THE GOBLIN NEWSLETTER 27

Culture & Rules are very important to me but I have a unique view & attitude towards them. I like the structure these things provide but I’m also more than willing to ignore the rules if they get in the way of what I’m trying to do. So, in the case of raising my kids, I have a very structured view of what it takes to raise a kid, there was a lot put into the solid groundwork that they can operate from, & a lot put into those formative years so they know who they are, but my end goal is to raise independent people that understand life as a process that exists as long as they do who don;t hate their family. Because of this I must be able to bend or ignore my rules & it also helps because who knows what curveballs life throws at you! The first book on Punk I had was “Break All Rules”. Which, just by existing, highlighted the contradiction, Punk is a group identity, it has a certain definition & one of it’s key tenants is to not be part of a group & abhor definition. The truth is found in the contradiction, it’s just like Taoism which says that, “ The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao.” So even though Punk can be drinking on the street, wearing boots, having a mohawk & going to shows, that is not actually what Punk is. That is, you cannot reduce it to something describable by words. it is an understanding. It is a summation of so many parts, so many reactions, so much History. A friend was talking about how the raw culture that seeped out of Oakland when he first moved there was so wild than things are now where there is barely any understanding of these things or why they are important. There is barely any culture. People don’t understand it. Ultimately culture shouldn’t even be thought of, it should just be.