lifeNATUREBY GREG QEXem M^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ HCan you be apunkrocker and swearoff drugs, cigarettes,violence, alcoholandy oh yeah,meat?THAT'SWHATSTRAIGHT-EDGEROCKERSTEVEHANSGENTHOUGHTOFTHEKIDSINSCHOOLW H ODRANKANDSMOKEDhen TomSchlattetbegantouring withpunkrock bands at age 16, lifeonthe road was hard."Being a vegetarian,sometitnestherewas nothingto eat but bagels andhumtnus," the leadguitarist forInfidelrecalls. Thatwas10 years ago.Today, Schlatterfaresmuchbetter."Whereverthere are punkrock clubs,you'llalways findveganrestaurants.You eat really well."Veganpunkrockers? Tattooedskinheads who won'tcat meat?Yep-andmore of themthan youmightimagine,thanks to a youthmovementthatcalls itselfstraight-edge. An offshootof thepunksceneof the1980s, straight-edgebeganin Washington,DC, and has spreadthroughoutthe UnitedStates andGreatBritain, embracingvegetarian-ism and veganism.Swearing off meatwas a logicalextensionof themovement'soppositionto drugs, alcohol,tobaccoand,in Schlatter's words,anythingelse "thatthe systemuses to keep yousedated." A reactionto the self-destructivetendencies of the earlypunkscene, straight-edgeembracespositive values, includingcontrolover one's life.It also functions asaformof shorthand.Offereddrugsorbooze,kids can justsay, "I'mstraight-edge." End of discussion.O C T O B E R2 0 0 5w w w . v e g e t a r i a n t i m e s . c o mGLUCOSAMINE FROM AVEGETABLE SOURCE1 5 0 0m gOlucoHunIn* 1 5 0 0m gMSMPER SERVINGVEGETABLE.;ifGLUCOSAMINE"^Ci^''^rjshellfishwithout.theVVMenefits"ofTthis- (>Availablea't'HealthFoodStoreseverywhere.Fora storenearyou,-scalltol l -free(866)89600791orsearchonlineatwww.effectivenaturalproducts.com" ^ENPhasa ful llineofVegetarianSupplementsO C T O B E R 2 0 0 SHI G H FIDEUTYSchlatterseemstohaveachievedanenviablebalance:HespendsSeptemberthroughMayworkingasacomputertechnicianfortheNew Jerseypublicschools,andhetoursduringthesummerwithhisband.Hiswife,Leigh,withwhomheusedtotourwhentheybothplayedinabandcalledTheAssistant,teachessecondgrade.Inthesummers,shehandlesvocalsandkeyboardsforthestraight-edgebandWrongDaytoQuit.Marriageis notunusualamongolderstraight-edgeenthusiasts.Manyofthemabstainfromsex untiltheyareincommittedrelation-shipsthatleadtomarriage.Schlatterhasbeena vege-tarianformorethanadecade."AboutthesametimethatI was workingforarestaurantandhadtopreparetripe,Iwastalkingtofriendswhowerealreadyvegetarians,"hesays."Iwasoriginallyattractedmoreforethicalthanhealthreasons.Eventu-ally, vegetarianismjustfitsinwithauniversalrespectforyourselfandfortheworldaroundyouasenseofhowyouractionsaffectothers.I justdidn'twanttotakepartinthekillingofothercreatures." Todayhesaysthat80percentofthestraight-edgekidsheknowsarevegetarians,andthevastmajorityofthosearevegans.A MAnER OF CHOICETheyareopposedtoviolence,whichalsosetsstraight-edgeapartfromthepunkscene.Intheearlydays,Fightsbetweenstraight-edgeandotherIddslifeNATUREwerenotuncommoti,andthestraight-edgesetwasoftenregardedas exclusiveandevenhostiletowardothers."WhenI was younger,"LeighSchlattersaysnow,"therewas a lot of 'scene-policing'goingon,whichgavestraight-edge a badname.Peoplethoughtwe wereexclusiveanddisapprovedofotherpeople. They'dsay, 'I wasafraidto talkco voubecauseMARKS THE SPOTStraight-edgeadherentsoftenidentifythemselvesto one anotherwithanXdrawnonthe back ofthehand. Thissymbolbeganas a show ofsolidaritywithrockfansoldenoughto entertheclubsbutnot oldenoughto orderalcohol. To showbartendersthat theunderagekidscan'tbeserved alcohollegally,bouncersmarkedtheirhandswithXs. Eventu-ally, olderstraight-edgefans adoptedthe symbol.youwerestraight-edge.'ButasI'vebecomeanadult,it'smorelike a personalchoicenotto participatein drinkingorsmoking.If otherschoosetodosomethingelse,aslongastheydoit responsibly,well,that'sokay."If straight-edgekids setthemselvesapartfromotherFora betterbreakfastand a longerlife,ita-Mix