I was discovering myself, finding things I legitimately enjoyed, and I wasn’t afraid to show it. Isn’t that how punk is supposed to be? Jamie always sup - ported me! Why couldn’t they see the parts of me that were artistic, em - pathetic, kind, and creative? They only saw the parts of me that were influ- enced by some form of mass media. A bit of selective perception, innit?
I eventually drifted away from these fakers, but the feelings they left me with still weigh heavily on how I navigate relationships. “Am I being the most authentic version of myself and does this person support and love me for it?” The answer must be “yes”; otherwise, we are not gonna make it.
That “yes” moment came to me when I met Laura. A fellow punker who didn’t take herself too seriously. We hit it off immediately. Laura is no stranger to adversity, which many punks had in common; me included. She is a fantastic writer and a lover of books, always willing to loan out her favorites or make recommendations. Laura and I share an interest in John Waters, aka The Pope of Trash, a man who has, for decades, always em - braced and provided a media platform to the weird, the underrepresented. And if all that wasn’t cool enough, Laura loved Green Day, too. By the time I moved into that new-to-me apartment, Laura and I were friends for about three years. She was one of the first of my loved ones to take a tour. Laura took her time admiring my belongings, one by one. My Stephen King collection, my signed photo of Ernie Hudson in his Ghost - busters uniform, my Broadway playbill for Green Day’s American Idiot, every movie Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino ever made, a damn-near shrine dedicated to Pee Wee Herman.... I’ll spare you any more weird details. Half - way through my collection, she giggled to herself and lovingly stated, “Shel - by, you’re such a Pop Culture Baby.” At first, I felt a bit offended. Was she mocking me? But I quickly realized that no, she’s just telling it like it is! As friends should. I am a pop culture baby. And so were a lot of the kids in our community.
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