Punk as Eff

Okay, first off, can I just say that Blogger sucks? Typepad all the way, y'all. Maybe it's just because I'm on a Mac, but oh wait, that's far superior as well. Except for maybe Linux, but this is a punk gift exchange, not a geek one. My b.

NOW, since I cannot properly post my pictures as I would have liked to, here are links to my two most conventionally(!) "punk" projects: Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers and Cleaves. Fingerless gloves are punk, right? Even if they're not a la Lavigne striped in black and pink? Whew, glad I'm safe on that one. And Cleaves is a bit o' pirate chic, and they were of course, the original punks, except for maybe the Mowhawk tribe, they had the whole thing down eons ago.

What I'm trying to say in way too many words (as I usually do) is that I'm not what one would consider a typical "punk" by today's "standards" (And yes, those get quotations because who sets the standards for punkdom these days, anyways? Is the mainstreaming of a formerly underground movement making it redundant and the antithesis to everything it stood for before, or is it bringing the same message to the masses as it always has, just slicker, shinier, and more expensive?)--I do have multiple peircings and a tattoo and black plastic-framed glasses and crazy unruly hair and my favorite colors are the admittedly cliche duo of black and pink (and sometimes red), but I'm not a fan of skulls with bows or gun tattoos on hipbones or toothpick boys with girl hair and more eyeliner than me singing sad songs about how I broke their wimpy little hearts. I have a salaried job, I watch an inordinate amount of network television, I like my men manly but not douchey, I wear blouses with self-ties and poofy sleeves, and I love Christina Aguilera (among many, many other not-so-punk artists).

Does that make me less punk than others here? Maybe. But I think that by flying below the radar, keeping my head above the mindless flow of the mainstream, doing my best to dismantle the patriarchy one piece at a time, and not caring one iota what other people might think of me in terms of both "scene points" and the corporate ladder, well, I guess that makes me punk. I've always labeled myself as more "indie" than "punk" when forced to label myself, but I don't like doing that anyway.

So I guess my overall point that I'm trying to get at but can't because I am so ridiculously long-winded is that not claiming myself as a "punk" in the current parameters by which our society defines them does indeed make me a punk.

But mainly I just wanted to post in this contest so I could win that sweet prize...