Notes from the River

When a Fox News correspondent goes on a rant about bi-coastal, college-educated liberal elites, I can’t help but feel a little called out. It’s not that I’m not all of those things, it’s just that no one likes being exposed so blatantly by the other side. However, I’ve decided to take this in my stride. That’s right, I am pretentious, and here’s just some of the reasons why.

• I own a record player that I actually use
• I own two different Ethiopian jazz records
• I have a semi-ironic collection of democratic presidential memorabilia
• I’ve read multiple works by Joan Didion
• I went to a historic women’s college
• Sofia Coppola is my favorite nepo-baby
• I own multiple Criterion Edition DVDs
• I have a film camera, but I always make sure to tell people it’s my mom’s from the 80’s
• I work in the entertainment industry
• I sometimes unironically refer to it as “the industry”
• I majored in Media Studies (What does that mean? – exactly)
• I frequently correct people in TikTok comment sections
• My favorite musical is Chess, and if you’ve never heard of it that means I’m just that much cooler than you
• I know who Isamu Noguchi is
• I know what postmodernism is
• I speak Japanese (not my fault, I grew up there)
• I subscribe to an independently published soccer culture magazine (in an intellectual way)
• I know what a zine is
• I have a favorite film (In the Mood for Love) and a favorite movie (Clueless)
• I’ve been to multiple poetry readings
• I have a blog

Stay tuned: next week I’ll tell you what I’m not pretentious about!