Beatniks and the escape of poserdom

My parents are big collectors of  “Time” and “Life” magazines, so much so that I’m sure our house could be considered a fire hazard because of how many are strewn about. Personally I always like “Life” a little more since they were picture based instead of overtly long article based. And as clear as day I remember one 1950’s issue in particular called “The Only Rebellion Around” that featured a chilling tale of the next wave of Americans, the beatniks. They wore turtlenecks, read poetry, and listen to jazz on LPs, the images within gave them a sense of importance, and I wanted in.  So at the ripe young age of 12 I begin to wear sweater, read Thomas Pynchon, and most importantly collect records (No wonder kids didn’t like me back then, I must of seem like such a pompous doof). Anything on wax I wanted  (from Fats Domino to Candi Staton), every weekend trip to Goodwill brought me more and more LPs and closer and closer to horderdom. After a few years though I started to see my poserness, I didn’t really love the records I was listening to, I hated how itchy the sweaters were, and good lord is Thomas Pynchon a pretentious author.  I started to mellow a bit, selling most of my LPs and sweaters and just got down to what I really enjoyed. I stopped trying so hard and started enjoying things on a personal level, not just what I was supposed to like. I think this all fits into the Hipster portion of our class, we want to be a part of something bigger (be it Beatniks, a team, or even a small club) because it’s so much easier to be ourselves when there are others doing too. You have to take a step back and find what you like and what makes you, you. Even if that means taking aspects of other groups, it adds up to a greater whole of you.