Caste Away
A much-linked-to Village Voice essay on blogging that’s both sporadically funny and completely self-indulgent (hey, just like blogs!) floats the idea of a blogging “caste system.” With “Bloggers who live in Williamsburg and work at Condé Nast/are in a band” on the top and “Non-bloggers who live in Queens and operate barely solvent literary magazines, the literary magazine being, as we all know, the blog of 2000, the old black, so over, etc.” on the bottom (the author edits Pindeldyboz, which we always forget to read), it’s a comprehensive hierarchy. But how would such a ranking work in A2? Is our Condé Nast allmovie.com or the Current? What about our Williamsburg - is it the Old Fourth Ward, or, likening Ann Arbor to Manhattan and Ypsi to Brooklyn, Depot Town? Is the Ann Arbor Observer roughly analogous to the New York Observer? We can only offer the following non-exhaustive hierarchy:
- Bloggers who live in the Old Fourth Ward and work at allmovie.com or mlive.com.
- Bloggers who live in Ypsi and are in a band that plays Hamtramck a lot or room with someone who works for allmovie.com. By the way, we just found out that “Hamtramck” has three syllables. Our life will never be the same.
- Bloggers who live by north campus and write for the Current or the Observer.
- Bloggers who live in the central campus student ghetto and work for the Daily.
- Bloggers who post anything at 11:16 p.m. on a Saturday.
Hmm…I think this caste system needs slightly more detailed categories…I half-fit into three of them, so I’m at a loss to determine if I’m cool or not. It’s nearly midnight on a Saturday, so I guess that relegates me into the bottom-feeding fifth category, darn it.
posted by Laura on March 7th, 2004 at 12:05 amYpsilanti:Brooklyn
My friend Seth was the fist to make that correlation. Of course he lives in Brooklyn several blocks from the Williamsburg Bridge. tee hee.
posted by Steven B. Cherry on March 7th, 2004 at 12:15 amIsn’t the point that Ann Arbor doesn’t have anything even roughly equivalent to Williamsburg, Conde Nast, or real bands?
Then again, I’m posting this at 12:15 AM…
posted by Anna on March 7th, 2004 at 12:17 amIf Steven and Anna are posting ’round midnight on a Saturday, then that fifth category needs some drastic revision. I propose it be bumped to the highest category: bloggers who are secure enough in their self-image that they don’t give a whiz about what anyone thinks about the day & time they post, dangit.
posted by Laura on March 7th, 2004 at 12:25 amHm. Does renting a place near Knights count as being in the Old Fourth Ward? If so, I have that precious first slot staked the hell out, baby.
posted by rjwhite on March 7th, 2004 at 12:57 amI had you in mind when I namechecked mlive, although the OFW was just a random choice. But posting at this hour puts you on tenuous ground.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on March 7th, 2004 at 1:06 amAAIO! Bloggers who are posting at 1 a.m. on a Saturday night are liberated souls who have evolved beyond the outmoded stereotype that one must be fruitlessly trawling the bars at this hour in order to be cool. We’re way beyond that. Some respect, please.
posted by Laura on March 7th, 2004 at 1:30 amI probably would have posted after 11:16 pm if 1)I hadn’t been hosting a prospective student recruitment party last night (that’s rich!) and 2)I tended to stay up past 11:16 pm. But here goes:
First point: Not all of Williamsburg is “cool.” Living over by the L is normally the hip part, and living off the J/M/Z is not. Just like living on the Upper East Side in Manhattan isn’t so cool, compared to say the L.E.S. or NoLita.
Second point, a question: How do people who don’t remember to update their blogs get ranked? Are they super cool or are they complete losers?
Third point, also a question: Is it just allmovie.com or is it all AMG properties? And is that staffers only, or freelancers as well? I wrote for AMG before I ever even moved to Ann Arbor.
posted by Alex on March 7th, 2004 at 8:48 amI’m not cool. Chad, our cinema editor, is cool. (As was our last cinema editor. For some reason they’re the only cool people who work at Current). But he has no blog. If I was “cool” I’d work for the Ann Arbor Paper.
posted by js on March 7th, 2004 at 11:28 amAnd AMG writers are cooler than All Movie Guide writers, who are both cooler than data-monkeys that work at either.
God, this feels like a half-assed Orkut ranking.
Ahh well. Do any ‘CBN djs have blogs? About half of them are cool. The other half play Barenaked Ladies and then get pissed if you request something different.
