Get Up and Go

Lessons in Freedom and the Power to Produce / 17

were also building friendships and relationships that would last our lives, meeting and talking with others, in places that we were comfortable with. We were doing something that truly gave back to our lives in meaningful ways. We didn’t know it then, but we were laying the framework for a lifetime of accomplishments, because we were advised not to wait for success, but to define it and create it ourselves. Primarily, DIY ethics have flourished and strengthened youth subcultures (punk rock, hip hop, graffiti art, filmmaking) and they teach that success is not predetermined by obedience to what’s popular. DIY ethics have thrived in low-income, high-crime, and low-visibility communities, where people lack a voice for their problems and experiences and a solution for self-expression or any means to address their lives. DIY ethics have influenced those who participate in these subcultures to rely on one another for feedback and approval, to create their own norms, behaviors and traditions, rather than searching for status through mainstream channels. DIY ethics refocus the attention on what is “getting done,” and imagines that those who set themselves out to make changes, or create art or dialogue, have their own reasons for their methods, and have their