Or, How I Learned To V
Stay Young and1'rendy

out in the mountains

BY CLARK SHElJ)ON~.

Good Advice for Young
Trendy People of All Ages
Jennifer Blowdryer (Ed.)
Manlc D Press 1

Softcover, 141 pages
February 2005

in review of Good Advice for

Young Trendy People of All
Ages, edited by Jennifer
Blowdryer, I decidedto make a
list of a few main points that
stuck out in my mind. First I’d
like to convey what seems to be
the commonthread connecting
this compilation of short—essay
advice columns: “To thine own
self be true.” Borrowing directly
from wise poet Shakespeare,
Reverend Jen (our knowledge '
Dominatrix), advises on staying
popular in modern art scenes,
using this historical bit of knowl-
edge’ to close out her essay.
Contrary to popular queer trends,
she urges us budding art stars to
consistently arrive one minute
early to parties: “There is no

N n thinking about what to say

sense in pretending that you are 1

there for the party when all you V
care about is the free booze-and
food.” Why waste all that energy
on being fashionably late when
you can use it to concentrate on
eating?
The essays span general

smorgasbords of sage aging-
punk—rocker knowledge to sober-

' ingly practical first-person

knowledge about surviving while
incarcerated. I appreciate the
straightforward irony of the mix
of perspectives each author
brings. I appreciate, as a reader,
that I can choose to take all
advice with a grain of salt. Or,
go out and experiment in being
my own art star living for free
oncredit cards, working rooms
like a nightlife diva, screwing
like a sexy stud in bed and being
a damn good dominatrix.

I want to share two nuggets
of knowledge that make the
book worthwhile and stretch
beyond the realm of pop culture
coolness. The first, and in my
opinion most important, is
“Never throw out drag, unless
you’re dying.” I suggest giving
old drag away to friends to wear,
at your funeral, and if they don’t
want it, you can send it to me.

The second nugget is extract-
ed from Mistress Daria’s advice
on being a professional and cred-
ible Dominatrix. She says, “If
you take another’s power by
force, you are not strong.”
Consider this advice in any
socio-political context, like a q

side dish to current moral or eth-
ically driven battles for leader-
ship positions in Washington,
DC, or as the philosophical theo-
ry behind use of violence: it’s
hard to not conclude that many

of our country’s trusted and age-,

old cultural norms and processes
are founded explicitly on the
belief that force is elemental to
obtaining power!

Are you wondering about the
title of this review yet? The
answer, including the concept
‘avant garde,’ requires quoting

    

Jennifer Blowdryer

The essays
span general
smorgasbords
of sage aging-
punk-rocker
knowledge‘ to
soberingly
practical first-
person knowl-
edge about
surviving while
incarcerated.

editor Jennifer Blowdryer: “I’d
been the first punk in high
school, an ardent fag hag back
when that was frowned upon, a
student at Columbia University
while simultaneously appearing
in skin mags, a campy and blithe
stylist in an era of sincere and
detailed writing — all kinds of
things too early for surrounding
society — and taken the blows.
Jazz Philosopher Albert Murray,
who_ spent his life in the Air
Force in order to weather the
storm of being an iconoclastic
African-American critic, pointed
out that ‘Avant Garde’ is a mili-
tary term. It refers to the shock

troops, the ones sent to the front

of the battle who end up deadvor »

badly wounded.”
So the question remains, is
being avant garde cool? I don’t

- have an answer to myiown ques-

tion and I don’t feel like '
Blowdryer’s book answers my
quandary either. If being shock-
ing ahead of your time in
thought and appearance is going
to bring pain, persecution and
ridicule, then I would advise
thinking it through carefully. I
have a ring in my septum. My
mother doesn’t like it, and after
four years of nudging me to
remove it, she has finally
stopped asking.

Having a piercing doesn’t put
me on the frontline of cultural
coolness but it does open up
avenues for questions about why
I’d ever wantto do “that” to my
body. If being on life’s front line
with visible piercings increases
my mortality rate (so to speak),
then my experience has provided
more opportunity for conversa-
tion with strangers on downtown
sidewalks and fewer direct
threats and not, in the military
sense,real potential for death. I
speak carrying a lot of privilege,
and really, this book review isn’t
about me so I’ll carry on.‘ "

What does avant garde con-
jure in your mind? Mostly,vI
think of visual .art as the picture
(no pun intended) definition of
avant garde. For example,

Jackson Pollock’s paintings

shocked audiences when first
unveiled. Now he’s seen as a
leading‘ creative staple in the

I cosmopolitan world of art and

history. I’ll argue Blowdryer
suggests the same for punk cul-
ture, punk music and punk
community. .
Blowdryer admits that at the
age of 40 she’s settled comfort-
ably into the margins of society.
Fortunately it’s not my responsi-

bility to define social nonns and

cultural appropriateness. That
means I don’t have to do any-
thing in particular to either be or
not be on the front line of trend
setling and trend breaking.

This collection of essays is a
primer. Think of Good Advice .
for Young Trendy People of All
Ages as the theory book of cool.
The book provides the tried and
tested tools with which to create
new versions of hipness. Rock
on, dear reader, and don’t forget
to send me that drag. ‘V

Clark Sheldon, InterContinem‘al
Man of Mystery, collects vintage
Harley Davidson motorcycles in
his dreams and resides in
Burlington is Old North End.