Is Boho Dead?

Just a thought: On the question of bohemianism, I think it is dead because one can no longer live on the cheap in America without suffering terrible ramifications and scorn. I know many younger people. Few if any are concerned with that lifestyle, surprising numbers of them don't even have a context for such thinking. They scorn it themselves and are fighting to "succeed," struggling with college debt, and working much harder than I ever felt it necessary to work, and for comparably far less money in an extremely limited job market. I don't see boho out there as much as I see anger. Look at all the young people involved in the Occupy This and That movement. That isn't boho. That is an extreme version of social dissent borne of real and justifiable concerns about the future.

Maybe they are being forced into a more realistic, or material, worldview themselves. Ten years in Starbucks could do that to a worker.

For the record, Deemer says I'm wrong, that boho has perhaps changed and gone further underground, but remains a vital force.

For his part, Bacon says I'm full of "shit."

Come on you guys, you probably think books are still relevant, too!


TS