Clevo Style: How Decades of Cleveland Punk and Hardcore Shaped the World

Cleveland, Ohio's punk scene has played host and step parent to tens of thousands of kids for over 40 years. A. Iwasa was one of those kids and now with nearly 20 years of distance, he reflects on how Cleveland's weird, unique social and geographic landscape impacts those impressionable young people, shaping them into idealistic, scrappy adults who spread that influence with their own creations. Each one of us got excited, felt a part of something unique and special. Then got deeply immersed in it until you find that it's not actually meeting your adult needs—before falling too deep into the hole and encountering the darker aspects of post-industrial punk. It feels like one day you suddenly discover how your peers see issues differently than you do. But again, each of these punks that once felt alone in the world go out and create something beautiful in punk's mired visage, even if only to escape yet another destructive home life.

By A. Iwasa. 64 pages, 4.25"×7"×0.2". Published February 26, 2021.