Christian Lander, author of the book Stuff White People Like speaks up about hummus, Portland, Indie music and more
By Malori Maloney
Arguably home to one of the more homogeneous college populations in the Northwest, the University of Portland is home to a largely white student body going to school in what the Washington Post called the whitest major city in the U.S. What are these white people all about? Toronto native Christian Lander, creator of the blog Stuff White People Like and author of the book of the same title, has the answers. In both his blog and his New York Times bestseller, Lander lists and deconstructs "you guessed it" stuff white people like. His definitive guide to the unique taste of millions includes coffee, organic food, having black friends, 80s night, The Colbert Report, Indie music, liberal arts degrees, bottles of water and self-importance, to name a few. As a white person, he writes with a self-deprecating sense of humor and appropriately, self-deprecation is included in Stuff White People Like. According to Lander, his qualifications for writing the book include his 30 years of experience as a white person and the big mirror in his home. His blog began as a result of an instant message conversation between Lander and his friend Myles Valintin. Valintin, who is of Filipino ethnicity, was gushing to Lander about how great the show "The Wire" is. He jokingly proclaimed that he didn't trust any white person who didn't watch "The Wire" and mused about what white people who didn't watch the show might be doing instead. "We started throwing things back and forth like yoga, going to plays, getting divorced, going to therapy," Lander said. "I thought, okay, this is hilarious. It's blog time." Links to the blog spread like wildfire and by the end of February, Lander had to choose an agency to publish a book version of the blog. Four of the five major publishing agencies in Los Angeles, his current city of residence, were vying to help him turn his blog into a book. By March he had to quit his job as a copywriter in order to write the second half of the book, which was published in July. Lander said he thinks one of the reasons the blog and book have been so popular has to do with the open-ended format; the guide can be added to. Readers frequently send emails suggesting items to add to the list of Stuff White People Like but two things Lander says he will never add to the list are mayonnaise and the blog itself. In explaining the book, Lander pointed out the evolution of the "keeping up with the Jones'" trend. Basically white middle-class Americans used to compete for the bigger house, the nicer car, and so on, but newer generations have turned their focus toward different unspoken competitions. According to Lander, now we try to prove our status by demonstrating authenticity, environmental awareness, and so on. We're still as competitive as ever, Lander said. He points out that many of the things the book lists are good in and of themselves, but when people use them to compete and elevate their statuses, those things lose value. The book is really about all these things I do that I can't stop myself from doing, Lander said. He clarified that the white people he talks about in his book are not all Caucasian people, but a subset of upper middle-class, liberal white people like the ones from his hometown of Toronto. While in Portland, he noted the similarities between white Portlanders and the white people in Toronto. If Toronto and Vancouver (B.C.) had sex, Portland would be their child, Lander said. Portland even has its own entry in his book. Portland, Ore. is essentially a Lord of the Flies scenario with white people in the Pacific Northwest instead of children in the South Pacific, an excerpt reads. In both cases, we have a situation whereby a homogeneous group of people is left alone in an area with no one to keep them in check. Eventually the euphoria and self-congratulation devolves into savagery and murder. Stuff White People Like is available at most bookstores, including the UP bookstore and Powells, where Lander spoke about the book a few weeks back. His blog is www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com.
