Living Straight

There are some kids screaming here.  Some of them look like punks.  Some of them look fierce, dangerous, elegant in their rebellion.  They are tattooed, pierced, mohawked.  They are slamming, thrashing and screaming for change.  But the change they are screaming for is a change you might not expect.

There are other kids screaming here.  They look Middle American, with baseball caps, fresh faces and pleasant grins.  They aren't slamming, they aren't thrashing.  But they have something in common with their punk friends:

They are "straight-edge" kids.  Young adults nationwide are rising up against the drug culture, and that is evident even here in Arcata, which has a long history of liberalism.

"U.S. Out Of Humboldt County" is a prhase that is seen on bumper stickers and heard in speeches, partly in reference to law officers who raid marijuana farms.  Most Arcatns have not heard the words "straight-edge."  They are in for quite a surprise.

The straight-edge movement has been on the rise since around 1980, and recently has seen a huge spurt in popularity.  Many of its followers have signifying X's drawn on their hands, they refuse all drugs and alcohol, and some go so far as to reject meat products and even sex.  Theirs is a world without keg parties, without intoxication of any kind.  Many local kids have been seen wearing Xs and being vocal about the fact that they are simply not interested in those things.  They want to live their lives clean and sober--and many are willing to fight for what they believe in.

"I think it's great that the kids around her can stand up against drugs when they're just so much a part of the culture," said Brian Beggs, a sociology student at Humboldt State.

"I just don't think I'd ever need alcohol to have a good time," said Kevin Netzley, and HSU student.  "I feel that most people use the alcohol as an excuse to act crazy or whatever, and they have no clue that they could have just as much fun sober."

Ian Mackaye started the movement accidentally around 1980.  Mackaye, a Washington D.C. based punk, lived his life clean and sober.  He wrote a song explaining why he doesn't use intoxicants.

In it, Mackaye refers to himself as having the "straight edge," meaning that he had the edge over drug users since he didn't put "poison" in his body.  Mackaye has openly opposed the straight-edge movement since it exploded in New York City in the early 1980's.

He has said many times that its followers took him out of context, and that he was simply trying to say that he lived his life free of these things, and that he didn't want to tell anyone how to think or act.

Experts estimate that there are more than 100,000 youth nationwide who identify with the straight-edge movement.

The popularity of the straight-edge movement here in Arcata can be connected to several factors, including the growing popularity of both national and local bands who don't do drugs, and the rise of small groups of college students who have encouraged the trend.  It is also seen as a rebellion against the lax attitude toward drugs and alcohol that many of their parents have.

"My mom saw a sticker on my door that said 'fuck pot,'" said a local teen-ager who asked not to be named.  "Then she got all mad at me for coming down on pot.  I couldn't believe it, I thought parents were supposed to be against drug use."

The local straight-edge movement does have its share of critics.

Craig Conforti, a student at HSU, dismissed the straight-edge label.

"Putting X's on your hands is just an illusion," Conforti said.  "Being part of that group, separating from the mainstream-it's just as much of a drug as alcohol or pot could ever be."

"I'm not straight-edge, but I see where they're coming from," said Harry Simpson, a student at Arcata High School.  " I don't see any reason that a person would ever need a drug to make them happy."

The movement has received a great deal of publicity recently because of a small gorup of militant stragiht-edge members in Utah.

These straight-edge "crews" there have been seen beating drunks, and have been accused of killing someone for using drugs.  This group of people casts a negative light on the entire movement, which for the most part claims to be non-violent.

What was once a cry for positive hcange has turned into an excuse for some ot engage in unnecessary aggression.  The local straight-edge teens have not been involved in cases like those reported in Utah.

"I think it (the straight-edge movement) is good in theory, and that it could be a real positive thing, but I don't like that people use it as an excuse for violence," said Beggs.

These kids are on the sragiht edge screaming.  They are punks and they are not punks.  But they are standing together, screaming for a new day.