"The Hipster Professor"

Okay, I joke on here that "I'm not a hipster, I just like knitting" and I admit that most people's view of "hipsters" is pretty stereotypical/prejudicial (but given the judginess I've run into from a few people I know who seem to fit the hipster lifestyle, I'm not so sure I feel bad about being a bit judgey myself).

But anyway, this popped into my head this morning while working. (One thing I need to do this week is write an exam for one of my classes; I may take the stuff home and do it this afternoon after lunch):

"I never use the textbook question-bank; I prefer to artisinally hand-craft exams myself."

Which made me wonder, what other things would a Hipster Professor say, especially things that relate to my experience.

A big one: "It's not a pile of paper! It's a carefully curated collection of reprints, forms, and un-handed-back student papers!"

Or: "I was using sidewalk chalk before it became cool." (or: "I am using it ironically." We have terrible chalkboards - they are gray. Honest to God. Grey chalkboards. Nothing shows up well on them. I suspect that someone, somewhere did that as a passive-aggressive move when we all demanded chalkboards instead of the crummy (cheaper) whiteboards they were going to give us. So we have to use the fattie chalk on it for students to be able to see. Turns out "sidewalk chalk" is the cheapest easiest way to get that. In fact - one of my students gave me a pack of GLITTER sidewalk chalk, which is pretty wonderful (the room where I teach now has a glitter-bedecked floor) except two of the colors won't show up so I can't use them)


And the Internet being what it is, there are various  humor sites (warning: not sure everything there has SFW language on it) that have some stuff.

It's funny. It seems to me that "hipsterism" started out of a desire to be quirky and individualistic, and at its best* it does seem to care about things like how stuff is made and the history of stuff. But it so quickly turned into something mockable, and a group of people who can be picked out a mile away by dress and mannerisms....

(*Which does not seem to be all that often)

Though it seems, the "Hipster Professor" is nearly 100% male, at least according to the internet. I don't know if she-hipsters are less common or less-identifiable (vocal fry doesn't come across in a picture) or if the assumption is still either that all profs are male, or that women profs are some kind of other subgroup of society.

(I know I'm too old to be a hipster, and too much of a mess in how I dress. I'm actually more preppy than I am hipster, given the roots I came from....though some days I tend to dress more "earth mama" because it's comfortable and that's important when you're on your feet for four or five hours a day. Also, I'm too enthusiastic about the things I like, and I am not good at a sense of ironic detachment: I am more likely to be sitting around crying about the state of the world than to be all Daria Morgendorfer about it.)