(And 11:16? Why didn’t you go to the Jordan Knight show? His choreography isn’t constrained by having to appear in an arena! Smirk.)
js
Yeah, that last category is bullshit - I agree with Laura, many of the people you see in bars on Saturday nights in AA are some of the lamest souls our town has to offer. Not to mention that those of us who start drinking around 6pm are usually ready to go home and write amusing posts at around 11:16. And anyone who would wait until the next morning to post something for fear of looking un-cool belongs very low on the totem pole.
And JS, I did enjoy your Jordan Knight story. But the thought of spending the evening surrounded by 30-yr-old NKOTB groupies made me shudder.
posted by Nick on March 7th, 2004 at 11:53 amYeah, well, I was at the Hamtown blow-out, trying to navigate between hipsters and Bohunks who didn’t seem to understand the concept of a rock show ($15 wristbands and you just stand around with your back to the stage? Fuckos. At least I got mine for free).
posted by js on March 7th, 2004 at 12:11 pmjs
The fact that no one had made a “blogger heirarchy” for ann arbor was one of the few good things it had going for it over new york. But you just couldn’t let a good thing be, could you?
posted by speicus on March 7th, 2004 at 12:34 pmComparing Ann Arbor to New York, what is Lower Town, the Bronx?
Don’t be fooled by the chipatis that I got, I’m still Brandon from the block.
posted by Brandon on March 7th, 2004 at 8:41 pmwell, the Bronx is *up*, therefore it couldn’t be *Lower* Town. Ha ha ha. What is Lower Town? Anyway, my guess would be Staten Island.
I am sorry I missed that post-NKOTB, I like to support aging teen idols. And Teen Idles.
posted by Alex on March 7th, 2004 at 9:59 pm“the bronx is up…”—heh. Lower Town to my understanding is everything in the area bounded by the north side of the Huron, Maiden Lane to Broadway, Broadway to Bonisteel, and Bonisteel-Murfin to Fuller, more or less.
posted by Laura on March 7th, 2004 at 10:23 pmLower Town is the semi-blighted neighborhood centered on the intersection of Broadway & Maiden Lane on the North Side of the river… much like the Bronx, it gets no respect, and nobody has reason to go there. Being across a river to the northeast of A2’s “Manhattan,” it seems a good fit. Staten Island might work in a lot of ways too, but I’m not sure what our relative Republican population is.
posted by Brandon on March 7th, 2004 at 10:26 pmI am by no means am I an AA apologist, but if Lower Town is “semi-blighted” my town is largely an urban warzone.
posted by Anna on March 7th, 2004 at 11:19 pmAnn Arbor is the Manhattan and the Athens of the Midwest.
A coffee shop in Ann Arbor is Hollywood.
I’m getting really confused on my geography here.
You know that famous New Yorker cover that shows the New-York-centric view of the world? Well, I grew up always seeing a Chicago parody version of it, and the first time I saw the real thing, I thought that some New Yorkers had appropriated our beloved illustration. I’m not sure where I’m going with this other than that someone should draw one of these for A2, with Hollywood and Athens in their appropriate places.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on March 8th, 2004 at 12:21 amDon’t forget that the Campus Inn is our equivalent of the Paris Ritz and the New York Plaza, as the website so modestly claims: http://campusinn.com/.
posted by Sam on March 8th, 2004 at 1:23 amSo is blighted Lower Town where one would find the North Side Grill?
posted by Alex on March 8th, 2004 at 7:01 amAnn Arbor and New York, they’s like apples and oranges. The real comparison here is Detroit and Ann Arbor. Sadly, Detroit wins on most counts, except maybe the coffee house ratio.
Ultimately, I love them both. (Plus, I love Ypsi — what?!)
BTW, has anyone been following the best of Ypsi poll? Apparently, the best thing about Ypsi is that it’s not Ann arbor. That’s embarrassing on several levels. First of all, Ypsi has so much more to offer than no being Ann Arbor. Second of all, what?! Ann Arbor is that central to the way in which Ypsi is viewed? Sounds like a needless complex to me.
posted by Anonymous on March 8th, 2004 at 7:13 amBloggers who live and love and hate Ann Arbor and read AAIO to check skewed, ego-centric perceptions.
posted by Petunia on March 8th, 2004 at 8:41 amJS–allmovie.com has a bunch of freelance writers but also an onsite writing and editing staff. (I’m the director of content for movies at AMG, and yeah, I know that’s a very Ann Arbour job title–I’ve lived in Ypsi for 5+ years, if that mitigates things at all!)
