December 18 2023: Punk Rock Dream Come True?
Truth or Consequences will change the world. And if not the world, then Aurora, Colorado. Yesterday, my new band got together to practice, and I had a lot of fun. The lineup is as follows: Me on rhythm guitar, my sibling on lead guitar, my friend Ben on drums, my friend Jacob on bass, and his friend August on keyboard. My sibling also plays the harmonica. Yesterday we spent a lot of time improvising and creating original music. Jacob and I bring a lot of punk influence to the band which is exactly what I want. If I had to give us a genre I would say we're queer punk. I find that I've been fed up with everything lately- the government, my school, my town. It seems like no one here has a moral backbone. The Aurora punk scene appears to just be everyone in my band. Something new I'm trying out is protesting the military recruiters at my school. I'm sick of it. Our department of defense funds Israeli war crimes and massacres Palestinian civilians. We supply Israel with white phosphorus and participate in their genocide. I can't stop my tax dollars from funding these war crimes, but I can stop going to McDonald's and I can take action against the predatory military recruiters. Hating the military is an unpopular opinion around these parts, but I don't care. I have all the friends I need. I need to take initative against the military industrial complex, so why not start at school? I've made fliers to hand out whenever the military recruiters are tabling in the cafeteria. I'm also going to try and get the schedule of military visits so we can plan our mobilization efforts. Honestly, this year has made me more leftist. Prior to this year I didn't really have a political identity outside of democrat or liberal, but as I approach my 18th birthday (this Thursday!) I have been gravitating more and more towards socialism. I've always kept up with the democratic socialist chapters in my hometown, and now I keep up with the local Denver chapter. I want to spend my 18th year really committing to educating myself, reading theory, taking advantage of internet resources. Eventually I want to become an official member of the democratic socialists of america, but I'm not ready to make that committment yet. This year has made me more punk. Being surrounded by bigots and watching people turn a blind eye to the Palestinian genocide has made me more of a punk. Nothing enrages me more than the US war machine, imperialism, colonialism, apartheid, racism, transphobia, etcetera. I need to make a real change or I'll go crazy. I am going to write songs about the government and transsexuality and revolution and we will change the greater Aurora area. We start with the fliers and the anti-war propaganda, and if need be we'll escalate to stickers and minor vandalism. I'm considering trying to start a [School district] students for Palestine petition, but that will take more thought and planning. I feel good about what I'm doing now. I am going to mention this briefly because it's not the focus of this blog post, but on Friday I found out that I've been accepted at my dream school, SVA, and they're offering me a $100k scholarship! I am very proud and very excited and I hope to god I can enroll. Anyway, you will never see me at McDonald's or Starbucks and you'll never see me wearing Pumas. It disgusts me that some people value their $8 coffee over actual human lives. It disgusts me that some people think carpet bombing and using white phosphorus on Palestinian children is justified. I want to do what I can to end this, to spread awareness, to put an end to American imperialism. I will protest the military at my school until I graduate or until they stop coming. If it's successful, I want it to become a more common method of student protest. It can be hard to organize walk outs or sit ins and most of us can't even vote, but we can protest the predatory recruiters trying to get vulnerable children to go to war for oil. Stay strong out there my friends. Have a good day.