Emily Reardon was concerned when a recent article in the La Crosse Tribune described the dress of the gunman in a school shooting in Ohio this fall. That style, like hers, was Gothic.

But was that fact relevant to the story? It’s debatable.
Goth’s color palette is as straightforward as Johnny Cash’s. If you’re Goth, you wear black. Accessories, often in the form of spikes or other metal objects, are also prevalent.

But so what? It’s just a color, and Reardon, a 19-year-old graduate of Holmen High School, is tired of the stereotypes. She wants people to know that just because she dresses as she does, she’s not going to blow up a school.

If you have a problem with her, she would like you to get over it. “I’m not going door to door,” she said.

Why Gothic: When she was in the eighth grade, Emily’s parents divorced. She started listening to different music and wearing darker colors, and as she said, it just stuck. “Instead of going with what kids usually go with when things aren’t going right, like drugs and alcohol, I just decided I was going to start dressing differently.”

How the movement grew: “When people started hanging out with us they picked up on the way we were dressing, but they picked up on the fact that anybody was welcome where we were sitting. I always had a habit of going to the kid sitting by himself and asking him, ‘Do you want to sit with us?’”

What black is to Emily: A reflection of everything she finds fascinating.

What happened in Mexico two springs ago: She walked into a shop with her mom and stepdad, and four or five people fell to their knees and bowed to her. “I never found out why they bowed to me.”

Emily’s description of her 23-year-old sister’s style: American Eagle

Emily on staring at people who look different: “People who are tactless when they do it is what makes me mad. If you’re going to talk about somebody, don’t do it so they can hear you. That obese person might have a thyroid disorder. They might feel bad about the way they look already.”

Emily on Satanism: “Just because it’s called Satanism doesn’t mean they worship the Christian devil. It’s just that the name of their deity is Satan. ... I’ve read books about Satanism and it’s not about sacrificing animals. It’s actually a very straight-forward religion. It’s not something I would

practice.”

Emily on freedom: “If this is the land of the free, then why can’t gay people get married? Why can’t I be who I want to be without ridicule? Why can’t businesses decide whether they want to be smoke-free or not? Why are black people stereotyped for some jobs?”

Emily on violence: “It’s not the violent video games. It’s not the violent movies. It’s not the music. It’s not how kids are dressing. It’s the parents’ inability to tell the kids that what’s in the movies, what’s in the video games, what’s in the books — it’s not real.”

Emily’s questions for people who harass her: “Is my dressing this way hurting you? Is it inflicting some sort of agonizing pain? Are you dying from it? Am I causing a disease, like some actual microbial disease you can see under a microscope? If you don’t like the way I look, get over it. It’s not your body. It’s not you.”

Emily’s second favorite color: Dark green, like the iridescent green in peacock feathers.

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