#music of our youth

[ourmindonmusicpodcast]

Remembering Eddie Van Halen (January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020)

On January 26, 2025, we remember Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, the legendary guitarist, on what would have been his 70th birthday. Eddie revolutionized rock music with his innovative techniques, such as tapping and his iconic Frankenstrat guitar. His groundbreaking contributions continue to inspire generations of musicians. Below is a reflection on his influences and legacy, drawn from a 2011…

[finleyforevermore]

Discussions of death, suicide, overdose, transphobia, facism, and politics under the cut. Do not read if those are upsetting or triggering topics for you. Thank you.

A year ago, on this day, Nex Benedict passed away.

Nex was a Two-Spirit non-binary sophomore who attended Owasso High School. The day before his death, he was attacked by students who were making rude comments about him and his friend. When Nex retaliated by pouring water on them, the students physically assaulted him, beating Nex until they lost consciousness. Nex had scrapes and bruises following the fight and went to sleep that night with a sore head.

The next day, Nex collapsed in their living room, with their eyes rolled back and struggling to breathe.

Nex's death was declared a suicide by an overdose on Prozac and Benadryl, in spite of the fact that taking those medications rarely ever lead to death.

The actual cause of Nex's death remains up in the air; some people believe it was really suicide, others believe it was from the injuries sustained from the fight the day before.

And may i say; if it was a suicide, it was committed DUE to the bullying he suffered. Blood remains on the school's hands for doing nothing.

Their death remains nothing short of a tragedy, regardless of the cause. Nex was only 16 years old. He loved reading, nature, drawing, Minecraft, and their cat Zeus. They were a strong and tough person who hid behind those walls to earn respect, but deep down, he was a truly compassionate, sweet, and thoughtful person. They'd cook pancakes and chicken wings with mixed-up spice for their friend/ex-partner. Nex was deeply brave and extremely intelligent; lit up a room just from entering.

So much potential for an incredible life. Such a beautiful, deeply incredible and wonderful person. Someone who reminds me so much of so many of my friends.

And now he's gone.

He should have turned 17 on January 12th this year.

Their death has been mocked by people online, the Oklahoma superintendent himself, Ryan Walters, even went as far to insult and misgender Nex.

The Oklahoma governor even stated the following: "We are a Republican state - supermajority - in the House and Senate. I represent a constituency that doesn't want that filth in Oklahoma." What a monster.

But in spite of how deeply gut-wrenching and horrible this all is, we must continue to move forward and stay strong. With a racist, facist, sexist idiot currently in the oval office, and a Nazi essentially acting as right-hand man, now more than ever, queer people and queer allies must fight back. Let themselves be known. Not feel an ounce of regret or embarrassment for who they are. As hackneyed and trite of a statement it is, be yourself. Don't let any person stop you from being the beautiful individual you are.

It seems hopeless but that's what they WANT. They WANT you to give up hope and conform. But millions of our queer ancestors did not fight like hell for our rights, just so we could throw in the towel. They fought and they conquered. So can we.

Be brave. Be intelligent. Be a fighter. Be a conqueror. Be you. Nex was. So can you.

I love you, Nex.

I love you all.

So for me, and for him, say his name. And say it proud.

And say it LOUD.

NEX BENEDICT!

[wombywoo]

hey jsyk someone has reposted ur art to tiktok. not sure if you’ve given permission or not but they seem to repost a lot of others artwork too

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeeKAD4D/

uggghh, unfortunately, I'm well aware of this person -_- They've reposted stuff from me and others many times, so I've already sent multiple copyright reports. But thanks for letting me know <3

Just another reminder for people who have no common sense--yeah, don't do this!

[suhnshinehaos]

suhnshinehaos posted !

everyone here rn at me, probably :

so…. hi? i know it’s been a while and i am soooo sorry to leave you guys hanging. as i mentioned before, i just got a job so i’ve been way too tired and busy to write and update :( i’ve been waking up at like 4 am just to make the commute and i sleep the second i get home lol

but now that i’m kinda sorta settled in, i’ve really been wanting to get back into writing and being back on here. i can’t make promises that it will be as constant or as regular as before (but let’s be honest it wasn’t that constant before either hahaha), but i promise to try. maybe i’ll post an update or two or a new little one-shot a week, and reply to your asks and comments. i’m really sorry that i kept you hanging for updates, i hope you can be a little patient with me but i promise that i will do my best to finish all the series that i started :) it’s just a matter of when.

thank you to everyone who sent in asks and checked in during my absence, i’ll get back to your messages little by little hehe but don’t worry, i’m ok! tired, but ok.

BUT CRAZY EXCITING THING WHEN I WAS OUT !!!!

WE REACHED 5.5K !!!! genuinely so crazy how much our little space has grown. thank you for keeping this such a safe, comforting little corner of the internet to come home to. whether you were here at 100, 1000, or 5.5, thank you for reading.

anyways- thanks for reading this long message hahaha love you and i can’t wait to write for you all again

with so much love,

reese <3

[moonmoonthecrabking]

babe wake up, new musical that’s going to make it so fucking hard to keep it pg at youth group just dropped

[our-trans-youth-experience]

i got my name (wilbur) from two different music artists i really like, wilbur soot and will wood :3

That's awesome! I'm a big fan of Lovejoy and Will Wood myself :D

[sendmyresignation]

nearly forgot. approximation of my may listening. been feeling really good about priorities with regards to music and discovery lately!

[loverboybrightsideghost]

mozart i'm sorry i was not familiar with your game

[supercantaloupe]

so lab orchestra tomorrow has been abruptly canceled due to. provost stole our damn room

[ourmindonmusicpodcast]

Dread Zeppelin: A Song of Hope – The Story of a Musical Revolution

If you grew up in Ontario, Canada in the 70s and 80s, you probably remember watching City-TV, and later, MuchMusic! For me, the content I found there had a profound effect on the music I listened to and talked about, and my sense of humour. (SCTV!). In fact, it wasn’t until later in life that I discovered that some of the content featured there was NOT Canadian! I thought “Weird Al” was from…

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

I feel like I'm gonna fucking die

[catsquishy]

Local Natives - Sunlit Youth Stimboard!

🪴 | 🪴 | 🪴 🪴 | 💙 | 🪴  🪴 | 🪴 | 🪴

[cto10121]

I still can’t believe the critics literally looked a musical which had two fiercely opposing sides represented by BLUE and RED motivated by HATRED of the OTHER, ruled by a cynical LEADER who straight up says he doesn’t gaf about anything except RETAINING HIS POWER and that had their YOUTH in LOVE DEAD at the end and said, “hmmm well there’s just no modern ✨relevancy✨ there, is it, it’s just your average run-of-the-mill Romeo and Juliet musical, how silly, nope, nothing to see here”

[lidensword]

Shoutout to my father's venerable Battlefield Band cassette, which broke for looping so often.

This was (and still is!) one of my favorite music of the cassette:

[caliblorn]

No one speaks to my soul like Son Lux and M83

[agstricker18]

Duality lyric wallpapers pt 1 including a bonus Ancient History wallpaper