Emily+R's+OpEd+Article

I totally want to pay money to dress up in a thong and zebra bra, take ecstasy and smoke weed and be drunk (triple-threat), listen to headache-inducing music that goes ‘unce, unce, unce’ for 4 hours, and put myself in danger through over-exposure of my body for a 20-something year-old creeper to take advantage of me, if I don’t OD from all the illegal substances I inhaled/smoked/snorted/shot-up first. Also, I want to not even remember anything regretfully stupid or dangerous I might have done the night before, until I find embarrassing pictures of myself with making out with a girl, or with eyeliner down to my chin as a guy poses behind me provocatively on Facebook  for my teachers, and grandma to see. I want to do this all with middle school kids as well (you must be 14-years or older to be admitted into a Ventura Theater rave). And last and most importantly, I want to do this all in my hometown, a few yards away from Main St, where my dentist, teachers, parents, possible future boss, sports coach etc. venture on a daily basis. Its PLUR life bitches and its all I want. And by want, I mean not want. Raves are the stupid; however, raves at Ventura Theater are stupid-er. Once you are in college, and out on your own, by all means live the PLUR life to the fullest extent your heart desires, but if you’re at a Ventura Theater rave, you’re probably fifteen! Go home, until your voice gets deep, and your breasts are fully grown. Argue with me as much as you want that raves are ‘just meant to be fun’ or that ‘you’re just a teenage, you need to live a little’ or ‘everyone’s doing it’ all you wish, but with each passing second I am probably thinking less and less of you and judging you more and more. I am ashamed to come from a town where most its teenage population spends their Saturday nights at Bliss or Winterland making out with 31 strangers, wearing nothing, and passing cheap beaded bracelets around to spread the message of ‘Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect’. If you’re so concerned about spreading this message, join the Peace Core, and cover yourself up so you can have some Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect for your body, this city, and your dignity. Does anyone remember the days of Audrey Hepburn ,  Jackie Kennedy  , and  Princess Diana  ? Does anyone remember the days of Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra? Does anyone remember the days of class? When the tables suddenly turn, and ‘sexy’ went from the ‘less is more’ mysterious-elegance, with maybe a glass of champagne, to over-exposure sloppiness, with alcohol-poisoning? Raves are a heinous threat to true beauty, the dignity of our youth, and a potential ‘lost’ generation. As for me, so spends her Saturday nights playing board games with her boyfriend, fully clothed and completely sober, all I can do is pray that this Ventura rave trend dies as quickly as it came about, and if it doesn’t, at least I only have a year-and-a-half left in this shallow town.