Hipsters, dipsters

The NYT has a piece that sums up, more succinctly than I'd ever thought possible, what hipsters are all about. Two women, Eve Sibley and Siri Wilson, are on a mission to make sure that Williamsburg stays hipster. A noble cause, and who wouldn't wish them luck?

In December, they went to a community board meeting where local residents were packed to the rafters, expressing outrage over the [waterfront development] plan. "There were old Polish women, Puerto Ricans, Hasidic Jews," Ms. Sibley recalled. "Everyone who's been living here for years and makes this neighborhood interesting and diverse."

But one group conspicuously absent, they noticed, was their own. "We say 'hipsters,'" Ms. Wilson conceded, "even though the terminology makes us feel funny."

In response, the two women took it upon themselves to act as emissaries to the hipster constituency, and to do so in true hipster fashion. Dubbing themselves the Williamsburg Warriors, they set up a Web site, www .williamsburgwarriors.org, "with the help of this hacker dude I was dating for a second," Ms. Sibley said....

"Siri and I have been partying in this neighborhood for a long time," Ms. Sibley said one afternoon recently as she tapped the ash from her cigarette. "We know our friends care about the community, but they didn't know this was going on."

Ms. Wilson added: "I tell them they're planning 40-story towers and rezoning that would make 3-story buildings into these 12-story monstrosities. All our favorite coffee shops will become Starbucks, and our cute little North Seventh pharmacy will become Duane Reade."

For anyone needing more convincing, the women pull up illustrated renderings of the waterfront proposal on the city's Web site. "Look," Ms. Wilson said, pointing aghast at one computer animated figure. "Dockers!"

Now, Ms. Sibley and Ms. Wilson not only know the name of their city councilman, David Yassky, but they talk about population density, affordable housing and community services as if they were old hands at urban planning. And they have recruited more than a few Williamsburg Warriors from the ranks of the D.J.'s, artists, designers, filmmakers, skaters and students they hang out with.

Yeah, cool man! Puerto Ricans and Hasids are so interesting, and it's cool how seeing them causes hipsters' parents to totally freak whenever they visit. And don't even get me started on old Polish women. If only there were a way to import a few more to the neighborhood, they really add character to a place. Now, no hipster would admit to being a hipster, but seems they've got that one covered. And of course, to "care about the community" means to keep out khakis. Or at least unironically-worn khakis. Because khakis denote lack of a trust fund and the implied existence of a boring office job.

The current Williamsburg boutiques cater to those who want to spend SoHo or Upper East Side prices or higher without losing their street cred. The idea being, if you buy a pair of $200 Camper shoes in a store next door to a bodega, you're more with it than if you buy them at the Camper store in SoHo. If hipsters cared about gentrification because they actually cared about "the people," they'd welcome stores like Duane Reade (a drug store chain similar to Walgreens), which will serve and employ many non-hipster residents, and would turn their noses up at tiny, upscale clothing stores, each staffed by one or two independently wealthy individuals. The half-way, "interesting" neighborhood revival they seek is one that keeps down the poor and keeps the division between rich and young versus poor and old as rigid as possible. The women featured in the NYT piece see themselves as community activists, but do not be fooled.