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semester three - randy chang

randyxchang.com · 39 words · saved by 1 readers

I wrote, albeit briefly, in 2024 about the urban monoculture. Let me say a few more things about that. A lot of my life seems to mirror this global urban elitist purview. I eat bowl-ish things for most of my meals, I lift weights, I run or walk on an incline for cardio, I listen to electronic music, I wear lululemon and Arcteryx,[1] and any unique, distinguishing factors like the weird interests I take in backpacks, socks, or books seem to be neutered, standardised forms of those interests; just as cosmopolitan restaurants all have the same lowercase font formatting, just as the Spotify algorithm injects just enough variety. I think the frustrating thing is the feeling that the various progress bars that constitute my life are not deliberately selected, but instead assigned. And even goals we can take pride in being distinct — a wellness lifestyle, etc — are often subsets of urban monoculture in sufficiently major cities.[2] Or in some cases, just the urban monocultures of other major

Randy Chang ☰ home me? wheee! — Muhammad Ali, 1975 As is true of many writers, their words were better than they were. — Tim Kreider about aesthetics blogroll books pt.1 books pt.2 books pt.3 now quotes gap writing

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