P is for Punk

Uh oh. My wife just sent me a link to Punk Baby Clothes Dot Net. Must.Buy.Things.

Now, to be honest, most of the stuff listed is junk. Not to get all Andy Rooney on you, but just because something has a skull on it doesn’t make it punk. In fact, that does the exact opposite to that piece of mass manufactured, Hot Topic inspired, item. And speaking of selling out, I would also like to take this moment to also tell parents that just because your kids listen to your music does not make them punks. It doesn’t make them cool. There’s a good chance that the kid, once exposed to the wider world, will be reduced to Bieberism and One Connection-itis before the next full moon. The fact that your kid has to suffer your music does not automatically make them a fan. I’m fully aware of that. And I expect that I’ll see my kid bopping out to the Old 97s someday and, for a moment, I’ll forget what I just wrote and think that “great! my kid has taste!” But, alas, who knows what will happen. And the fact that I’ll be the dad, well, there’s a chance I’ve just made all my favorite bands completely uncool just because I like them.

But some of these items are pretty great. The kid will need a gray fedora for his first Social Distortion concert. There’s also this Ramones onesie. I enjoy this shirt with a ninja in a hoodie because that was my default look through most of high school. I also particularly enjoy punkling since every time I call the baby kidling on this blog, my brother reads kindling and has to read the sentence again. And we can’t forget the rocketship because, kid, whatever happens, I hope you at least learn to have big dreams.

Colorado Burning

For those of you who didn’t know, I grew up in Colorado. I loved it there and still miss it even though I have been on the East Coast for about as long as I lived in the Centennial State. But I’ll always be a Western kid at heart. It’s been heart breaking seeing all the fires that are raging across my home state. Not only are they destroying places and trees, but homes have been destroyed as well. The fire that is bulldozing through the outskirts of Colorado Springs is just the most frightening one out of several so far this month. I spent all day refreshing Denver Post and reading all the twitter feeds I could. The picture above was taken this afternoon by Alli Smith and shared via twitter. It shows the chapel at the Air Force Academy lit up by a background of fire and smoke. You can even see the fire from space. As I hear about friends of friends and the family members of friends being evacuated and not sure if their homes are still around, my heart aches for them. My prayers go out to everyone there – to those who have lost their homes and to those who are fighting the fires in the face of high temperatures, high winds, and bone dry climate conditions. It brings to mind the valley of the dry bones. And I pray that, like that valley, that God’s mercy, grace, and love will bless all those affected by these fires and the fires that are to come.

Update: Even the Denver Broncos are getting in on the relief act.