Steampunk has been all the rage for about ten years now.  You see it in television shows, fashion, movie themes, books, and reality series.  It’s hard to find any gears left in yard sales that someone hasn’t co-opted for a costume or weapon and typewriters are being sold faster than they were made for their keys and gears.
However I feel that Steampunk has reached its zenith.  Google searches for steampunk are down significantly this past year and if Dragon Con is any indication of the trends of the southeast and those that attend this grand experience then Steampunk needs a shot in the arm.  But if Steampunk is no longer the ‘it’ thing then what is?
Diesel Punk for a while has been the up and coming cousin to Steampunk.  The Daily Dot ran an article called “Dieselpunk for beginners:  Welcome to a world where the ‘40s never ended.”  And if you believe that hype then movies like Sky Captain and the Mutant Chronicles will take you to a world that is diesel run and diesel led.  But I offer you another alternative to this everlasting punk:  Interbellum Punk.
Interbellum Punk is the time period between the two World Wars.  The style has also been coined Decopunk but I think that doesn’t give the time period enough credit.  Since gasoline and other petroleum products were prevalent during this time Dieselpunk no longer fits the description.  And even though Decopunk may be may be used to describe a slice of this time period so could we use the term Depressionpunk.
Let’s look at time periods and you can see how this all fits.  Victoria reigns over Steampunk as the Grand Dame.  With her death Edward takes the throne and Dieselpunk begins.  Edward passes the throne to George V and World War One begins.  During this first war scientific and technological advancements are rampant and the world is plunged into a destructive bent never before seen.  This begins the realm of Interbellum Punk.
With the end of WWI the world is at peace, albeit an unsteady one.  November 11, 1918 is the date I give as the beginning of Interbellum Punk.  Doughboys came home with their weapons, their uniforms, and their technology.  During the early period of this movement you see many saucer helmets as well as German spiked helms, gas masks, and khaki.  The art of the time was a splash of color wrapped in technology and was called Deco.  Within this style you then had flappers, gin joints, prohibition, gangsters, and G Men.
When the Depression hit the world plunged into a period of need and desperation.  Depression Punk becomes a do it yourself to the ultimate degree.  Everything is recycled and reimagined just to get by.  Art and life become mixed.  And at the end of that short period between 1929 and 1939 the Germans are again arming themselves to invade Europe and the United States is preparing for a second war.  At the end of Interbellum Punk, which ends with the first successful detonation of an atomic device on July 16, 1945, we see long skirts, pin stripe suites, men with hats of all kinds and women in veils.  As Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter become heroes of the new era the world ends the war to end all wars and Interbellum Punk also ends.  We have entered Atomicpunk.

​NOTE:  These thoughts are mine alone and have no support; well not much.

A friend of mine today said she wanted to be me when she grew up.  I thought that was soooo wrong on two levels.  The first level was who the heck would ever want to be me?  I’m old, broken, live in constant pain, and don’t know when to rest when I should.  I am opinionated, tact impaired, and, well you get the idea.  The second level of this being a bad idea was the fact that my friend wanted to grow up.            I have always contended that you should embrace getting older but never growing up.  I have watched other friends grow up.  They have mortgages; I do too, children, yup got them also, bills, duties, and responsibilities; all things I claim, but they also have guilt, regret, and no youthful enthusiasm.  The ones my age look ten years older and the ones who look my age are ten years younger.  Who would want that?
            As we go through life looking for what makes us happy let’s not forget how we got there.  We looked for the silver lining.  We had faith that it would all work out and that whatever we did would make a difference.  We were children, and in my case, flower children.  We had Woodstock, The Who, bell bottom jeans, beads, and long hair with flowers in them.  We grooved to Scott McKenzie, Janis Joplin and Janis Ian, and believed that the world could live in peace. 
            Unfortunately many of us destroyed all those dreams we had in that farm in upstate New York and on the streets in San Francisco.  In effect they ‘grew up’.  Let’s stop growing up.  Let’s stay children who get older so we can pick more flowers, tell more stories, laugh at more jokes, and do more for the world.
            So the next time Karla tells me she wants to be just like me I’ll know that means acting childlike while being an adult.  Remember you can always get older; you just don’t ever have to grow up.

When Burdick and Lederer wrote The Ugly American in 1958 the political novel took on a new meaning; someone who was rude, obnoxious, and out of place in their surroundings outside of North America. The phrase, unfortunately, has never gone out of style and while Marla and I were in Mexico this last week we saw that not only is the phrase alive and thriving but so are the Ugly Americans.            We were on a tour bus when three Canadians; yes I know they are Americans but not United States Americans, got on.  Each weighed in excess of three hundred pounds.  They were loud, rude, and overbearing.  They cut off the tour guide whenever they could with lewd innuendoes and sexual overtones.  They were in effect everything one thinks of when one thinks of the worst of tourists.
            As bakers we must be cognizant of everyone.  We should not and cannot insult anyone, unless they deserve it by being as these were; over the top jerks, and we must be careful to offend no one as we ply our trade.  However good conscience also dictates that we take these bores to task whenever possible.  Unfortunately it was not possible to do anything about the three obese Canadians other than to leave the tour as soon as we could and hope they got arrested by the Mexican Police; which unfortunately didn’t happen.
            It is all too easy now to push a button and send a message you shouldn’t.  It was all too easy in their case to open their mouths and say things that were both stupid and rude.  Guide your customers to be better consumers and they will be better Americans, whether they come from the United States, Canada, Japan, or where ever.  Use American as a metaphor for anyone who is visiting another country and don’t be Ugly.  Remember those people you encounter are bakers too and their cookies are just as important to them as yours are to you.  You don’t want someone to be Ugly Americans to you so why would you be Ugly Americans to them?