Fuck Embarrassment!

It's not like I go around saying I'm punk anymore, but when you grow up with a bunch of punks, you live under an unspoken code of conduct and rules that seem to stick on your ribs like the fattiest of foods. And even after you've digested a whole bunch of bullshit, that punk fat is still there except its evolved past your ribcage and has traveled into your DNA.

Of course it's all kind of a joke now but I know one true punk can sniff out another, like a junkie on the street. We're still around and just because some of us have traded our safety pins in for Brooks Brothers, it doesn't mean we can't find each other. In turn, just because someone trades their Brooks Brothers in for safety pins, we can sniff out poseurs too. Especially when the safety pins are made by Balenciaga (Brooks Brothers would have sounded better in that sentence, but I doubt that company makes safety pins).

Without going into further explanation (punks don't feel the need to explain) I will say that "being embarrassed" is NOT PUNK.

Embarrassment is for the weak. Embarrassment is clearly stating "I care about what you think of me, even if you're a total stranger."

I won't lie and say I don't care what other people think of me, of course I do. If I didn't, I'd wear Juicy sweatsuits everyday because they're mad comfy. Fuck it I'd wear sweatpants. I don't because I care what people think. Mostly my friends, people who might offer me a job, and not to mention I like to feel good about myself--which happens to be punk.

Does that mean I won't start doing a dance routine in front of a crowded restaurant because I feel like it? No. And if it embarrasses you then go find tickets to a Taylor Swift concert and get off my fucking stage (punks say "fuck" whenever they want).

Sometimes we get loud and obnoxious. Sometimes we get "inappropriate." So? That's how we live. Maybe you're reading this right now and realizing that you are in fact punk and you didn't even know (not very punk but we'll let it slide).

Another punk thing to do is contradict yourself and feel ashamed and dumb and embarrassed and say dumb things but tell the world anyway because bottling shit up and pretending it never happened in such an ugly way isn't for punks at all. It's for boring people who hate things that are ugly and off-putting and weird and not always easy to understand. Or stupid. Or smart. Or sloppy. Or apologetic.

For more on what I think punk is, read this. It pretty much sums it up.