2010.10.17 Text

  1. Out of step

      I don’t remember exactly when I claimed Edge—I think it was sometime during freshman year. Today, I’m wearing Sharpie X’s on my hands as a declaration of that commitment that I still hold dear.

      When I say I’m Straight Edge, I mean that I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t use recreational drugs, and I don’t have promiscuous sex. While it wasn’t his intention, Ian MacKaye of the band Minor Threat started a movement when he wrote the song “Straight Edge” in 1980.

    “I’m a person

    Just like you

    But I’ve got better things to do

    Than sit around and fuck my head

    Hang out with the living dead…”

      In the late ’70s, the stereotype of punk rock musicians was one that mirrored the “live fast, die young” mentality of Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. Minor Threat was contrary to that stereotype and had a notion to express it. Many took hold of the band’s message, and thirty years later, there’s still a community of people and musicians who share a special dedication to clean living.

      When I claimed, I was noticing my peers slip into a world completely different from my own, one that I had no interest in, and still have no interest in. I had seen my dad drink enough to decide for myself that it was a waste of time, money, and brain cells. I am not to say that drinking is wrong—I just know that it isn’t for me.

      I’ll keep living my life the way I prefer it, and I won’t push it on anyone else. I’ll keep my positive mental attitude, and I’ll wear big black X’s on my hands every once in a while.

    Happy National Edge Day.