Re Ypsilanti as Brooklyn, one of my neighbors once said Ypsi is to Ann Arbour as Oakland is to Berkeley. I’ve also heard that these days Ypsi is to AA as Hoboken is to NYC. Of course, these days no one can afford to live in Hoboken either. . .
posted by Kristi on March 8th, 2004 at 9:55 amUm, not only did I address my above post to the wrong person, I also answered a question he didn’t ask. There’s nothing like semi-anonymous public humiliation to make a Monday morning complete. :-0
posted by Kristi on March 8th, 2004 at 9:57 amAnn Arbor is to Manhattan as Carrot Top is to Simone de Beauvoir.
posted by Morbidly Midwestern on March 8th, 2004 at 10:29 amBy the way, we just found out that “Hamtramck” has three syllables.
posted by tom on March 8th, 2004 at 11:04 amYou need to get out more.
Alex,
posted by Brandon on March 8th, 2004 at 11:59 amThe Northside Grill is our Yankee Stadium.
then why can’t you get hot dogs there? Not to mention the train ride is *way* shorter.
posted by Alex on March 8th, 2004 at 4:44 pmThere’s also much less battery-throwing at the Northside Grill.
posted by Nick on March 8th, 2004 at 6:24 pmCrap. I’m on the bottom. Not cool! There go all my illusions.
4th Ward, Ypsi, North Campus, Central Campus… what about the rest of town?
Southeast siiiyeeeeed? No?
posted by srah on March 8th, 2004 at 6:44 pmAlthough I’ve been tempted to throw batteries at the North Side Grill–anything to shut up all those babies.
posted by Alex on March 8th, 2004 at 7:27 pmI never encounter many babies… maybe they are all there before hangover-food hours.
posted by Brandon on March 8th, 2004 at 7:50 pmNYIO
My freshman roommate at West Quad was from NY. Scarsdale. His dad was a CPA.
His family had changed their name to Chan because they thought it less “ethnic” than Kahn. Heirs putting on airs.
Based on that small sampling, New York sucks. Not just the city, but the whole damned state.
Long before AAWO.
Ilya
posted by ilya on March 8th, 2004 at 8:42 pmI am kind of an early bird, which perhaps means I get more of the baby cross-over crowd. My favorite is mothers in pencil-leg jeans and 4 inch stilleto heels carrying infants. Jesus H. Christ, would you please wear appropriate shoes while carrying that thing? Its skull is still really soft! And some people think I have no maternal instinct.
posted by Alex on March 8th, 2004 at 9:07 pmJeans and heels? Really? My God. How…..ugh, tacky.
posted by Laura on March 8th, 2004 at 10:14 pmMy A2 snob friends would say, “Oh, that’s so Ypsi!”
posted by Sara on March 9th, 2004 at 12:25 amIck! Sara, I am an Ypsilantian who would sooner be shot dead than wear (shudder) heels with jeans. And for the record I’ve never seen *any* Ypsilantian wear this egregious combo. Nope, no heels-with-jeans here.
posted by Laura on March 9th, 2004 at 1:02 amWell, anything’s better than Uggs.
In the immortal words of GWAR:
posted by Alex on March 9th, 2004 at 1:07 amFashion is a statement
Sometimes a risk
Every fashion has it’s faults
But yours is the pits!
I remember in the eighties, Ann Arbor has a small colony of writers, mostly sceince fiction — Dean Ing, Robert Aspring, Lynn Abbey. Do any writers still live in Ann Arbor? Do nay writers still live in Michigan? What happened?
posted by Lucky Jackson on March 9th, 2004 at 7:31 amOh, I hear ya, Laura. You have to realize I’m in the music school where labels and midriffs abound.
posted by Sara on March 9th, 2004 at 7:54 amHeh. When I lived in Ypsi, I used to see women in jeans and heels all the time around the corner Gianni’s was on. Of course, they were crack whores, and they’re gone now (mostly due to Liquor is Quicker getting busted on a pretty regular basis).
posted by js on March 9th, 2004 at 8:46 amjs
I remember in the eighties, Ann Arbor had a small colony of fat-asses, mostly cheese-eaters and icecream-slurpers. Do any fat-asses still live in Ann Arbor? Do any fat-asses still live in Michigan? What happened?
posted by Michigan waistline on March 9th, 2004 at 10:17 amRe writers, the Kerrytown Book Festival last year had a panel with Steven Gillis, Craig Holden, and
posted by Sam on March 9th, 2004 at 3:44 pmLaura Kasischke. I think all three of them live in AA.
