This episode is really special to me, and it was inspired by meeting one of my personal heroes, Laura Jane Grace, the singer, and front woman of the punk band Against Me!. I’m still obsessed with her and everything she stands for. I would raise $500 if she would call my Inspiration Hotline.
But don’t let the word ‘punk’ in the title of this episode fool you. This isn’t just for people who like punk music. It’s for anyone who has ever felt like they were part of a group and accepted as they were, and then judged for not conforming to all the rules or the “right” ones. It’s for anyone who feels they’re alone on their journey and feels they need to fit in. It’s for the people who want to accept themselves while giving themselves room to grow without needing to subscribe to an entire idea, because you are more complex than a textbook. So let’s talk about how punk is actually the ultimate form of self-love.
*** Also, I’d just like to say for the record that in the episode I recorded in 2016 I use the phrase “chose to become a woman“, which is not how I would ever speak today. I was still learning. Laura was always a woman. We don’t choose these things. She chose to come out, that is all. ***
In this podcast I talk about:
- Why I love the punk community (and what it is)
- How our tastes in fashion and culture can be rooted in systems and adolescence
- How we’re allowed to actually leave the stereotypes of cultures while still embracing their overall message
- How groups can actually push you out when you don’t conform to their norms even when the whole point was to practice acceptance
- What acceptance truly means
- Knowing who you are and giving yourself room to grow
- Laura Jane Grace’s coming out process as trans being punk rock as fuck
This is a picture of Laura and I at her book signing. Thanks for constantly inspiring me, LJG! (And the art above is a guerrilla art installation I made on the streets of Baltimore in 2018.)
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