“People are slowly drawn into something and then they slowly leave something. They kind of drift in and drift out.”
Justin Massa was talking about the indoctrination of youth into racist hate groups, but really, the words ring true for most anything that takes a powerful hold on your life. It certainly seems the case for Justin’s relationship with punk.
Justin works for the Metro Chicago Information Center as their Project Director for Data Services and is the co-founder of MoveSmart, a web site designed to help people discover new neighborhoods across segregated lines of information. Very soon, his first child will be born.
But Justin also has a long history with punk, and the tattoos to prove it. He has hosted a college radio show, put out punk records and resisted racist organization’s attempts to infiltrate punk subculture.
I asked Justin to tell me about how punk had been a part of his life, the music that was intertwined with his history and how it affects his present. This is what he told me: