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31 items tagged "underclass"

Related tags: Creative [+]

Gawker

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  Freelancers Freaking Out about Their 'Union' Health Plan [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: November 20th, 2008, 11:10am CST by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  We've been getting lots of angry e-mails from various freelancers with coverage in the Freelancers Union, which I mainly ignored until I realized it would negatively affect me, too. The oft-reported insurance provider for the creative underclass is—wtf—starting their own insurance company called the Freelancers Insurance Company. And members have no choice but to join it! The takeaway: if my shrink isn't in the new "Freelancers Insurance Company" network's koverage, no amount of generic Klonopin will be able to kwell my krazy!

  First of all, let's cut the bullshit with the name and starry-eyed, fake labor-organizing rhetoric of their ads—Freelancers Union—and call it what it is: a healthcare company. Freelancers aren't going on strike or picketing as part of the Freelancers Union—they're joining it for the health plan, so that their teeth won't fall out of their head—which would limit future job opportunities. And guess what: just like other healthcare companies, the Freelancers "Union" mostly sucks!

  Past practice indicates that the Freelancers Union has trouble simply administering enrollments for their outside plans, making this change appear even more worrisome. In fact, they pulled almost the exact same stunt last year, complete with a cutely-worded memo: ""If you want to wake up with insurance on New Year's Day, you have to let us know which of the plans from Empire or PerfectHealth you want." (This was their way of announcing that coverage under their current health plan, HIP, would end December 31 of 2007 in favor of more expensive coverage under Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield.)

  So they've done it again this year—and of course, the new FIC plans are even more expensive, with reduced benefits. The expense increase isn't entirely their fault—but the bait-and-switch is. Why bother joining the Freelancers Union if they're going to pull the rug out from under you every year?

  One freelancer complained to us, "Problem is, the new plans offer considerably fewer benefits and significantly higher costs, but were presented as a fait accompli, complete with a bunch of solidarity rhetoric. With just a few weeks to decide, many FU members feel that their safety nets have been ripped out from under them." Members are blogging angrily here and here!

  Wrote another tipster, "Can a PPO really be called a PPO without OON coverage?" We have no idea, but you know people are getting desperate when they start writing things like, "I'm going to check out Mediabistro's insurance plans."
  
  

  
  
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  Xanax vs. Klonopin: The Verdict [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: November 11th, 2008, 2:21pm CST by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  We've been chronicling the drugs of the creative underclass—from the "I love my orange pills" Adderall to benzos to psychotropics. How the hell is everybody getting through their workday? It depends on your personality. For those with wandering attention spans, Adderall usually does the trick. For anxiety-prone neurotics, Adderall feels like a hit of crack combined with a bucket of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I've relied on Xanax for special occasions and party reporting (all that excitement sends me straight to the wall), but recently—after totally casual anecdotal investigation on this website suggested that Klonopin was the current drug of choice for the creative underclass—I procured a prescription for Klonopin. (After all, they love it at downtown fashion mag Nylon!)

  Kloni is better than Xanax, my friends. Why?

  First of all, they're both benzos, with similar molecular structure. But: Klonopin gives you less of a buzz, is much longer lasting (sometimes it seems like Xanax only lasts two or three hours), and is less habit-forming.

  (Those who take Xanax and Kloni regularly and don't taper off can put themselves at risk for seizures, however. R&B singer Sean Levert, who recently died in jail, wasn't allowed to take the Xanax he brought in jail. According to UPI, "prison staff allegedly took the bottle away and didn't give him his medication during the six days he was there, even though he asked for it numerous times and suffered terrifying delusions due to withdrawal from the medication.")

  I experimented with Klonopin recently while doing some freelance work; I found its effect smoother and less buzzy than Xanax. And that was just half a milligram! It also increased concentration: words flowed freely onto my keyboard, absent the usual wrenching procrastination which we all know comes from fear of failure. Had I taken I Xanax, I imagine I would have slept for the next nine hours instead.

  Which is the best for you: Adderall or benzos like Klonopin? It all comes down to your personality type. For anxiety-prone people, benzos quiet the mind, shushing the paralyzing background noise and leaving you to do your work unmolested. Of these, Klonopin gives the smoother ride.

  As the departed Gawker/Jezebel editor Moe so succinctly put it: "Writing on drugs is my drug."
  
  

  
  
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  Harvard Less Selective Than NBC's Grueling Page Program [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: October 14th, 2008, 4:56am CDT by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  It's not clear whether Kenneth from 30 Rock had anything to do with it, but NBC's page program now gets 7,000 applicants each year for roughly 70 slots, an admission rate of about 1 percent versus 7 percent for the undergraduate college at Harvard University . The $10-per-hour work consists of fetching coffee, guarding studio doors and giving tours for "at least six days" per week, the Times said this morning. You may have to live in Harlem and work at a bar to make ends meet. Then there are the long hours and flashcards:

  They all attend long orientation sessions, are herded through NBC’s labyrinthine warren of offices and studios and are handed a 75-page handbook full of trivia, much of which they are expected to memorize. Many make flash cards and study in pairs to prepare for the exam at week’s end. “We all have an unhealthy knowledge of NBC,” said another page, Brandon Adams, who is also 24 and grew up in San Diego.

  The work varies. Assignments on morning shows require predawn start times; “Saturday Night Live” means weekend shifts into the wee hours.

  But if a page plays her cards right, she might someday end up like such media luminaries as Michael Eisner or Regis Philbin!

  While a page, Regis used to watch the Steve Allen Show, "thinking, ‘What was my talent?’" And now, decades later, it's all of America asking that question. Thank you, NBC page program!

  (Lower photo cropped from original by Nicole Bengiveno, Times)

  
  

  

  
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  Brooklyn Kickball Brawl: "Brother Fighting Against Brother" [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: September 29th, 2008, 2:40pm CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  We thought that Williamsburg, Brooklyn's hipster kickball season was over after attending its corrupt end-of-season prom, where alcohol was served and a girl-kickballer in a tutu hit on our boyfriend. But they're still going! And they're still fightin'. Last Sunday's game included an "all-out brawl," with punch-throwing and tossed bottles of Colt 45—a beverage that even some homeless people think is beneath them. We e-mailed some kickballers to get the lowdown. One reply: "Omfg, I am totally appalled and offended. How does something so pure as alcohol and jr. high sports turn into something so ugly?"

  What happened? Says another kickballer,
  

  Apparently there was a big blow-up last night during the second semi-final matchup. The Bacon Bits beat Prison in the Game 1. The John Cougar Mellencamps were playing the reigning-champ Commitments in the second when I guess some iffy/gamechanger call was made. A brawl ensued. Punches were thrown, seasons were cancelled, there were abandoned Colt45 slugs every, I assume. I actually left between the to semis for a pizza pie...

  Says the first player, who is very clearly bullshitting us, not that we have any sort of problem with that:
  

  "it was the 2nd game of the night. Commitments vs the John Cougar Mellencamps... two teams that have shared players, girlfriends, bills, and drugs together too many times to count. Then, in the 2nd inning of a tight game, all of a sudden the sky opened up and the death rattle of blistering drops of rain pelted the field, the ball and all us wholesomes. The wrath of the God we've rebuked has come for us.
  
  Brother fighting against brother, dogs and cats getting married, absolute mayhem. Beers were hurled at players in the field, baserunners plowed over, coaches shoved, roundhouse kicks to the cranium, body slams of 120lb men. Ugliest, most offensive thing I've EVER seen. This is what happens when hipsters decide to care about something.
  
  Good news, afterwards we all went to the bar and ended up making out w/ each other and having orgy sex in the bathrooms."

  Clearly, he meant the Turkey's Nest.
  
  

  
  

  

  
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  Nobody Lost Their Virginity at Hipster Kickball Prom [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: September 22nd, 2008, 11:45am CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Things end. People move on. The Brooklyn hipster kickball league has entertained us with their exploits all summer—fights, getting arrested in Macy's, letters to dive bars demanding a laminated free drinking pass. Now the season is over. Last Friday, they gathered in Greenpoint one last time for the Kickball Prom. We were there to create the memories that would last us the rest of our lives.

  OK, so I didn't do any reporting—or embed with a team, as was offered—because my heels were too high and my feet hurt. (When Clay Felker said that women make the best reporters, he meant that they make the best reporters if they are wearing sensible shoes.) But the New York Press did!
  

