THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2002
STRAIGHT EDGE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 9A
8
Tim Cossar, guitarist for American Nothing, plays the last few chords of his band's closing song. Cossar formerly played guitar for Ten Yard Fight, a relic in the history of Boston straight edge hardcore.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8A
Watson's statement symbolized the burnout some in the straight edge movement were beginning to feel. Not only was America turned off by straight edge violence. The kids, too, were becoming jaded.
Felkner said violent acts by Salt Lake City straight edgers had started to diminish around late 1999 or early 2000.
"We haven't had much of it lately," she said. "It seems to be dying down."
sted edges, severed ties
In 1999, Sean Ingram of Kansas City's Coalesce sang, "If you need an 'X' before and after every title before it's relevant, then I've wasted six years of my life on the simple notion that this was an open forum. ... Burn them if your edge is so sharp it severs ties."
Coalesce's song, "Burn Everything that Bears Our Name," added to the disillusionment that was beginning to prevail in the straight edge and hardcore scenes.
Momberg is no longer straight edge. Neither is his best friend. And neither is one of the people
who impressed Momberg the most when he first converted.
"I was tired of looking down on people because I was straight edge," Mombergsaid. "I got to the point where I didn't want to be like that."
Momberg said straight edge had begun to carry negative connotations, and it was no longer the personal conviction it had once been.
"It's a lifestyle that can be misleading," he said. "At the time, I felt the only way I could connect with people was if they agreed with me. I got to the point where I didn't want to be like that anymore. I wanted it to be on my terms."
'Momberg was not the only one who began to reconsider how much he valued his commitment to straight edge.
"One night I just got really drunk by myself," Chris Miller, a 20-year-old Ottawa junior, said of the night he lost the edge. "I was ready to do something else."
Miller said that when he first had gone straight edge, the commitment had been part of a set of values he had acquired on his own. He thought drugs and alcohol made people complacent and apathetic. But, he said, straight edge became its own code of uniformity.
"The thing about straight edge is it has too many guidelines," Miller said. "It's a strict lifestyle you feel like you have to impose on yourself."
Miller's roommate, 20-yearold Ben Thompson, Ottawa junior, also used to be straight edge. Both Miller and Thompson initially went straight edge because they wanted to focus their energy on political and social activism.
"I thought drugs in general prevented people from caring about things," Thompson said. "But I came to the conclusion that drugs aren't keeping people from doing things. There are lots of other
Miller and Thompson turned away from straight edge shortly after entering college.
things that are just as bad as doing drugs."
As youth grow older, the pleasure they derive from being a part of a larger movement may dissolve, said professor HaiderMarkel. The next generation would likely be more interested in establishing its own subculture, he said.
"Whatever good social feeling they'll get out of it will tend to dissipate," he said. "With people starting to leave the movement, part of the incentive for others to participate will go away."
In the meantime, those who are still straight edge acknowledge that many of their friends are no longer committed. Some of them say, just like other movements, straight edge will someday experience a revival.
"I think a lot of the politics in hardcore are gone," said Jason Shroot, a 22-year-old Kansas city, Mo. resident, who is still straight edge. "A lot of kids say they grew out of it. But, to me, it's too big of a deal to grow out of."
Two members of Barker's old straight edge band The Only Way are no longer straight edge. But, Barker said, straight edge will be a part of them for the rest of their lives.
And Coffman, who said he was straight edge for himself and no one else, still wears his "Kiss me, I'm straight edge" button with pride.
"I don't really condemn anyone, mostly because I don't feel like I have the right because I used to drink," he said. "For some people, it's just not right for them. That's the reason I don't think straight edge is going to change the world."
Contact Kansan staff writer George Schulz at gschulz@kansan.com.
- Edited by Amy Schmitz
Violence not inherent in straight edge culture
By Geoge Schulz
Kansen staff writer
gschulz@tianan.com
Most straight edge youth say they would never condone violence as a means to advance their message.
But during the late 1990s, a small group of straight edge sects began to endorse such tactics to promote their cause.
In Salt Lake City during the late 1990s, reports of straight edge violence began to surface.
Marilyn Felkner, data analyst for the Salt Lake Area Gang Project, described an incident in which a straight edge kid stabbed a 15-year-old teenager to death.
She said other incidents of assault with brass knuckles and baseball bats had also occurred.
Straight edge vegans were accused of fire bombing a Tandy Leather retail outlet, destroying a McDonald's and burning down a Mink Breeders Cooperative building.
The Salt Lake City police, along with the Salt Lake Area Gang Project, responded vigorously to straight edge violence and property destruction.
Salt Lake City area schools now outlaw any clothing that carries slogans promoting the straight edge philosophy, Felkner said.
Also, she said, straight edge members who commit crimes tied to animal rights or straight edge can now be prosecuted
under "group enhancement" laws, which can stiffen imposed sentences.
"Several straight edge members have been convicted on either state or federal charges and are currently incarcerated," she said. "We believe this has sent a clear message to other straight edge members. Criminal activity by any group will not be tolerated."
But straight edge kids say terms such as "members" and "recruits," as used by some police agencies, cannot be applied to straight edge.
In other words, no one "joins" straight edge, they become straight edge. Most youth say straight edge is an individual choice and cannot be defined as part of a gang mentality.
"It's a case of people not understanding something and being afraid," said John Momberg, Lawrence resident, who was straight edge until last summer.
"If all you see is how the media portrays straight edge, yeah, you're going to think it's violent." Momberg said.
Jason Shrout, a Kansas City. Mo. resident who is still straight edge, agreed and said the Kansas City and Lawrence straight edge scenes never had a problem with straight edge violence.
"That's exactly the opposite of what straight edge is," Shrout said. "There's no leader. There's no initiation. We never had any militant straight edge kids."
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