Music and subculture as escapism. My friends Ted and Orlando posted this same link a few days ago, and I wanted to share it, but not before digesting it a bit.

I actually went to Tijuana about six months ago for dental work (which was stellar, by the way). The place, though a bit grubby, was bustling with life. Hipsters were walking around, not unlike Los Angeles. You didn’t see the narco scum walking the streets as though they owned it, though surely the seedy element came out at night, long after I had finished what I needed to finish.

It’s good to see that places like Tijuana are doing what they can to actually enjoy life, rather than be at the mercy of criminals who are little different from the thugs one finds in almost any inner city (minus the decapitations and mutilations, which make Mexican gangsters sit on par with ISIS or Al Qaeda).

Vice Magazine does a fine job documenting the mod scene in TJ. For all their faults in other areas, like politics, Vice’s travelogues are simply top-notch.