  “Nah, she’s not my date bro, just some chick. I was voted biggest flirt two years in a row, and I was the second-rated pole jumper in all of New York State,” the preacher’s animus, dressed all in black and flipping his H&M fedora, explained.
  
  “Second in the state bro,” a far more offensive character and teammate, CK Sweat, chimed in at full throttle. There was no stopping him, “fabulous is the only word for me—tight Gaultier jeans, tuxedo scarf and granny glasses, I haven’t seen anyone better dressed tonight.” Okay, what makes you a hipster, CK? “First of all, I’m too much of a jock to be a hipster. Being in the top 2% of athletes excludes me from that category, but I can thrive anywhere.”

  The closest I got to a slow dance was when the burly Polish bouncer felt me up without permission. So in that respect it was exactly like high school prom!

  Until next season...

  
  [Photo: Lyndsey Matthews's Flickr]

  
  

  

  
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  Toby Young Oddly Prescient on "Making It" in Media Today [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: September 12th, 2008, 10:55am CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Fired Vanity Fair writer Toby Young's How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (movie version forthcoming) chronicled the Manhattan media hellmouth of the 1990s. It would be much more difficult to make it in print journalism today, he admits to WWD. In fact, he says, if he were trying to start a media-career in the aughts, he'd probably be, like, working as a "slave" for this website in particular—and "sleeping on [Brit It Boy] Euan Rellie's floor":

  "I think it’s probably tougher to make it [in New York media] now than it was 13 years ago, particularly in the print media. I don’t envy young Brits crossing the Atlantic to make their fortunes today….Probably the difference is I’d rent somewhere in Brooklyn rather than in the West Village. I probably wouldn’t be working for Vanity Fair, I’d probably be working as Nick Denton’s slave at Gawker and being paid nothing. I’d probably be sleeping on Euan Rellie’s floor."

  This is uncomfortably accurate, except we do too get paid! But for the record I was sleeping at the Malibu Hotel SRO during my first few weeks in the city, not Euan Rellie's floor.

  [WWD]

  
  

  

  
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  Interns Banned From Long Subway Rides [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: September 3rd, 2008, 3:02am CDT by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Sure, internships are supposed to be tough, but the rabid neoconservatives who run the New York Sun seem to be going out of their way to be severe to the unfortunate young souls who somehow find themselves paying their dues there. The dress code, for example, stipulates not only a suit and tie but a specific color of shirt, shine to the shoe and knotting of neckwear. Is this really the paper that celebrated Middle Eastern women who defiantly wear tight jeans, bikinis and punk-rock-inspired clothes under their burkas in the name of not being "dressed like everybody else?" And is the de facto ban on subway rides of more than 30 minutes coming from the same editors who slammed the mayor for taxing suburban commuters? Apparently so! Whether there's hypocrisy at work in them or not, the Sun's "Guidelines For Interns" are pretty hilarious, assuming you don't have to slave under them. Someone who did just sent us a copy, and we've highlighted some of the fun bits:

  

  

  

  Writes our tipster:

  Note that we were still expected to wear suits, ties, and dress shirts every fucking day (except "casual" Sunday, when we were "allowed" to wear blazers with dress shirts ties and dress pants), thus leading to at least $100 in dry cleaning costs alone over the course of the summer.

  There are internships with far looser rules at news organizations that are better known, better regarded, less slimy, less politically biased and less racist than the wingnut-driven Sun. Some of them even pay! But there is a seemingly endless supply of young writers desperate for some — any! — sort of experience, even if it's at an anemic daily newspaper that doubles as an "animal shelter for unemployed New York writers" and comes complete with the draconian rules required to keep order in such a zoo.

  By the way: In addition to the rules above, uppity interns, remember never to say anything nice about a filthy red communist!

  
  

  

  
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  Are You the Worker Who Jammed the Pen in the Copy Machine? [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: August 26th, 2008, 10:35am CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  ...So you could be a hero when you miraculously fixed it? That behavior is more common that you think, says the Wall Street Journal—they've dubbed in "Munchausen at work." (Munchausen's syndrome and Munchausen-by-proxy is a creepy psychological disease in which one deliberately makes themselves or someone else sick to get attention.) So: do we all need recognition at work that badly? Apparently we do:

  "Mr. Bennett says that he first heard U.S. managers complain about Munchausen-like behavior when he studied team dynamics several years ago. Employees at a Louisiana-based chemical company described a plant manager who concocted layoff rumors, then told his workers a few weeks later that he had saved their jobs.

