Why does nobody post? I mean, 'the kids are punk' is a pretty good title; reminds me of something Lars Fredrickson & The Bastards would sing.

ps. have you seen him lately?

Rancid; one of the first punk bands my friend, Mike, and I got into at fourteen-ish. Uploading the music videos on our slow as fuck kittie comps, we felt good knowing other people (apparently older than us) wore shitty clothes and wondered what the hell was going on in those minds of the rich. They had something to say, backed by a tough, raspy voice, and a lock n key.

Anti-flag, Bad Religion, Black Flag ("one of these things is not like the others")....being grimy, 40 ounces, flipping off teachers. Yeah, fifiteen. But, I suppose that's all the outsider sees, right? Yeah, we were fuck-offs, but for a damned good reason. We had nothing to believe in but ourselves.

We couldn't rock our leather jackets covered in painted band names and symbols, wallet chains, an attitude, or even (gasp) our Own Opinions. To us lowlifes, the flag and the pledge was just another highly effective way of brainwashing us into forgetting what we were really pledgeing to; a nation found on killing, slavery, and rich white ideas. NO FREE HEALTH CARE! So of course, we didn't stand, a silent form of protest responded to by segregation. The authority wouldn't let us in classrooms or school assemblies that included the plegde and flag, as to not contaminate the influential young minds at highschool pep rallies.

Home life wasn't too far off. Our parents would remind us everyday of their wishes for a "normal" kid between their working class gripes and failed dreams. They tried to engrave our brains with messages like, "You can't change the world!". Oh, how we laughed.



TO BE CONTINUED....