the edge project

A new documentary on Straight Edge is coming out, it's titled "the edge project", the website is a little bare, but keep checking back to find out when it will be out.

Link on the Straight Edge

straight-edge.net bands and other SxE stuff including forums, videos, and reviews.

Turncoat

TURNCOAT! KILLER! LIAR! THIEF!
Criminal with protection of the law!

Go!

States lies dressed up as evening news
We're tired of lies we want the truth
Brodcast by corpses courting you
We're tired of lies we want the truth
Most people they will never know
We're tired of lies we want the truth
With your or against you?
Then I am against you because you're a...

TURNCOAT! KILLER! LIAR! THIEF!
Criminal with protection of the law

TURNCOAT! KILLER! LIAR! THIEF!
Criminal with protection of the law

In your corner
Makes me wanna
Douse myself in gasoline!
Civil servants fall in line for you
Too brainwashed to see the truth
You use anyone you can!

TURNCOAT! KILLER! LIAR! THIEF!
Criminal with protection of the law

TURNCOAT! KILLER! LIAR! THIEF!
Criminal with protection of the

KILLER!

LIAR!

A TURNCOAT! and a THIEF!

Criminal with protection of the law! The law!
Criminal with protection of the law!

Turncoat ~ Anti-Flag

Reno Straight Edge

Get Hammered

I almost never click on ads, yet today while editing this blog I saw an ad for Get Hammered, an organization for college kids that serves as an alternative to drinking.

I'm very happy to see these kinds of organizations and hope that they get the recognition they deserve on many campuses. My college didn't have a chapter (since it was started in '02 and I graduated in '99), but I would have liked to have joined and possibly found a quicker route to claiming edge. Many of my friends in college drank, and I even did at that time (I didn't claim edge till a few years after college.)

So, if your edge or just edge-minded and in college or heading there soon, check out this org, they don't have many chapters thus far, but I think it would be something I would've like to have started when I was in school.

Happy Edge Day

Happy Edge Day!

When the Label Has Gone Mainstream

Straight Edge is now such a huge term that many people simply use it to refer to anyone quite often that doesn't do drugs, smoke or drink. I've seen it commonly used in articles (such as this one about "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist". The term is becoming universal and synonomous with those that abstain from the drugs, etc. How does the use of the phrase outside of the community and when refering to those that haven't officially "claimed" to be Edge effect others that hear it? I imagine that it is actually a good thing, in the end. Certainly it can be used to make fun of others and mock them as being "straight edge" since they don't follow the crowd. But for me I'd rather be mocked for following my choices than be mocked for following other's choices.

To me I see this use as a way to influence other's and show them that there are people that abstain from poisoning one's self. Granted the context will have to be positive in most cases to make it an influencer, but I can see people realizing the positive aspects of such a life even if they don't officially make a claim or get inked.

H2O - What happened?

When it began, for those who don't know
It didn't matter how you looked or what you wore to a show
Dress codes, FUCK NO! we didn't care
About the brand of your jeans and all that shit in your hair

But now the biggest part is all about the image and not the art
Fashion before passion!
And at nights, it makes me mad that I should have to ask:
What happened to the passion? (passion!)
What the reason for screaming?
What happened the music and the message that I love?
[newpage]
What happened to the hard work? (hard work!)
And why does everybody look the same?
What happened the music and the message that I love?

And I know, that people chance
And we go through different stages in life
And I'm not here to criticize
But the reason I scream, is a feeling inside

But now the biggest part is all about the image and not the art
Fashion before passion!
And at nights, it makes me mad that I should have to ask:
What happened to the passion? (passion!)
What the reason for screaming?
What happened the music and the message that I love?
What happened to the hard work? (hard work!)

And why does everybody look the same?
What happened the music and the message that I love?

Lost (1, 2, 3, 4) lifetime ago it seems
You gave up on your wildest dreams
But I refuse to let mine go
I took an oath, you can find me here
With an open heart and ears
Refusing to surrender
I can't believe they don't remember
What it feels like to be young

What happened to the passion? (passion!)
What the reason for screaming?
What happened the music and the message that I love?
What happened to the hard work? (hard work!)
And why does everybody look the same?
What happened the music and the message that I love?

