Punk for a Day

Like a great many words in the English language, the word "punk" has tallied up quite a few different meanings for itself over the years. Like, let's see . . . There's been: "A worthless person" "To be in poor condition" "A loud, fast-moving and aggressive form of rock" (liking that one) And, uh, there have been some other, slightly offensive meanings as well, but we'll keep those off the RB blog for now . . . Anyway, the word is versatile! The definition that I prefer, though, is the one that defines a "punk" as a "noncomformist," because I've always thought of myself as a little bit of a "punk." My first encounters with my "inner-punk" started in high school. I attended a very small private school in rural Minnesota where we were required to follow a dress code. In elementary it was navy blue pants only and white or navy blue tops; in high school it was black pants only and white or black tops. The most color/expression of your individualism you could squeeze in was your winter jacket (which you weren't allowed to wear in class, anyway), your nail polish or your shoes, like mine below:

Those shoes actually wouldn't have done well anywhere but in my high school. I constantly looked like Halloween but I rocked them anyway. My friends and I were definitely criticized for our weird, (sometimes studded) clothes and our obsession with any music that wasn't country (blink-182, specifically) but we did it anyway 'cause we didn't give a damn!

Embrace the punk inside you today (but try not to break anything!).