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Today's Christian, May/June 2001
Why Do You Dress That Way?
And other questions we asked Roy, 19, a senior in high school and a regular in the parking lot.
interviewed by Bonne Steffen
I have naturally blonde hair but I've dyed it black. It used to be long but now I keep it shaved. My clothes are pretty much all black. I've done two body piercings on myself where I've taken a needle and put it through my arm (with the thread still attached), tied it off and wore it like a bracelet with the needle in my arm. Everything about me is intentionally dark. I wear makeup—a little bit of eyeliner.
I started looking like this in 8th or 9th grade. When my family moved to this area, right before 3rd grade, I still hadn't fit in with one group. Through middle school I was friends with everybody and got into trouble with certain kids doing the things they were doing.
In 9th grade, I wanted to get rid of everyone to pursue my interests instead of theirs. I knew the way I looked would get people's attention, scare them, and make them leave me alone. It's a way for me to hide myself from people I don't want to know. For the others, I like to be honest and open.
Regarding Columbine—I don't think it's right to go as far as killing someone for their beliefs, their religious beliefs. Yet I believe every person has the capability to be violent. For me, when a lot of things build up inside me, a small thing might set me off. I've only directed it at a person once, and he agreed later it was justified. Otherwise, I take it out on inanimate objects or myself by cutting myself.
I'm in a band and plan to have music as my career. I did play once at the youth group and that was fun.
Skinny Puppy is my main influential band. When my best friend and I listen to Marilyn Manson, and Nine Inch Nails, we like their music and a lot of their opinions but there are a few things we oppose—like Marilyn Manson promotes a lot of violence with guns on his latest album.
I kept coming back to the parking lot because it offered freedom and safety. To this day, of all the adults I've met from those days, Blayne [Greiner] is my favorite, the most respectful and open-minded.
I don't have spiritual beliefs, I just follow what makes sense. I believe that there is more than just humans who walk the earth, the earth itself, and what you see. I think the mind plays a big part of what a person's soul is.
I don't believe in a Christian God where Jesus died on the cross for everybody but I'd come to the parking lot to listen out of respect for the leaders. Just because I have my opinions doesn't mean they can't have theirs.
A Christian Reader original article.
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