"What happened?" ~ H2O : Nothing To Prove

MusicChoice has the Video available on TiVo. I play it all the time.

ich bin straight edge

The High-Fructose War

The Corn Refiners Association is fighting back against people learning about the ill effects of High-Fructose Corn Syrup with commercials like this one:



The evidence is piling up, with some of it not so well defined yet, as it relies on animal testing. But the tests are there and the results aren't that great. It may lead to diabetes. The Mayo clinic suggests that it may also lead to high cholesterol.  An article in the San Francisco Chronicle mentions that the USDA suggests Americans reduce their intake of foods with added sugar.

Whether it's simply the addition of high fructose corn syrup alone or all the refined and unnatural sugars in the American diets, it is quite clear that a reduction of artificial and refined sugars can improve your diet. I personally have been reducing as much of this as possible, I've moved from fake pancake syrup to the natural kind from New Hampshire, I try to only eat snack foods such as Nature Valley Roasted Nut Crunch bars that only contain corn syrup (and nuts of course.) Making the effort in your life to reduce the "poison" you intake will help you live a healthy and Poison Free life.

Earth Crisis Set to Create a New Album

Earth Crisis will be entering the studio to release their first album after their reunion.  This will definately be an album many will not be able to wait for, and will hopefully bring stronger fire to the Straight Edge hardcore scene.

"We are very excited to begin tracking our new record and even more excited that it will be released by Century Media. We have been working hard over the last year preparing new material and are scheduled to enter the studio in October. We will be producing this one ourselves and are extremely excited to have Tue Madsen mixing! The new songs are brutal and Century Media is the perfect label to handle them." - Scott Crouse

The album will be released in 2009 through a deal with Century Media Records.

Why Should I Feel Like a Criminal When I Buy Allergy Medication?

I am completely sick of having to feel like I'm a criminal or that I live in a police state because some dumb @$$ kid wants to get high and possibly kill himself by making homemade meth.  At first I was a little confused and complied cause, well my allergies were bad and I needed something that worked, so I went to the pharmacy counter and dealt with the stupid request to show my ID to legally purchase what was supposed to be over-the-counter allergy medication.

Now I see these commercials that tell me I have to get it "at the pharmacy counter" without mentioning of course that you need to show your government issued ID which they record and then they force you to sign a book so they can track your movements.   This will of course keep the drugs off the street.  They think that drug makers and homebrew idiots are dumb enough to not pay some other idiot to get them drugs.

Sure this may seem like a rather late rant to the issue, but I guess I was asleep at the wheel when it happened or whenever I needed medication I just dealt with it cause I hate allergies.  Of course you can always take the "penelylephrine" version of your medication of choice, but from what I've tried and what my friends and other's online have tried, it barely does anything.  So now the law abiding citizens of our country are forced to be treated like criminals.

This law was put in place in 2005, and finally in 2007 they actually arrested someone for buying legal medication without any actual evidence of drug making or usage.  It took 2 years to do something that did nothing but make normal people suffer.

When is Aggravation Worth It?

When leaving my local subway station there was an MTA employee smoking in the station, underground.  Besides the obvious illegality of this, I was pissed cause it invades my lungs with his choice of suicide.  I wanted to say something to him, but would it even matter?  Would it make a difference if I called 311?  I needed to have a car towed once that was blocking the driveway to my apartment building, and after 6 hours the police never showed up, the jackass finally moved his car, and I could finally park my car in the damn spot I was paying for at the time.  So does the NYPD or 311 employees ever give a shit about anything?  My neighbours smoke, some smoke cigarettes others pot.  I can smell it in the hallway, or if I open my windows at night as well.  Then I'm forced to smell the shit and inhale, or turn on my A/C and hope it filters out the shit while I have to pay electircity for it instead of having clean fresh air.  So is it worth the aggravation to ask these jerks to stop smoking near windows?  Is it worth telling the cops that my neighbors smoke pot?  I want to be a good neighbor and not rat them out, but then they should be a good neighbor and not smoke pot.

