CRESTON HELTZEL Image is everything? Not really

When I read the teen fashion article "Image Is Everything," I found myself wanting to be sick.
The first problem here is the "defined by their clothes" subsection included in the article. The only thing that this accomplished was to secularize teens even more by purposely grouping them into categories.
Second, any information that was placed there was completely jaded. For example: Under "Dirtballs," it mentions that people buy thrift-store clothes. It says "you don't want to go around them ..." and "they might be dirty."
You know what? My dad's a stockbroker; my stepmom works in a lab; they do pretty well for themselves; we're not poor by any means; and I buy clothes in thrift stores.
Secondly, the whole punk rock label. I am very disheartened to see punk rockers defined by clothing and extreme sports.
For one thing, "punk" is not a fashion style, or type of music. It is and always has been an idea/way to live. Punk embraces everyone, and through actions and music, works for positive social change, for the better.
All that this article does is put teens in the categories they want to be in.
Reaffirmation
For some, it just reaffirms how much of an outcast they are. When things like this are appearing in newspapers across the country, you still wonder why Columbine happened.
I would suggest doing an article where you take three people out shopping whose main focus in life is to live like everyone else and not just look pretty.
How about you write an article about kids who are actually doing something in this community and their fashion?
Don't put kids in these groups. It makes everyone fight everyone else. Haven't we learned through hundreds of years in this country that what we need is unity? Teach it now because these are the people who will run this country when you get old and gray.
XCreston is a resident of Girard, who submitted this response via e-mail. If you have comments on issues pertinent to teen-agers, please e-mail Mike McGowan, mcgowan@vindy.com.