It was just about two weeks ago that I wrote about the dilema of raising Reese for an appreciation of punk rock music and the ethos of "Fuck Authority." (Click here to re-visit that amazing piece of writing)
Well, it turns out there is going to be a documentary coving that exact topic. Instead of interviewing boring subjects like myself, the movie asks how it feels to move from punk rocker to dad for actual punk rockers. (The movie's website says people interviewed played: Black Flag, Pennywise, NoFX, Bad Religion, The Vandals, Rancid, DEVO, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adolescents, Everclear, Total Chaos, T.S.O.L., Circle Jerks, blink 182, Bouncing Souls, Rise Against, and US Bombs, along with professional skateboarding icon Tony Hawk and professional BMX rider Rick Thorne.)
I was super excited to see this movie, but now I see that it is in limited release (VERY limited release, as in, like 17 theaters). I guess the only way I get to see it is take a vacation to one of the cities the weekend it's playing (San Francisco? Seattle? San Diego? Berkeley? Los Angeles?) or sign up for NetFlix and wait for it to come out on DVD.
You would think there would be a pretty sizable audience for a movie like this in the greater Portland area. Portland does have a pretty big anti-authoritarian groove to it. But that groove is more geared toward hippies than punkers. And about the only thing punkers dislike more than being told what to do is smelly hippies. (Seriously. It's called soap and water, hippy. Use it!)
But if you do live in one of the select cities where this is showing, go see it and tell me how it is. Also, it has a pretty cool title: The Other F Word.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Hurt birds
When I was in college, I dated a girl a little bit older than me in age, but she seemed a little bit younger than me in terms of emotional age.
Let me explain...
First, she was a cheer coach at her old high school. She was a cheerleader in high school and started coaching cheer while a senior there. She did not understand why I didn't start coaching football. While coaching football is not a bad fit for me, at the time I was 19. I did not have a teaching degree or a substitute teaching credential or anything close to that. But she didn't understand why I couldn't have helped coach while I was still in high school. I tried to explain that coaching high school football was not the same as coaching high school cheerleading, but she didn't get it. I have nothing against cheer or cheer coaches (my sister was a cheerleader and I have a track record of dating cheerleaders), but football is close to a 24-7 job, and it is a job highly sought after. Coaches generally are also employed at the schools they lead. Some are teachers, but others work in security or janitorial work. But either way, schools aren't looking for 19-year-olds, let alone a senior at that school.
This girlfriend and I worked together at the time we dated. This job had quite a bit of downtime between actual work time, so all of the employees congregated together during breaks. Someone (I don't know who) had a little book that came up with scenarios that prodded philosophical answers. I thought it was really cool, and this girlfriend bought it for me as a gift. Nice gesture, but it was the downfall of our relationship.
This girlfriend and I tended to differ on our answers, which is not a bad thing. Amy and I are quite different and sometimes look at things in polar opposite directions. But Amy and I also have quite a bit in common. This girlfriend, though, would take my differing view as some sort of insult to her opinion.
The final straw that eventually led to our breakup was a question from the book and how I apparently am I cruel and heartless bastard.
The book scenario was something along the lines of: You are late for work and while leaving your front door, you see a bird with a broken wing in your lawn. What do you do?
I said I would go to work and possibly call animal control once I get to the office (assuming I had an office at this mysterious mythical job). She was appalled. Pretty sure she said she could not be with someone who would be so mean to the poor defenseless bird. She would get a shoe box, line it with a silk pillow and gently nurse the bird back to health. She did not add, but it was implied, that CPR would be administered whether or not it was needed.
I tried to defend my stance by slipping in the caveat that if I was not running late to work, or if it was a weekend (because this mysterious mythical job was obviously a 9 to 5, Monday thru Friday gig) I would do whatever I could for the grounded bird.
Didn't matter.
I tried to reason that I was no veterinarian, and me trying to heal the bird would likely cause irreversible damage.
Didn't matter.
I tried to argue that the bird could very well pass on some unknown disease to me (this was at least a decade before the bird flu invaded our vernacular).
Didn't matter.
The only answer was to drop everything and care for the bird.
Apparently I was a monster for failing to understand that.
We didn't stay together much longer after this disagreement.
I bring this up because I hope Reese A) does not see me as a monster, and B) respects people who disagree with her.
Let me explain...
First, she was a cheer coach at her old high school. She was a cheerleader in high school and started coaching cheer while a senior there. She did not understand why I didn't start coaching football. While coaching football is not a bad fit for me, at the time I was 19. I did not have a teaching degree or a substitute teaching credential or anything close to that. But she didn't understand why I couldn't have helped coach while I was still in high school. I tried to explain that coaching high school football was not the same as coaching high school cheerleading, but she didn't get it. I have nothing against cheer or cheer coaches (my sister was a cheerleader and I have a track record of dating cheerleaders), but football is close to a 24-7 job, and it is a job highly sought after. Coaches generally are also employed at the schools they lead. Some are teachers, but others work in security or janitorial work. But either way, schools aren't looking for 19-year-olds, let alone a senior at that school.
This girlfriend and I worked together at the time we dated. This job had quite a bit of downtime between actual work time, so all of the employees congregated together during breaks. Someone (I don't know who) had a little book that came up with scenarios that prodded philosophical answers. I thought it was really cool, and this girlfriend bought it for me as a gift. Nice gesture, but it was the downfall of our relationship.
This girlfriend and I tended to differ on our answers, which is not a bad thing. Amy and I are quite different and sometimes look at things in polar opposite directions. But Amy and I also have quite a bit in common. This girlfriend, though, would take my differing view as some sort of insult to her opinion.
The final straw that eventually led to our breakup was a question from the book and how I apparently am I cruel and heartless bastard.
The book scenario was something along the lines of: You are late for work and while leaving your front door, you see a bird with a broken wing in your lawn. What do you do?
I said I would go to work and possibly call animal control once I get to the office (assuming I had an office at this mysterious mythical job). She was appalled. Pretty sure she said she could not be with someone who would be so mean to the poor defenseless bird. She would get a shoe box, line it with a silk pillow and gently nurse the bird back to health. She did not add, but it was implied, that CPR would be administered whether or not it was needed.
I tried to defend my stance by slipping in the caveat that if I was not running late to work, or if it was a weekend (because this mysterious mythical job was obviously a 9 to 5, Monday thru Friday gig) I would do whatever I could for the grounded bird.
Didn't matter.
I tried to reason that I was no veterinarian, and me trying to heal the bird would likely cause irreversible damage.
Didn't matter.
I tried to argue that the bird could very well pass on some unknown disease to me (this was at least a decade before the bird flu invaded our vernacular).
Didn't matter.
The only answer was to drop everything and care for the bird.
Apparently I was a monster for failing to understand that.
We didn't stay together much longer after this disagreement.
I bring this up because I hope Reese A) does not see me as a monster, and B) respects people who disagree with her.
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