Art teacher Michael Leistner wears Clark’s Original Desert Boots, neutral-tone jeans, a button-up shirt, and black blazer. He grabbed a cup of coffee at Picasso’s before riding his fixed-speed bike to school.

Though Leistner rides a “fixie,” like many hipsters, he ardently expresses that he is not one.

“I race bikes,” Leistner said. “I don’t ride bikes with skinny jeans and earrings like all the little hipsters do. They’re shallow. They’re like sheep. They kind of look and dress like their favorite hipsters.”

Long-time friend and fellow art teacher Denise Maples would consider him a hipster. Leistner believes he’s more “mod.”

“He’s always trying to be cutting edge and experimental in hairstyle and dress,” Maples said. “He doesn’t like to be cliche.”

Leistner values individuality over conformity at this point in his life.

“If anyone’s trying to be anything, I know it sounds cliche, but be yourself,” Leistner said. “And if that’s who you are, great. I think when I was young, I was guilty of that too, trying to be something. Now that I’m old, I don’t care. I think if I were in my twenties, hey, I might try to be hipster.”