All Ages and Breaking Edge, so much in one post, but it's all related I promise

So I finally got the "All Ages" book in mail today from the UK. I read the Foreword and the Intro so far. I'll post a reveiw of the whole thing soon. Just wanted to post a few things to start with though. Ray Cappo wrote the foreward, and as I read it I thought about the article by Ray that I found on Grrrls With X's on Their Hands. I don't know when he wrote it, or if it's truly his writing, the original source link was a now defunct Anglefire page. But even if it's not really his words, it still makes me think about what it means to break edge and what others should do and say about people that break edge. First reactions are always to say WTF! especially when you consider that someone is Ray, who has been such a huge influence on the scene and SxE kids across the planet. Now I never met Ray and don't judge him for his choices at all. It just makes you wonder what being SxE meant to him (or anyone for that matter) that it can be thrown aside with a simple glass of wine. I think people become angry hearing about Ray and others they know breaking edge because it affects them in a certain way, by this I mean that your community has lost someone and this pride and conviction you hold deeply feels like it was stepped on. When people outside SxE step on your convictions, you just brush it off and say whatever. But when someone inside SxE steps on them, you feel that and can't let it go. As a community we should definitely be more concerned with finding out the why though first and then decide how we feel afterwards.

That all then leads to the concept of becoming Straight Edge again. Is that possible? Can you drink a glass of wine or smoke a cigarette once and then decide that you want to be SxE again. I tend to think no, I mean you can decide to no longer drink or smoke, but you can't take on the label again. I feel this way cause it's like you dirtied what it meant and then crawl back. Now this leads to the ill feelings that arise when someone does break edge, but I still feel this way.

So back to the book, I'll review it soon, but I wanted metion that I came across another great blog recently by Eric Grubbs who is writing a post-hardcore book. And he said the book has been "quite handy" for research on his book, so I'm looking forward to reading the rest and certainly interested in reading Eric's book when he's finished.