I grew up in the Ventura/Oxnard punk scene in the late 90s/early 00s. Rode the hardcore wave into my early twenties. It was a wild time in my life. So many good, positive things (community, unity, belonging, kids who were better parents than my own) and so many bad (violence, alcoholism, drugs, darkness, raging rebellion). Do I regret it? Nope. Loved every moment of it. And I’m still ‘punk’ in spirit. You’re right about the nonconformist conformism. I remember being 18, 19 at a show and thinking, We all look exactly the same; we’re all wearing the same costume. Really there isn’t much difference between punks and yuppies; just the end goals, but both are worshiping something and rejecting something else, while wearing a costume to fit in.
I grew up in the Ventura/Oxnard punk scene in the late 90s/early 00s. Rode the hardcore wave into my early twenties. It was a wild time in my life. So many good, positive things (community, unity, belonging, kids who were better parents than my own) and so many bad (violence, alcoholism, drugs, darkness, raging rebellion). Do I regret it? Nope. Loved every moment of it. And I’m still ‘punk’ in spirit. You’re right about the nonconformist conformism. I remember being 18, 19 at a show and thinking, We all look exactly the same; we’re all wearing the same costume. Really there isn’t much difference between punks and yuppies; just the end goals, but both are worshiping something and rejecting something else, while wearing a costume to fit in.
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/