  Maria Copeland, an information-technology manager at media company Cox Enterprises Inc., tells a similar tale. She says a male colleague tried to turn her against a female co-worker a few years ago. The man told each woman that the other was working to undermine her, then called a meeting with their boss to improve their collaboration, according to Ms. Copeland. The women realized what was going on when they compared notes before that meeting. The collaboration problems disappeared after the man left the group, she says."

  Lesson: we are all perpetually three-year-olds who need attention and positive reinforcement, especially if we're not getting it at home. Bosses: a hearty pat on the back and a "Good job, tiger!" every once in a while can't hurt. Everybody needs to be a hero once in a while.

  
  

  

  
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  The Next Drug of the Creative Underclass? [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: August 12th, 2008, 11:43am CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Hey, we've heard anecdotal rumblings and ravings about Klonopin lately. Is it reaching the tipping point as the latest recreational prescription drug? Is it better than Xanax and Valium? Send me your stories. (I'm so on the edge that I can't complain to the doctor about a headache without walking out with a prescription for Xanax. But yesterday I read in Glamour about how stress can make women more vulnerable to autoimmune disorders, which only made things worse.) So, Klonopin?

  
  

  

  
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  Tim Gunn Was Harvey Weinstein's Slave [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: July 30th, 2008, 6:33am CDT by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Remember how yesterday we told bloggers they should insist on getting paid because "someone is making money off your work and your content?" That argument applies to the creative side of pretty much any corporate media endeavor. But all rules have their exceptions, and Exhibit A, for today at least, is Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn. For the show's first season, Gunn worked for free, it has emerged in court. Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein and his Weinstein Co. were milking the show for every last dollar. In season two, Gunn took home just $2,500 per episode. These days, of course, he has his own spinoff program, a best-selling book and a cushy executive suite gig at Liz Claiborne. So should everyone go throwing their labor around for free? Of course not! Here's why it worked for Gunn:

  • Huge platform. Even without financial compensation, Gunn enjoyed the benefits (and potential hazards) of what, based on early critical acclaim and audience growth rates, looked to become a hugely-watched hit. Airtime like that does not come cheap.
  • Winning personality. As we've said, Gunn is an articulate and charming mensch, always ready with a crisp take on fashion. If he wasn't, then having a big platform wouldn't have done him any good — and might have actually harmed him.
  • Winning platform. Crucially, Runway wasn't some cheap reality television disaster, recruiting Gunn solely for his ability to stir up unnecessary drama with which to titillate viewers. Instead, it offered him a chance to showcase his strongest area of expertise in a relatively dignified setting.
  • Residual benefits. When the show started, Gunn was chair of fashion design at Parsons. He must have had an inkling that Runway, even if it never became a big hit, might open up new doors careerwise. And it did!
  • Kept his day job. Gunn wasn't desperate to pay his rent.
  • Not content being a poor. Tim didn't work for free long! Though his season-two take of $2,500 was something of a pittance by TV (and Runway) standards, he kept leveraging his success into more money and outside gigs. Know your worth!

  Be sure to keep this list handy for the next time a cable network comes knocking on your door. It could totally happen.

  [Daily News]

  
  

  

  
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  Letter from an AOL Blogger on Writing for Free [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: July 29th, 2008, 1:20pm CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  "I read your post on how some of the AOL/Weblogs bloggers are blogging for free. I don't know who the bloggers are or which blogs within the portfolio this applies to either. I was recently hired (signed a contract) to write for one of the blogs. Last week, the blog I'm with sent out a note to all the members of the team that everyone except for lead bloggers and paid staff should refrain from posting until August because of a budget shortfall. On the blog I was hired to write for, we receive just $X [redacted] per post, features (slideshows and such) are paid at a higher rate. I think some bloggers continue because they feel a sense of mission and duty and are really into it. [Emphasis added] I will not write for free."

  "NO ONE SHOULD BE WRITING FOR FREE except for interns and people looking to get a start in the field. I have written for HuffPo on special occasions but I received press passes that made it worthwhile, as well as exposure and clips that showcased a different side to my writing. However, I can't make a habit out of it because I have to make a living."

