"Hip" No More

Posted by Bruce Miller
I’ve taken down the meanderings I posted on Dec 19 called Addressing My Dislocated “Hip.” My intentions when I wrote that misguided effort were:
• to publicize and congratulate Bianca Bryan, the wonderful actress who played Mathilde in The Clean House and recently snagged a performing gig on Letterman, and
• to poke fun at my innate lack of “hip-ness” (David Letterman being a hipster extraordinaire).

I should have stopped there. Instead, I went on to mention how some folks never come to Barksdale because they perceive we’re not as “hip” as they want us to be. I listed Barksdale shows that I thought were “hip.” I used Bianca’s uber-hip gig on Letterman to prompt this exclamation: “So take that, you hipsters!”

I should have kept my mouth shut. I intended it all to be in good clean fun. I’ve since learned that quite a few of you thought I was being serious, mean-spirited and/or critical of other theatres in Greater Richmond.

In the comments to the post—it brought in more comments than any article in months, over 20 all told—my good friends Frank Creasy and Grant Mudge advised me that a director from Richmond Shakespeare, James Bond, also had recently been on Letterman. I thought this was great to hear—a fun news item of which I had not been previously aware. I clicked Grant’s link to Mr. Bond’s appearance and had a grand old time watching James read the Top Ten.

However, in the comment I left in response to the Creasy and Mudge comments, I replied not by saying I enjoyed the James Bond video, but by saying: “Curse you Creasy and Mudge!! Out-hipped again!!!”

I’m 100% sure without even talking with them that Frank and Grant took no offense. We’re friends; they knew, I’m sure, that I was joking around. But I know now that some of you thought I was intending to disrespect them. I wasn't.

Then Angie Shipley and I exchanged a few blog comments (good-naturedly, I thought) about what is “hip” and what isn’t. I like Angie. I never thought she was “attacking” me, and I hope she didn’t think I was “attacking” her—but some of you thought both of us were going for each others' jugulars.

I should know by now—emails and blog posts scream sarcasm and evil intent to some people, even when none of that is what the authors had in mind.

To do my little bit for peace on earth (and dispel rumors of unrest), I simply took the whole thing down. I know no one intended to offend anyone. It seems odd to me that it came off that way. But if it did, it did.

Thank you, Michael Vandergrift, for your nice comment that wisely said "Forget about it," and offered a good deal more supportive and useful advice.

To those who had fun with the post, I'm glad. To those who didn't, I'm sorry. I wish each of you, gentle readers, the Happy Holidays of your choice.

And again, congrats to Bianca for landing the gig on Letterman.

--Bruce Miller