Turns Out I’m a ‘Grup’
April 22nd, 2006
We’re all Grups. Just read an article by Adam Sternbergh published a few weeks ago in New York Magazine - one of those amusing, insightful and frightenly dead-on observations of my (our) cohort.
You see, Adam thinks us GenXers (and Cuspers) are resistant to becoming what one might call Grown Ups. Instead, we buy better iPods, listen to Bloc Party and Wolf Parade, wear designer jeans and indie t-shirts, prefer self-employment and a flexible work schedule, and write self-involved blogs about our hipster lives.
Actually, the one thing he did not mention in the article is our propensity to blog, which I think was a huge oversight. He did point out that the Grup parenting strategy is to dress our children in the same Grup uniform, expose them to The Strokes instead of the Wiggles, and generally attempt to mold their tastes and aesthetics to mirror our own. Although I am not a parent, if I ever become one I TOTALLY plan to take this approach, and there are plenty of blogs out there to teach me how.
Oh - and the sneakers. We all own lots and lots of sneakers, which we wear as fashion statements. Excuse me? My black Converse are on my feet for PURELY orthopedic reasons, thank you very much.
Of course, this article isn’t really talking about my whole generation, just the urbanites of a certain income in my generation. But that includes everyone I know, and I think Adam has us nailed.
Seriously, while not everyone I know exibits every Grup characteristic simultaneously, this article actually does describe ALL of my friends in some way. Although, I’m not so happy with the term ‘Grup’. Doesn’t have a pleasant ring to it.
Click the link! Read! Comment!
PROUD to be a GRUP!
Did Adam mention that Grupsters dragging out their youth might be trying to make up for the fact that they had to be adults from ages 6 to 13?
At age 11, I was already menstruating, recovering from sexual abuse, memorizing the 12 steps of Al-anon, refusing to give my father my own urine sample to pass off as his own at the halfway house, and trying to dodge inappropriate groping from my alcoholic grandfather, All the while, trying to figure out how to shave my legs, get the courage to ask my mother for a bra, accept the fact that I was a foot taller than everybody else in my grade, fend off all of the nasty things that other kids say, and bring home a good report card to boot.
So the way I see it is like this;
Most of us “Gruppers” got robbed of the fun and innocent years. As a result, we’d like to wear our designer jeans and Chuck Taylors now as we kill a bottle of wine and watch Sex in The City with a bunch of other 30something year olds on a school night. We’re still recovering from being adults at age 11!
I have to agree with Tay on that one…
I have to say, I’m happy to see a Star Trek reference used. (Maybe JJ can bring ST back into the public’s life. new movie? Anyone? …anyways) Being a Gr’up is fine with me… I have around 12 pairs of Vans slip-ons, my wife especially loves the bright orange ones. The only shoes I’ve tied in 6 months belong to my daughters. Audrey (3.5yrs old) loves Nortek… “play the honking song again mommy!” She likes the Beatles and Burt Bacharach too. But I have to say she prefers Sesame Street and Disney Princess music. But both our girls say Please and Thank You, Excuse Me and Bless You. Sometimes, we treat them like little adults, but we already have great conversations. We expect a lot from them. I love going to my job almost everyday. I’m trying to decide which new iPod I should get… but I draw the line at $400 jeans. I won’t pay more than $30 for a pair of jeans and I haven’t worn a band t-shirt in years. Overall, I have to say Adam pretty much nailed what’s happenin’… can’t say I’m upset about the direction… except for the pants thing… no jeans should cost that much.
[…] Now to be fair, there was a decent smattering of people who looked our age in the audience. But I couldn’t help wondering if they were parents, lurking towards the back, a safe distance from their young teenager but close to enough to make sure they didn’t end up in the parking lot drinking beer after the show with some skeevy 22-year-old. On the other hand, the whole Grup philosophy claims that despite a 20 year age difference, we are all listening to the same music. So maybe they weren’t parents. […]
[…] Angela has put together a Very Special second hour of These Days today (for those of you who don’t know, that’s the KPBS radio show for which she is a producer). Tune in to hear Adam Sternbergh, author of the much-discussed Grups article, along with the author of a new book called Rejuveniles. It’s a hipster, 30-something edition of These Days! If you can listen live, tune in at 10. Or you can always check out the podcast later. […]
Отличный пост, прочитала с удовольствием! Не плохое начало. Удачи в дальнейшем!
Бегло пробежавшись по вашему блогу возникает такое ощущение что вы либо пишете книги либо писали раньше.
Все!!! Бросаю работу иду статьи сочинять! Почему на бухгалтеров все шишки, а сочинятелям такие комменты хвалебные??? Хотя статья и правда суперская!
Очень просто на словах а в деле, многое несоответсвует, не так всё радужно!
Я круче нигде не видел.
Действительно полезняк! А то сколько не лазишь по нету сплошное бла бла бла. Но не тут, и это радует!
Подбор текстов хороший удачный, закину сайт в избранное.
В целом, автор неплохо накреативил.
Писака пешы исчо
Не поспоришь, вышла на славу работа