Fandex:

Dear whatever your name is...

   Me and i am sure a lot of people think you are full of [poop (ed. note)]. 
Punk is not an attitude it is a lifestyle or a type of music it does 
not matter if you so drugs or wear black clothes. You can not look up punk 
on the internet or get it from coping someone you think is cool.

Punkie: [I was trying to think of some witty retort, but decided to reply. For one, the letter writer has obviously not read my article, because he says I am full of poop, and then agrees with what I wrote. Then the rest of his letter promotes his band (which I excluded). But I posted this because I wanted to show I still get this kind of mail now and then.]

Tee hee!  I went to the Punkie Doom on the Web again...  I never told
you I liked the one you wrote about parenting, did I?  Well I did.  It's
the most intelligent thing I've read for a long, long time.

Punkie: Suzi... You *know* I have to put this in my fanmail section... :)

I was watching some Discovery show about all kinds of neat animals do to eat.
Anthoney Hopkins told us all about cuddlefish.
I am trying to find out more about them because I want one. Bad.
Do you know anything about them?
They look like squid....

Punkie: Cuttlefish! Yes, of course. A member of the same family of squids and octopi, cuttlefish are most commonly known as the source of cuttlebone (a kind of calcium bar for pet birds). They have the most advanced form of language of the mollusk family, using special pigment muscles in their bodies to communicate a kind of semaphore to each other. They use this to attract mates, defend territories from rivals, and it has been suggested they hypnotize potential prey by making groovy patterns on their skin. They are experts at camouflage, too. They are more like squid than octopi, and have more advanced "fins" that can make the swim and even hover almost motionless in the water.

Hello, i really enjoyed your insight on punk, i agree with almost all of
it, but i feel another aspect that was missed was the lifstyle chosen or
not of a struggling youth trying to follow his/her beliefs and be downed
for it. That is why i am the way i am and the way i live and i love it.
Im in it all to be happy like everyone els. Anyway... good site keep up
the good work.......PUNK POLKA

Punkie: That's true. The whole punkish attitude can be a little of both. The punks survive. I recall what someone told a "ex-punk" Deborah Harry (formerly from the band "Blondie"). When people accused her of being a sellout and going disco in the early eighties, she said, "Yeah, I wept all the way to the bank."

One of the main problems a lot of punks face is whether to do it for the "art," the sake of being for being's sake, or for the sake of survival. Either path is valid, and you should go with how you feel, as long as you can accept your path. I have punk friends who are on both ends. One that comes to mind is now a programmer from a retail career just a few years ago, and what many considered a sellout because she went corporate. One of her best friends who also started in retail hell is now still struggling (but a very talented) artist. Her life depends on one job to the next, and has had many nights of tuna and macaroni just to survive. I consider both successful, and they view each other as successful as well. Being punk served them well as "adults" (God, I hate that term), even if their teenage life was misunderstood by their elders and peers.

I feel if you are truly punk, you will survive. No matter what. That's what separates us from the posers.

Punkie: Then what is it...?

[Note: I never received a response]

Punkie: It wasn't so bad. I think to put on something as big as Worldcon, you are bound to have some mishaps. I think other people's account of Worldcon were worse than it actually was. But it's like your wedding day, you have been working and dreaming for so long, that any little thing that goes wrong ends up exaggerated when compared to the perfection you assumed.

I regards to The punk is alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....................!, 
I maintain this site, and in addition:

Hellooooooooo!!!
I think this site was really great, because it
really was!!!!!!!!!
I loved it!.
I think that you has right about the punk!
It`s not the style who egmith (I don`t know how it
Spell4s)
It4s the attitude.
    And   THE PUNK IS ALIVE!!!

Punkie: Thanks for your flattery, I loved it! Sorry it took me so long to respond to you, but I just got back from the beach in NC, right ahead of the hurricane, only to have a week's worth of backed-up stuff be dumped on me.

You are right about style vs. substance. The poser element is subsiding somewhat since the punk and goth element is not "cool" anymore per se (thank God, now we can be left alone), but I think there will always be wanna-bes no matter where you go. The punk will ALWAYS be alive, as long as people like you carry the torch, and burn the hairs of the mundanes... :)

Sweet Raving,

Punkie

Punkie: This was good to hear. I made some post notes in my essay in regards to this letter.

Thanks for the "World Wide Walrus" page - it had me rolling around with
laughter - a very unusual reaction to stuff you find on the web.

Best wishes,

Peter, Walrus Systems, http://www.walrus.co.uk

(a hifi shop in London!)

Punkie:Thank you very much for your complements! But come on, there's lots of funny stuff on the web. Have you seen some of the American religious or right wing sites? Classic comedy! What makes them really funny is that they are serious. Or does that make it not funny? I forget which, since the looney sites and the right-wing sites I think have the same writer.

I don't take anything serious on the web. That's best left to the telly. :)

Nordstjernan... I write articles for the paper from Minnesota.

American Swedish Institute... I have been on the board and last Monday
was voted 'president' (of the board)... thanks for your 'link'.

Found my fathers relations last January... visited there, two came here
for a family reunion just before my father died in October.

	In April of this year, made contact with the mothers side
	in Sweden... MOM has a passport for a pending trip!

Found quite a few new things on your site, for which I'm grateful.

Michael L
Minnesota

Punkie: Congratulations! Thank you for your support. I have really tried to cut through a lot of the chaff to try and find some quality sites for the American-Swede, or just the homesick Scandinavian.

Punkie: Thank you! I try not to get discouraged by the posers from some of the rich areas around here. They dress in $500 leather jackets with "pre-stressed" Versace jeans, smoke clove cigarettes, and complain how daddy cut their allowance again. A lot of the punks who are my friends are some of the coolest people I know, and the most fun to be with downtown. A lot can be said about $5 ensemble from the local thrift shop and the attitude, "Life sucks, but I can always fix that..."

Punkie: I will never understand the anti-semitic hatred that flows from some people. And I am not even Jewish. This was his first letter. The letters that followed were filled with all kinds of hate mail about Hitler, Arabs, and "the Second Coming." There were overtones of hysteria with sad, sad exposures to this poor child's tortured soul. I can only imagine what kind of life he leads. Any e-mails I sent to him were returned with more bile about how Jews controlled this and that, and how they will all be marked on their doors with blood on Judgement day, and so on and so on. After some attempted letter bombing, I contacted his ISP, and got a letter that said he's been dealt with.

After all this, I will state that I am proud of the Jewish people. They have put up with some of the most impossible odds, violent hatred, and social reform, and yet still remain pretty much intact. I think a lot of groups could learn from their lesson.

Punkie: I... know how it *is*... I, myself have... been *stuck* ....with a.... Christopher Walken interpreter *myself*... This has been... very *bad*... for anytime I speak with *anyone*... I fade in and *out*... like cheap cassette micro*phone*.... *please*.... send *help*....

Oh... no... I.... fiddled-with-the-wrong-knob! Now I... talk-like-William-Shatner!

Punkie: What a great letter! I'm posting this as a tribute to my glowing ego, already several sizes to big (it hangs baggily from my ears as we speak). Sixteen in Montreal, huh? I am glad you are in my style, or I am in yours, or however that works. When I was sixteen, I sucked, actually, so you're already ahead of the game! :) Plus, you're on the Net, which can make Canada less boring*.