The link to Goth culture decried
Paul Levy, Star Tribune
March 24, 2005

When Cordell Draeger read that the shooter at Red Lake High School was into Goth subculture, Draeger's world turned dark because he feared that Goth subculture was being misrepresented.

"He may have listened to Marilyn Manson, but he idolized Hitler, and Hitler has nothing to do with the Goth subculture," Draeger, who usually dresses in black, said Wednesday. Black is typical color of Goth subculture. The senior at St. Paul Harding High school said Jeff Weise, the 16-year-old who went on a shooting rampage before taking his own life Monday, was not typical of Goths.

"Please don't talk about this incident and stereotype Goths," said Draeger, 17. "This was a troubled kid. That has nothing to do with what Goths are about."

Weise was "a very disturbed individual who happened to be into this form of music," said Nathan Hall, who hosts a Goth-centered Saturday night music show called "Locust Lecture" and is news director at the University of Minnesota's Radio K.

In 1979, when Goth music evolved from the punk scene, the Goth subculture was first and foremost about music, said Ryan (Frost) Simula, 30, a stage technician from Savage who said he was very much part of the Goth scene. Kids wore black clothing, black lipstick and period costumes.

According to the 2004 book, "What Is Goth?" by an author named Voltaire, Goths tend to be intrigued by "the dark aspects of human existence -- such as death, romance, and feelings of loneliness or isolation."

Sonja Hayden, owner of Pandora's coffee shop, known to be a Goth gathering place in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood, said she still sees kids wearing black and chains, but most of the Goths seemed to have migrated to the suburbs. Or to towns outside the metro area, including Red Lake.

"Kids are always looking for the new and the exciting, and for some of them, Goth seems pretty ancient," she said.

"Yes, I'm Goth, and it means going against the crowd," said Grace Stromquist, 19, of Minnetonka, who says she works at a gas station. "It's more than a look," she said glancing at her black nails. "It's a lifestyle."

"We're normal people," said her companion, David McNally, 17, of Lebanon, Pa. Metal chains aside, he was dressed entirely in black -- black arm warmers, black T-shirt, black jeans. "We look different, but inside we're all the same."

Hall estimates that there are only 300 "real Goths" living in Minnesota -- although he says he has no statistical information to back up this claim. He is certain of one thing, though: The incident at Red Lake had nothing to do with Goth subculture.

"This is a terribly sad story about a very troubled young man. It would be foolish to read any more into it," he said.

Paul Levy is at levy@startribune.com.

Posted on Wed, Mar. 23, 2005

Goth fears shootings will spur suspicion

U student says his culture doesn't glorify violence

BY MATT PEIKEN

Pioneer Press
Nathan Hall remembers administrators at his Texas high school, a day after the shootings at Columbine High School, interrogating him and his friends about their Goth subculture. Now, nearly six years later, Hall wonders if black-clad teens at high schools everywhere will receive more of the same as a "knee-jerk reaction" to the shootings and suicide Monday at Red Lake High School.

"They (the shooters) wore black and listened to, quote-unquote, black music and so did a lot of us, and it was like, well, I guess we fit the description of someone who would be murderous," Hall says. "We were pretty angry, because we felt they were stereotyping an entire subculture based on the actions of a couple of kids."

Today, at 25, Hall is news director at the University of Minnesota's Radio K and host of a Goth-centered Saturday night music show called "Locust Lecture." He's also graduating this year with degrees in journalism and political science.

Goth culture had as little to do with Monday's shootings, Hall says, as it did with the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School. Rather, Hall hopes the episode turns the attention of legislators and law enforcement at the prevalent poverty on the Red Lake Indian Reservation and "America's gun culture."

"There's nothing about the music I grew up with and got me through high school and now college that precipitates hurting or killing another human being," Hall says. "There are other forms of music that glorify violence, like hip-hop, that I would consider far more of a risk, but I don't think anybody who wears baggy pants should be interrogated, either."

Like consumers of every art form, Hall says, self-described Goths have a clear focus on the line between reality and fantasy.

"Within any experimental or extreme art, there's this catharsis thing going on," he says. "Within our culture, there's a huge emphasis on dark subject matter, and for the vast majority, it's a way of making sense of our existence."

Anyone looking to learn more about Goth culture need merely go online, where a handful of Web sites attempt to dissect and explain the culture while dispelling myths. Here are a few:

Gothling.com: The Twin Cities' premier gothic source, where Hall and 290 others have registered.

Egoth.com: A clearinghouse of links for Goth-focused entertainment, fashion, gatherings and other interests. One link connects to a site called Grim Rides ("for anyone who's ever smiled when a hearse drove by.")

Religioustolerance.org /goth.htm: Designed to dispel stereotypes that cropped up after the Columbine High shootings. Among the revelations: "There are a few Satanists who are also Goths, but they are rare."

Gothtec.com: "Goths are NOT all: depressed, unusually bigoted, violent, suicidal, involved in illegal drugs, Vampires or believe themselves to be vampires, sado-masochists, Satanists, musicians/painters (and other artists), computer programmers (although there seem to be a lot of them), wearers of black (some wear white and gunmetal), dyers of their hair, users of white makeup."

Ice-princess.net: "Goths tend to have a dark and perverse sense of humor, a love of history, literature, and music, and far too many bottles of black nail polish... And we tend to identify, if not empathize, with the underdogs and downtrodden — don't be surprised to find a fair number of goths helping out at the local youth shelter or AIDS fundraiser."

Matt Peiken can be reached at mpeiken@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5440.