I’m often told it’s odd for someone to have gotten into the scene at such a young age, and to have stayed involved. Especially as a girl. I never understood why it wasn’t considered “normal.” I just continued living my weird, punk rock life when people said those things. And while not seeing many other young people did bother me a little bit, I ignored the feeling. But I always did, and still do, hope to see more teens at shows. Oftentimes, the only other high school age kids attending them are friends that I bring with me. Occasionally I’ll see other kids, but rarely are they girls. Young female punks are few and far between here.

When I first started going to shows, I faced a fair amount of discrimination for my age. I was told that I couldn’t be a punk rocker because I was young, therefore didn’t know anything. Despite all the shit I got, I still went to shows. I tried hard to get involved in the scene and prove myself. I wanted it to be known that no matter your age, gender, orientation, or any of that, you could be a damn fine punk rocker. I was sick of seeing holier-than-thou elitists telling others that they weren’t punk rock.

I used to be wary about going to shows. I was afraid of getting made fun of, or getting shit from older punks. I was just a young girl trying to find a place that I could be accepted. It’s really shitty that today’s standards and views on women and children have to affect us in such a way. If people weren’t so judgemental, if people didn’t care how old you were or what you were carrying in your pants, or what you wore or believed in, life would be a hell of a lot easier. We live in a time period where many minority groups are much more accepted than they were 30 years ago, and still we see this judgement every day. Seattle is a pretty open-minded, accepting place, but still, I see this discrimination all the time: in our scene, in schools, out in public. Our lives are short. Why the fuck should we waste them judging others, when we could be doing so many better things?

Great people come in all forms. We should be able to accept and be accepted, tolerate and be tolerated. Sure this all sounds cheesy and generic, but we all deserve a chance. We all deserve to be treated equally. So about a year ago, I started a nonprofit called Punks for Tolerance. I mostly started it because I’ve faced a lot of torment in and out of the scene, and because I was sick of seeing others harassed just for their beliefs and appearances. Originally, I was just trying to set up a benefit show for a club at school. That kind of fell through, but I wanted to keep going with the idea. So at 14, I decided “fuck it, I’ll start a non-profit.” Now, as a 15 year old female, I book benefit shows for various causes, write articles for zines, and am a moderator on a local punk message board. Let that be a big “fuck you” to anyone that thinks kids and girls can’t do anything in the punk scene. Seattle punks need to work on really unifying the scene. No one should be left out because they’re too young, or too old, or too feminine or what have you. We’re all people. We’re all here for the music. We’re all outcasts. We should band together, instead of split off into our little cliques and act like jerks to one another.

When you were younger, were you happy with yourself? Gender, appearance, etc.?
“Oh gosh, that’s a hard question. I always wanted to take my shirt off when I was little, and I felt bad that I couldn’t because people said I was a girl. I guess I felt happy until people started making me feel bad about doing things because I was a girl. It’s sad because titties are awesome. When I was little, I used to want to be Leonardo DiCaprio.”

When did you decide that you wanted to change genders?
“I wanted to just be able to express my gender in a non-binary way. I’ve always felt that I have a fluid gender, I just started feeling more comfortable expressing that as a young teen.”

How did your friends and family react to you coming out?
“My extended family was very uncomfortable, my school was terrible and harassed me. My good friends and mother supported me.”

Are you happy that you’ve made this transformation?
“I don’t know that I’ve made a transformation. I’ve always been like this, I’ve just come out. It’s good to get that weight off my shoulders. So yeah, I feel happy. It’s been 4 years since I’ve come out and I have a queer friendly community around me, so it doesn’t feel like such a huge thing anymore.”

What would you tell other teens that want to change genders?
“That a physical transition is only necessary if you want it. Surround yourself with accepting and loving people, go to support groups, love yourself, don’t feel pressure to rush into any decision, educate people and demand respect.”

I caught wind of his new mixtape from his also newly released video Rammin’. “Rammin’” is the first track on the mixtape, and is definitely a banger, produced by Blue Sky Black Death. Blue Sky Black Death is a production duo based in none other than the 206, every song on the project is produced by them as was his last mixtape For the Glory. Fellow producer Raised by Wolves had a hand in the production also. If you haven’t listened to Nacho before his newest release I suggest you download both mixtapes and notice the transition between the two, Nacho’s rhymes are on point. He uses the classic rapper persona of glorifying himself and his city but with his own original style to keep it fresh. Pop culture references abound from cult movies like the Lost Boys to 1950’s sitcom Leave it to Beaver. He is random at times but you end up getting more than you don’t.

