In the print edition of TIME, my Culture Complex this week is about the burgeoning and horrifying phenomenon of hipster-parent memoirs. Toddlers in mosh pits! Babies in indie record stores! Gen-X parents clinging to their alternative cred with Veggie Booty-stained fingers!
Of course, it’s not a hipster scene without a feud among splinter groups, and the alternaparent scene has obliged here. Those of you interested in further reading can check out this online altercation between Lisa Carver (“punk-rock sex writer” and parenting essayist at online parenting ‘zine Babble) and Neal Pollack, author of the seminal memoir Alternadad, which I discuss at length in my column. In a nutshell, Carver says Pollack uses irony as a crutch; Pollack counters that Carver needs to lighten up. If you can figure out which is the pot and which is the kettle, please let me know.