  
  

  

  
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  About That Gessen Cabal... [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: July 18th, 2008, 6:03am CDT by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  "This 'tiny concentration of hyper-intellectuals has become a juggernaut that subtly controls everything that happens in the industry' is what [Jess] Roy says she came to believe. But most of these people to whom Roy refers can barely put on underwear before noon." [Choire Sicha, Previously]

  
  
  

  

  
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  Suburban Ennui and Urban Angst, Explored through Julia Allison's Twitter [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: July 3rd, 2008, 9:42am CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  New York dating columnist, possible future reality star, and C-list party guest Julia Allison (whose employer, Star, recently declined to renew her contract) is back home in Illinois, visiting her parents. And she's being incredibly snide about it, based on her recent Twitters:

  

  Oh. Is striving for the high life in New York all it's cracked up to be, or is it just that awful sound when there are three people left at a party, and when you shake the ice in the bottom of your empty highball glass it's suddenly the loudest and most depressing sound in the world?

  Do C-list parties for Skyy Vodka, where Julia was on Tuesday night, beat watching the window-cleaners on even the worst of days? Or are they essentially the same activity?

  This trip is shaping up to be like Sweet Home Alabama, when the country-girl turned faux-socialites goes back home for the simple life! Except without the redemption.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  

  
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  BlackBerry Overtime For Creative Underclass! [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: June 17th, 2008, 5:46am CDT by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  "ABC said it would pay its news writers and producers for using their BlackBerrys after hours - but only in specific, work-related situations." [Post]

  
  
  

  

  
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  Rolling Stone Copying Perez Hilton? [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: June 16th, 2008, 5:26am CDT by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  We're hearing something fairly horrifying — that Rolling Stone senior editor Austin Scaggs is starting a "Perez Hilton-esque" music blog for the magazine next month. It's not clear how, exactly, this new creation would ape Hilton's crude celebrity gossip site, but the initiative is said to be an outgrowth of Scaggs' own infrequent Smoking Section music news blog. Jann Wenner has approved the project, but the magazine mogul hasn't provided any budget, so "Scaggs is hiring six unpaid interns to staff the whole thing—and they have to work 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday" said our tipster. NB to desperate young intern candidates: Just launch your own music news site. You won't get to say you write for Rolling Stone, but you'll have no trouble reaching Perez Hilton quality levels, and at least you'll retain ownership in exchange for all your free labor.

  
  

  

  
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  Why You Can't Stop Snacking, Fatty [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: May 20th, 2008, 7:31am CDT by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Scientists offered high-sugar, high-fat, banana-flavored pellets to female rhesus monkeys, and found that high-status monkeys were not impressed. But the low-status monkeys scarfed them around the clock because, researchers believe, they somehow mitigated the stress of being harassed all day by the top-tier monkeys. It's possible the treats enhanced the reward pathways in the brain, in a manner similar to cocaine. Reports the Times, "the experiment intrigues scientists studying human junk-food binges, which are hard to understand because there are so many confounding factors." Of course, in humans, the benefits of bingeing are offset by crippling guilt. Which is why a follow-up study is planned at the Condé Nast cafeteria. HEY-OH! [Times]

  
  

  

  
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  Even Hippie Housing Schemes are Expensive [Urban Anthropology]

  Posted: May 16th, 2008, 9:25am CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  What are "co-housing enthusiasts," asks the Brooklyn Paper? They're "a group of Brooklynites who want to buy a nice building near Prospect Park and share common areas with like-minded friendly people." They are sad living alone in tiny apartments and want friends! A co-housed building is a cross between a "commune and a condo." One place starts at around $600,000 a unit. There are communal meals, but no free love. (Sure, that's what they say now; we'll check back in six months.) [Brooklyn Paper]

  
  

  

  
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  A Woman Walks Into a Hipster Bar... and Is Ignored [Urban Anthropology]

  Posted: May 15th, 2008, 4:24pm CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Will you people give Nicole Brydson of the Observer a break? The lil' lady went to Williamsburg's popular Union Pool in a "frilly dress" on a Saturday night... alone. (Brave!) What did she find? Gen Yers can't go to bars alone anymore. Nobody will talk to you.

  She simply wanted to see if she could meet people, so she "made [herself] available, quietly sipping a pint of Blue Moon."
  