In my opinion the best song on the Lord of the Fly would be “Naked Lunch” dubbed from from the William S Burroughs novel of the same name, the song reflects his history with taking drugs, whether for good or bad it’s up to the listener to decide. The chorus (which he samples himself) “All the drugs I abused, and I’m still not amused,” repeats almost melodically until it’s imprinted in your subconscious. The beat is all over the place with an almost 80’s dance vibe to it, but much darker. It’s not a club hit but holds electronic elements, hip-hop is taking a new turn. And not only this song but the whole mixtape shows it could be for the better.

Here’s the Naked Lunch video….
http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?v=ixaTVf9JG9o

The first track, “Controlled Opposition” took me by surprise. There was feedback, pounding drums, and everything I love about Anti-Flag. It flowed into the next one, “The Neoliberal Anthem,” and I was still totally satisfied. The lyrics were meaningful, it would be easy to sing along to at a show, and it could keep a mosh pit going. The sixth track on the album had me picturing the late Joe Strummer singing it. “The Ranks of the Masses Rising” is an amazing song about revolution and rising up against the government. It really makes you want to revolt. Most songs on this album are about the Occupy movements, and have that feel to them. One song, titled “1915” is about the labor movements in that time, but it’s still relevant to us today. All of the songs on The General Strike are true Anti-Flag songs. Against the state of today’s society, against inequality, and filled with heartfelt lyrics.

While there are some elements to the record that I don’t love, it’s still a great one overall. It contained the political messages that they’re known for, and still threw a lot of emotion at you (in a good way, of course). Anti-Flag is often a hit or miss band, and you never know what to expect when they put out a new record. I’d say that The General Strike is definitely worth listening to.

As 8 P.M. rolls around, Thomas, Costa, and J.B. are the only ones at the party so far, they are in fear that the party was not going to be a hit but soon enough, cars start flooding the streets to attend the house party. Costa Hires two (what seem to be 13 year olds) to be security at the party. As people keep coming, the two kids start to get overwhelmed with the party’s growth. As the night continues, the neighbor across the street comes to talk to Thomas about shutting the party down and that it is getting too late and loud. The host of the party refuses, so the neighbor calls the police. Several minutes later as Thomas, Costa, J.B. and the security guards work to get all the party guests into the back yard and to kill the music and to be quite. They fool the cops into thinking that they are only having a small birthday party and by denying the police access to enter the house. More and more people are coming and the party is becoming out-of-control. Earlier in the movie they steal a garden gnome which was filled with Ecstasy, and the drug dealer that they stole it from shows up at the party with a flamethrower and torches the whole neighborhood and burns down the house where the party was.

This movie was filmed by a goth student with a video camera but I was surprised how well it was filmed and not hard on the eyes unlike Cloverfield. I really like the movie for the comedy and the lessons. During the whole movie the house started to get more and more trashed and Costa just keeps tell Thomas that he can fix it and that he has an uncle that can replace a broken window, but at the end when all is done and the Mercedes Benz is at the bottom of the pool Costa tells Thomas, “I can’t fix this.” I just thought that was funny how he was there the whole time telling Thomas that everything was going to be and that he could fix everything. I recommend seeing this movie if you are looking to have a mentally good time and go party. I would say that this movie is totally made for teens to enjoy the activities of a super house party without the trouble or consequences that usually come with when you attend a house party, especially one like this!

                   Project X’s very own -Milo

I liked how Andrew Detmer, who is a high school student is filming his life every second of his day. I didn’t really like how most of the scenes were from the actual cameras that were installed into the stores. It kept switching back and forth from cameras too much. They should have stuck with Andrew’s camera and had a film camera filming instead of filming from the store cameras.b

His father, Richard, a former firefighter is an alcoholic who beats Andrew for all troubles in their life. Andrew is unpopular and gets bullied at school and by the neighborhood “gang”. He gets bullied by almost everyone. The only friends he had was his cousin Matt and Steve who were the star quarterbacks of their high school. They met up at a rave where Steve saw that Andrew was sitting outside alone and brought him along to a hole in the ground that Matt and Steve found in the forest. It made weird noises when they got close to it. They went into the hole to find out what the sound was. Andrew hesitated on going in but followed anyway. The scene hurts my eyes a bit from the wavering camera from Andrew filming but it’s an amateur filmer filming so it was supposed to be like that. It feels like we were in film era of movies having a character of the movie having a camera and filming everything with their bad filming skills.

