H 23°, L 4° | Tomorrow: 
H 21°, L 6°Furry boots are the new shoes. Leggings are the new pants. Orange is the new skin tone. Girlfriends call each other “lover,” guys call each other “broski” and year after year “Chad” and “Lance” play bags on their front lawn … shirtless.
Getting caught up in the image: a trend that is very much alive at the University of Wisconsin. It’s a raw blend of insecurity, self-consciousness and pseudo-pride that crafts the need for status and affiliation. Economists and social scientists continue to prove competitive spending shapes social identity, and it is definitely visible on campus. Elegant high-rises push out traditional college housing, tanning salons infiltrate apartment complexes and text messages via “Blackberry” phones outnumber real conversations 20:1. We are what we buy.
Being “broke” is something the majority of college students have always had in common, which allows for that fresh start after high school graduation. The bullying Marilyn Manson/Slipknot cult stayed back to study witchcraft at community college, while the idolized star point guard is back home raising a baby. College is the opportunity to leave the image behind, a chance to escape a land of the niche where the population creamed jeans over popularity. It didn’t matter if you once were the chump who wore Starter jackets everyday, or the boastful chap who drove a Hummer, or the gal who was “more than friends” with the entire football team — you could leave all of that behind and meet new comrades regardless of past status, social class or economic standing.
Yet, the cliques endure. Preps have evolved into bros, and the “plastics” and “posers” live on in some form or another. These social identities share one nucleus, as their visual brand loyalty is shaped with Timbaland boots and bug-eyed sunglasses that cover nearly every square inch of polished orange.
The Lucky apartment complex is perhaps the most poignant display of the visualization of purchasing power. The extraordinary structure of the future on University Avenue is filled with plush living quarters, food courts and UV tanning coffins that could only be suited for a princess. What happened to mac ‘n’ cheese for three meals a day and catching some rays on the walk to class? If you’re not getting tan enough, walk slower.
While I’ve literally had money thrown at me from the Lucky balconies, I try not to have animosity toward its residents, despite being pegged in the melon by metal coinage. The building is physically impressive and is an obvious economic gain to the campus, but the social consequences are UW. Do we really need a bellhop in a velvet suit to open the door for us while we gossip on the cell with one hand and pull at our spandex-wedgie with the other? I guess the answer is yes.
In our younger days, we all had the same knapsacks, stanky lockers and desks with carvings of penises in various shapes and sizes. In college, competitive consumption visibly molds tightly-knit social identities, as potential new group members are tested/verified through gossip, trendy attire and paddling rituals.
With conformity to pre-established social identities and status markers, fashion trends spread quicker than the norovirus through freshmen dorms while lecture notes are replaced by Facebook photos on laptops thinner than the souls of their users.
We all enjoy buying new things — after all we’re Americans — but it seems unnatural to assimilate to a homogeneous group that assembles based on a uniform appearance, familiar symptoms of brand fashion and new purchases that establish a “brotherhood” and a false sense of entitlement.
No one wants to be at the bottom of the totem pole; that’s where the weeds grow and the wild animals poo. But if one chops down that wood tower of social ranking and places those ancient Tekken heads side by side, no one will know the difference between the master chief and the peon who made his breakfast.
Brett Wisniewski ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism.
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It’s not “The Lucky.” It’s simply “Lucky.” Your whole article sounds ridiculous and it’s hard to take you seriously when you didn’t actually do enough research to realize this simple fact.
Maybe it’s your editor, who typically comes up with headlines, since you got it right in the article, however.
Oh, and brilliant line: “…while lecture notes are replaced by Facebook photos on laptops thinner than the souls of their users.”
LOVES IT, broski!
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hard hitting journalism here. is statesider next?!
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Excellent piece!
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Brett,
I am not sure what this piece’s topic is. Your last paragraph is borders upon gibberish
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I wish someone could document the day when Mommy and Daddy cut off Chad’s flow of unearned income and he has to put his poly sci degree to good use at the Sbarro in the Newark airport. Priceless.
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Don’t get me wrong—I live in a semi-crappy little apartment I have a job and I can’t afford a blackberry…
But even I can say that this article is more than a little pretentious, a tad bit self-righteous, and bordering on class-envy.
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Hilarious! A Tour De Force! TAKE THAT, COASTIES! GWWWWWW!
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Did you really take the time to write an article about social hierarchy. The old days of college as a haven against punishment and a basic free-for-all existed in the days of Animal House and before the drinking age was raised. Coincidentally that was a time when only upper middle class people could truly afford decent colleges. This article is dumb you’re just a complainer Brett.
