The site resonates with me and most of--okay, all of my friends. To the point where now, Lynnette and I decide which gatherings to attend based on whether they'll be "EBP events" or not. (Howard alumni happy hour? Of course. A club where sagging jeans and waist-long weaves are the fashion of choice? Not so much.) Yes, the site is funny, and yes, it teases us for some of our most pretentious habits (i.e. No. 20, "Correcting Others"), but really, we like the site because it lets us know it's okay to be...well... bourgie.G.D. retorts:
What grates about these bourgie treatises is that they always seem to be zealous celebrations of normativity. And as the kicker illustrates, there's often an awkward elevation of certain consumerist choices to the level of bold and necessary political statement -- even equating those choices with personal integrity. It's like some goofy world full of class markers where no affinity is organic (sans the food in the fridge!); what really matters is what those affinities Say About You.Basically. In much the same way as brothers on the corner confuse street knowledge with all knowledge, some of us confuse credentials with education. But you can be bourgie in the projects, and stuck on stupid in the 'burbs. Knocking someone for pronouncing asked as "axed" is no better than knocking a kid for "talking white."
The hood and the bourgeoisie have more in common than they'd like to admit. Miller approvingly cites a modern twist on an old black aphorism--"Conversate is not a word." Heh, except that it kinda is. And it's a beautiful one at that. Which is why I've always enjoyed Stuff Educated Black People Like. From the very title itself, the site mocks the pretensions of those of us who think ignorance is confined to the projects, and that a bachelor's degree and a plate of baked chicken is some sort of vaccine.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
The best post on that site was the one ripping into Howard (well, that, or the one about frats and sororities). I don't see it as validation for being bourgie, so much as calling out the foolishness. That's where Veronica got it wrong, I think.
The hood and the bourgeoisie have more in common than they'd like to admit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwaIWwuT1nI
Kudos
Reminds me of the story in the Autobiography of Malcom X where a guy comes up to Mr. Shabazz and has a conversation with him in the presence of an intelectual African American man and after the man leaves the intelectual turns to Malcom X and asks "What'd He say?"
I think you mean this: some of us confuse credentials with schooling.
Or, maybe not!
I meant to say, "some of us confuse schooling with learning."
There, I think that confuses things a bit more!
I second Shani-O, in that Stuff Educated Black People Like isn't supposed to be a validation of bourgie attitudes but rather a kind of mockery of them.
On the other hand, I've read a few posts on SEBL myself and I think that sometimes it's hard to tell if the blog's author is being gently mocking or celebratory. If someone has never read "Stuff White People Like" (which I think is better written) I could see them reading SEBL as a guide rather than as a satire.
If I beg, will my fellow posters please from using "bourgie"? Pseudoization of 19th century Francophilia causes me extreme pain. It's a medical condition, please have merci.
As posted to Stuff Educated Black People Like:
OK, BP, EBP and UEPB, I’ve had it with your insensitive characterization of my lack of skin color. I am, henceforth, an “ADEP”, which means, of course, “American descended from European peasantry”. As if lack of color predisposes me to like certain things more than other things or causes me to think like all the other PLC (”people lacking color”, ‘natch). And what’s up with this white conspiracy crap? Have ALL the PLC organized a big conspiracy party and they didn’t invite me? Most be that damned independent thinking and refusal to trade in superficial labels - is there a 12-step program? - I must need a “cure”. Perhaps all the ADEPs were left out, you know, because it really isn’t a white conspiracy, its really an exercise in WASP hereditary rights, and even though many BP are descended from people forced to immigrate 10+ generations ago, they are treated like they are only 2 generations removed from the stinking hold of a European steamer. “Subtle societal rules” and related WASPy crap. In other words, treated kind of like an ADEP.
PS - “Stuff White People Like” is stupid and “Stuff EPB Like” is worse. Making fun of anything containing the word “educated” is retarded. At least plenty of PLC set themselves up for ridicule, you know, saying stuff like “NASCAR is a sport”. Shout out to that Ravens fan!
*is* it OK to be bourgie? damn - who knew?
I can tell already that I'm really going to enjoy your blog :)
I think equating correcting someone for pronouncing "asked" axed, to saying someone "talks white" is off base. One is an objective fact and the other is stupidity. Although, there is no such thing as "talking white," isnt there a correct way to pronounce asked?
Why is it automatically considered classist to point out the correct pronunciation of a word? If I was hiring and someone used "axed" or "conversate" it would impact me negatively. Shouldnt we stress that to the younger generation instead of being so afraid of being called classist, that we let bad bahevaior go in the name of "culture"?
I use plenty of bad grammer and cuss words to, but the point is to first know the correct way to use the English language and the time and place to use your street dialect. It does our kids a disservice to allow them to continue bad habits in the name of cultural authenticity. If you can turn it on and off, great. But many cannot. This isnt about classism, its about survival in the professional world.