The trio of high schoolers became good friends and did everything together. From playing pranks, traveling, and strengthening their powers. Until Andrew ran a car off a road into the water almost killing then. Matt made rules on what they could and couldn’t do with their powers because they were getting too strong. Andrew didn’t obey the rules that were set because he was obeying the laws of the wild that animals “have”. He became an apex predator which is the person or animal that is at the top of the food chain.

They become distant from their dispute about constraining their powers. Matt went on with his life, spending time with his girlfriend. They didn’t show or say what Steve was doing when they broke apart, but he did come back to try to talk to Andrew when Steve sensed that something was wrong with Andrew. Andrew was a pro at using his powers but when he got angry, he went berserk and could not be controlled. He needed some therapy or some anger management training.

I’m not going to spoil the ending so I’m going to end this by saying that you should watch it but not really worth it to see it at theaters or buy it. Just watch it on Netflix or Redbox when it comes out on dvd and blueray. You’ll have a few laughs and a few “wtf” moments. I would give it a 3 out of 5 star rating. It could’ve been better from what I think.

Arguably a coming-of-age story, White Oleander turns the style on its head.  This is not the sappy, predictable, watered-down coming-of-age story many readers have grown accustomed to.  This book is gripping and wildly intense–dramatic but still very honest.

Our main character is Astrid Magnussen, who is twelve at the start of the story.  She lives with her mother Ingrid, a narcissistic poet who endears Astrid to her delusions of grandeur.  Astrid’s father left before she was old enough to remember him, so she relies completely on her mother.  Ingrid is unsympathetic and very cold, often leaving her daughter alone for long periods of time, but she makes sure that Astrid values her ideals above all else.

After some initial hesitation, Ingrid begins dating a man named Barry.  She becomes completely besotted with him, breaking the strict rules of conduct and love that she had once placed on herself and Astrid.  When she discovers that Barry is cheating on her, Ingrid becomes increasingly obsessive.  This culminates in her poisoning Barry with a mixture of DMSO (a prescription medication that can have severe side effects if used in excess or not prescribed by a doctor) and oleander sap.  Barry dies and Ingrid is sent to prison.

Here is where the story truly begins (so don’t worry that I’ve spoiled you too much).  Astrid enters the foster system, and the characters she meets here are masterful. The novel takes us through the five homes Astrid lives in, and splendidly details the way they change her perception of the world.  Through these homes, Astrid discovers her sexuality, develops a drug dependency, faces huge physical and emotional hardships, and finds love.  She also witnesses the death of a loved one and expands her world beyond the naive falsities fed to her by her mother.

Throughout the story, Astrid communicates with Ingrid through an ongoing series of letters.  With the help and hindrance of her various foster families, she begins to realize that her mother is not the misunderstood victim she trained her daughter to think she was.  Astrid also begins to recover lost memories of her early childhood.

White Oleander provides a rather bleak depiction of the American foster system.  While some of the families (one in particular) provide Astrid with love and a true desire to care for her, most of her experiences are quite negative.  She meets many seedy, selfish people who are only foster parents for financial reasons, and who suffer from their own assorted versions of narcissism, control-issues, and debilitating lack of self esteem.

Despite this, they still feel like real people. There is not a true antagonist in this book, just as there is no true antagonist in real life.  White Oleander feels like a real account of a rough life.  What could be a contrived or overly dramatic story somehow works in Janet Fitch’s delicate hands.

And boy, can she write.  The phrasing in this book is a bit dense, but in a truly phenomenal fashion.  While some stories may not fit with such a thick, wordy style, the intensity of this plot warrants it.  Sentences roll along in a manner more reminiscent of poetry than prose–blending together in a melodious tapestry that is (without hyperbole) heart-breakingly beautiful. However, Fitch never lets the poetry overpower her prose, and the frequent dialogue scenes contain realistic speech patterns.

The following excerpt–the first paragraph of the book–provides an example of the rhythmic feel of Fitch’s writing:

The Santa Anas blew in hot from the desert, shriveling the last of the spring grass into whiskers of pale straw. Only the oleanders thrived, their delicate poisonous blooms, their dagger green leaves. We could not sleep in the hot dry nights, my mother and I. I woke up at midnight to find her bed empty. I climbed to the roof and easily spotted her blond hair like a white flame in the light of the three-quarter moon.

For those who wants a quick, breezy read, this book is not for you.  But for those looking for a truly emotional story with rich phraseology, I highly recommend White Oleander.

Side note: I do not recommend the film version of White Oleander.  The story is fairly different (important sections are removed) and I find it to be horribly miscast.  Read the book, ignore the movie.

