Tag Archives: punk

RIP Poly Styrene

X-Ray Spex front woman Poly Styrene passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer. Germ-Free Adolescents remains on my Desert Island List of Greatest Punk Albums Ever, and Poly is as ever an example. (I still dress like her in … Continue reading

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Filed under (AD)DRESSING GENDER & SEXUALITY, FASHIONING RACE, WIRED FOR THE WEEKEND

From the Archives: “My Hair Trauma” (1998)

We received a request for a piece I wrote over ten years ago, from my time in the “olden days” of what we oldsters once called “web journaling.” It’s hard to read some of my old writing without cringing (as … Continue reading

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Wired for the Weekend: Become the Machine

I can barely see because allergies are destroying my eyes, damn these industrial agro-business corn and soybean fields. My life would be so much more improved right now if I were made of machine parts. Spokane’s Sweet Madness in a … Continue reading

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Filed under FASHIONING THE HUMAN, WIRED FOR THE WEEKEND

Creativity and Commodity: The Subcultural Style Guide

Featuring photographs by Jenny Lens and modeling by Belinda Carlisle, this 1977 zine How To Look Punk by Marliz is an amazing gem. (Awww, I remember fondly tearing black paper for zine layouts….) Check this helpful advice for a “neck … Continue reading

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New Wave/New Look

The staples of my graduate student wardrobe were striped t-shirts, black skate shoes, a red Members Only jacket, and a haircut given to me by a middle-aged Korean lady who didn’t much flinch when I asked to look like a … Continue reading

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Filed under FASHION 2.0, FASHIONING RACE, FASHIONING THE HUMAN, WIRED FOR THE WEEKEND

Kleenex

I am sick in bed with a cold. Unfortunately, I ran out of tissue and have had to resort to a roll of toilet paper tucked besides my pillow. To illustrate my lack, here is a video from Kleenex (later … Continue reading

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Filed under OUR JUNK DRAWER

“You Are Her”

Sometimes old punks with archival tendencies can be a force for good! Former Outpunk zinester and record mogul Matt Wobensmith now runs an amazing zine store called Goteblud in the Mission District of San Francisco. He recently curated an exhibit … Continue reading

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Ladies of the Night, What a Fright!

It’s a Halloween treat! Enjoy this early ’80s footage from New Wave Theatre of Hollywood all-girl punk band Castration Squad, featuring (among others) Shannon Wilhelm and Mary Bat-Thing, who later became Dinah Cancer, lead singer of 45 Grave. (One of … Continue reading

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3 AM and 3,000 More to Go

I’m making revisions to a paper on the biopower of beauty at 3 a.m., but I have about 3,000 more words to cut to meet the word count. Clearly, it’s time for my most random post yet. This is me … Continue reading

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Background Color, Redux

I’ve been pleasantly buoyed by the great responses to my original entry on the Beth Ditto NYLON editorial. Today it’s being republished on Racialicious, but meanwhile Fatshionista and other blogs belonging to fashionable and fabulous people have also penned some … Continue reading

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Filed under FASHIONING RACE