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It’s frustrating to see people always use ugg/leggings/big sunglasses argument to discuss a trend and how lame people are who follow it. But what about the alternative kids that all wear neon colored jackets and jeans that I could not fit an arm into, paired with crazy colored shoes and political buttons all over their messenger bags proclaiming extreme left ideals? Or the gothic kids who all wear black with chains and listen to hard metal through their giant headphones? Or the kids who are always in generic jeans, wisconsin t-shirts, old tennis shoes, and brewer baseball caps? We all adhere to trends. It’s the human condition to want to be a part of something. While most people would argue “Well I do it because I want to/Because I like it”, the reality is is that it doesn’t matter which trend you adhere to and which you don’t. We’re all dressed like someone else and most likely associating ourselves with people like us. So stop hating on the coasties, you’re all doing the same thing as them just in a different outfit.
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sorry to tell you dude, but no were you go in the world and how old you are there are always cliques and the same like 20 molds of people. There will still be jocks in the old age home and preps at your work place. So suck it up, feel sorry for them and go on with your life
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Ooh boy, where do I start….
Well, here: first, I have no vested interest or motive to defend the cliques you attack in this piece. I love to judge books by covers, and make all sorts of generalizations, form all sorts of stereotypes and have all sorts of prejudices.
The difference? I keep them to myself.
There’s absolutely no need to bring stereotypes of a certain group of people into this. The point you’re trying to make can be made about nearly any clique of people out there. You could even bring up Lucky without having to generalize in an attempt to describe everyone that lives there [I am quite sure you offended several people who don’t fit your description, too].
You bring up [and generalize and steretype once again] cliques of Marilyn Manson fans, and the jock as well— what about the knowitall kid who held onto these stereotypes well into college and is now publicizing them, effectively marketing some sort of further social stratification in his college newspaper?
Take a step back and learn a lesson from what you’re trying to preach, kid. I really do think your intentions are good— that is if your intentions were to bring up awareness about the emphasis we all put on material things [ok, almost all]; that consumption is a fashion, but one that rages like fire and spreads like disease.
It’s in your execution that you fail.
I’m frankly sort of disappointed, although not entirely surprised, that the Badger Herald printed this. ASOs to ugged, goggled & oranged coasties, or to skinnylegjeaned hipsters are fine, but not very appropriate in the OpEds.
Also, to split hairs, it’s not a “Blackberry” or a “brotherhood”, it’s a Blackberry and a brotherhood. At least be consistent— if you say “Blackberry”, then say “Tekken”. But seriously, don’t.
And Timbaland makes beats. Timberlands is what he wears.
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you’re a douche bag. suck balls dickhead
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Wow, i dont even know where to start. I understand where a lot of this comes from cause there are some coastie girls here who make the rest of us look terrible, in fact there is a lot of people who are disgusting to that regard. But the fact is, while you live in your dwelling college apartment, we are living nicer than we will when we get out of college, and that extra rent is absolutely worth it. Some of us, myself included, actually pay our tuition and rent, i bet not even you could say that. So stop hating cause my apartment is nice, complain all you want but while you wanna wear your bill folded brewers hat and hollister shirts that say “so cal”, we came to this school cause we respect it and are proud to go to school here, the divide sucks and it exists but your just ignorant and need to go back to Oconomowoc.
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this article is hilarious. great work.
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The argumene that has been going on in this feedback section has been completely misquided. The real crime of ‘Lucky’ is its exclusivity. For those of you whose roots at madison go back further than a year or two you may remember the old ‘university square’, complete with OUR theatre, where one could indulge drinks with friends while watching a random film, regardless of whether that beer was the PBR he/she snuck in, or the Spotted Cow he got on tap at the theatre. It also featured the original Madhatters, not this cheap watered down version that claims to be its descendent. But I digress, the point is, this prime piece of real estate was once utilized by a large percentage of the university. Now it is an ivory tower of exclusion. Rather than approving this building for the tax income it would bring the city, and the money it would make the developer, the city should have created a communal greenspace, which would have raised the value of all the surrounding buildings, and improved the quality of life of everyone living on the isthmus. Alas, the city lost a great opportunity, and now we are stuck with silver-spoon wielding chumps, both coastie and sconnie, towering over the heart of our university.
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It is sad to see that you are a senior majoring in journalism. With the at least 3 1/2 years behind you, in your filed, couldn’t one expect something more thriving and better thought out. I am not a Lucky resident, nor would I ever be, but seriously you putting judgement on them is worse than them throwing crap out of their windows. You ahve now done, what I am sure you set out to not do, which is lower yourself to their standards. But anywho hopefully UW can help you in your last semester here and give you crash courses in good journalism.
