As someone who also has a drawer full of useless paper proof from decades ago, I appreciate the honesty here. We collect these things because we're terrified of forgetting who we were before the world beat us down.
Great piece. I especially love how you bring it back around to present day. And those dicks in high school who are now the dicks in office. And the final hope that desperate and exuberant youth will be key to saving ourselves again, just like you did as an individual. Excellent writing!
Thank you! Thanks for reading! Quick plug to say you might like my memoir Nine Grudges: The Spiteful Origins of the Happiest Dyke on Earth. Lots of 80s and 90s…and, uggh…the high school dicks.
Significance. That’s what we were fighting to establish. We have inherent value as human beings. But the dicks said no, and always say no. Because they’re scared of us. Rightly so.
Coincidentally, my stack tomorrow will be about punk houses as hubs where kids banded together to insist on their significance.
Gorgeous essay! And what a journey. I love that you had a five-buck baptism in the Fugazi mosh pit. Mine was the same year, but with Jane‘s Addiction in Albuquerque. I remember pushing my way to the front and just losing my self in the pit. It was the best. 🤘🔥🤘
Love this! My very first show was a Fugazi show!! The year was 1996 and I was 14. They played at The Alternative in Roanoke, VA, which was, as far as I know, the only gay bar in all of Southwestern Virginia at the time. It was an all-ages show for only $5, and I saved the poster-sized flyer until college when it finally disintegrated off my wall. That's why I can even remember who the opening band was: some hardcore band from VA called Branch Manager. Love to think about this time. I was such a tightly-wound Type A kid and it was just a joy to go to punk and hardcore shows and get sweaty and scream a lot in the pit!
As someone who also has a drawer full of useless paper proof from decades ago, I appreciate the honesty here. We collect these things because we're terrified of forgetting who we were before the world beat us down.
So true!
Great piece. I especially love how you bring it back around to present day. And those dicks in high school who are now the dicks in office. And the final hope that desperate and exuberant youth will be key to saving ourselves again, just like you did as an individual. Excellent writing!
Thank you! Thanks for reading! Quick plug to say you might like my memoir Nine Grudges: The Spiteful Origins of the Happiest Dyke on Earth. Lots of 80s and 90s…and, uggh…the high school dicks.
Right on and write on!
Beautiful essay, Molly!
Thanks!
Significance. That’s what we were fighting to establish. We have inherent value as human beings. But the dicks said no, and always say no. Because they’re scared of us. Rightly so.
Coincidentally, my stack tomorrow will be about punk houses as hubs where kids banded together to insist on their significance.
I want to read that!
4am EST.
Gorgeous essay! And what a journey. I love that you had a five-buck baptism in the Fugazi mosh pit. Mine was the same year, but with Jane‘s Addiction in Albuquerque. I remember pushing my way to the front and just losing my self in the pit. It was the best. 🤘🔥🤘
Nice! I missed Jane’s Addiction in 1989 because I lost my ride!
Noooooo! TBH the show wasn’t amazing, but the mosh pit was.
Love this! My very first show was a Fugazi show!! The year was 1996 and I was 14. They played at The Alternative in Roanoke, VA, which was, as far as I know, the only gay bar in all of Southwestern Virginia at the time. It was an all-ages show for only $5, and I saved the poster-sized flyer until college when it finally disintegrated off my wall. That's why I can even remember who the opening band was: some hardcore band from VA called Branch Manager. Love to think about this time. I was such a tightly-wound Type A kid and it was just a joy to go to punk and hardcore shows and get sweaty and scream a lot in the pit!
Beautiful writing. And, wow, $5 concert tickets! Loved this piece.
Oh, and it's on the ticket too. duh.
Thanks! I started to write that they were 10$ because that’s low to me now…then read one of my own journal entry and realized, no, it was only $5!
https://dischord.com/fugazi_live_series/seattle-wa-usa-60190