tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post115323953591402492..comments2024-01-13T23:32:12.331-06:00Comments on Slaves of Academe: MoneyOso Rarohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11345231159759787852noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1153697179256280262006-07-23T18:26:00.000-05:002006-07-23T18:26:00.000-05:00I've been thinking about this post ever since read...I've been thinking about this post ever since reading it several days ago, and it resonates as profoundly with me as with your other commenters.<BR/><BR/>At this point in my life, anyway (early 30s), I'm able to accept *some* of the economic differences between my friends and I--and I'm certainly still able to sniff at those classmates and former friends who have, to all appearences, sold out and who now live soulless lives. What's hard is those friends who are in-between: who are working corporate jobs that they don't love, but that they don't totally hate, either--and who still have plenty of time to read and go to the theatre, and the money to buy modest homes ("modest," that is, in New York or Boston or D.C.) and to take semi-annual trips to Italy and Kenya and Laos. They're politically and culturally aware, interesting conversationalists, and they live beautiful lives. <BR/><BR/><I>They're</I> the ones who make me question my own choices.Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1153491295665330252006-07-21T09:14:00.000-05:002006-07-21T09:14:00.000-05:00What is cashmere? Mere cash.Beautiful writing, as...What is cashmere? Mere cash.<BR/><BR/>Beautiful writing, as ever, Oso, and very thought-provoking.UDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09557645238267991074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1153458604601704832006-07-21T00:10:00.000-05:002006-07-21T00:10:00.000-05:00Great post . . . you've made me think about some o...Great post . . . you've made me think about some of the status markers of our caste as PhDs of color . . . and I've noticed something horrid about myself this week at Prestigious Upper Midwestern University Library, where I've managed to land a Summer Research Fellowship (shorthand for "Pity the poor bastard, throw him a scooby snack") . . . I tend to dress like a grad student still, while around me "faculty" prance around in jackets, seersucker suits, and overall razcuache hideous clothes (maybe I need to remember that they may be anxious about their lower middle class backgrounds and that they are themselves affecting???) . . . I think dressing down because I don't want to stick out as an outsider from a midsize regional public comprehensive . . . I also want to be comfortable in the stifling heat . . . but like the other posting suggests, maybe I'm now (in my sartorial anxiety) I'm going to clutch at something to also scream that this brown boy is also respectable. Maybe we need to reread SNOBBERY: THE AMERICAN VERSION ? ? ? <BR/><BR/>Oh Jeeves, prepare the linen suit for tomorrow!<BR/><BR/>La VickstrixAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1153426352585386452006-07-20T15:12:00.000-05:002006-07-20T15:12:00.000-05:00Excellent writing Oso Raro.Reading your piece I wo...Excellent writing Oso Raro.<BR/><BR/>Reading your piece I wondered if money (and status) aren't just one fiction we have to live through, a fiction we have to endure.<BR/><BR/>Reading your comments I wondered how can someone have internet access and not know what Cashmere is. Isn't it an old city in Nepal?<BR/><BR/>Beyong GeographyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1153345642354176772006-07-19T16:47:00.000-05:002006-07-19T16:47:00.000-05:00What's cashmere?What's cashmere?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1153267969674978712006-07-18T19:12:00.000-05:002006-07-18T19:12:00.000-05:00In his examination of the leisure class at the tur...In his examination of the leisure class at the turn of the century, Thorstein Veblen points out how rich people in the country do not need an ostentatious display of wealth--everyone in the town knows who has money. In the city, however, you have strangers sizing you up, and you need to show-- through your clothes or carriage-- that you are indeed respectable.<BR/><BR/>While living in a college/univeristy town as an undergraduate or grad student, I felt no need to dress up. After all, your affiliation with the university made you part of an elite club. But you get to the city and there is that shock that comes from realizing that the university/college is not the center of the universe: Wall St. is. People try to judge your financial worth and hence respectability by the clothes you wear, where you live, and where you shop.<BR/><BR/>People tell me I shouldn't care what these silly folks think. And they are absolutely right. But when you do mingle with the upper-middle class as we are bound to do, you can't help but feel the slights, especially when you know that as a brown person you are more likely to be judged and made to feel unwelcome. It's not surprising that some brown folks will cling to nice clothes and accessories as a shield. Am I buying the cashmere sweater because I love the feel of it or because it makes me feel secure? Is it any wonder that people sometimes spend more money on luxury goods when they can least afford it? If they can't have the security that comes from having money, they can at least simulate this security by surrounding themselves with luxury items that represent money and status. <BR/><BR/>A Ph.D. has some prestige, but it's your clothes and the glow that can only come from expensive moisturizers and exfoilants that tell people that this brown boy is indeed "respectable." <BR/><BR/>I know: I need therapy.<BR/><BR/>As usual, great post oso.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22234799.post-1153246473516959222006-07-18T13:14:00.000-05:002006-07-18T13:14:00.000-05:00Girl, glad to see that you have finally read Statu...Girl, glad to see that you have finally read Status Anxiety. I very much enjoyed reading this text and must say that Alain de Botton's analysis of late capitalism hits home on a multitude of levels . Hope you had fun with the Voice. Looking forward to your next venture north.<BR/><BR/>La Donna<BR/>xoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com