.