I hate people.  I hate people that smoke.  I hate people that smoke pot.

Straight Edge and Politics

The recent Gov Palin pregnant daughter situation to me is a perfect example of the so-called right claiming moral high ground gone awry. This would be equivalent to a SxE person having casual sex and still claiming edge. To me I see this situation as a reason why the Republicans can't claim their moral high ground any longer as they continue to be hypocrites.

I've been thinking lately about what it means to be Straight Edge and how that affects one's political view points. With SxE lifestyle having a somewhat conservative viewpoint but derived from the liberal punk/hardcore world how does a SxE person view the political spectrum? Being SxE isn't about projection of morals it's about being poison free. I see that the conservative views of SxE fit within the Progressive/Liberal/Democratic spectrum of political views.

A SxE person is about protecting themselves, the Democratic party is about that as well through views such as Pro-Choice, Education, and actually helping the Environment. I can see some people making a statement that Pro-Choice isn't exactly aligned with SxE because the idea of casual sex is what would lead some towards solutions such as abortion. However there are more situations such as the mother's health or age, rape or incest and her own personal decisions that outweigh any a government would like to apply. Education is certainly a SxE view as we have taken the initiative to educate ourselves on what poisons our bodies and should continue to educate ourselves and others on what poisons others and our Earth. That leads me to the environment and working towards a poison free Earth, something that the Republican party is obviously against with such inept plans as their so called Clean Air Act and their desire to be a nation of oil consuming conglomerates.

Punks tend to be within the middle class and the Democratic party tends to skew towards protecting the middle class. Sure, we've seen Democrats raise taxes, and taxes suck and always will, but they go towards things like public schools and social services programs which help out those in need (whether people take advantage of them improperly is a different issue.) Democrats have made mistakes, but they also have brought our country some of the best economic situations we've ever had. A Democrat will bring home our military (sure it won't be immediately, but it won't be in a hundred years like the Republican plan) and won't let the National Guard forget about protecting our nation during attacks from Mother Nature.

I feel like I just ranted a bit and probably went a little off track here and there, but I honestly think that people need to be more aware of politics and SAY NO TO MORAL HYPOCRITES IN GOVERNMENT like Palin and McCain. For me Obama is right for America and right for SxE (okay that sounds a little funny, but it's what I feel.)

Straight Edge isn't about the Music

So basically this post is a response to a post I found on AbsolutePunk.net about loosing faith in music. The author stated a lot reasons why he doesn't feel that music these days, and by that the bands themselves, are creating music that's worth listening to or travelling a long ways to see. I can see that, I feel that many bands changed to be like other bands, to make money (which honestly as much as that sucks, they got rich or tried and little kids cried over it cause they "sold out") or cause they changed their opinions on music. As much as I hate when a band changes and I don't like the outcome there are enough bands that I love too that changed for the better. I think AFI grew a lot and Eighteen Visions changed for the worse. Gorilla Biscuits broke edge then broke up, and eventually morphed into Civ, which is okay but isn't GB.

But the one thing that struck me from this post was that the author claimed that the music changed and he lost faith in that and broke edge. I see Straight Edge as a life choice that was made possibly through music but not something that is controlled by music. Straigth Edge came from a scene as a means to be part of music and a way to express one's descisions to be poison free. I got the feeling that the author felt that SxE was a fashion statement that he no longer wanted to wear cause everyone else decided to dress emo.

So my point is that SxE isn't about the music, it's about you. If the music changes and you decide to get drunk cause of it, don't blame the music.

Drunk British Women On The Rise

I just came across this interesting article on dailymail.co.uk (and a related article) about British women becoming increasing more like Amy Winehouse. The article is really about how many British women that have been raped were beyond drunk, many claimed they were drugged (but no evidence had been found) and they apparently consented to sex. First of all I seriously want to state that I'm very much against rape and any form semi-consentual sex. However I really think that women that get so smashed that they have no memory of any events that occured the previous night and have friend's that would leave them alone need to reconsider what's important in their lives.