  After an hour of enjoying the warm weather, and having not made any new acquaintances, I made my way to sit at the bar. Again, no luck... Rarely are Brooklyn's local watering holes a place to meet new people these days.
  

  While advising me about my love life, my mother always likes to tell stories about her youthful evenings spent at her local singles bar. The rules of engagement are much different now. It's been a long time since there were social mores about which gender approaches the other, pays for dates or makes the first move on a first date. A cursory glance at Craigslist's missed connections section proves that many 25- to 35-year-olds, especially recent transplants, don't necessarily have the stones to introduce themselves in person.

  Then there's the fact that they're also total fucking assholes:
  

  Jason offered up a story about how he had been chatting with a female patron who awaited her date's arrival. He was late. They had never met before. Jason ran downstairs as the gentleman walked in, and upon his return to the bar, the date was gone. The woman had sent him away. He wasn't her type.

  Brydson might consider midtown bars. I once met a lovely gentleman who claimed to be a "fuckin' billionaire."
  
  
  [Painting by Berc Ketchian]
  Bowling Alone in Williamsburg [The Observer]
  
  
  

  
  

  

  
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  Lauren Weisberger, Gawker Heroine [Our Celebrities]

  Posted: May 15th, 2008, 10:35am CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Born in unglamorous Scranton, PA, author Lauren Weisberger started out as the abused assistant of a big bad media mogul, raging at the rigid class and social hierarchy of life at Vogue. (A creative-underclass victim, like our core readers!) She survived. She wrote a book! The Devil Wears Prada became a best-seller and a movie. ("I've gotten some feedback from people saying that their bosses have—directly after reading the book—started asking what their majors were in college, where they live, etc.") Take that, Anna Wintour. She became so successful that she's no longer One of Us: rich. Married well. Wedding in Anguilla. Working on third novel! (Click to see a mean-boss Devil Wears Prada clip.) P.S.: Now we hate you.

  
  

  

  
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  More Misspelled Protest Signs In Texas [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: May 6th, 2008, 7:37pm CDT by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  This morning we ran a picture of a woman in Houston whose ironic protest sign said "Make English America's Offical [sic] Language." A helpful tipster then sent a link to the picture above, taken in Harlingen Texas just a few days ago by the Valley Morning Star. These protesters are from the opposite end of the political spectrum, decrying a police sting against prostitutes and subsequent publication of booking photos. But they still fucked up their sign spelling. And they really should have caught the mistake, because they took the time to use stencils and everything! So poor English knows no political bounds. Are Texans just unable to spell? I don't remember things being so bad when I was growing up in Houston, but I was a mere grade schooler, and that was prior to the election of one Gov. George W. Bush. [Valley Morning Star]

  
  

  

  
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  Tax Tips For Freelancers: WE NEED SOME [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: April 14th, 2008, 11:52am CDT by Pareene

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  We throw ourselves at your mercy. Paying taxes is a terrible bother for freelancers, which means us, your Gawker staff. A reader asked us to be servicey and offer our tips. BUT WE HAVE NONE. The only tax tip I ever got was "file quarterly," which I didn't do. But some of you commenters are like economic geniuses and stuff, right? Right? Then help a blogger out. Tell us what to do, and how to do it.

  
  

  

  
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  This Won't Hurt a Bit: We All Need to Visit the Blogging Doctor [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: April 7th, 2008, 1:38pm CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  The NYT trend piece on blogger health wasn't so far off, after all: Radar Online editor Alex Balk has been complaining about a pain in his arm for a couple of days now, and I'm scheduled for the first of two small, yet uninsured, procedures over at Bellevue tomorrow morning. They think it might be an ulcer! (Yet, they prescribed Xanax for some reason.) But:

  

  My other form of healthcare involves an old acupuncturist down in Chinatown. I think it works...

  
  

  

  
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  Young Writers Must Strategize! [Making It]

  Posted: April 4th, 2008, 2:50pm CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  It's hard out there for a young writer, especially if you're blogging all up on the HuffPo! Jessica Wakeman wasn't sure how to make her writerly dreams come true, so with adorable naivete, she asked Vanessa Grigoriadis, the successful but occasionally-mocked writer of Rolling Stone articles, Britney meltdown-profiles, and creative-underclass blogger chronicling. Vanessa's response? "You need a strategy."
  