Hey…you’re right. West Quad has to count as a ghetto–afterall you see some crazy stuff and there’s drug deals going on..yeah, ghetto like. And I work for the Daily. Looking forward to living on Geddes next year
posted by Mike on March 9th, 2004 at 7:15 pmOh and speaking of writers in Ann Arbor, Charles Baxter, author of Feast of Love lived here until very recently and taught creative writing. In fact, Feast of Love is set in Ann Arbor (though in a time in which there wasn’t a gate around the stadium)
posted by Mike on March 9th, 2004 at 7:17 pmother A2 writers: poet Keith Taylor, Newbury Award-winning children’s book author Joan Blos, and that guy who writes thrillers whom I can’t for the life of me remember…something with an L.
posted by Laura on March 9th, 2004 at 10:56 pmWhere’d Charles Baxter move? I really liked Feast of Love…
posted by Anna on March 10th, 2004 at 12:02 amWisconsin, I believe. Or wherever he was from before he moved here.
posted by js on March 10th, 2004 at 7:54 amjs
The guy whop writes thrillers is Loren Estleman. Charles Baxter moved to Minneapolis. Elwood Reid, a fomr Wolverine football player, wrote “If I don’t Six” which is set in Ann Arbor and is one of the best books I have ever read about college football.
posted by Lucky Jackson on March 10th, 2004 at 8:12 amI would really be impressed if Neil Gaiman lived here.
posted by Alex on March 10th, 2004 at 9:22 amCharlie Baxter and his wife moved back to Minneapolis, where he’s from. Some other AA writers of note who haven’t been mentioned yet: Nick Delbanco, poets Thylias Moss, Richard Tillinghast, and Linda Gregerson.
posted by Kristi on March 10th, 2004 at 10:05 amWhat about that one guy who refers to himself as “we”? You know, the AAIO guy? He’s just amazing. I just love how he calls himself “we.” That’s so cool. I wish I had thought of that. I mean, I’ve never heard of a gossip columnist doing that. Wow!
posted by Jack on March 11th, 2004 at 6:25 amChildren’s author Alfred Slote lives/lived in Ann Arbor.
posted by srah on March 11th, 2004 at 8:00 amThere is a bloated michigan lady down the street from me who writes some stuff.
posted by 2cool2bhere on March 11th, 2004 at 8:17 amActually, I am rather fond of AAIO’s use of the word “we”. I reminds me of the New Yorker, and adds to the slightly snide tone that I have come to treasure in his posts.
posted by Lucky Jackson on March 11th, 2004 at 12:09 pmAll of the AAIO posts are vetted by a Maoist Revolutionary Collective, hence the frequent overlap with MIM Notes.
posted by js on March 11th, 2004 at 12:13 pmjs
I think AAIO uses “we” to cultivate gender confusion. Maybe AAIO is pan-sexual and hence requires a plural pronoun.
posted by Alex on March 11th, 2004 at 5:08 pmMaoist Revolutionary Collectives are SO tediously Ann Arbor-ish.
posted by Nick on March 11th, 2004 at 9:16 pmYes, Nick. I’m sure in cool LA, having everything vetted by Trotskyite splinter groups is much hipper.
posted by js on March 12th, 2004 at 8:04 amjs
I miss the anarcho-syndicalists I used to hang with on the LES.
posted by Alex on March 12th, 2004 at 1:37 pmActually, in LA, all things are vetted by Disney or ClearChannel. Trotskyite splinter groups are so 1999.
posted by Nick on March 12th, 2004 at 5:24 pmClear Channel? But they’re Texas justice!
posted by js on March 12th, 2004 at 7:10 pmCompromise: Everything in LA is vetted by the Church of Scientology?
js
Sounds like a fair compromise. As long as all the vetting is done from the Crystal Cathedral.
posted by Nick on March 12th, 2004 at 10:37 pmThat does it…I’m going to start referring to myself as “they.” Or possibly “you.”
posted by ann arbor is overrated on March 12th, 2004 at 10:46 pmI thought everything was vetted by the Church of the Subgenius.
posted by Alex on March 13th, 2004 at 9:18 amThe royal “we” is fine, AAIO.
posted by Nick on March 13th, 2004 at 3:12 pm