Where I live, I'm one of the few people who identify with the goth lifestyle. The only goth I've ever met in real life lives across the street and is one of my friend's dad's girlfriend, she's about thirty or so, and from what I've gathered, she's romantigoth mixed with corpgoth and some perky goth. She's also a D&D geek, and she's the person who influenced me to become goth. I've only spoken to her twice, but in those few times, I knew I wanted to be like her. The first time, I was playing video games (Oblivion, if I remember correctly, I was eleven at the time) with my friend Drake. We said hello, talked a bit about the game I was playing with Drake, and that was it. I continued to play on my Khajiit (cat-person) character. The second time, I was going to Drake's birthday (now that I think of it, his thirteenth or fourteenth is coming up soon...). I was with my friend Meredith and there was one other person there, some kid with a really dirty mind that I found quite amusing. Then, about an hour or so later, the goth woman comes in and brings in party favors. She brought in little tombstones and plastic skull necklaces. I still have the tombstone (which has a small spiderweb and  skulls on it) and it's on the desk I'm using to type this. Ah, nostalgia.

So, anyway, how to find goths. You may have some at your school, but I have none whatsoever. I'm part of a group with two "bronies" (male fans of my little ponies, a popular internet subculture, though since they're both girls are both twelve, myself being thirteen, I prefer to call them elder pony fans. Just saying.), one of which tried to become a goth after I started getting into it. By getting into it, I mean adorning a jacket with safety pins and making a T-shirt that has Bauhaus written on it in Sharpie. I'm wearing that shirt and jacket right now, even if it looked half-assed.... I tried to help her, but she's just... I don't know. She only wanted to become goth to "impress" me, or to seem "cool" to me. It did neither, just bugged me. I was twelve at the time. My little "group" has four people in it- Kali, who is pretty much a "prep" or "chav" but doesn't act that way, really. Emily, a "brony" who became both goth and a brony to impress Meredith and I, and then Meredith, who's been my friend for ages and went into an emo phase with me a few years ago, but other than that, she doesn't refer to herself as anything but a brony. The whole "brony" thing is annoying to me, but moving on.

 Most of my friends like some things that could be considered goth (Emily likes The Cure, Meredith likes Anne Rice, Bauhaus, The Cure, Creature Feature, medieval stuff, Victorian stuff, horror. Aye, she'd fit swimmingly into the subculture....) With the friends you already have, try to show them some gothy things that you like. Sing them/show them a song you like, let them borrow your copy of Dracula, just don't rant. I rant about goth a lot. And no one knows what I'm talking about.... But moving on.

I actually found out in my sixth grade (don't know what that is in the U.K.) that my teacher that year liked Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure. The day before a school play (Cats, I recall) she played Cities in Dust. A kid named Joseph and I also joked about goth music by writing a funny little song that sounds uber-serious (isn't that what a lot of goth music is? Like that Fishcakes song by Bauhaus...) when it's meant as a joke.

But about finding other goths, what this was originally about before I started ranting. If there are no goths you know of in your area, there are bound to be a few you haven't noticed. Go drive your butt to the bookstore, put on your gothy band shirt (or just where some ubergoth clothes), bring your gothy magazine, read it for awhile near the fiction and philosophy sections, or in the coffee area if there is one. Stay in the store for an hour or so, reading and eyeing those around you. If you see someone you believe to be goth, smile and say hello. Hell, if anyone comes up to you, sits near you, smile and say hello. It should become a habit of a sort.

I'm not saying that you should treat grocery shopping as club night to find other goths. But if you see someone who if obviously part of the subculture, greet them, if they want to talk, talk to them. Don't act antisocial when you're waiting somewhere, you never know when you might encounter someone who's goth.

Excuse me for not posting the past, what, four days? Homework and violin has gotten in the way of everything. :C

Bullies are mean. Obviously.

Whether it's verbal or physical, you've been or are going to be bullied because you're goth. It's like an acne cream that takes away all your acne, but may kill you in the process. A double edged blade.

My first point of advice would be to say something witty in return, if it's verbal. A rather cheesy, textbook type example:
"You're a dirty goth bleggh!"
"-some sort of witty response. Like I took a shower this morning or being goth has nothing to do with my personal hygiene.-" I don't know... I'm not exactly witty.

But if it's physical, for the love of Vulcans (get it, because Vulcans have no emotions...) tell someone as soon as possible. Punched/stoned/kicked while boarding a bus? Tell the driver. Or better yet, phone the police. Get a good look at them, call the police, they'll deal with it. If the police won't help you because you're goth, then the police in your area get their tongues stuck to icepops whenever they try to eat them.

Now, being bullied at school is a whole other story, I get bullied for multiple reasons and none of them involve my being goth. Most of them have to do with my sexuality, my support of gays, and the fact I'm vegan. But if someone really has a problem with you being goth, tell your teacher, for crying out loud. Tell the teachers, principal, anyone. As long as you aren't violating any rules at the moment (like the fact at my school, wearing hair over your eyes is a no-no for some moronic reason.), they are likely to deal with any verbal abuse. Physical abuse is something completely different. Tell the principal, and if they don't deal with it, contact the board of education and they'll deal with both the principal and the student. Really, I'm being serious. Look up the phone number for the board of education for your county/state/province/city/whatever. Tell your parents, as well. They'll help you if they already let you dress the way they do, but if you dress goth behind their backs, then don't give them a reason why they're bullying you. Simple.

