| updated weekly |
home - contribute - donate - message board - events - links - contact us - archive |
| September 15, 2006 Editor’s Desk by Aaron Selbig, insurgent49 It’s been a lame week here at Insurgent Headquarters. Last week, Anchorage’s only all-ages music venue, Bitoz Pizzeria and Café, was kicked out of its home by a frustrated landlord. It was the second such rejection this summer for the popular hotspot for Anchorage teens. Anchorage has a long and troubled history with teen nightclubs. Gig’s Theatre, The Java Joint and The Lost Abbey are only the most recent casualties of a city that seems to view teenagers with suspicion and even fear. “They’re loud, they’re teenagers, they have no respect for elders”, says Terri Russi, who complained about Bitoz when she feared that they were affecting business at the Anchorage Hotel, where she is manager. Teenagers, loud? Well, okay. But are they hurting anybody? Are they, as Ms. Russi claims, scaring away the downtown tourists? If so, what is it about them that scares tourists? Their clothes? Their hairstyles? Their lip piercings? It seems to me that Ms. Russi, like many Anchorage adults, view teenagers with suspicion simply because they’re, well … teenagers. Anchorage has a growing problem with youth violence and gangs, a situation that may be adding to the perennially wide gulf between adults and teens. If only those same adults who wring their hands over today’s troubled youth and demand that politicians do something about it would make the connection between this very serious problem and the closing of Bitoz Pizzeria. Teenagers’ lives are filled with difficult choices. They have many paths to choose from, and a lot of external pressure on them to choose one over the other. Some paths lead to darkness … gangs, violence and substance abuse. Others lead to athletics or academics. For many of them, like many adults, salvation lies in music. They like to listen to music, they like to play music and, more importantly, they like to spend time focused on something that is unarguably enriching and healthy. Kids like these go to Bitoz. Or they did, anyway. Now, they have nowhere to go, and some of them may be deciding to choose a different path in life. Mayor Mark Begich used to own an Anchorage teen nightclub in the 80’s. You would think that he would understand, more than most adults, the turmoil that is being a teenager, and how they, as most discriminated against groups do, seek solace in social circles. So far, however, his reaction to the plight of Bitoz and the void it leaves behind for the city’s young people is to throw up his hands. It is a landlord-tenant issue, he says, and there’s nothing the city can do about it. I disagree, Mr. Mayor. Yes, the Bitoz case is a landlord-tenant issue, but shouldn’t the Mayor’s office and the city be focusing on how to be proactive in this situation instead of crawling away from it? There is plenty the city can do. Anchorage operates recreation centers, does it not? Why not open one of them up on the weekends for all-ages music shows? Or … is there any way the city could offer some property for a permanent teen club, or at least work with operators to find a suitable piece of property? Just ideas. The crux of the problem, however, lies beyond just the closing of a nightclub. It’s that our leaders, and many of our neighbors, hypocritically bemoan the rise of crime and violence among the city’s youth, yet they view teenagers, all teenagers, as criminals. Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy, don’t you think? Luckily for the Bitoz crowd, they have a champion for their cause who has not yet given up. Albert Sakata, owner of Bitoz, continues to look for a permanent home for the club while staging temporary shows wherever he can. “The show must go on” is his attitude, and his idealism and determination bode well for the future Anchorage youth music scene. Though he is a grown man, Albert remembers what it is like to be a teenager. It’s too bad the rest of us seem to have forgotten. Aaron Selbig is an activist and media junkie who resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage. He is the winner of a 2006 Alaska Press Club award for Best Editorial Writing, host of KUDO 1080 AM's 'The Aaron Selbig Show' and a co-founder of Insurgent49. Aaron may be contacted at editor@insurgent49.com |
-
Columnists -
- column archive -
September 8, 2006 September 1, 2006 August 25, 2006 August 18, 2006 August 11, 2006 August 4, 2006 July 28, 2006 July 21, 2006 July 14, 2006 June 30, 2006 June 23, 2006 June 16, 2006 June 9, 2006 June 2, 2006 May 26, 2006 May 12, 2006 May 5, 2006 April 28, 2006 April 21, 2006 April 14, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 28, 2005 April 21, 2005 April 14, 2005 April 7, 2005 April 1, 2005 |
|||||||
| Copyright 2005
Insurgent Media.
All rights reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
||||||||
