You know when right-wing politicians, when they're not talking about 911, like to suggest that the New York area isn't part of 'real America'? They have a point. I've never met or have seen a juggalo in the wild.

A couple of years ago I had to actually google 'juggalo' to find out what they were.

One time when I was at a bowling alley there was a couple in the lane next to me wearing all Slipknot ensembles. The girl was wearing a Slipknot t- shirt and sweatpants while the guy was wearing Slipknot cargo pants, and jacket that he took off to reveal a Slipknot sweatshirt. After bowling next to them for an hour or so, I won a soda in a bet that he would have a Slipknot t-shirt on under the sweatshirt.

When I was in college at the end of the 90's there was a large courtyard on campus in front of the main building where all the students hung out. All the different subcultures and cliques grouped together separated by a few feet. It was exactly like that scene in GANGS OF NEW YORK where they introduce the gangs in the five corners. There were the hippies playing hacky sack, the emo kids talking about Promise Ring, the frat dudes yelling, the Jesus kids looking sad and nervous, the anime club talking about girls, the lesbians talking about politics, ect. The most entertaining and weird group were the business majors who, in some sort of bad SNL sketch stereotype, wore ties and carried briefcases and looked incredibly disgruntled. I remember thinking it was really weird that there was a large group of raver kids, as I thought that whole scene died years before. Then I realized that most of them probably weren't from the New York area. Or were time travelers.

Most of the teenagers I see around now dress like Pharrell or Kanye. There are also still a bunch of emo kids. Sometimes I see a group of 15 year old spirit of '77 punks. All of these people seem to buy their clothes at Urban Outfitters.

That Jersey Shore show is real.

I'm friends with guys that never got over being metal heads in high school. I'm friends with people that wear all black and go to goth clubs. I'm friends with people that dress up like robots and go to sex clubs.

Up until a few years ago, I'd still see kids in make-up wearing Marilyn Manson t-shirts at the mall.

In Williamsburg all the young people dress exactly like the internet would lead you to believe.

And while it doesn't really scare me, I've still never seen a juggalo.