I don't recall in my last rant I called myself a punk. It doesn't really matter, but yeah, I drive my parents' car, because they don't use it and I'm not going to say, "Oh, it's not 'punk rock' to have a car." I live in suburbia now, but I grew up down the street from North East High School in a neighborhood populated by Vietnamese and Mexicans. There was a constant stream of ants climbing the walls and it was a 2-bedroom house for 5 people. And my parents made a combined total of 8,000 dollars last year. Idiots at McDonals make twice that, without 1 daughter in college and another with a baby on the way. And I dumpster dive, not because it's "punk rock" (I really don't care if it is or not) but because when I move out into my own apartment, the chair, the table, the ottoman, and the couch that I found will come in handy. And I found a full pack of cigarettes once.

And whoever decided that you have to be poor to be punk is a fucking idiot. Honestly, I didn't ask for this nice house anymore than my friend Nicole asked for an alcoholic mother who couldn't afford to put a roof over her kids' heads. Just like having a mohawk doesn't make you any more punk, neither does living in the ghetto. I like the music, I go to the shows. Acouple of years ago I realized that fishnets and boots were a bitch to wear and didn't change who I was, so I stopped dressing like that. I suppose I could leave my friends and family, ditch college, and hitchhike to NY if that would be "punk" enough for ya.

This is the kind of bullshit that turns the "scene" into a bunch of middle school kids gossiping about "her parents make this much money" and "he's got this many pairs of bondage pants." What the fuck.