Culture continued from page 14 Colorado Criminal Defense: DUI & DWAI (Driving While Ability Impaired): Alcohol and/or Drugs DMV: Driver License Hearings, Revocations, and Suspensions Constitutional Law Violations: Fourth, Fifth, and Six Amendments MPO & RO Hearings: Restraining Orders and Mandatory Protection Orders Felony, Misdemeanor, & Municipal Cases: Denver, Arapahoe, Adams, Jeff erson ban sprawls. “By age fi fteen, we had discovered an intricate infrastructure of debauchery across Fort Collins,” she writes. “Our entire network of punks and degenerates knew its secrets. We knew which liquor stores sold to minors: the cramped chunk of cement on Riverside Drive with a view of the train tracks; the more wholesome, suburban wine shop where par- ents might shop, yet they surprisingly didn’t ID. We knew which cafes would let underage people smoke inside: Max’s Subsonic — an old house turned café with rooms to get lost in that threw actual parties for underage kids — plus late nights at IHOP, and within the dingy red- painted walls of Paris on the Poudre, the goth cafe. While I’m glad for the health of today’s youth, I almost feel bad they won’t ever expe- rience the dirtbag tang of indoor smoking.” Barnes has grown up a lot, of course, and has insights into her teen rebellion. “Some people just have to be subversive in life,” she says. But some things remain the same: While she appreciates Fort Collins more as an adult, she says, “that sort of American neighborhood has always felt hostile to me. You know if you don’t have your lawn perfect and there’s HOA? Yeah. I hate all that.” Barnes has synesthesia — a phenomenon in which people associate certain senses with others, such as seeing colors upon read- ing words or hearing music. (She’s in good company: Many writers, including the great Vladimir Nabokov, have been synesthetes.) That’s refl ected in the soundtrack she sug- gests at each chapter break to supplement the events she’s describing. She’s lyrical and imaginative, homing in on intricate details and making them blossom like fl owers — even when the topic is her best friend’s illuminated breasts while she’s stripping on a pole at a lo- cal club. Her style brings a delicacy to torrid darkness, from rape to blowing cocaine in junior high, to her friend being unwittingly dosed with 100 hits of LSD while sleeping. Those situations were the most diffi cult to write about. “I realized that I was editing out the hard parts; it was just this really fun party book,” she says. “So I was kind of forced to reckon with, ‘Okay, there were really dark things that happened.’ One of the reviews that came out...compared it to Kids and 13. And when I wrote it, I didn’t mean to at the time, but I was like, ‘Yeah, this reminds me of Kids a little bit.’” As for whether Barnes still considers her- self a punk, she pauses. “I believe that punk is an ethos,” she says. “I’m into the ethos of punk — I’m not into wearing a punk uniform or those people in the scene who make it exclusive, with the ‘Name three songs’ ques- tion, where you have to know everything about these exact bands or you’re not punk. That’s just more gatekeeping; I don’t like that. I just believe that punk is an ethos of being countercultural and being authentic, of challenging arbitrary authority. And so in that regard, yes, I defi nitely feel punk.” Barnes will be returning to Denver from her book launch in New York for a book reading and signing at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oc- tober 11, at the Tattered Cover at 2526 East Colfax Avenue. 16 Email [email protected]. W Thursday, November 3, 2022 McNichols Building at Civic Center Park | 7 to 10 p.m. • 21+ only A celebration of Denver’s restaurant scene, one bite at a time. ENTER TO WIN FOUR VIP PASSES! OCTOBER 6-12, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com