I just feel like everytime I read articles like this that I become more and more disinterested in the lives of other people. I feel like too many people don't care about their own lives and it makes me not want to care about theirs either.

VOID

I just found this somewhat interesting blog post by a tattoo artist of a cover-up tattoo on top of a Straight Edge tattoo. The part that I find interesting is that someone would make something so important in their life like claiming edge and then somehow fall to a point that they need to make fun of it. Certainly I have no idea what made this person change their lifestyle but I wonder what would make them think that it's now somehow humorous.

For me, I could never break edge, it is too important to me. Even when it's not something that I think about everyday it is something that is ingrained in my life. Like all things that take serious commitment (aside from relationships since those clearly require the commitment of two individuals) such as being vegan or a religious lifestyle choice such as celibacy it is something that at one point in your life made such an impact that you "claimed" it, that you made it known to others and in this case "marked" you own body to let others know. This claim was clearly something of value, something to be shared with others.

Everyone deserves the right to break edge, but I truly wonder if it's done for the right reasons.

Question? What does Straight Edge mean to you?

Let us know and tell us why, post your answer.

Thanxxx.

Question? Have you ever broken edge?

Let us know and tell us why, post your answer.

Thanxxx.

Question: Why Are You Straight Edge?

Let us know, post your answer.

Being Straight Edge is better for the Earth

For a project at work I needed to research diesel and it's environmental impact compared to regular gasoline. This lead me to wonder how living straight edge impacts global warming versus not being edge.

There are definitely high levels of CO₂ production from not only the production of brewing beer and other alcohols, but also in the packaging especially if it is packaged in glass. Then since any "quality" beer is imported the environmental impact of shipping adds to that overall effect. Soda has similar impacts from it's own production which is high in sugar processing and water consumption, but it typically is less than beer and is bottled in many local bottling plants all across the U.S. And if you are a SxE person that avoids caffeine then you are improving the earth, I personally only drink a soda about once a month. Source.

Some SxE people are Vegetarians and Vegans and it's a fairly effective way to reduce CO₂ which comes from methane which is produced in large quantities by cattle. I personally am not a vegetarian or vegan, but I rarely eat beef and it doesn't seem that puoltry produces the same level of methane as cows. However the impact of production of these animals into food products has a significant impact as well. Source.

Tobacco despite being a plant is not as efficient at reducing CO₂ as the forests that are typically clear-cut to make room for tobacco farms. Source.

Other impacts on the earth for not being Straight Edge are the usage of illegal drugs which affect the environment, from the effects involded in their generally unenvironmental labs and international shipping for the "good" stuff.

So it seems that being Straight Edge is positive way to live on a Poison Free Earth.

Straight Edge Merch

Here's a list of some SxE Merch websites i've found, some I've bought stuff from, some I haven't. If you like stuff from these shops or hate their designs comment here. If you know of other's I've missed as well, let me know and I'll update this list.

StraightEdge Merch, Clothing, T-Shirts, Hoodies, Books, Videos, Music:
Victory Records : Music & shirts
1981 Records : Shirts, hoodies & music
Until Industries : Until's main site, they have some cool drug free designs
Until on merchnow.com : Until's merchnow site
merchnow.com : merchnow.com clothing
Bridge Nine : Great music & shirts
Living on the Straight Edge ~ Clothing : My own straight edge clothing designs on cafepress
Gruesome Graphics Straight Edge Store : A nice cafepress shop
Living on the Straight Edge ~ Media : Music, dvds, books about Straight Edge and Hardcore
24 Clothing : Nice SxE clothing line
District Lines : Shirts, some are pretty ugly

Straight Edge is NOT a Gang

Overall the NGC documentary "Inside Straight Edge" tried to show multiple angles of our community, but I felt that despite the varying views the concentration still leaned towards the idea that Straight Edge is a gang. I understand that the documentarians didn't specify that it was specifically, but they gave focus to those that said that it was, or was becoming that.

