This was my first paid piece of writing ever. I had a goal to get paid to write post college. Outta kindess and belief in my work, my friends turned me on to this satirical punk site “The Hard Times”. I had no idea what I was doing - I didn’t even know Black Flag - I was truly fucking around and finding out - unwittingly becoming a punk ass kid.

The headline came from my college years. There is a core memory for me of sitting at the Midway airport in Chicago on the way to Minneapolis and realizing my jeans were ripped at the crotch.