Young Poor & Angry Press

Recently I had my twenty-seventh birthday. For some this is considered still being young, but in the scene I’m now considered middle age. Maybe it’s because the longevity for your average scene kid is only a few years. Most come in, stay for awhile and then move on to other things like fraternities or golfing with friends and forget all about their professed love for the scene. What I’ve noticed over the years is there are certain people who stick around. These people all seem to share the same sense of morals and values despite some of their major differences.

I have a good friend named Laura aka Laura Galaxy. Laura loves guns, she’s got a big tattoo of a confederate flag (no she is not racist, she’s friends with me isn’t she?), believes Jesus Christ is her lord and savior, regularly attends church and hates Hayley Williams from Paramore with a passion. Laura and I couldn’t be more different. I really don’t like guns (although I’m a pretty good shot), I’m a Jew (and an atheist but that’s for another editorial…) and I think that Paramore is pretty damn good and have all their albums.

The big thing Laura and I have in common is the scene (I hate to even use that word because it’s been co-opted by media to portray a group of teenage hipsters who purchase their street cred from a Hot Topic and get their musical tastes from Myspace friends lists.) We both love punk and hardcore. While Laura may worship at a Church she, like me, also finds comfort and acceptance in going to see her favorite hardcore band play. While I disagree with her stances politically (Laura knows very well that I think that the concept of Christianity is retarded, but she loves me anyhow. I know Laura thinks that me being a liberal is pure insanity, but she smiles and listens when I talk about Barack Obama) we both have hatred for intolerance and racism. We accept each others differences because that’s what we’ve learned from the hardcore scene. We’ve found family and friendship here, we’ve built memories here and will have stories to tell our kids. This scene is our home, a part of our value system, and a tie that binds us together as a collective. As Sham 69 once said “If the kids are united, we will never be divided.”

It’s been now fifteen years since I heard my first punk and hardcore albums. Fifteen years since I started my love affair with this scene. The scene’s face has changed over the years. Ska was huge, then punk, and now it seems hardcore and metal are taking center stage. The kids seem so much younger than they were before (and maybe they are, it’s hard to tell because anyone under the age of 21 looks the same to me now) and the styles of clothing have changed. The one thing that hasn’t are people like Laura and myself. While we might wear nice clothing to work for important meetings, we might have big world issues we feel passionately about, but we still always find solace and comfort in a good hardcore or punk album. The one thing we’ve both learned in our lifetime in this scene is that growing up doesn’t necessarily mean growing out of the things you love, it’s adding more things to that list.

Candace Kucsulain of Walls of Jericho

The hardcore scene has finally come into it’s own. Kids from all over the world are listening to bands like Madball, Terror, and Gallows. The scene has permeated through the landscape of subculture and is turning up all over the place, in commercials, clothing, and more. Hardcore has built itself a community of people who firmly believe in doing the right thing, living a positive life and over-coming the hard times we all will face in days to come. Though there is one thing in this amazing culture we’ve all contributed too that’s been patently over-looked since Kevin Seconds tried to bring it to our attention in the mid-80s. Let’s not sugar coat this, the hardcore scene treats women poorly as a whole. Read the rest of this entry »

I loath California. Yeah, I said it, and I’m not taking it back until some things start to change. Whether they realize they’re doing it or not, every single person in California, from your gang bangers in East L.A. to your coiffed eighteen year old and surgically altered blonde’s driving $100K dollar cars during a recession, are pretentious as shit.

Ever have someone from California come visit your state? I’m from Florida, it’s a pretty nice place. We’ve got beaches, we’ve got Miami, Tampa, Gainesville. We got some cool sports teams that are pretty damn good, and some amazing BBQ. All in all, I’d say Florida is a pretty spiffy place to live. Then my friends from California come in. Suddenly my nice sandy beach I spent hours learning to hone my craft as a writer are paudry faxcimilies of California’s North Shore. My quaint little town of Gainesville, with it’s Tom Petty roots and University of Floria is nothing compared to the technologically superior UCLA campus. Ask any Californian what’s better than California, and chances are they’ll tell you nothing. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot of talk recently about the health care system in the United States. The talking heads at the major news outlets have given you their opinions and told you how it effects the baby boomers as well as the older generation - but what no one seems to be discussing is how it effects the young people in this country that are just getting out of college, and out from under their parent’s wing.

