Security Measures

Monday, April 07, 2008
Current mood: adored
Category: Fashion, Style, Shopping

So, DePaul has this new "Safety Alert" system in effect. you are required to submit a home phone, email, and text number where DePaul can alert you in case of an emergency. ok, great. however, to publicize this new alert system they are calling it something like "student risk reduction" or something to that effect and when you log on to file your numbers and stuff the little flash message reads, "DePaul student risk reduction service: Have you saved your own life yet?" which i find confusing and unsettling. So what i thought was some kind of snow-day alert is actually a school shooting alert.

i am so glad to be graduating.

so as it turns out i’m graduating with a couple of minors under my belt: Sociology and Creative writing. which is nice, you know, two less things to learn. My Soc class this semester is pretty fucking nuts. The professor is recovering heroin addict who was a heroin addict for fifteen years. got his PhD while shooting three bags of heroin a day. Neat! Mostly we read books about other addicts and talk about our experiences with drugs.

it kind of changes the way our society demonizes drugs. i’m coming to the conclusion that if every person is a pie chart of characteristics, then everybody’s got a sliver missing and they spend their whole lives jamming things into their little sliver of missing space trying to fill it. if you’re lucky, you will find a perfect fit for your sliver. for this man it was heroin. you know when you find it because it makes you feel instantly like a whole person. it’s kind of like the way they say everybody’s got a schtick in Hollywood, what’s your line?

anyway, to complete my minor i have to do 40 hours of sociology work in the community and i’m volunteering with the chicago recovery alliance. (check them out at anypositivechange.org) they.are.awesome. basically my orientation was learning how people shoot drugs and smoke crack. i made a mistake by asking why anyone would shoot coke, why not just snort it? and was promptly told, verbatim, "the difference is like shaking my hand and sucking my cock." Ok. so yeah, i had to learn how to stuff a crack pipe, how to hygienically shoot heroin or coke and the varying degrees of vein collapse. it was interesting. and was taught in an unmarked truck parked on the corner of madison and keeler in west garfield park.

in a totally unrelated story, i ran into one of my good friends from freshman year who is marrying her undergrad sociology professor. they ran into each other at an NA meeting. so i guess the sociology dept is rife with addicts. ahhhh. i’ve found my home...

Ok, off the topic of drug use, At our latest counseling session orion and i talked about what makes a good spouse. it required no small amount of thought of my part, but i honestly believe that the traits integral to being a good spouse/friend/person are resourcefulness and interesting-ness (if that’s even a word). A good spouse is resourceful in constantly thinking up new and creative ways to better their home and life and is infinitely interesting to their partner. i think it’s important to be an interesting person regardless of relationship status. as a writer, i see my primary job as gathering experiences. it’s important to experience all things, to tangentially understand all things, and to have a lot to say. i would be mortified to ever in my life say, "i have nothing to say on that topic." Really, honestly even, that is why i went to college. i want to know a little bit of everything. so i speak a few works of french, italian, spanish, and know all the signs for animals in american sign language. i know sordid tidbits of historical figures, i can teach you to pray the rosary or stuff a crack pipe.


i like to think that these things make me a better person, but probably i’m just trying to fit my sliver.