1977-1980 Punk and Joy Division

I met this young 19 year old dude at the protest. We got to talking about music and I said I loved punk rock. He said "Never met anyone your age that said they liked punk rock!" "Well I am a little strange I said. I have been listening to punk rock since 1980 when I was 13." I said.

That night I was planning to watch Control, which is a fantastic movie about the lead singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis. When I said to the leader of the protest peace movement that I was leaving to watch a movie he was like, "Leaving to see a movie. Can't you wait till the vigil is over?"

I explained that it was not just any movie. This was the life of Ian Curtis who is one of the best lyicists in all of time. He was like a punk Bob Dylan in that his lyrics were never simple song structures. His lyrics speak to me in a way that trancends most other punk bands with the exception of Gang of Four's Entertainment album. Closure is my all time favorite album from the 1977 to 1980 British Punk scene. This wonderful but depressing album came out a few days after Ian Curtis hung himself.

I guess it is dangerous for someone like me to like such music. Once I swallowed a shitload of Lithium when I was depressed while listening to Closer. I have it on vynal and to this day I put it on the turntable every once and a while.

The definative Joy Division collection is Heart and Soul, which is a four CD set that has Closer and Unknown Pleasures, their first album along with outtakes and singles like Atmosphere or the lovely Love Will Tear Us About which was their biggest hit.

Since seeing this movie and The Joy Division movie I have been listening to their music more closely. Songs like Isolation or Colony both off of Closer are the product of a geinus. The producer of Closer even said this to Ian after he laid the vocals for the track in the studio. (At least in the movie version.)

I think it is sad that people with that much talent off themselves. As a person with Bipolar I can understand how horrible life can become when one is in the mist of a depressive episode. Ian had depression on top of his seizure disorder. He and Joy Division (The name comes from the Nazi's. I think it is what they referred to as prostitutes or women who were used as sex slaves.) are a briliant band. After Ian died the rest of the band went on to become New Order, a great eighties band but never quite as good as Joy Division. If you do not own any of their music and are a fan of British punk rock of the 1977-1980 era you should check them out. In my opinion this era died in 1980 when Ian hung himself. Definately check them out.

Peace

Stigma No Longer Troubles

I wrestled with the stigma demon for years. Part of me felt like less then human due to my mental illness. I thought people saw me just as a disease not a human.

Things were harder in the late 80's early 90's when it finnally dawned on me that I had this so called brain disease. I hated myself and the world around me which was constantly portraying people like me in a negative fashion. I could not laugh and say to myself "They say what they say because they are ignorant."

I got into the face of anyone who I thought was stigmatizing me and my fellow brain diseased compatriots. I went up to several professors while in college and told them that they were dehumanizing me and other people with brain diseases. I told them that they would not talk in such a way when it came to people of color or people with cancer or whatever. One of the professors actually became my advisor.

Today I am thinking of stigma since I am wearing a no stigma teeshirt. I bought it at the PMHCA (Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumer Association) conference. I got it for five dollars since it was dirty. I wear it and think to myself, thank God for the movement. Thank God for all of us speaking out and saying stigma stinks, we are human beings. Treat us as such.

Today I can watch a movie that makes fun of mental illnesses. What is wrong with laughing at oneself or the situation. Some would say there is nothing funny about mental illness but as a person dealing with such issues I find it a hell of a lot easier to just laugh. This does not mean I have no pride in myself. It just means I will not succomb to stigma.

Bush On Abortion

All my Christain Conservative family members feel that Bush is a great Christain leader. They site his stance on abortion and his opposition to gay rights as proof that he is a legitamate Christian.

I personally feel that he is an evil warmonger but lets look at his stance on abortion, instead of things like gay marriage in which he shines brightly as a leader of the so called Christian Right.

Immediately after taking office Bush cut funding for The UNPA (United Nations Population Fund) a program that provided prevention of unwanted pregnacies. United Nations officials determined that 800,000 abortions could have been prevented if Bush allowed these services to continue. Also these cuts resulted in the deaths of 4,700 women and 77,000 children.

How is this pro-life? How is this Christian? One only hopes his successor will do a better job of providing funding to organizations that provide services that provent abortion.