I am thrilled to be up-and-running here on AAP again. I'm still sorting through the newest questions for 'new content' posts. A big thank-you to those who've already written in. It isn't easy in our culture to a) admit we need help and it is then 10x harder to actually b) go out and seek it. I don't pretend to have all the answers or to know everything, but I know I can offer perspectives and ideas that people might not have considered themselves. Anyway; Have a good and safe weekend everyone, and enjoy this classic: DEAR ASK A PUNK - Hippie parents turned me and my husband into punks, but we still managed to get married, and now my husband and I, still punks, are turning our kid into… I have no idea what. I wish I could say my son was weird, or unique or at the very least interesting, but at nine years old (almost 10) he is odd only in that he's seems to be such a conformist by nature. What gives? My husband and I created a world of possibility for him and...[more]

DEAR ASK A PUNK - I'm 26. I have a basic college degree and have been working about four years. I work at a big company (offices all over). I'm on my second "real job," which should be good, right? I HATE my f-ing job. I’ve been here a year and a half. I didn’t realize how bad it was until my review: "no one is getting raises this year." I just shrugged. Later I realized the guy telling me that makes WAY more than I do, doesn’t seem to do anything but read the paper and check his stock portfolio… and HE has an assistant, a company car, and five weeks of vacation. Is this the best I should hope for? I know pushing paper beats digging ditches or being a migrant farm worker… I AM willing to work, work hard, 70 hours a week even… IF there’s a point to it. The harder I work, the richer someone else gets. I pay bills, buy beer. I grew out my mohawk when I started. I feel like a sellout who sold out cheap. I want to do something else. signed …Drone

My first essay post to my new NOTD stream and, even though I bill myself as a 'comedy writer,' this one is more from the heart. Play Ball! >>>> "...And that’s why I say, it is time to root for Cleveland. A city that has been the butt of too many unfair jokes. A city whose celebrities, the Drew Careys and Harvey Pekars, are people you could imagine coming from your hometown too. Well, probably not Halle Berry; she’s obviously on another level altogether. And this ol’ Gen-X punk rocker remembers Cleveland is also the home of Pere Ubu, Rocket from the Tombs and The Dead Boys. A brawny city of believers that has always worked hard, kept the faith, and deserves a lot better than it has gotten. It sounds like Cleveland is all of us these days."

Another Aak A Punk "Classic" - shared for free today! As I re-read these original AAP posts, I wonder about the people who sent them in. When this woman wrote in, she was in her floundering "After college, what now?" years, and worried that "in ten years" she would just be 10 years older and nothing would have changed or improved. That was back in 2008. Seventeen years ago. I still wonder - did she make the move? ...and is she happy?

A FREE post today for non-subscribers - a couple of reader questions about politics and public speaking from just a few years ago... that seem like they're from another era entirely. Because they are.

DEAR ASK A PUNK - I want to know what the deal is with the DIY movement. What makes it punk? When I think of DIY the first thing that comes to mind is IKEA. Now that isn't very punk. :\ …Sincerely - Confused in La La Land DEAR CILLL - I couldn't agree more. Knowing how to swing an Allen wrench isn't what makes a person DIY. I think calling DIY a "movement" might be a bit grandiose, I guess I've always thought of it as a way of being. And now, given the wide-reaching economic downturn we're all facing, more people are finding it cheaper & wiser to do more and more things themselves and, this being America, some dingbat in Marketing has figured out a way to package and sell the idea of do-it-yourself back to the masses (at a profit of course.) Getting back to Punk Rock (as all things eventually do) the DIY spirit (yeah, I like the term "spirit" more than "movement") was born out of necessity. Way back in the hoary past, when punk bands.........

Gen-X writer & punk rocker: While I'm getting up-to-speed with re-launching this advice column, I'm going to be reposting (for free) some of the original 'classic' posts, to give readers - and potential subscribers - a better idea of what they can expect from this stream. Read. Enjoy. Subscribe.