Starbucks client may be working a bold departure from mainstream nonmainstreamism

DJ: Here’s a couple of softballs for you: (1) What do you think of an apparent hipster walking past one of the hippest coffee shops in SD to visit a Starbucks? (2) Does living life to the fullest include reading a book or watching TV? — Dave, Normal Heights

I kind of feel like you’re trying to trick me with (1). I mean, is an apparent hipster necessarily a bona fide hipster? If not, well, a pseudo-hipster cruising past, say, Dark Horse Coffee roasters on his way to ’Bucks would be following his mainstream heart to the natural wellspring of averageness. On the flip side, an actual hipster passing up independently roasted single-origin pour-over for 12 ounces of mediocre darkish roast, well, he’s either working a bold departure from mainstream nonmainstreamism or meeting a mainstream Tinder date who can’t live without her pumpkin spice lattes (it is getting to be that time of year, after all). So, yes with an if, no with a but.

As for (2). Um. Yeah. 100 percent of fully lived lives can include those things. I know for a fact my life would be unrealized without Game of Thrones and Neal Stephenson novels.

P.S. I took out one, single space from your letter that really wasn’t helping you. Bet you can guess where it was.