I am 22 years old. I sing loudly in my car, I smoke cigarettes I know are bad for me, I eat pints of ice cream without thinking twice about it, I waste my brain on the Tyra show, I dance around my life like no one (or everyone) is watching, I rock out in a pretty phenomenal band. I'm on the brink of growing up. The brink. Kinda.

I am 22 years old. I hold a full time job that utilizes my college degree, I iron my clothes, I take care of my pets, I pay for my own car, my own gas, my rent, my utilities, my taxes, my health benefits, and food. I budget my time and money between all my commitments and appointments, and I even regularly water my plants.

At a recent zoning meeting, one of the owners of the Casba said that he and his partners would like to expand and clean up the venue. If you can remember to two issues ago, I wrote about how much I love the Casba's Ground Control Thursday nights, so initially I thought, "Awesome, amazing, they'll finally take care of that nasty bathroom I got stuck in that one time because the lock sticks."

But, no, the Casba owners aren't fixing up the Casba for me, a weekly regular, or anyone that currently goes there. When asked if the expanded Casba hoped to attract an older, over-22-year-old crowd, the owner addressing the meeting quickly agreed, saying, "Yeah, yeah." He said that he has hopes to "attract a different crowd than we are now. . . more upscale," also mentioning a hesitancy for the Thursday night crowd.

I vehemently praised Thursday nights at the Casba for being open-minded, for having fun, for the welcoming atmosphere. Thursday nights have even attracted the likes of C-Rayz-Walz, X-Clan, DJ Diplo, and Jurassic 5, bringing a certain degree of fame to the tiny basement venue -- explicitly because of the music and people there.

I'm more upset, however, about the expressed effort to attract.. Well. People that are specifically not me. It's certainly all right to attract people who aren't me, but specifically me? It's like dating a guy for a couple months, only to find him in completely new clothes, breaking up with you by saying, "Baby, it is me, but it's mostly you, too. I'll be better off with someone who isn't you."

The Casba was not the only bar to express a desire to put more upscale bars in Broad Ripple (refer to article by Ashley Plummer on page 11).

Now - I, as a 22 year old, as a woman, as a fairly sane contributor to the economy and society as a whole, am trying very, very hard to not fly off the handle and yell at these owners for insulting me, for insulting my friends, for 22 year olds, for people who like Thursdays at the Casba. I am trying very hard to be mature, to just sympathize with the desire to have a nice, clean place for people to go. Because me? I like nice, clean places to go, too. I understand the desire to perhaps attract people who are specifically not me, people who are 10-15 years older, people who have higher incomes so they can pay for more expensive drinks, people who would enjoy something - you know - "upscale." Classy. Because a 22 year old would, of course, just not appreciate class.

I ask us all, however, to briefly remember Rouge. Rouge was an attempt to completely change a very well-established reputation in Broad Ripple. Rouge was a nice idea - a nonsmoking piano bar, somewhere for an older crowd to go in Broad Ripple, somewhere that was probably trying to attract the same crowd some of these bars are referring to. Rouge, however, failed. Not to bash the venue - it was a valiant effort. But the crowd makes Broad Ripple. The people who come here - we make Broad Ripple what it is. It meets our demands. Broad Ripple does not make us. Sorry, Rouge. We just weren't ready for you. Or maybe you underestimated us.

And there are certainly "upscale" bars here - Midtown Grille and the Red Room immediately come to mind. They do very well, having established themselves as slightly more upscale bars. I know plenty of 22-year-olds that go there, too.

I am not in the position to impart advice to the owners of bars trying to make Broad Ripple classy and upscale, or, rather, to the people who are trying to diversify Broad Ripple with different types of venues and bars for us to visit. I suppose my heart breaks when I realize that, no, I got it wrong - it isn't diversifying for us. These places aren't meant for us to visit.

Just remember, upscale bars, that we, us, the people who come here regularly and truly - we make or break you. We make Broad Ripple what it is. You, there, reading this right now, you who feel you make up a small part of Broad Ripple, you with your friends, shopping and drinking and eating - they want something more from this village, and it doesn't include you. You weren't upscale enough. Or you're just 22. Because what does Broad Ripple need? "A different crowd."

New upscale bars? Broad Ripple is a village based on the idea of community, on the people here. We make you what you are. You do not make us.