Sure, there are those that are Straight Edge and are violent, but pretty much they only beat up drug dealers, drunks and those that start fights with them. I bet that some start fights, and probably do stupid things, most kids do stupid things (like get drunk and do drugs.) But most Straight Edge people are positive and that is the kind of focus that the documentary should have taken. Interview people that are SxE and do great things for our world. Talk about what it's like to be a part of the SxE world, how do girls feel about the community, talk to SxE kids that start drug-free programs for their schools, or SxE kids that grow up into adults that have families and love being Straight Edge.

They put a lot of emphasis on a single murder of a gang (not that I believe that any murder even just one is allowable) that didn't have to confront SxE kids that were saying stupid things. I'm sure that the gang he belonged to killed people and sold drugs.

One thing I thought was very thought provoking was the idea that there are college fraternities that are full of organized people that do very harmful things (not all, but some as in SxE and everything else.) I've read many stories about frats that gang rape women, sell drugs, commit crimes. Shouldn't frats now be targeted as gangs? Anyone with greek letters should be stopped by police and searched for drug paraphenalia. SxE kids don't drink underage or do drugs, but I know that frats give alchohol to underage kids and smoke pot. But I guess since it's done while at an institution of higher learning it's okay and everyone knows that a little drug and alchohol abuse is fine, look at our fearless Commander in Theif as a prime example of what good comes of cocaine and alcohol.

I guess it would be very fair to do a documentary that starts with the tagline "Christianity, has it gone too far? Some have now formed gangs like the KKK, and then there are those church going Catholic mobsters in New Jersey, the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, look at how many people have died at the hands of the Christian Gang!"

Nat Geo Documentary on Straight Edge

Late last year I was contacted by a guy working on a documentary for National Geographic on the subject of Straight Edge. At first I hoped that they would take it in a positive direction. After dealing with the lies and subterfuge with Rolling Stone covering SxE I knew it wouldn't be a positive story either.

So next Wednesday, April 9th @ 10pm, National Geographic will be airing "Inside Straight Edge" to cover the darker side known as Hate Edge. Sure it exists, sure it is a dark and rough side to the story, but it has been done so many times with never a real mention to the positive and enlightening aspects of a culture that has enriched and empowered so many. I won't make any specific judgments about how biased or open-minded their coverage may be until I actually see this.

They will apparently cover Straight Edge from the point of view of an Ex-Edge Cop in Reno on the gang beat, Ronen Morris the director of “Boston Beatdown" and a soccer-mom that is struggling with the idea of her child embracing the lifestyle of Straight Edge.

I always hope that things like this will shed positive light on a lifestyle that is very important to me, but I always know that it's not the case when the press gets involved. But we'll see.

No Donnie, These Men Are Straight Edge

Without shame I'll put this black
X on my hand
Without shame I'll speak up and
Make my stand
In the end will use this
Use this for my voice
Spread your rumors about me
Because it's my choice
What the fuck do you know?
About me?
Why the fuck do you care?
What I do?
Who the fuck are you?
You ain't fucking shit
You think I care about you or what you say about me?
Keep talking shit
You think i care what you write or what people read on me
I am still edge
Carry these words high
Straight edge
I am still edge

No Donnie, These Men Are Straight Edge ~ Casey Jones

What Straight Edge is NOT!

It's not for everyone. If you are not Edge, that's fine. I accept and respect that, so respect my choice.

It's not about people that are not straight edge. I don't care what you do with your life.

It's not a label, it's a lifestyle. It's not a style or clothing, it's not about what you listen to or where you live or work. It's about how you think and act. We might provide a name for it, but the name is not lifestyle, it's merely a way to identify the act of being.

It's not from California. It's from D.C., from Minor Threat, from hardcore.

It's not about what I don't do, it's about what I DO! I do keep my body clean, I do care about my mind, I do abstain from mind altering drugs. I do listen to hardcore!

It's certainly not anything like not raping or not murdering. I recently read this post online and have to say something about it for the sake of people understading not only what SxE is but simple concepts like similarity and difference, that are apparently being lost on the youth of the public school systems these days. SxE is about being free of posions that normal people find acceptible in everyday life. Drinking, smoking and drugs are common and accepted by most Americans. Rape is not accepted by most Americans. What's wrong with identifying one's self by what they don't do? Vegans and Vegitarians do this. And like the last point it is simple enough to say I am SxE by what I do, and just what I don't do. And yes, SxE with saying so is about not raping and murdering as I hope most able minded people are.


