A Girl Can Do What She Wants to Do and That's What I'm Gonna Do

I got my hair cut today. I like to cut my hair in tribute to Joan Jett.

My Joan Jett tributes last exactly one day, because I don't have the three hands patience required to operate a blow dryer + roundbrush. 

I saw Joan Jett play in Pensacola this summer and immediately recognized what I later read in books about her. Joan Jett is considered rebellious not because she's some deviant with an attitude problem. She's just her self... her larger-than-life, unabashed and unapologetic self. She manages to be a sweet, sexy, underdog who radiates joy and even kindness. I love this quote:

"I'm kind of a loner in a lot of ways, but in other ways, I'm very much a rule follower. Rules of civility. Rules that help us all get along. There's a thing called right-of-way, please and thank you. My rebellion is not about authority--well maybe it is a little bit about authority, but it's more about society." 
-- Joan Jett 

It is an act of defiance, sometimes, to just be happy being yourself. I've tried to love some people who couldn't handle all of me. It broke my heart, but there's nothing I can do about it. 

I think that if I ever get to have a daughter, when she hits that inevitable time in high school when she realizes she's too creative and free-thinking and self-aware to blend in with the popular kids, I will sit her down and play "Bad Reputation" and hope she doesn't think I'm just old and out-of-touch. And I'll say, from the bottom of my corny, sweet heart, "I don't give a damn if you think you're strange / you don't have to change."

You go, Joan.