The short version is stop the verbal abuse before it goes to physical, and tell anyone about any way someone has hurt you. Your parents, lover, teachers, principals, priest, doctor, whatever. If you don't tell anyone, then there will probably be no way to resolve it. If you don't tell anyone, then it'll get worse.

So, lets say you're going out to lunch. All you have on is a black and pinstripe shirt, with some black pants. Your outfit is, well, a little boring. But the dress code at your job is really strict/vague. Assuming you are allowed to wear accessories, let's continue.

Add a necklace. Whether it's an ankh, a crucifix, or whatever else depends. Obviously, your spiked collar isn't going to work. Unless you're Abby from NCIS. But, well, you aren't. A simple chain with a little charm on it is good as well as most likely accepted.

But what about your purse? Should you bring your mini-coffin with you, or your handbag? I use my mini-coffin as a lunch box, though a lot of people use them as bags. As long as you are certain it's accepted, then bring it. You're Goth, so by this point people saying that they're sorry for your loss is a common thing, correct?

Now, let's talk shoes. I wear simple, ankle-length combat boots just about everywhere, with platformed Mary Janes whenever I'm dressing up. Something that you can walk in would be preferable (obviously) so your six inch nails aren't a good idea. I think that anything more than four inches would be a bit much, but that's just me.

Hm, and as for jewellery, other than the necklaces, I think that a brooch or pin would be nice. Maybe add a cameo, though band badges probably wouldn't work very well on office clothes.

This has nothing to do with accessories,  but you hair. Brush your undercut into a bob, if you're more of a romanti-goth in nature, a simple updo would do. For older tradgoths, who have probably figured this out by now,  unless you want to kill your coworkers with the smell of Aquanet and make all the surfaces in the restroom instantly flammable, imitating Robert Smith won't work very well.

Oh, I almost forgot! Rings! Alchemy Gothic makes some nice rings (yes, I do like Alchemy Gothic...) and there are several nice, gothy looking ones on Amazon. I'm guessing pewter, sterling silver, steel, and titanium would work.

(image is by vampire-nyx on deviantArt)

So, little eggies. You want your hair in a Death hawk? How about the Robert Smith? Edward Scissor Hands? No? Just me?

Well, on the rare occasion I get a hair cut, which I may later today, I go for the hairstyle my religious, conservative parents will accept, without killing me.

This is how I'm cutting it:

It's normal enough, I probably won't need to do much styling in the morning. But most of all, my parents won't catch the hint that "OH NOES, MY DAUGHTER'S A LIBERAL. THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!" or some shit. I am a liberal, but that's not the point. They'd cry themselves to sleep, then baptize me in the River Jordan if I even thought that a Death Hawk looked anything but "weird" or "freakish."

So, if your parents are anything like mine, then they won't let you get the darkly dark hairstyle of your nightmares. But never fret, there are plenty of  "conservative" (that word makes me cringe! Eww..) hairstyles for young goths.



So, here are some types of hairstyles you can have and still live for awhile without being killed by your parents. Does that make sense? Probably not.

The fauxhawk. It's not as... flamboyant as others, and it's a bit mainstream. But you won't die.
The dead-straight locks. Doesn't matter your hair color, but black tends to look better. Long, straight, parted down the middle. It's pretty, and won't kill you either.
The Robert Smith. Only really for short-haired people, take your Aqua Net, your comb, tease the living shit out of your hair. Obviously.
The Scene Cut. Not really goth, but I think it's cute.
Shave it off! Only really for guys if you're a babybat, but just shave it all. It also only really works on rivets.
The bangs and long. It's the universal goth style. Whether your bangs (fringe) are straight or V'd depends on your parents strictness.



So. That's everything off of the top of my head. Get it! :D Because... top of my head. This post's about hair...
:D

Oh dude I already got a follower, all the while I was messing with my avatar thing. I ended up saying "fuck it" and going ahead and writing this.

So, seeing as I'm procrastinating, I might as well have a special intro, right? Geography homework can wait.

I am the face sucking, leeching, child killing, cat sacrificing Parasitic Alien. Quite obviously, I'm here to teach babybats... No. Babybat isn't a colorful enough term. How about.... EGG SACS. Yes. I'm here to teach the little goth egg sacs about the subculture. So put that whiteface down, return that CD to Hot Topic, and go easy on the absinthe. Otherwise... you may hatch premature.

So. Goth. What is goth? Some say it's a way of life. But that's not true! We're UNDEAD UNDEAD UNDEAD! Shouldn't it be a way of death? I don't. Being vegan is a way of life. Goth is not... Well, it could be. I think it's more of  mindset, if anything. But I'm not here to teach philosophy (thank science...). I'm here to teach goth. Goth isn't that girl at Hot Topic with the bad dye job wearing a Marylin Manson shirt. Goth is a music genre that emerged from punk. Deathrock is known to be the "missing link" between Goth and Punk. So, we aren't (all) insane (clinically) witches (well... some) who sacrifice small children to Imotep (if you say so). We're normal people. Most of us, anyway. We go to Walmart to buy food, we go to 7-11 to buy gas. Many of us have jobs. We aren't all angsty teens (with all the "we's", I sound like a Borg!), either. We are people who share a common interest, though myths have twisted the meaning of Goth into something... Euguuuuugggg. I couldn't think of the word, so there's a zombie groan.

As said, I'm the Parasitic Alien. If you have any questions, ask away. I won't bite. I leech on your face, goddammit!