Bad Reputation by Joan Jett, covered on the Shrek soundtrack by Halfcocked

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAQXg0IdfI

I currently live in the parsonage of a suburban church in an area full of high-powered, well-paid New York City commuters. On the rare occasion that I am on one of the commuter trains to New York during the morning peak rush-hour time, this song becomes my soundtrack. There appears to be a certain code among the commuters: they dress a certain way, carry their paper coffee cups and Dasani bottles in a particular manner, and use their expensive leather bags and briefcases as weapons to advance their position in line to get on the train. When they see friends or acquaintances, they nod quickly and silently to one another. The approved activities for this ride are checking your Blackberry or reading the Wall Street Journal. I feel awkward wearing my cute rummage-sale outfit, carrying my old stained backpack with the Nalgene bottle dangling from it and my commuter cup that I filled with Fair-Trade coffee at home. I can sense the rolling of the eyes of my seat-mate when I insist that he move his briefcase and jacket so that I may sit next to him, and again when I pull out my smelly Hot Pocket that I didn't have time to eat before I left the house.
We read in Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect" (NRSV). The church of my fundamentalist upbringing interpreted this verse for me in terms of peer pressure. It meant that you shouldn't go to school dances or hang out at the mall or listen to secular music. As a rebellious-spirited teen, I questioned this in Sunday School and got in trouble for doing so. I knew that "Christian" meant "little Christ." If we are to be like Jesus, shouldn't we be with the people, showing Christ-like qualities of love and acceptance? This church building keeps us inside its walls nearly every day of the week! What goes on out in the world, anyway? My Sunday School teacher looked sternly at me and said, "Good Christians don't know what goes on in the world, because we are here in church staying out of trouble!"
Somewhere between the commuter train and the fundamentalist Sunday School class, there has to be a place where I fit in. Or maybe I am wrong to desire to fit in. If we are to follow Jesus' example, maybe it is my responsibility to stand out like a sore thumb, hence this non-conformist charge in Romans. I do not want to blend in with the commuters on the train, but it is wrong of me to judge them. In fact, even as I munch on my over-processed Hot Pocket and sip my home-made coffee, I am one of them. We have the same need: to fulfill our responsibilities in the city. If I conform to the buying of the non-Fair-Trade coffee that I cannot really afford or the contribution to the eco-unfriendly bottled water industry, I would be acting inconsistently with my own values. Those are not the factors that give me a bad reputation, but rather the evidence that I take pride in my non-conformist actions. The defiant singing of "I don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation" might be more accurately (yet less poetically) stated, "I'm really damn proud of my bad reputation!"
In many venues I do, indeed, have a bad reputation. As a Caucasian individual in a racist society, I try and err at being anti-racist. As a woman in a male-dominated society, I try and err at promoting equality of women. As a Queer in a hetero-normative society, I try and err at demanding justice for persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities. As an able-bodied person in a society that devalues persons with disabilities, I try and err at demanding justice for persons of all levels of ability. As an environmentalist in a wasteful society, I try and err at being a responsible steward of God's Earth. As a Christian minister in a society that claims Christianity but allows outspoken and embarrassing Christians to name all of us, I try and err at being the vessel of Christ's grace that I am called to be.
We, as younger people in this United Methodist Church, are marginalized and empowered in many complex ways. If I am to be in the world, I am subject to all kinds of failure and success in keeping my life consistent with my values. The important part, for me, is to be deeply in the world, in community with the commuters on the train, the Sunday School teachers in the Church, those with whom I agree, and those with whom I do not. My goal is not to achieve a bad reputation, but rather, to persevere in the faithfulness of the work with which I do or do not earn it.

I don't give a damn about my reputation/ You're living in the past, it's a new generation/ Hey, a girl can do what she wants to do/ And that's what I'm gonna do

And I don't give a damn about my bad reputation/ Oh no
No, no, no, no, no, no, no/ Not me/ Me, me, me, me, me, me

And I don't give a damn about my reputation/ I never said I wanted to improve my station
And I'm only feeling good when I'm having fun/ And I don't have to please no one

And I don't give a damn about my bad reputation/ Oh no/ No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Not me/ Me, me, me, me, me, me/ Oh no/ No, no, no, no, no, no, no/ Not me/ Me, me, me, me, me, me

And I don't give a damn about my reputation/ I've never been afraid of any deviation/ And I don't really care if I'm strange/ I ain't gonna change

And I'm never gonna care about my bad reputation/ Oh no/ No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Not me/ Me, me, me, me, me, me/ Oh no/ No, no, no, no, no, no, no/ Not me/ Me, me, me, me, me, me/ Break it down

And I don't give a damn about my reputation/ The world's in trouble, there's no communication/ And everyone can say what they want to say/ It never gets better anyway

So why should I care about a bad reputation, anyway/ Oh no/ No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Not me/ Me, me, me, me, me, me/ Oh no/ No, no, no, no, no, no, no/ Not me/ Me, me, me, me, me, me

Oh no/ No, no, no, no, no, no, no/ Not me/ Me, me, me, me, me, me/ Oh no/ No, no, no, no, no, no, no/ Not me/ Me, me, me, me, me, me