Lifestyle of Metal Head, Jukka Baker By Ashley Swinford

Leaning against an early autumn tree outside Dunkle Hall on a beautiful sunny day in September, Jukka (You-kah) Baker finds himself at Frostburg State University working on a Professional Writing degree. About two and a half away from his home in Frederick, Maryland, Baker enjoys creating tattoos, drawing, filming, and music. One would think with these hobbies Baker would aspire to be an artist; however, he is choosing not to enter that career path. He believes that, like any artist, he would only be able to see the flaws in his artwork and spend too much time on something he will never be fully satisfied with. Baker is a person who is very comfortable with himself.
His two greatest passions are with him almost always. Tattoos and metal, “those are what I’m here for,” Baker confessed. He was one of the few people able to turn his hobby into a job when he became an artist and counter person at a tattoo shop in Frederick. Most times jeans and a band T-shirt cover his many tattoos but, another great passion is revealed; metal music. He not only considers it entertainment, but art. Baker has an appreciation for his music most do not bother to consider. He became a fan in seventh grade, and it has shaped him ever since. “Being a metal head, it’s like a lifestyle,” Baker says. While the clothing style has changed from Hot Topic pants and chains to simply jeans and a band T-shirt, the passion for the music has remained, possibly even grown. Baker is a frequent visitor of www.metal-archives.com; a website that contains the discography for all metal bands. As most parents expect of their early teens, Baker’s mother assumed his metal head stage was just a phase and that he would grown out of it. However, this was not the case. Although he describes his family as conservative, they accept his lifestyle and Baker, and his family have learned a great deal from such a diverse environment. Along with his family, Baker is comfortable being himself around his friends. He states, “I am who I am,” and won’t change his personality according to who he’s with. One of his hobbies is to watch movies, including one of Baker’s favorites, The Devil’s Rejects. His friends sometimes describe him as being like Otis Driftwood, and with further investigation on www.imdb.com /title/tt0395584/, one finds he was played by Bill Moseley. Baker enjoys this, as Otis is his favorite character.
Sitting down and speaking with Jukka Baker, one can tell he knows who he is and what he wants from life. Very few people ever figure that out, and it is a very admirable achievement.