  My senior year at NYU, I interned at New York magazine. I asked one of their star journalists, Vanessa Grigoriadis, if she would be my mentor that semester and she generously agreed. Over dinner one night at Blue Ribbon Sushi, I explained how I hoped to one day be a journalist covering women's politics, societal and cultural issues, like her or Ariel Levy or Emily Nussbaum (or Rebecca Traister at Salon or Katha Pollitt at The Nation, etc.). "You need a strategy," Vanessa told me.

  Oh, how we laughed! A "strategy"? (Gin? Or vodka...) What's that saying about the best-laid in plans? We don't learn about the details of such strategizing, just that people should have one.

  Case in point: Recently I wrote a freelance article for Bitch magazine about a sexual politics matter — easily the best article I've ever written. I labored for about four months on this piece. And I can only think of one friend who went out to buy the $6 magazine off a news stand. Every single other friend and colleague, without exception, has asked me for a link to the article — which cannot be found online. So I saw my name in print on a dead tree and I cashed a check for my months of researching, interviewing, writing and rewriting. But I'm not sure anybody's actually read it.
  On second thought, maybe I do have a strategy now... It's a gun-to-your-head strategy, out of necessity, rather than choice: Stick to the web.

  Yes. That's really where the money and enlightened debate is. Well, if you can get the pageviews.
  
  
  

  

  
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  Anti-Emo Riots in Mexico, Caught on Tape! [Urban Anthropology]

  Posted: March 27th, 2008, 12:42pm CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Emo kids, those overly made-up, mopey fans of overwrought post-punk music, are annoying. But do they really deserve to be hunted down and beaten? Because that's exactly what's been happening to them in Mexico. Reports Exclaim, "the violence began March 7, when an estimated 800 young people poured into the Mexican city of Queretaro's main plaza 'hunting' for emo kids to pummel. Then the following weekend similar violence occurred in Mexico City at the Glorieta de Insurgents, a central gathering space for emos." Click for the video of violent anti-emo mobs! (Don't worry, they're fighting back with rainbow banners.)

  
  

  

  
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  Sadults Move Back Home [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: March 21st, 2008, 2:19pm CDT by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Welcome to the recession! The AP reports that in the midst of a "slumping economy and the credit crunch," adult children are moving back into their parents' homes. Except they're not all 25 — some are middle-aged?! Well, at least one: they interview a 52-year-old and a 27-year-old who have moved back home. A financial planner in California "has never seen older children, even those in their 50s, depending so much on their parents as in the last six months."

  And parents are giving their kids money like never before, maybe even threatening their own retirement plans!

  That's probably why life insurance company New York Life has an inadvertently hilarious set of instruction on their website on how to control those so-called "boomerang kids." ("Remember: it's still your house.")

  

  
  

  

  
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  Arsonists Are "Activists" To Times [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: March 4th, 2008, 12:44am CST by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  That patchouli-wearing hippie who likes to set houses on fire? He's just a misunderstood "anti-sprawl activist" to the Times. Here's how the paper started a blog post about a string of arsons near Seattle:

  For people who are anti-sprawl activists — or have baser motives — a new-built house sitting empty in a previously rural area evidently makes a ripe target for an attack by fire.

  You have to love the distinction between people who want to burn down a house for morally pure anti-sprawl reasons and people who want to burn down a house for "baser motives."

  In this case, the "activists" left a sign saying they were from the ecoterror group "Earth Liberation Front" and also left graffiti saying "burn the rich." NB to ELF: Wanton destruction of the lives of the rich and powerful has now shifted to blogs and is, for the moment, perfectly legal.

  Times: House Fires With a Message in the Northwest

  [via NewsBusters]

  
  

  

  
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  Starbucks Employee: Lessons Learned During Shutdown [From The Mailbag]

  Posted: February 27th, 2008, 2:09pm CST by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  "...We basically got paid to come in and do nothing for a few hours which was fine... until i got hungry. Then it sucked. We could have learned all that in five minutes at the begging (sic) of a shift. Because "Don't serve a drink that you know is going to taste like crap" is a pretty easy guideline to follow. Although that would preclude us from serving the new Honey Latte, which tastes exactly like burned milk. What I don't get is who really cares that Starbucks closed for three hours? If you think the coffee is shit then... great it shouldn't have affected you. If you love it so much that you angrily bang on the door for a half hour... you need to discover internet porn or something."

