| An article by Alexander
lowlife bohemians vs. bourgeois bohemians
In the 70's and 80's, many people disillusioned with mainstream culture and
politics, especially artists, musicians, and former political/environmental
activists moved away from the urban centers to smaller towns, which had been bypassed
by the interstate highways and the suburban culture. They stopped, and then reversed,
the slow decline of these towns by rebuilding and renovating the existing structures
and made them their homes and places of work. Some of these small towns, now
called "latte towns", like Bisbee, AZ, Lambertville, NJ/New Hope, PA, Silver City,
NM, Marfa, TX are, since a number of years, becoming increasingly populated and/or
visited by bobos (bourgeois bohemians). Bobos are financially well off, college
educated, middle-aged people interested in music, arts, philosophy, etc. Bored with
their corporate jobs in the big cities in which they live, the bobos are now buying
second/retirement or vacation homes in those towns or stay there a couple of weeks
every year in fancy hotels or bed and breakfast inns. The major way the bobos contribute
to those communities is by spending money on fancy restaurants, entertainment (art),
taxes, etc., otherwise leaching off the cultural environment created by others.
Lobos (lowlife bohemians), by contrast, feel more akin to the spirit of those who
originally revived these small towns. They want to restore and revive through their
own efforts, actively participating and contributing to the cultural life of their
communities. They don't mind eating macaroni and cheese and prefer drinking coffee
from an old percolator to a triple mocha latte.
Because the bobos are driving up real estate prices and the cost of living in many
places, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the lobos to find a place to
live/vacation and express themselves. Lobo, Texas (www.lobo-texas.com) wants to be
one of those places and invites all interested people to actively participate in its
rebuilding and cultural activities.
*** The term bobo comes from the book "Bobos in Paradise" by David
Brooks.
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