From the Editor: Sound and Fury

From the Editor

It’s not easy being a queer kid who grew up in the early 2000s. With shows like Pen15 making headlines, it’s almost cliche to talk about, but the influx of extreme body image messages, sexism, and the peer pressure of an evolving world made for an ever-changing and stressful environment to learn and grow in. 

Like many 00s kiddos, I was raised by divorced, low-income parents. I spent many an hour riding around in my dad’s van as we went to auctions and estate sales looking for antiques to buy and sell, or sitting at a hot, humid, dusty auction where we had to wait for hours to place bids. I was also shuttled back and forth between both parents, and grandparents, and spent hours in the car trying to kill time. 

During these times, I didn’t always have steady access to TV, movies, or ways to communicate with my friends (yes, this was before the time of texts and FaceTime—try Myspace and AOL instant messaging), but I did always have books and music, and those two things, I wholly devoured. 

I listened to the entire catalogs of 70s and 80s metal and hard rock, 70s punk, and nu-metal, along with Destiny’s Child, Spice Girls, and all the boy bands I could get my hands on. As I greedily devoured everything from the Sex Pistols to Kelly Clarkson, I was also reading. I would double-fist with the Baby-Sitters Club and Thoroughbred series along with the classics, musician biographies, all the magazines I could read and buy in a month, and whatever random books my dad had lying around.

I couldn’t put into words at the time what all these outlets were opening up for me, but looking back, I see myself strutting my queer stuff up and down my bedroom listening to Britney Spears, then devouring every word of Huckleberry Finn and imagining what it would be like to be a preteen boy in the 1800s, going on adventures. I was learning a lot about who I was through metal, punk, and old rock records, but also filling in the blanks that would have been covered by an older sibling with my teeny bopper romance novels. 

Through it all, these outlets shaped me into being who I am today. I am grateful for every single one of them, not just the ones that seem cool to look back on from my 30s. The teeny bopper books and pop did as much to shape my identity as the classic metal or literature. And now, we celebrate all things music and literature, from singer-songwriters to local literature, and beyond. 

So, sit back; put on some good music, and read through these pages to learn about your next big obsessions, both through the radio waves and on the page.