It is about MY LIFE, MY CHOICE, MY PRIDE!

Earth-Crisis kicked @$$

The Blender Theater was host to an awesome display of hardcore last night. Earth Crisis, Terror and Sworn Enemy proved their worth on stage and if the size of the pit meant anything the crowd was completely excited.

When Earth-Crisis played Gomorrah's Season Ends the crowd was insane.
"I am straight edge. I am straight edge. I am straight edge."

I picked up and awesome Shai Hulud shirt with a sketched worm rider on it and two great worms in the background. Gotta love Dune. My friend's and I arrived late to the show and apparently missed Shai Hulud's set which sucked. I guess I'll have to wait or travel to see them again.

The Blender Theater is an nice venue, I really liked the layout of the floor and the downstairs areas had enough room for merch tables and two small bars that were nice to hang out at during band changes.

emo-skinny is the new black

Oddly enough I just found out that I'm the perfect body type for the fashion runway. Well not exactly, but this is rather funny. It seems that male models that are super skinny are in. So I looked up and found out that one of these so called skinny male models is 6 foot tall and 145 pounds with a 28 inch waist. Damn that's so fat, I'm 5'10.5" and 115 pounds with a 26 inch waist.

I guess like most things in fashion or art that imitation of life is the true muse. Emo geeks have been skinny for years, wearing tight body accentuating clothes. Soon enough emo-hair and emo-guys-kissing will be the in thing for the "normals."

Straight Edge Softcore

Is that an oxymoron? With a sound fairly remenisicent of the Postal Service, PlayRadioPlay has a nice mellow electronica sound. The band is just made up of one guy, Dan, who has claimed Edge since 04. Some of his music reflects on his past drug abuse. Apparently he had been sent to rehab and came out Edge. I haven't really checked out all his lyrics yet to see what kind of SxE meanings may exist; but I wonder as more musicians claim edge outside of Hardcore will they feel the need to scribe lyrics of their drug free life? Do they understand what it means to be Edge?

King Dork

King Dork has been one of the best books I've read in a while. The ending felt a little vague and without a solution but I feel that this was the effect that Frank Portman was going for. Frank "Dr. Frank" Portman from the band the Mr. T. Experience is certainly an author I want to read more from as well as read some of the other books referenced by Tom, he main character. I'm especially interested in reading Brighton Rock now. King Dork reminded of the experience I felt when I was younger and read Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume as it ellicted the emotions of a young boy and all experiences you go through so well. I related a lot to how Tom felt, his alienation from the other kids, his isolation inside his own mind and how things sound much better inside than when spoken. When I was Tom's age I wasn't as in to music as he was, but I was definately into D & D (as most young dorks & geeks were, i prefer the term geek myself,) and never understood how to talk to girls either and was interested in codes and Dr. Who. The story tended to drift around as the thoughts flowed from Tom's mind, and it seemed sporadic at times, which helped give the impression of a young kid trying to explain the events of his 10th grade year. The book was a quick read, and by that I mean that I didn't want to put it down ever, except towards the end when I didn't want it to end and wanted to delay that a bit. I can't say enough great things about this book and hope that everyone checks it out.

One great part in the book that I want to mention without spoiling anything is that Tom is always coming up with or thinking about great band names. Along the way he mentions that "Most Precious Blood" would be a great band name. Well of course it would, since MPB is already a great Straight Edge band.

Intervention

Recently I started watching Intervention on A&E and tonight I saw an episode where a woman was so addicted to alcohol that she was drinking mouthwash. This woman was like a typical PTA type mid west soccer mom (at least before she went down the drain.) How can people let themselves go that far, especially when they have children. It's sad to think about how many people are like this in America. I seriously hope that this show will open people's eyes and get more people into rehab, whether through interventions or on their own.

