Walking the Straight and Narrow
So I’m doing a month of sobriety. I’m a substance abuser, which to me means I have a relationship with substances that often harms me, but I still use them. I practice harm reduction, which usually looks like attempts to cut down the amount and frequency of my use....
5 common allyship pitfalls …. and how to avoid them!
I celebrated 7 years of sobriety last week. Woah. What!? To say I never thought I’d live to see the day would be a colossal understatement. I’m happy to be here. It hasn’t been easy, but it has been worth it. So. Very. Worth. It. I’ve been asked a lot, amidst...
The Sweet Escape
November 19, 2021 | kandi Moving back to my hometown was just like taking an animal from the zoo and temporarily letting them into the wild to be happy. They become so happy in the wild, only to be dragged back to their cage. I have this theory that our lives...
I LOVE YOU, TOM ROSENTHAL: The Intersections Between Addiction and Art
Open up the bottle, pour me one last drink Tell me this ain't gonna be as bad as you think The beauty of art is that you can interpret it in any way you wish. I went through a phase early in my recovery where I invested a lot of time reading into the philosophy...
Filthy Honest, my view on recovery.
I always had a problem with the dichotomous way recovery from drug addiction was represented to me. The narrative was this: If you stayed off drugs you were clean (implying that users are dirty?) and success is quantified in terms of how long you can maintain this...
5 Unexpected Joys of Sobriety
For years, before I was able to maintain my sobriety, I would write lists to myself about the benefits of it. They’d always be something like this: Health (no injuries, bad teeth, liver disease, hangovers etc.) Good grades No shame/embarrassment (puking on...
anger mismanagement
“I feel it’s my anger that has helped keep me alive” - Audre Lorde, Sister Love: The Letters of Audre Lorde & Pat Parker The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Every movie, book, and TV show featuring an AA meeting has told me that. I’d...
in god we trust. all others pay cash.
I screwed up again. Monday is my umpteenth ‘first day sober’ (it would’ve been Sunday, but mom put a shot of vodka in my orange juice to “help with my hangover.”) We’re going to visit her hometown for a week. From experience, I...
On Coming Out …. Again; How access to language and community helped one queer student in recovery find self-love and acceptance.
Coming Out the First Time Before I came out as bisexual, I kept finding myself in queer spaces. The same people who I found questioning their destinies as workers and voters and taxpayers —the same people who I adored and admired and all but...
10 HOURS OF RELAXING OCEANSCAPES: Making Space for Recovery
Any half-decent professor and every mildly-aware student will tell you to never begin an essay with a definition. So I’ve begun with these two sentences instead. Dedicated space: A room, building, or area devoted solely to a particular...