My Brother is my Hero

Travis Henry Lee Martin was born on a warm sunny day in February 1989. He was born late, just as I was. And just like me he was born to create; he was born to perform; he was born to inspire. Travis and I both enjoyed the self-repression intrinsic in a stereotypical anglo-saxon-type upbringing. Although we were raised by two equally self-repressed but passionate trombonists who were, for some reason, encouraged by their parents to follow their musical dreams. This meant that my parents were constantly trying--and still working on it to this day--to break free from emotional repression and just plain be themselves.

Being yourself can be very difficult to do. I blame society of course. No one should be different, no one should break the mould, no one should dance in the street for no reason. It's weird. Needless to say, Travis and I were "different" kids. I liked to dress up every day in what I considered fashion-forward outfits during a time in the 90s when grunge was the only style and beige the only colour to be donned. I was trying desperately to express myself sartorially but the kids I went to class with made fun of me for wearing something too dissimilar to their plain jeans and t-shirts. One girl who was considered "popular" in my elementary school actually became one of my best friends when we went to high school together. She eventually admitted to me that as a kid she wore the same thing to school every day: jeans and a t-shirt. I never wanted to wear things just because everyone else wore them. I only wanted to wear things that I liked--That made me feel like I looked good. I was like Cher Horowitz in that way except Cher wore her clothes with confidence (and money) and I did neither of those things. 

Now that I'm almost 30 I wear whatever the fuck I want. I'm using the F word because that's how it feels to be free of the shackles of childhood bullying. No one can intimidate me anymore. In the words of my old Second Cup buddy Elyse, "baby, I do what I want." So does Travis. On his blog, Trav wrote about trying to wear skirts but feeling like he was doing it wrong. This came as a bit of a shock to me because as far as I knew Travis always wore exactly what he wanted to wear. He has on several occasions in recent memory looked positively ridiculous and hadn't had the slightest idea. Good on him. More people should be like that. 

As an artist, my brother insists on "doing what he wants". He wants to create loads of original work without "selling out" to big companies, especially as regards his video gaming.