burbster

a pre-college form of hipster; a sort of “beta-hipster” who is still in high school and does not live by himself or herself. to be a true burbster one must attend a private high school. other students often refer to burbsters as “artsy” and students who are not beta-hipsters will try to imitate the way the ideal burbster lives. true beta-hipsters partic-p-te in open mics, where they read poetry or play guitar; serve on the boards of their school’s prestigious literary magazines, listen to semi-obscure indie bands and are usually considered nerds as they have some degree of affinity for science fiction or reading. false beta-hipsters do not have the intellectual side of the equation, but embrace the same styles of music and dress—impostors are attracted to the fact that imitating the tastes they believe burbsters have will make them seen intelligent. impostors are preoccupied by doc-mentation and fill their facebook profiles with pictures of them standing in fields with sunflowers, while those who are genuine do not feel the need to relentlessly categorize and record their lives. true burbsters tend to gravitate toward j.crew, while fake ones shop at american apparel and urban outfitters. in many ways the burbster is the ant-thesis of the old “alpha” hipster, who is obsessed with drawing attention to their actions, and those who imitate the beta-hipster are (ideally) the last breath of the old hipster.
emma is such an imitation burbster. she has photo shoots in that field by her house but told me she failed all her finals and hates to read.