White Oleander:

Author: Janet Fitch

Genre: Bildungsroman (or coming-of-age) novel

Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.

Book information from Wikipedia.org

Excerpt from BookBrowse.com

Image from VintageFolly.com

Information on DMSO from WebMD.com

I’m sure most students know of this thing that has been going for the past few months called ‘Occupy Seattle’. Maybe you’ve heard about it on the news, on fliers, on television, seen an Occupy rally going on in downtown Seattle, or maybe you know nothing about it. The occupy movement was inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” movement that took place in New York City. This is people that are taking a stand against corruption, greed, and unfairness. Some of the goals that they hope will be accomplished from all this are to protect the environment, give union workers rights, protect public transit, and to enforce anti-trust laws. There are many opportunities to go to a meeting or rally, even just to listen in on what’s going on.

If you go on the website www.occupyseattle.org/calendar you’ll see all the dates that they have meetings and where they will be located. If the issues are something that you are concerned about and you feel like a change needs to be made, this could be a way that things can change for Seattle. Students should be aware that some protests can get dangerous, so please stay safe!

Whitney Houston is probably known best by my generation from her hit love song “I Will Always Love You”, (which was a cover originally sung by Dolly Parton), still being one of the greatest R&B songs of all time. Whitney was not only a music icon, but an actress as well. It was her beauty, vocal talents, and also her versatility that has made her the music one of a kind that she was and will always be. Influencing artists like Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Kelly Clarkson, she has paved the way for young R&B, soul, and pop singers of this generation. Whitney’s music will remain relevant forever.

Heavy D (Dwight Arrington Myer) was a hip-hop producer and rapper, but he has also shown a different side of himself through acting roles in movies and in television sitcoms. He was a very popular artist all through the 90’s. Recently, Heavy D had appeared on the BET Awards doing his first live performance in 15 years. After so much time passing, his fans were elated to see him back on stage again. He had done collaborations with artists from Notorious B.I.G to B.B. King. In my opinion, he had to be one of the most versatile artists in hip-hop. His untimely death was a huge shock to all his fans, after making such a triumphant come back. But he will never be forgotten.

Michael Jackson has to be one of the best entertainers that the world has ever gotten to know. From childhood to adulthood, Michael has been breaking down barriers in black history. All over the world, people will always remember who Michael Jackson was, and still is. Influencing today’s artists such as Beyonce, Britney Spears, Madonna, Usher, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, and many others. Without Michael’s drive, charisma, and talent, there may not be many doors opened for black musicians now.

Like millions across the nation, I waited for the mythical iPhone 5. Supposed leaked photos of stock lists and cases for the redesigned shape all served as fodder for those waiting; with each minuscule release of information —a screenshot here, a blurry photo there— we sat on edge, anticipating. Apple played hard to get and refused to comment on the device we were so sure existed, it had to! Selling a case for a redesigned phone that hadn’t been announced yet was a bold move that many designers collectively took part in, seemingly agreeing on the same design. To the public, the iPhone 5 at this point was a hidden pregnancy, a phone that had millions across the world eagerly awaiting it’s unveiling, and it never came.

Undeniably, I’m not alone when I say I’m just one of millions who was disappointed by the sub-par announcement.. but rushed to pre-order the latest shiny iPhone. If you’re an owner of the iPhone 4, upgrading at the high cost of $199 plus terminating or restarting your contract is simply not worth it. But for those who held onto their outdated iPhone 3G like myself, the 4S is not to be overlooked. When Apple discounted the still highly-popular iPhone 4 to $99 compared to the newest 4S selling at $199, the iPhone became more accessible than ever. And whether you’re new to the Apple game or a die-hard fan, this article is for you.

iOS5 is the operating system that every 4S is shipped with,  and also available for the 3GS and 4 models. To me, this is the most essential deal breaker that led me to choose Apple again. It’s a rare occurrence that an iPhone user will choose another smart-phone after being acquainted with Apple’s universally-known sleek interface and ease of use. Comparing iOS5 to the competing operating systems, it’s true that this is the update Apple should have had the first or second time around. A notification center, free messaging between same-device users.. features like this have been around for years, and it was only until last year that Apple made this available (without jailbreaking) for its users. Having the latest features might be important to you, but I held off on switching to another phone because I knew Apple would join the game, and it would be executed flawlessly. My favorite feature of iOS5 is the drop-down notification center that serves as a collective place for all notifications from Mail, games, apps, calendar, weather, texts, and calls. In previous iPhone operating systems, if you got a notification from Facebook while you were playing a game, and you exited out of the pop-up on the screen, the notification would be lost. With the new notification center you can choose for notifications to be non-disruptive and appear at the top of the screen, without interrupting your current task. If you missed it, you can simply swipe down and see all notifications from various apps in one place so you never miss a thing!  The next feature in iOS5 that appeals to many is the free messaging service called iMessage that allows you to send texts, photos, and videos for free to other iMessage users. This means one iPhone using iOS5 can easily send a photo or message to somebody with an iPod Touch that is within Wi-Fi range, and vice versa, and it’s free! This feature is especially useful for those on tight texting plans. It also creates ease of communication for Apple users without third-party apps. With the price drop on the just-as-good iPhone 4, the accessibility of Apple products is becoming more wide, and therefore more will be using iMessage to communicate.

