YOUR WEIGHT IN WORDS

This is a conversation I have with myself, always branching off into my own conceptions of straightedge, whether positive or negative, where I ask myself how and when we decide to label ourselves as straightedge or our hardcore bands as positive. A question begging to be answered at the forefront of these thoughts is if there is a necessary correlation between “positive” hardcore and straightedge. It would be crazy, I think, to assume that without a clean living mentality we could not achieve and represent a  positive one, and I don’t think anyone would argue that. But why then do the two subcultures seem to pair together so often?  What do they have to offer each other? What’s positive about straightedge? What’s positive about living clean? 

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We’re on Facebook now. Like the page and stay updated on what we’re publishing and what we’re up to at Your Weight In Words. We’re hoping to start doing reviews on other hardcore zines out there, so if you or your friends have something we should check out, send an email to yourweightinwords@gmail.com. Send us a copy of your zine and if we like it we’ll do a write up on it. 

So I’m a little late on this one, but I just found out about At Both Ends magazine and it looks like something I’d like to get my hands on. I was excited to see that there was a DIY hardcore zine out there that’s offered for sale online and not just for pick up at shows or local shops, which seems like a huge step in the right direction for small press hardcore and punk zines. I expect that when I pick up a copy I’ll have more good things to say. 

I’m also just finding

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My older brother (by nearly ten years) and his friends introduced me to hardcore when I was fourteen, which wasn’t long after the small group of friends I had picked up skateboards and started banging on instruments in hopes to someday play shows of our own. I think it’s safe to say that we were all probably trying to find something to belong to that felt a bit more alive inside of us than what was going on in high school, whether it be competitive sports or partying. And that’s pretty normal. Everyone who got involved in any sort of music scene or community as a kid knows of the potential sense of power and belonging to an out of place adolescent.

My own particular involvement in such a community may not be worth mentioning if it had happened in a conventual sense.

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I’m finally getting around to opening this site up to the public and I’m super excited to see what kind of responses YOURWEIGHTINWORDS will bring in. I hope that it allows and inspires many different works to be produced and provides a space for them to be shared. If you think what we’re starting here is an idea worth spreading, then the most I could ask of you is to tell a friend about it. The more people we can get involved with working and sharing ideas here, the more diverse we can make this space. 

Since we’re just starting out, we’re looking for suggestions as to how we can make this a more welcoming and universal space that’s accepting to all sub-genre’s and communities within hardcore. You can help out by telling us more about the blogs, zines, record labels, bands, writers, or academia that you follow and that you think is worth a mention. 

Thanks for taking the time to check us out. We hope to hear from you soon!