  
  

  

  
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  Polaroid Just Obsoleted Your Blog, Hipster [Creative Underclass]

  Posted: February 11th, 2008, 3:06am CST by Ryan Tate

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  It's true, and soon the hipsters will be reading it on each others' Tumblrs or whatever: Polaroid is getting out of the film business, closing factories and hoping someone will be stupid enough to buy their technology even though they themselves stopped making cameras a year ago. Experts say the move is long overdue, but a dollars and cents calculation misses the awful human toll: literally dozens of young aspiring artists left unable to photograph their ridiculous friends using a retro analog tool that pales and mutes its subjects. The terrifying news has only just begun to trickle through the Polaroid fetishist community. In the meantime, here are some of the hardest hit.

  Rony's Photo Booth (first pic). At a minimum, will have to change the entire theme of its home page. BJ Panda Bear (second): More of a dabbler in the format. Gorilla Vs. Bear (third): Many Polaroids here. Also: Panda Toes, Not On The Guest List.

  

  

  

  
  

  

  
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  Watch Out, Cougars! [The Rich]

  Posted: February 6th, 2008, 4:34pm CST by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  The "sugar mamas" cruising the profiles for potential "boy toys" at online cougar-dating site Pocketchange NY might want to be careful. We spy the profile of one Neel Shah! What the lovelorn cougars probably don't realize is that Neel, AKA Former Gawker Intern Neel, Radar Online-r, and general man-about-town, is probably writing about his experience, as he is known to do. They might not want their awesome chatup lines broadcast all over the internets, and he'll definitely be crashing their little speed-dating event tomorrow. As it is, they're leaving him all sorts of lascivious comments...

  I don't care if his name is Apu Nahasapeemapetilon...I want to spread his masculine deliciousness on a some Hindu crackers and start going crazy.

  This guy is so hot, he makes steam look cool. Just look at those soulful eyes and artistically sculpted arms. Lock me up in a mountain chalet with nothing but this guy, a limitless supply of body oil and a basket of Swedish condoms. *Yelp!*

  I agree..he's totally worth my dowry

  
  

  

  
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  Fresh Direct Will Fix Heartache [Urban Anthropology]

  Posted: February 6th, 2008, 12:31pm CST by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Is Valentine's Day simply a stinging reminder of singlehood, like a coarse-grained sea salt rubbed into your painful, wounded heart? asks Fresh Direct, the home grocery-delivery service we can't afford. Well, yes. Luckily, they have some sort of five-step program to help us out. For some reason, they involve all manner of produce, delivered right to our door. Oh, and cat litter, naturally!

  We've got a few ideas on how to ease the suffering. Just check out this handy selection of our favorite items for the brokenhearted. From bitters (to match your mood) to thyme (said to heal all wounds) these items might just cushion the bumpy trip from your blind denial all the way to newfound acceptance of single life.

  You can choose from one of five familiar categories: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Choosing Anger means you should purchase the Seared Cajun Blackened Salmon (ready-to-cook), although we would have picked a steak (cooked rare, almost bloody).

  Choosing Acceptance involves buying Fresh Step Scoopable Cat Litter, which clearly means you've accepted your fate, and will end up alone.
  

  
  

  

  
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  Babies: 1; Park Slope Bars: 0 [Urban Anthropology]

  Posted: February 1st, 2008, 4:26pm CST by Sheila

  Tags:  Creative underclass  

  Among creative, evolved-ish Park Slope parenting types, bringing your kid to the bar is perfectly acceptable. After all, what better way to express your feelings of, "I'm not sure I'm really ready or equipped to be a parent! I still haven't been a rock star/fashion designer yet!" Last week, Union Hall put an end to nonsense and banned strollers. Outrage ensued--how dare parents not be allowed to drag their spawn to whatever inappropriate venue they want? It was babies versus a bar, and the babies won, the The Brooklyn Paper reports.

  
  
  

  Strollers will now be allowed "a few afternoons a week." The owner goes on to point out that there was a sound reason behind the decision that sparked all that righteous indignation:

  A lot of parents are great and mindful. But some are not that attentive to their kids when they're in here. This is a bar with an open stairwell and a bocce court. This is a business and we don't have the staff to police it.

  
  [Photo: Noelle D'Arrigo for the Brooklyn Paper]