But!
I've got a story to tell today. It's not my story, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately.
Last winter, I was talking (and also probably crying) to Dani (most likely about GS). Whatever I had said drove Dani to tell me a story about his son, Robbie. Dani hushed me. "Bubba," he said. "You're like Robbie." Then he went on to tell me how he instructed Robbie to get dressed and after a few minutes heard a cry, "Papa! Papa! My legs are broken!" Dani, upon arriving at the doorway to his son's room, saw Robbie with both legs in the same pant leg. "That's you, Bubba," he said in his inimitable accent. "You've got both your feet in the same hole and you think you're legs are broken!"
***
Olivia and I watched this movie called "We Are The Best" about three thirteen-year-old girls who start a punk band. I loved it and watched it again by myself the next day. It was just striking to me: these girl were fantastically aware how everything they experienced was wrong, and yet incapable of explaining and expressing themselves. They lived as far away from feminine as possible, yet still were these emotional, loving, and caring friends with extremely effeminate characteristics. Their music and band were constantly put down, not just because "punk is dead," but also because they're girls, trying to be part of something considered to be inherently masculine. The three girls didn't seem to fit any of the boxes society offered them, and were constantly brought down because of it.
You watch the characters grow some, while also maintaining their integrity. One can also predict the way these girls lives will progress and evolve, or at least question it. I wonder how long Hedvig, the blonde, Christian girl, will stay friends with Klara, the God-hating, mohawk-wearing bass player. I also worry about the negative effects on Bobo, the smallest of the group. She seems constantly surrounded by selfish and inconsiderate people (her mother and Klara) and her school-girl crushes that don't work out feel like larger, more hurtful blows than others because she is always short-changed, gipped, and left out. I worry and wonder and frustratedly reexamine what I've viewed for some answers, because beyond the issues these girls are facing personally, they are also dealing with the same sputters and falterings in confidence every 13-year-old girl does, Bobo especially. Despite their shared and personal issues, they seem to understand the power of caring for each other and respond to the negativity they face through a war cry: "WE ARE THE BEST!"
(Here is the translation of the lyrics)
What are you going to be when you grow up
Are you going to become like your father and mother
Are you going to be a boss
A salesman
Or CEO somewhere
Or maybe you're just happy with
Whatever lousy job you can get
You just don't care at all
And things can turn out however they like
What are you going to be
Now you're young and rebellious like hell
You play hard against hard
You now exactly what you want
And you don't want to become one of those
Keep on, keep on being a rebel
Keep on, keep on being yourself
Keep on, keep on being a rebel
What will become of your future then
How will it be in a few years
Are you going to sink into a couch
What will happen with you
What are you going to be
Wake up-go to work-work-work-eat lunch
Same thing will happen tomorrow
Work-take the metro-come home and sit down and stare
That's not a life
That's slavery
So keep on, keep on being a rebel...
***
"Cause in a room full of loud the most punk thing is quiet. In a room full of "Fuck you," the most punk thing is "Thank you."
-Patrick Stump
