WALTPAPER

it’s important to be unique and stay true to yourself…but it’s also important that you mix with people that are not like you.  There is an experience to be had from both ends.  It’s important to find your own community or tribe…but it’s equally important to check yourself and not hide away in that circle.  Wander and Stay strong. xo

it’s good to be productive and channel your energy.  Start a band, or magazine, or something for energy to collect around.  The best time to start things, is when nothing else exists.

thank you for the nice message!!!   I am an artist.  If you google Walt Cassidy…images, links, etc will come up for my work.  I do stay in touch with most of the original club kids.  We all are very close, still.  We just had a 20 year anniversary dinner last fall, which was amazing!!  Everyone is doing really well.

I did a lot of things.  I got into the punk/hardcore scene…and we would meet through concerts and hang out outside of school.  So even though I would get bullied and harassed at school, I had a couple friends outside of school that were into what I was into.  I also realized that the freaker looking  I got, the more people would get intimidated, and leave me alone.  I used to hang pictures of Charles Manson in my locker, and I also got into all the occult imagery…which scared people into leaving me alone.  But the flip side of that…is that I was always myself…I was always nice, intelligent and cool with people….I was very peaceful.   I didn’t allow people to engage me in battle.  I just focused on the things I was interested in, and learned to keep my head up and never hide.  I learned to focus, even amidst aggressive situations.  But I never ran away and I always participated in what everyone else did.  Diversity is really important.  Even now, I lift weights and go the gym, and I am still the freaky weird guy….even now I am almost 40 years old.  But I am really good at lifting weights, so even though I may be the guy they don’t understand…they see that I work hard and I know what I am doing and I show up and participate…and that makes them respect me in the end.  Where do you live?