I think I would like Straight Edge to move beyond the community and beyond the music to give more people the chance to choose a lifestyle that will give them the opportunity to be proud of living a life that is poison free. I know that the special community that exists for us now is awesome and I'm extremely proud to be part of it, and I know that the music is the reason it exists today, but I think that SxE has so much to offer the world around us. No soccer mom would truly understand what this means, but if more American youth would leave behind the crutch of drugs and alcohol and make the choice to be themselves then it would benefit everyone in our world.

Calorie Counting in New York

New York restaurant chains (with more than 15 restaurants) will have to post calorie counts for everything on the menu including all drinks. I wonder if all the drunks at TGIF will stop drinking when they realize that their white russians are the reason they can't walk without weezing.

Jury Duty

So I got picked today to sit on a Grand Jury for the next two weeks (thankfully 2 of the days are court holidays and you won't be called for jury duty again for eight years if you serve on a grand jury.) They also have free Wi-Fi so I can keep up on my email and work over the hour lunch break we'll get.

On an unrelated note I started reading King Dork (which comes out in paper-back next week) by Frank Portman today figuring that I'd have time while sat in the jury assembly room waiting around to be called. I'm really impressed with the book so far and it really reminds me of my own youth in so many ways. I plan to write a more in depth review of the book when I finish, along with some other neglected reviews of the Out of Step book and some new (well new to me) CDs I recently picked up.

While sitting there in the jury room I started wondering how I'd be able to handle being unbiased when a case could involve drugs or alchohol. I know I'm smart enough to not judge someone outright by those things, but sometimes our choices and judgements are hidden to us. I guess that's part of the reason why we have a jury system, so I can judge people for the ills of their lives, I'm only kidding =)

Life with a non-edge Partner

This year I will be getting married. My fiancé is not Straight Edge, but she has been extremely acceptive of my choice. She doesn't smoke but occasionally has a drink when out with friends. When I chose to be Straight Edge I found it difficult to date, especially in New York, as many girls here drink and find it odd when a guy doesn't drink.

I try to eat very healthy and try to be completely poison free when I eat. I don't eat fried foods, I am lactose intolerant, and I won't eat any food that has been cooked with alchohol (even if it has been cooked off completely.) My fiancé has always been helpful whenever we are out someplace or visiting people to make sure that there is something I can eat and that it doesn't contain alcohol.

Being Straight Edge with someone that is not could lead to a difficult relationship with some people; I have read instances online of other Edgers that have had to leave partners because they weren't accepting enough or that they didn't completely understand.

I'm writing this post mainly to just speak to the fact that being SxE and marrying someone that is not SxE can work. I'd like to know about other SxE people that have had good and bad experiences with non-edge partners as well as those that have found a SxE partner and feel that that has been best for them.

Drunk Messaging

I find it completely hilarious when people feel the need to anonymously attack others for their beliefs. It is even funnier when it's done by proxy; someone who doesn't even know me felt it was necessary to have his "friend" send me a message over MySpace. I thought this message was funny so I posted it here (name withdrawn to protect the ignorant):

how can you possibly consider yourself human? when i am absolutely positive you gargle semen....you so called straight edged pussy...i can smell the burnt trojans from here you fucking fudge packing receptacle...i wish you nothing but clamidia for 2008.... go ahead and try to be somthing your not cause you can't fuckin deal. try to be different "straight edge" cause the norm has no problem to deal with life the way they do. Stop living in high school and at your parents ideals cause you can't seem to deal with life on your own "oh life is so hard when ur different" grow a pair of bulls pussy, your just fuckin sad...... tee heee heee teee heee heee heee

What is most amusing is that those that spout the most homophobic crap are typically gay, and those that hate Straight Edge people the most are typically the ones that end up failing out of rehab or dead in a gutter. I've never said my life was hard or I can't deal with the norm, if normal means being drunk and stupid then I don't want to be normal. In fact I think I have a great life and being Straight Edge has only made it better. I have an amazing woman in my life, a terrific job and lots of great friends.

I wouldn't typically respond to this kind of message but I just thought it was pretty funny how pathetic someone's life must be to write that kind of crap.