Comments on: Taste and Class

By: Gustavo

Gustavo — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 23:42:57 +0000

I’m still trying to figure out who brought bud light to the wedding…we bought like 50 cases of mexican beer…so hey did you get drunk or andabas borracho?

By: elenamary » Blog Archive » self-indulgent yuppie

elenamary » Blog Archive » self-indulgent yuppie — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:24:05 +0000

[...] though of El Oso’s blog entry Taste and Class I am not working class, I am not struggling although I may not have health insurance of even a [...]

By: Steven Mansour

Steven Mansour — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 21:38:23 +0000

You lay off Norah Jones! She’s a musical genius, eh!

By: HispanicPundit

HispanicPundit — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 04:24:24 +0000

Hahaha…hey, atleast we don’t say ‘A’ at the end of everything and only listen to Norah Jones.

By: Steven Mansour

Steven Mansour — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:41:03 +0000

Ha, and here I thought I drink budlights because they taste better.

I also listen to Dre, Quick and even LBC rappers.

I weep for your country.

By: International Chicana

International Chicana — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 18:26:27 +0000

I spent most of my life crossing the border generated by the two cultures that were thrust upon me. On the one hand being embarrassed by my burrito lunches in elementary school, but despising bologna and cheese sandwiches; loving the dark skin, straight black hair, round hip aesthetic that characterized all the women in my family, but subscribing to the Martha Stewart ban on white shoes from Labor Day to Memorial Day.
My solution to my problem (that went much deeper than taste and class [doesn’t it always]) was radical. Married a “gachupín”, moved to Spain and left my mad, mad, schizoid world behind. Well, you can take the Chicana off the border-line, but you can’t take the Chicana out of the girl. Lately, set on by my upcoming visit to mi gente, I’ve had to deal with it all again. Your post (and your blog in general) has helped me a canalizar toda la energía generada por la recurrente colisión de mis antiguas vidas.

By: kelly

kelly — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 06:04:23 +0000

Interesting that you should mention the Peet’s/Starbucks debate. I had that EXACT same discussion with a friend of mine last week. Too funny!
BTW…I am coming to your town tomorrow and I am hoping (crossing my fingers) that Peet’s will be open on the 4th. I need to get my stash!

By: Julissa

Julissa — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:11:48 +0000

This has to be one of the best posts I read this year! I also enjoyed reading everyone’s comments. Especially Chandra’s. You have people that are “posers’ and will only by the top of the line to fall in with a certain crowd, but in the end they are plain jane’s just like the majority of us.

By: myke

myke — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:00:27 +0000

Going along the same lines as what HP said … I feel apart of neither the culture I grew up in, the crowd I was mixed together with in college, nor the people or groups I’m lumped in with now. My family and environment in general growing up was surely as country conservative the southern as you can get. I might have the white as snow part down but the country (other than the accent) conservative is out the door. Then in college I was mostly around preppy fraternity sorts. Parties … upper income. Living off of dad’s credit cards (them — not me). Now I’m in the working world, have since come out into my own and don’t fit the mold of what is expected of me in any sense of the word in the south. Everyone here is mostly conservative (I’m not), are ardent church goers (mostly Baptists — not I), and think all gay men are flaming cross dressers who surely will all end up in hell (I’m not and I hope I don’t). So where do I fit in? No where?? Maybe that’s why I can get along so well with people like HP and you … I don’t think any of us fits any of the atypical molds of what society has laid out for us. And personally, I think that fact makes us much more well rounded individuals …

By: Chandra

Chandra — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 00:36:15 +0000

Much respect to you, Oso – and I think it’s great that you are so honest about taste. I’m probably more guilty of this than I am aware but I do know that over the past ten years I’ve really, really shifted away from believing in those signifiers. Unfortunately, those signifiers do shape my identity now and I know that when I list, for example, my favourite authors, music, etc, it does connect me with others who share those pleasures. This isn’t a bad thing but it shouldn’t be – and I think this is what I was trying to say in my last comment – EVERYTHING. For some people, it clearly *is* everything. I know people like that. People who won’t go out to a bar or a restaurant unless it’s the trendy place. When they talk about books they talk about books that were recently reviewed in the “right” publication. These kinds of friends are people I spend increasingly less time with – but they are younger and put much more of a stake into those signifiers as markers of intelligence, character, or what have you. Again, I read those signifiers as connected to class and affluence and privilege – especially if they are disconnected to the larger world.

But this brings me to the question of Facebook. It only gives you the opportunity to identify yourself according to signifiers. As far as I’m concerned, surviving early childhood – or any form of – poverty, is an achievement. Surviving adversity is achievement. But where do we wear that? List that? in what YASN?