Tuesday, November 12, 2002
There's enough people from “traditional” punk backgrounds that can relate to this story that Jack sent me. Anyway, here it is:
As I posted in the whatever forum - I was expelled 2 times from school based on my appearance alone (memory failed me a bit - I was put in a gym class with the people who did not have the mental or physical capacities to participate in a normal gym class when I refused to remove my lip piercing and humiliated, not expelled) I was expelled and faced weapons charges when I wore a spiked leather collar to school — something I had, up to that point, worn every day. I was also expelled for wearing a "nazi punks fuck off" patch on my jacket. I was accused of being a nazi and forced into sensitivity counseling with a rabbi. My parents were not supportive at all any of these times. It just made me fight harder. I took it upon myself to go to the school board so I could speak with them directly and to the concerned parents and I got myself reinstated. After I left school I promised myself that I would not rest until I was in a position where I was valued to the point that my appearance was not an issue. That was actually something yttrx suggested to someone who was fired from their job over piercings on RAB when I was about 16 and I really took it to heart.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that people in positions of power are always going to be fucked up — they're people after all. I think the trick is to move yourself out of their reach, make yourself better than them, and take as many people with you as you can when you do it. I think that's the thing I admire most about BME is that you really encourage that and you practice what you preach. Growing up I thought I was the only one who was queer or kinky. BME was really the first place where I discovered that wasn't true. Anyway, I'm getting off my soapbox now — I just want to say thank you.
I was lucky. I went to a good school, so my problem was just my parents. No one at school ever commented on how I dressed — if anything my eccentricity was encouraged. The one time I got really “out of hand” by publishing an anti-administration newspaper, the vice principal took for for a walk across the street. He pointed at a set of cheap buildings going up across the street. In front of them was a large — but also cheap — sign that said, “Sunrise Christian Academy”.
“Shannon, I agree with most of what you've written. I think you bring up some good points. But you have to consider the results of your actions and whether they'll achieve what you're trying to achieve. Ask yourself; when parents see this, will they help you fix these problems, or will they just send their kids to Sunrise and make it even harder for us to correct these issues?”
I repeat that story often because (a) I think it's important to view things on this level sometimes, and (b) because I want to illustrate that most teachers and school administrators do care about their students, and don't want to repress them in any way. I don't know where the source of that problem stems. I can only assume it comes back to “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”, that is, small groups of parents yelling hard to force through their agenda.
PS. We wish you a merry Christmas.
On the computer front, I stripped out some of the flakier components from this machine (the DV editing board), and so far its stable. Now, it would really suck if that's the piece of hardware that's problematic. I've already replaced it once, and it's not a cheap piece of hardware… Hopefully it's still under warranty.
Monday, November 11, 2002
I got this magazine in the mail (“ICE”, a British magazine which is a very blatant knock-off of Bizarre) — as you can see it has a rather lame feature on BME. I should probably be happy that they messed up the URL:
I don't really want to talk about the below today, it's hit very close to home. But do expect something more complete very soon. I'm sorry it's not instant. I just got this (unrelated email). I get ones like it regularly so I thought I'd share the response here.
I have Branded myself all to hell and I wanted to know where I could get a book or video to learn how to do it right in all ways so I could do my friend,I just want to know if I did anything wrong to myself let alone do it to a friend,I would love the help,thanks a great deal...
My response was as follows:
Well, as far as branding yourself, if you've already done it, then you'll learn all your answers simply by listening to your body and carefully watching how you heal. I'm not sure how long ago you did it, but healing larger brands can be very unpleasant experience!
As far as books or videos teaching you how, no, there is nothing like that. As I'm sure you must have already realized, there's more to it than just hot metal on skin, at least when it comes to doing something other than very simple scars. I don't think a book or video could adequately train you in this art form.
If you are really serious about branding as a professional, you should strongly consider going and taking Fakir Musafar's course on the subject. You can find out more about it at www.bodyplay.com
Good luck,
Shannon
PS. PLEASE do not brand your friend before being trained and apprenticed.
Sunday, November 10, 2002
This is verbatim from Bryan's page:
I pierce in Lake County. The school district in Lake County is one of only three counties in the state of Florida that do not allow body piercings at school. A few days ago, it claimed a life. Robert pierced a girl's eyebrow recently, and she was suspended from school because of it. When she got home and informed her father, he yelled at and demeaned her for it. Shortly there-after, she went upstairs and shot herself in the head. A young life ended over an eyebrow piercing.
Part of me thinks that this could have had a dramatically better ending if her school hadn't denied her education over a piece of jewelry. Part of me wonders what the father feels like, now. I'm kind of torn up over the issue.
It is things like this that should make schools open their eyes to the issue of suspensions over piercings.
Why should I be surprised those fucking assholes at the school board along with their accomplice the father murdered her? After all, mainstream society has been murdering gay students like this for decades. I don't give a fuck who hears me saying that, and I don't give any credit to “suicide is a choice” bullshit when you start forcing young people down useless one way roads and making it clear to them that the entire world thinks they're valueless. And anyone who can't see that is either totally compassionless or totally sheltered.
Again: FUCKING MURDERERS.
Her blood is on their hands. I accuse them.
I accuse them of murder, and I am disgusted at this. I can't even begin to say how angry I am about this. You want to not hire a person with piercings? Fine. It's your right to be a jerk in your own business. But denying people basic rights because of piercings is atrocious and unacceptable in a free society.
They must answer for this murder.
They do not have the right to force their closed-minded will on young people, and any atrocity that follows their fuse-lighting act is entirely their responsibility. And under no circumstances can we let them try and blame this on us. They must answer for their crimes, and we can not take the fall for them again.
Sunday, November 10, 2002
OK, I'm powering this machine down shortly. I've got most of the essentials burned to disc (ie. up-to-the-minute updates of all my source code, plus the BME maintenance databases), so if something bad happens while fixing, the damage will be minimized.
While I was backing things up, I tried to write down what BME means to me; that is, why I do it. (Any time I'm facing investing a pile of money to do things for BME, I do this to remind myself why it's worth doing). Note that these are my feelings, and not “official reasons”, if there's a difference.
- BME is the result of the reaction of my unhappiness with the world's corruption.
- BME stands for “be me”.
- BME represents an act of will, an attempt to recreate the world, or at least a small part of it into something normal and beautiful.
- BME is an act of faith, a space created by the genuine belief in its principles.
- BME is a statement of belief that something good can come from us.
- BME is an attempt to make a world where we are ordinary, without questions.
- BME is a place where you never have to justify the way you feel.
- BME is something I believe in.
- BME is a tool for improving life.
- BME is a place to be accepted for who you are, and do the same with others.
- BME is a place where no matter how fucked up the rest of the world gets, you're safe and with friends.
I'm not saying it means that to everyone, or even that it should mean that to everyone. I don't know. But that's what it means to me… Anyway, I guess I'm off to make a pile of everything I have to bring with me and then it's time to face the highway in a few hours.
Sunday, November 10, 2002
My increasingly flaky computer crashed right after I'd finished writing a big entry. Not fun, and I'm too busy today to be able to re-write it… “But I won't cry for yesterday” so it's back to downloading tunes and programming. By day's end I will most definitely have completed the self-indexing portion of the forum search tool.
Other than that, I got a copy of the “Modern Tribalism” DVD, along with a press/promo pack, so I guess I should watch and review that today too. I slept in a bit today (till ten or so), so I'm feeling a bit off. I really don't like sleeping in, because I do most of my work in the morning, and if at the end of the day I can't say “I did something good today — I made things a little better,” I feel like crap…
