Hipstamatic.
You are hipstamatic. Like Hipstamatic, the application for cell phones that makes photos look like they were shot with a vintage analog camera. Through a filter, a filter that makes everything older and hipper, a filter with automatic nostalgia, nostalgia for the present. For only one dollar and ninety-nine cents.
I imagine it costs you more to be so hipstamatic. Worn t-shirts, a pair of loafers, and a leather over-the-shoulder-bag are not that cheap. Being hipstamatic is less digital.
Your friends have hipstamatic filters, too. Obviously.
You look tired. Actually, you look a little sick, but it might just be the hipstamatic filter. You should probably take a nap, have a night in, but it’s hard to be hipstamatic if you are not seen.
When you use the Hipstamatic application on your phone to take a photo of your hipstamatic self, it is almost too much.
Kara M. Bollinger is a graduate student at the University of Kansas, where she is pursuing her Master's in Rhetoric and Composition. Her work has been published in Midwestern Review, Prick of the Spindle, and The Connecticut Review.