The most important feature that separates the iPhone 4S from its previous models is Siri. Siri is Apple’s version of a “personal assistant” that uses speech recognition and voice commands to perform tasks throughout the phone. Only available on the 4S as a built-in feature, and not available for download, Siri is clearly the main selling point in the iPhone 4S. Since voice commands such as voice-to-text, and speak-to-call have been a feature in many different devices and automobiles for years, what makes Siri so groundbreaking? First to activate Siri, you simply hold down the home button and a microphone appears on screen. Then you can ask Siri a number of things. For instance you might ask, “What are some good sushi restaurants near me?” Within seconds, a list of restaurants, ratings, and a map view appear on screen. Or you might wonder, “What’s the weather like in an hour?” Siri will use GPS navigation to locate you and bring up an hourly weather forecast. When I asked Siri to make an appointment with a specific contact for noon tomorrow, I was impressed by Siri’s clear understanding of common phrases and characteristics of speech. Gone are the days of few words being recognized by speech recognition services like “Next song, pause, play, call Mom,” that hardly work half the time. While I don’t use Siri everyday, and would much rather prefer doing tasks such as creating calendar events myself, Siri is extremely useful when my hands are busy in the kitchen baking. At the touch of a button I can set a timer, have an unread text read aloud and even reply without typing a single thing. Having played around with Siri, which is still in its beta stages, I can only anticipate future improvements such as recognition of regional accents and dialects that allow the iPhone 4S to be fully functional worldwide.

The next essential improvement is the camera on the iPhone 4S. The photos speak for the specs themselves (8 mega-pixel camera, HDR capabilities, and a redesigned lens). It’s clear that the camera is a giant step up from the iPhone 4. Photos are noticeably sharper, colors more balanced, and photos taken in low-light situations still come out beautifully. For me, the camera is an essential part of a phone. I take several pictures a day documenting my life, where I go, and what I do, to have memories I can constantly look back on. The quality and speed of this camera consistently amaze me when I need to take a quick shot of a moment and I need it in two seconds. I remember the days of my first cell phone, a Razr, which looked cool, but when I took it to a concert and tried to take photos, I looked back at the pictures wondering what exactly I was taking a photo of. The camera on the iPhone 4S not only produces quality photos for viewing on the phone, but for viewing on the web, and even for print.

What’s next for the iPhone world? Anyone familiar with the family of iPhones over the past five years knows of Apple’s predictability; first came the original iPhone, then the 3G and 3GS, and the redesigned iPhone 4, and most recently, the iPhone 4S. It’s obvious the next device will be entirely redesigned to keep up with the always-changing technology game. Aside from the redesign millions are hoping for, what Apple needs to keep up with competition is 4G, which is the latest generation of cellular wireless standards. 4G is not only faster than previous generations 2G and 3G, it has larger capacities without data caps. This means 4G can be a replacement for home Internet.

I’ve had this phone for about 3 months now and I have zero complaints. What I love most about the iPhone legacy is the ease of customization for each user. It’s not a pick-one phone like other competing devices: the Blackberry is used primarily for business, and Android phones are known for gaming. With the iPhone and over 500,000 apps available for download, you can create a device catered to your exact needs. Need a way to organize a busy home and work life? There’s an app for that. A device capable of heavy-duty gaming in 3D? You got it. Netflix for a long bus ride home? Done. Your entire library of e-books in the palm of your hand with Nook and Kindle syncing capabilities? Done and done. What the iPhone does is give you a fully equipped blank slate that is capable of standing against competing devices on its own and with the help of its constantly growing app store. After the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the next move made by Apple and newest CEO Tim Cook will be one to watch as it will determine whether the company will continue to dominate the smart phone world.

For more iPhone news: http://novaknows.com/iphone-finally-comes-to-verizon/