Dose of Reality for Trust Fund Kids
Reality (along with a little schadenfreude) has come to the post-college rental market in Williamsburg: According to an article in The Times this weekend, the twenty-somethings who’ve been able to rely on Mom and Dad when the first of the month rolled around are finding that they have to come up with the rent the…
Reality (along with a little schadenfreude) has come to the post-college rental market in Williamsburg: According to an article in The Times this weekend, the twenty-somethings who’ve been able to rely on Mom and Dad when the first of the month rolled around are finding that they have to come up with the rent the old-fashioned way now that the older generation is struggling more under the weight of the financial crisis. And while having less time to play in a band or work on a canvas may not be music to the ears of those used to being on the receiving end of parental largesse, some who watched jealously without help can’t help but take some pleasure in their neighbors’ misfortune. If I’m going to be completely honest, it does make me feel a little bit better, said one struggling wallpaper designer. It’s bringing a lot of Williamsburg back to reality.
Parents Pulling the Plugs on Williamsburg Trust-Funders [NY Times]
Photo by Ando228
Bxgirl- I agree that arts education is sorely lacking (it certainly was in my pre-college education) and perhaps you are right. Perhaps the lack of arts education has led to this dilletantism in which one thinks that because they can put paint to canvas, etc. that they are an artist. Without an understanding of the history of art and an appreciation for the special talents and skills involved in artistic creation, these new artists have no yardstick against which to measure whether they have any talent (esp. in the tangible arts). But this is the postmodern endgame- if everything is subjective, everything can be art. I personally find that notion trite. Ok, I’ll step down from my soapbox.
Those poor hipsters in garrets with their consumption.
Bxgirl, I don’t think a lack of art school is the issue. Rather the opposite.
Then again, I also think the entire twentieth-century ideal of the artist is somewhat problematic.
orestes- I know quite a few also 🙂 and maybe it’s just I’m not in touch with any trustafarians in the “creative arts” . Most of the kids I know of that age are working and earning their own money. My nephew started working summers as soon as he was old enough to get a job. All of his friends and cousins too.
I can believe that some kids these days seem to be living out the romanticized Victorian poor artiste fantasy, without the garret and the TB but I also blame the state of education. The arts and humanities have been losing ground in the schools for years. I’ve heard (and read) people saying they are unimportant and frivolous compared to math, science, etc. Isn’t it possible that kids today in creative fields just don’t get the background except what they absorb via media and the internet?
Ha! What you crack me up. I have been telling people for years who complain about bad mass transit to shut up and buy a car. The MTA is the government’s way of saying to New Yorkers: buy a freakin’ car like a normal person!
bxgirl- I don’t think people resent artists and creative types, just poseurs. I have lived in Greenpoint for the last 17 years and watched the change in the Northside over the years. I have met more “artists” who knew nothing about art history and could not enunciate an artistic vision if their lives depended on it. These people hold very little interest to me and garner no sympathy from me.
On the larger theme, people who contribute nothing, like these so-called adults, are a blight on a community. That has certainly been the case in Wmsbg/Greenpoint.
gosh- who knew people resented artists and creative types so much? Maybe people gravitate towards the field because they love creativity and art and find finance, food service and desk jobs not to their taste. I’ve been in the arts all my working life in one way or another- my parents were working class, not rich so there was no trust fund, no cushion. It isn’t fun and games- I love what I do and the arts and design affect us in ways most of us don’t even think about. It isn’t all Hollywood, funky design and ennui books. Maybe the trustafarians are getting way more hype than they deserve, but for the rest of us who do creative work for a living- its a profession, not a walk in the park.
Sam was speaking from a view point on Covert Race/Class warfare. Sam is a fucking douchebag! Just like the rest of the Assheads! Don’t worry it’s over!
The What (Buy a car)
Someday this war is gonna end…
Wow, this really is a sour grapes fest…what business is it of ours what other people do with their money? Terrible article anyway, as many have pointed out.