In Progress

I’m moving to New York in August to go to the New School for Media Studies, which is pretty much the best possible thing that could be happening right now. However, I am getting awfully nervous about the  supposedly astronomical cost of living. Finding a place to stay. Paying city tax on top of state and federal. Lower salaries (in some cases anyway). There are all sorts of things to start worritin over, and my restless mind doesn’t have anything else to do for the next couple of months (other than mountains of pressing work) so of course this issue of my forthcoming hand to mouth existence has been a mental preoccupation.

The New York Times has a supremely useless article designed expressly to blow my fears out of proportion, called Starting Salaries but New York Tastes. Choice quotes from exceptionally privileged young ladies pepper the article:

Anticipating, rightly, that her Manhattan digs would be cramped and her budget stretched, Ms. Werkheiser, 26, shipped 18 boxes of her clothes to her parents’ house in Omaha before moving here from San Francisco.

18 boxes of clothes??? How big are these boxes? I’m pretty sure my entire wardrobe can fit into two boxes. One if it’s TV box.

Before moving from San Francisco last fall, Ms. Werkheiser realized that paying salon prices for platinum tresses in New York would require cutting back on needs like food and shelter. “So I went natural,” said Ms. Werkheiser. “I dyed it dark, a New York brunette.”

Ugh. Just — ugh.

Some indulgences are less negotiable than others. So Ms. Varney, formerly a self-professed “huge Sephora shopper,” allows herself Dior mascara and high-shine lip gloss, which cost about $25 each. “Everything else, I’ve regressed and buy at Duane Reade,” she said. Ms. Werkheiser refuses to give up her Bumble and Bumble shampoo. “I don’t do drugstores,” she said. “I will eat Pringles for dinner instead.”

Who reported this article? Why are the subjects not even SLIGHTLY representative?

“I find in other cities guys are more apt to buy you drinks and expect nothing from it,” Ms. Mooney said. “Here, if they do buy you a drink, which is rare, you have to suffer through flirtations. It’s true,” she said, adding, “It’s really cheesy.”

Aaaw. FUCK you.

Posted on May 28th, 2008 by DeepthiW
Filed under: Media, Uncategorized