Having Rich Stremme as a guest speaker during class on Friday was extremely interesting and eye-opening to the culture and world of punk rock in the 80s and 90s. The class learned about zines, a form of self-published magazine explicitly tailored for the punk community. Zines were filled with band reviews, art/graphics, lyrics, etc. His experiences marketing his band and putting himself out there through zines show how much society can change in a few decades. Personally, I found zines to be extremely interesting and unique to the era of punk rock he experienced. Zines show how accessible art truly is and how artists were able to specifically tailor their images to certain audiences, which with the internet today is virtually impossible to achieve. Additionally, I also found it interesting to see how the punk rock culture functioned during the era that was discussed. The pictures he presented to the class brought to light how predominantly male the punk rock fan base was in the Northeast. After learning about the “riot grrrl” movement, I have a greater appreciation for the boldness of women in punk rock after seeing the male-dominated field they inspired and broke through. Learning about his band, Process of Elimination, was equally fascinating. Hearing the funny anecdotes he shared was really unique to his experience in a punk rock band. One story that especially stuck out to me was his experience in El Paso, where he saw firsthand how widespread the punk rock movement truly was. In a predominantly Mexican area of Texas, he recalled performing his set while helicopters flew over with spotlights trying to spot immigrants cross the border. His anecdote of El Paso really stood out to me, because Stremme’s fans of his band came from all different races and backgrounds, representing the power music has to unite society. Hearing stories about punk rock culture directly from the source of someone who was in a punk rock band was exciting and sparked an interest in punk rock that I did not have before!

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