In my youth the film, SLC Punk, was a favorite. My college roommates and I would watch it on repeat. The movie takes place in Salt Lake City during the Reagan administration. The main character, Stevo, is played by Mathew Lillard.
He is rebelling against his divorced parents ideology. They were once upon a hippies who failed at love and conformed to mainstream society. Nothing could be more hypocritical to a punk.
In spite of being an anti-authoritarian punk kid Stevo graduates at the top of his college class. His father applies and gets Stevo an acceptance to Harvard Law. Stevo has other plans.
He is going to live as an anarchist punk with his best friend, Heroin Bob. Ironically, Herion Bob doesn’t do drugs and has deep fear of needles. Stevo sets out to create an anarchist society. Over the course of the movie, Stevo begins to realize there a cracks in his ideology.
In the end, he shaves his mohawk and goes to Harvard. He concedes that he can do more damage from within the system than outside of it. Or at least that is what he tells himself.
Salt Lake City was the source of Stevo’s oppression. SLC became Brett’s obsession. He had no passion for the study of Agricultural Economics. Nothing was working. Everything was broken. He did not know what he was going to do next but he knew he could not stay here.
Over winter break, Brett dropped out of college. His roommates would find out the hard way that he was not returning. He packed up and did not look back.
What do you do when your foundation falls apart? I don't know. They don't teach you that in school. ~Stevo
The universe conspired to make his fantasy a reality. A group of Snowbird employees called in sick after New Years Eve. They were fired and he got the coveted job of lift operator on the Little Cloud chair.
A hundred consecutive days of snowboarding gave Brett time to reflect. He spent a tremendous amount of time by myself. Brett had done all the things his father had wanted him to do. He had went to college, joined a fraternity and was studying Agriculture Economics. This was all he knew but was this all there was to life?
Brett was the best employee on the Little Cloud chair. It is not hard to be the best employee. His co-workers were merely trying to find jobs that did not have drug tests. Corey was his boss. He was tall, good looking, charismatic and athletic. He was also an asshole who was going through a major break up.
His girlfriend had left him because he would not convert to Mormonism. This is a uniquely SLC problem. There were two predominant cultures. Mormonism and anti-Mormans. The anti-Mormans acted and lived like the punks in the movie.
Corey would get black out drunk every night. He would arrive minutes before the tram left. Most mornings he would throw up at the top of the mountain and spend the morning in the top shack. He would smoke his hangover away. This would leave the rest of crew to do all the snow removal and setup.
He could be a complete monster. He was a train wreck. He was a mess but he liked Brett. Corey could always depended on him to do all the work that the burnouts would not do. Brett did not mind. He was a tourist. He was on holiday from his reality. All vacations come to an end. Reality resumes.
At the end of season, lift operations put on a company party. All the lifties got to together to get plastered one more time before season end. Corey dropped acid and asked Brett to come back next season. Next season SLC would host the Olympics. It would be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Brett said he would think about it. He contemplated transferring to a Utah university. It would take him a decade to graduate if he committed to working every season. Brett took one look at Corey and decided this life was not for him.
Corey was a walking cautionary tale. A path Brett did not want to follow. He returned to college with a renewed focus. That focus would be lost again. Brett dropped out one more time before finally getting a double major in business. He managed to raise his GPA to the bare minimum to get into grad school.
You see life is like that. We change, that's all. You see, the guy I am now is not the guy I was then. If the guy I was then met the guy I am now he'd beat the shit out of me. Those are the facts. ~Stevo
I recently tried to rewatch SLC Punk. I am a different person today with different responsibilities. I am a dad, husband, and homeowner. I most certainly do not want to live in an anarchist society. It would be terrible for my property value.
So, I decided to join the system. Chardonnay Brett resides in a gated golf community in NOCO. I am a willing participant in the tyranny that is an HOA within a Metro District within a country community.
It feels like selling out. Selling out or being a poser is the worst thing a nineties kid can be. It is the smartest thing a middle-age man with a wife and kid could be. I want to be authentic to my true-self but I don’t want to be homeless. It is a real internal conflict.
Twenty year old Brett would not respect forty year old Brett. He would Forty year old Brett is glad that twenty year old Brett grew up.
To be continued
Cheers,
Chardonnay Brett
We are glad you are the grown up Brett too!