I want to respond to Alan Yaspan’s Wespeak on Nov. 9 about the etiquette of the mosh pit. I understand the point of his wespeak, and I agree that at Wes shows, especially considering the widely varying audience, pit etiquette needs to be redefined. That being said, I don’t agree with him at all on his “statutes.” Hell, I don’t agree with his use of the term “mosh pit,” and his narrow definition of acceptability is, if anything, putting a stranglehold on a vibrant subculture instead of preserving it, as he purports.

First off, Yaspan is describing what is often called a slam pit, not a mosh pit, but I will leave that alone for now. Etiquette varies greatly depending on not only the genre of music being performed but also the geographical location. On a whole, American pits tend to be more “violent” than European ones. Pits on the East Coast tend to have more punches and kicks being thrown, and they usually occur most energetically during the choruses of a song, often calming down during the verses (this being again dependent on genre.) West Coast pits often seem to have higher energy levels, because they do not take as many breaks as the East Coasters, but overall there is slightly less flailing of limbs and more vertical movement.

Everything in between is hard to classify, it is safest to say that they usually fall into the paradigm of a West Coast or East Coast pit, though they often are some sort of amalgamation.

Many mosh pits ARE slugfests. Go to any East Coast punk or hardcore show. You will leave with bruised knuckles and a grin from ear to ear, most probably sporting a fat lip and/or bloody nose, and bruises lining your forearms and back. Moshing actually has a long history. Go research the pits that formed during shows in the late 70s and early 80s during the anti-establishment punk movement that became popular (and has since been watered down to what we now consider “punk,” which for many is more about music and less about life, which was not always the case) and you will see that kicking and punching happens at every show, they are part of the culture, part of the expression, and part of the release.

Know what you’re getting into when you enter a pit. People do throw punches and kicks, and do wear steel-toed boots to do so. The goal is not to “hurt” anyone, and there is, in reality, nothing “violent” about most pits. For the most part, when I am in a pit, if I get a fist upside the head, I am ready for it and it doesn’t hurt, it is part of the experience. If I am not ready for it, it’s my own fault for being there. A pit is an adrenaline rush, a shared experience, it is full-contact body dancing and it is beautiful. Maybe Wesleyan wants to set restrictions on its pits, and limit its students’ expression. I am not one to say. All I know is, when I am in a pit, I expect to be sore the next day, I expect to have battle scars, and I love every second of it. The mosh pit is life, it is samsara proving itself incessantly, whether you want a breather or not. If you stop to catch your breath and a boot catches you in the eye, don’t say you weren’t warned. Instead, enjoy it. Live in the moment that can only exist when the music borderlines noise, the sea of flesh before you pulsates to a beat so loud you feel it in your chest, and nothing matters but right now.

I am not a top authority on mosh pits or their history in America, though such studies do exist. I am just saying that Yaspan has an incredibly narrow definition of what a pit consists of, and if that is what you’re expecting, you’ll often be sorely mistaken. In an attempt to condense a pit into “statutes”, I will say:

*Help a fallen soldier up. Even in the most dangerous of pits, by the time my ass hit the ground there was always five or six frighteningly large guys lifting me up. Being trampled sucks. Always help someone if they fall.

*Pits form everywhere. If you’re on the periphery, and you’re near someone who does not want to get into the middle of it, protect hir. The people throwing their bodies around are often not able to control their inertia-laden frames. Don’t expect them to avoid you. If someone doesn’t want to be part of it, help hir out. Never push someone into the middle of a pit if ze doesn’t want to be there. If you’re not ready for it you can get seriously hurt, even though that is the last thing people want.

*Have fun. And make sure you have an ice pack waiting at home; if the pit is any good, you’re going to need it.