I talk to people every day that tell me, “Justin I’m really afraid to get sick, I can’t afford it.” One of our readers told me in confidence that he’s worried he won’t be able to go visit his folks (who are also sick) because of the cost of his inhaler for asthma, something he can’t live without. That’s a choice that none of us should have to face, especially as young as we are. The United States is currently the only industrialized nation that does not give its citizens a right to healthcare. Even Germany, as crazy as those guys can be sometimes has a health care system.

What’s on the table now is what’s called a “single-payer health care” system. That’s a simple way of saying that the money will come from one big source, instead of a bunch of little sources, to provide blanket coverage to every person, regardless of income. Meaning you will get the exact same health care that President Obama and members of Congress enjoy today.

The big argument against this system I keep hearing from my Republican friends (yes, I do have them, see below for Joel’s side of the story) is that America already has one of the best health care systems in the world, why would we want to change that? Because basically that argument is so full of holes that it would make the Star Wars prequels look like they had continuity. Out of 28 industrialized nations this is how we rank:

23rd in infant mortality

20th in life expectancy for women

21st in life expectancy for men

67th in immunizations for its citizens right behind Botswana

Currently 17% of our population is without health care.

Still think it’s a good system? Yeah, didn’t think so. Right now Americans are spending more and getting less for their health care dollar. How much more? Glad you asked, because right now we’re spending about 40% of what we take in. That’s right, you heard me correctly; we’re dropping big dollars on a health care system that’s obviously not working. A single payer system would mean a tax increase for people making over 350k dollars a year, not your parents or you (unless of course you’re making that much money, in which case, can you throw me a loan to pay for my insurance?)

Most only going when they deem the situation dire to the expensive of an average doctor visit. For instance, not long ago I needed to find a primary care physician which is a fancy way of say “your family doctor.” When I went in for my first visit, I was shocked when I saw the bill was more than ninety dollars. Now it so happens my doctor is awesome and spends a good deal of time with each patient. But, regardless, for ninety dollars I should have received a lap dance from the gorgeous brunette nurse who took my pulse (which she said was rather high, then again she was bending over me when she put the cuff on, so that’s probably the reason.) This has made me think twice about calling the doctor the next time I get a slight cough.

The problem with this rationale is simple. If I wait too long for that cough, it could get worst. That cough could turn into something drastic, which then would require needing to go to the emergency room. The ER, as most know, is expensive… more so than my doctor’s visit. However, since hypothetically I am very ill, it’s the only option. The bill then comes and I can’t pay, thus putting me deeper into the hole. I declare bankruptcy and then fall into poverty, where my health declines further. Starting to get the picture here?

Under a single payer system, no citizen gets left behind. There are enough doctors, staff, and medical equipment to go around. There would be no management of care under a single payer, unlike the current managed care system which mandates insurer pre-approval for services thus undercutting patient confidentiality and taking health care decisions away from the health care provider and consumer. Not to mention costing a lot of people a lot of money to maintain the management system. One of the proposals as well is to remove paper from the equation and go to electronic filing. From working in a hospital in administrative capacity, I can tell you that the cost of paper and printing is astronomical. The printer in the office’s cartridges were $300 a piece, and that printer held three of them. That’s $900 dollars we can free up right there. Keep going down the line, and we can cut enough costs to afford enough health care for all of our United States citizens.

Think all of this sounds good? Then pick up your phone and call your state’s representative. Tell them you’re all for single payer and you are a member of the voting public. Let them hear your voice, and encourage your family and friends to call as well. Together we can actually change the system like President Obama talked about during the election.