Lately, I’ve been listening to a slew of bands that composed my soundtrack in college, especially Jawbreaker, the Lawrence Arms, Against Me!, and Strike Anywhere.  I’ve especially been listening to Strike Anywhere’s Change Is a Sound album, one of the best punk/hardcore albums of the 2000s, in my opinion. I don’t think I can name another punk album that came out that decade with as much fire, social/political commentary, and grit, besides maybe Reinventing Axl Rose by Against Me! They were probably the band I saw the most in college, other than Against Me! I remember a time when both bands would hit up Philly venues every few months.

Listening to these albums made me ponder all of my old activist friends. For those of you that don’t know, I was involved in a slew of progressive organizations in college and spent as much time going to protests in major East Coast cities as I did going to punk shows in Philly or poetry readings.   I miss my old protest friends, and I hope they’re still raising hell! I don’t really have any activist friends around here. They all still live in the Philly area.

I’m also wondering now if we can FINALLY get out of Afghanistan, considering the fact we killed Bin Laden and a majority of Americans now want to leave the country, as shown through polls taken after Bin Laden’s death. Seriously, can’t we end the era of Bush Administration politics/policies now?  When I listen to Change is a Sound or some of those Bush Administration-era records, I wonder why we’re still engaging in a lot of those policies. Why do we still have 50,000 plus troops in Iraq? Why can’t we withdraw from Afghanistan? Why isn’t Guantanamo Bay closed?

Strike Anywhere is playing with the Bouncing Souls in July, and it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen them. But their lyrics seem to have just as much relevance now, nearly a decade later.