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Wow, i dont even know where to start. I understand where a lot of this comes from cause there are some coastie girls here who make the rest of us look terrible, in fact there is a lot of people who are disgusting to that regard. But the fact is, while you live in your dwelling college apartment, we are living nicer than we will when we get out of college, and that extra rent is absolutely worth it. Some of us, myself included, actually pay our tuition and rent, i bet not even you could say that. So stop hating cause my apartment is nice, complain all you want but while you wanna wear your bill folded brewers hat and hollister shirts that say “so cal”, we came to this school cause we respect it and are proud to go to school here, the divide sucks and it exists but your just ignorant and need to go back to Oconomowoc.
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I laughed out loud at this article. You are so right! I feel like this every time I walk past Starbucks. Or up Langdon Street.
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@ 2:01
field* have*
Spell-check much? Go back to crying to your daddy about your ever shrinking trust fund you biznitch.
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Even though you had to do no research or hard work for this article, I love it. The difference between these snobby, ugg-lovin’, self centered wastes of space and the rest of the campus who choose to define ourselves in other ways… we don’t look down on everyone else and throw s* at people from our balconies.
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Wow I am disappointed in the Herald for printing this. This truly is jibberish at it’s finest.
I also took the time to read your previous articles (this website is so convenient!)and those are all garbage as well. I find it hard to grasp the point of each article.
Mike Gundy said it best, “That’s why I don’t read the newspaper, because its GARBAGE!”
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Wow I am disappointed in the Herald for printing this. This truly is jibberish at it’s finest.
I also took the time to read your previous articles (this website is so convenient!)and those are all garbage as well. I find it hard to grasp the point of each article.
Mike Gundy said it best, “That’s why I don’t read the newspaper, because its GARBAGE!”
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You make it seem like you get something thrown at you everytime walk outside Lucky. You seem like your just a loser looking to write a funny story, but the truth is there’s plenty of chill people in lucky, your clearly a judgemental douchebag.
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Brett,
Your article is of no use because us coasties dont read the newspaper unless there are KK drink specials printed in there.
I only found this article because i was searching the web for “broski” to keep up with my bropinion articles.
p.s. im not a coastie, im from Florida.
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@1:50pm: Exactly.
“The point is, this prime piece of real estate was once utilized by a large percentage of the university. Now it is an ivory tower of exclusion.”
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“…this article is more than a little pretentious, a tad bit self-righteous, and bordering on class-envy” - couldn’t have said it better myself. Way to reinforce stereotypes and further divide this already segregated campus.
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The comment at 10:49 says it all.
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This columns fails to address the infinitely more puzzling group of dudes who wear those inexplicable Hollister/American Eagle/Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts. I desperately need to know what the fuck is going on with that.
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DOWN WITH THE BOURGEOISIE PIGS OF LUCKY
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“but the truth is there’s plenty of chill people in lucky”
Oh cha brah? Im always looking to find more chill people.
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Unless you sew all of your own clothing from your own patterns that you design with fabric that you weave together by hand, then you, my self-righteous friend, are just as big of a trend follower as the ugg-wearing coasties.
Everyone needs to get over the coastie thing anyways. Who care if they like spandex? Who cares if “sconnies” like Hollister? Who cares if “alternative kids” like to roll their own cigarettes and shop at Goodwill?
Face it, we’re all followers. People need to stop assuming they are so much better than everyone else based off of their living and clothing preferences because, in reality, we’re all the same.
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To the jag bag that said they are “from florida and thus not a coastie”
SURPRISE FLORIDA is on THE EAST COAST…..
Lrn2Geography Coastie
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there are plenty of things wisconsin/midwesterners do (“sconnies” i guess) that are incredibly annoying/amusing/puzzling to the people from the coast, such as myself. the difference is, most coasties just aren’t so uptight that they actually write shoutouts and newspaper columns about the shoes a person is wearing, or how big someone’s sunglasses are. get a life
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Good article and well written, but I think you forgot one clique to hate on; the people who feel they transcend the material world and work under the pretense that they alone have free thought. These are the people who walk around and feel they have the right to judge everyone they see based on their clothing, where they live, what they do, or what they look like strictly because they feel they have become “enlightened” to some higher order in their college years. They feel they are somehow better than everyone else because they cannot be molded, when they too are molded by the arrogant ideal that they are independent thinkers. This is the most hypocritical article I have ever read.
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omg who cares.
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Your Live Journal account misses your High School tears.
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I thought Skye Kalkstein was too young to have a kid…
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Ya’ll suck. There are both chill and shitty people who live in Lucky. The person who threw their Miller Lite can at me from his balcony = D BAG. I just have a problem with college students living in luxury while my parents, who have legit careers, live in a nice house but nothing near Lucky. Of course, this is how it is everywhere and will always be, because some people just have enough money to live that way.