✞ 666 ✞

I grew up very sheltered. 

I had to be home before dark, couldn't have a single drop of alcohol before I was legal, my friends needed to be approved by my dad. 

Wear extra socks, conservative clothing, limited time indoors, plates needed to be cleaned of all food, no wasting.

It was a life which raised me to make me more dependent but, to me it made me more independent. But regardless of the independence I learned, I cannot deny that I was sheltered.

Living on my own made me realize all of this, where almost everyone in my college class has tried mushrooms at least once before graduating high school. Everyone is a stoner in some way, and are either high when you meet them or smokes a joint and won’t hesitate to offer you a ride home. And some of my closest friends talk about drugs as some fun activity they do on the weekends. 

It started making me curious. 

“I want to try. At least once.”

Well, I just experienced my roommate’s sister having an overdose in the hallway. And all thoughts of drugs now make my skin crawl.

I believe I was raised right. Which is not to say that my friends who do decide to use substances like these weren’t. 

Her name’s Sarah, and she is 17 years old, currently in the hospital after overdosing on a type of drug which I have no idea about. 

I was sheltered by today's standards, but now I think I was just protected. Because I know for a fact that my dad, who was in his prime in the 80’s, had probably tried every type of drug available under the sun. 

And drugs are a secret popular thing, they don’t talk about it publicly. But ask a friend, and they will probably tell you “Yes, I did acid before.” and tell you all about their life altering experience like it's a must have lesson one must go through. Not a lesson in “don’t do drugs” but a lesson in “do drugs”.

I hate it.

I hate it so much I don't want to make friends anymore. 

Despite the fact that they are all okay with your choices to do or not to do drugs, it's there…

It’s insanely accessible. And that’s what scares me. Because all I have to do is ask.

A faithful and virtuous night // part 1

train, 2020

november 🍂 enjoy the colors before they're gone

Must-watch Documentaries.

kushnstarbucks:

POLITICS AND HISTORY

“Why We Fight” (BBC, 2005)

“Fahrenheit 9/11” (Michael Moore, 2004)

“War on Democracy” (John Pilger, 2007)

“Hijacking Catastrophe” (Sut Jhally, 2004)

“Breaking the Silence” (John Pilger, 2003)

“Fog of War” (Robert McNamara, 2003)

HEALTH, FOOD, AND NATURE

“Food Inc.” (Robert Kenner, 2008)

“Super Size Me” (Morgan Spurlock, 2004)

“Planet Earth” (Discovery Channel, 2006)

MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

“Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People” (Jack Shaheen, 2006)

“Control Room” (Magnolia Pictures, 2004)

“Hearts and Minds” (Peter Davis, 1974)

“Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media” (Herman, 1992)

“Weapons of Mass Deception” (Danny Schechter, 2004)

“The War You Don’t See” (John Pilger, 2010)

SOCIETY AND CULTURE

“The Century of the Self” (BBC, 2004)

“Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech” (HBO, 2009)

“Debate: Political Islam – Is it a threat to the West?” (Doha Debates, 2009)

“Bowling for Columbine” (Michael Moore, 2002)

“Hamza Tzortzis: Liberalism & Islam” (LSESU, 2011)

“Jesus Camp” (A&E Indiefilms, 2006)

“A Time for Burning” (William C. Jersey, 1966)

“Malcolm X: Make it Plain” (AE, 1994)

PALESTINE

“Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land” (Sut Jhally, 2004)

“The Israel Lobby” (Stephen Walt, John Mearsheimer)

“Defamation” (Norman Finkelstein, 2009)

“Palestine Is Still the Issue” (John Pilger, 2003)

“Occupation 101” (Abdallah Omeish, 2006)

HUMAN RIGHTS

“The Road to Guantanamo” (Michael Winterbottom, 2006)

“Taxi to the Dark Side” (Moazzam Begg, 2007)

“Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre” (Italy, 2005)

“Generation Kill” (Journeyman Pictures, 2004)

“The War Tapes” (Deborah Scranton, 2006)

ECONOMICS AND GLOBALIZATION

“Commanding Height: Battle for the World Economy” (PBS, 2002)

“The Corporation” (Noam Chomsky, 2003)

“Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices” (Brave New Films, 2005)

“Money as Debt” (Paul Grignon, 2006)

“Darwin’s Nightmare” (Hubert Sauper, 2004)

“End of Suburbia” (Gregory Greene, 2004)

“Life + Debt” (Stephanie Black, 2001)

“Smartest Guys in the Room” (Alex Gibney, 2005)

MISCELLANEOUS

“Inside Islam: What a billion Muslim really think” (Dalia Mogahed, 2009)

“Islam: Empire of Faith” (PBS, 2000)

“Inside Mecca” (National Geographic, 2003)

“Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple” (PBS, 2006)

“Death of the Freedom Fighter” (Al Jazeera, 2009)

“The Trouble With Atheism” (Dimitri Collingridge, 2006)

“Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” (Premise, 2008)

“To Catch a Predator” (Dateline, NBC)

“An Islamic History of Europe” (Omaar Rageh, BBC)

“Free Fahad” (Siraj Wahaj, 2008)

“Entrapment or Foling Terror?” (Amy Goodman, 2010)