Get Up and Go

Lessons in Freedom and the Power to Produce / 11

This ethos has primarily appealed to young people who feel trapped living in the inner city or stranded in the suburbs, to poor people who feel separated and forgotten by society, to those who suffer under oppression from society or police, to young people marginalized because of perceived differences, and to all sorts of others who felt their voices should be heard, despite the fact that they might never be accepted or appre- ciated by mainstream culture. I have, and still do, count myself as one of them; since November of 2000, I have played in eighteen bands, toured and played music in forty-eight states, founded and ran an annual three-day all-ages music festival, ran a music venue, worked as a booking agent for a music club, pressed and sold hundreds of vinyl records, CDs and cassettes, and have been reviewed by national music publications – all because I took the advice I was given to seize the opportunities I had every day, to make something that mattered to me, and especially to those others in my community who helped me to create and accomplish these things. I am not “rich and famous,” but I have been able to participate in an important and long-running list of musicians and artists who created something out of nothing because they felt it was important to do so – and I plan to continue.