Hi again (All five of you who read this column). For the past month or so, I've had this great idea to do a column about one of my favorite Chicago bands, Dischrist, but at the last minute, I changed my mind. The past few days I've been seeing and hearing a lot about the school shooting that went down recently in the San Diego area. Its had me thinking a bunch, and its also got me really mad. In the wake of all the shootings that have gone down, parents, and teachers start looking to find out what went wrong, who is to blame for it all, so they start nailing it on rock stars, and movies. Chances are if you’re reading this zine, and are in high school, or have been within the past five years or so, you know what a load of shit that is. Looking back at the four years of hell I called high school, I can tell you what the problem is. It probably won't come to a surprise to you, but I wasn't the most popular kid back when I was in high school. I got that wonderful "freak" label that I really wasn't trying for like some (most) kids do. But however it came about, going to school in a Napalm Death shirt, with long hair and combat boots, got me my fare share of crap from the more glamorous kids of the school. I got pushed into lockers, watched my friends get thrown into dumpsters, or down the stairs, (note I was a bigger kid so I didn't take much physical abuse) and was called, a freak, a fag or whatever. So after this builds up and fighting back doesn't get you anywhere, you may run to the principal, or whoever is in charge for help, as one of my friends did. After having his backpack thrown down the hall, and a project he made in art class destroyed by some guy on the football team, he and a few of his friends (myself included) went off to bring it to the attention of the school. Within just a few minuets the blame was turned on us. It was assumed that we had to do something to bring it all on. They hardly heard us out, and sent us back to class, where sure enough the next day we were getting pushed around again. So right there, to all the government people, concerned parents, fearful Christian groups, I'm telling you what the problem is. If you keep ignoring the kids that are getting picked on, and putting the blame on them, you hallways are gonna fill up with dead students, when a kid who has been pushed to far finally snaps. Even though, it's been a while since I've been out of high school, I'm sure it hasn't changed all that much. And it's not the music these days, hell, I listened to Suicidal Tendencies before I went to school and never killed anyone (have you ever listened to Lights, Camera Revolution? If that didn't give me a reason to off some kid who was fucking with me then nothing would have). So after we've tried to shift the blame off on Marilyn Manson, or whoever is popular with the kids now, (I honestly don't know, I find Johnny Cash cool these days). I've finally heard them start targeting the bullies of the school, and talking about kicking them out if they are caught tormenting other kids. Well that's great and all, but I guarantee you, if they do this they will most likely target the wrong people as usual, and the vicious cycle continues. In the mean time the bloodshed continues, and it's just another day in the wonderful world of America’s schools.

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