Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Drug Use, Family History, Organizational Abilities & Authors

Today's blogs....

30 Day Blogging Challenge

Why are athletes on drugs worse than writers on drugs? Athletes that use performance enhancing drugs are condemned while artists who do the same thing are not. Why is that? Does this double standard make sense?

I think as an artist you are not in the limelight and your drug use is easier to hide. Athletes should be performing on an equal body basis with other athletes, to do that, enhancement drugs are frowned upon. With artists we are not in such a competition. Drugs don’t enhance the writing, they may colour a writer’s perceptions but their work is not in direct competition with another authors in the sense of literary greatness – it is much more subjective. Athletes need to have equal footing.

That being said, I don’t support drug use to be used to ‘enhance’ a life’s work. The body was not meant to have those chemicals within it and it wrecks havoc on your system. There are already enough chemicals and toxins coming at me though the use of pesticides and genetically engineered products, why would I want to compound that unnecessarily.

Some medications may be deemed necessary. My mother is on anti-depressants to regulate her synaptic responses in her brain. Without the medication she gets into a funk that is dark to be around. I am just glad there is something to help her.
What freaks me out is all the side effects many of these drugs have – may cause death. The individual has to weigh the pros and cons of taking such a medication of their life.

Writers in Hemingway’s day did not have that medical knowledge and they suffered behind a façade of machismo. They turned to drugs and alcohol to deal with their pain and issues.

The same can be said for ‘illegal’ drug use or over use and dependence on alcohol. These products distort our bodies, leave us weak in our addictions. Addictions that are hard to break.

In grade five students learn about drugs and alcohol and their effects on the body. Many of those children will look at the information and ask why would anyone begin that knowing these effects and I agree, but the world in not so black and white as they are in a ten year old’s world. Each individual that has chosen to use drugs and alcohol has a story – and it may be a painful one. The drugs mask the pain. What may have been started as fun may have become a toxin they can’t seem to get away from. They may have turned to harder drugs to up the sensations dimmed by their earlier choices. Getting in maybe easy, getting out may take so much more and we all need a little help and compassion.

Blog City – Day 141

Prompt: Family History - Rip out a page from yours and share some a story or two.

I have sat with this prompt and am not sure where to go with this.... there are so many stories. We are each made up of story moments. Some tragic, some humourous, some downright strange but they are the pieces that make us who we are. So which piece can I show to illuminate a moment in time. Some stories are passed down to us from other family members who knew us before we knew the words to go with our memories.

One funny little story is actually about my favourite aunt. She was still living at home studying for her final exams. Her grandmother, my grandmother's mother was living with them. She was a little bird like woman with a pinched face. She was not always kind to my grandmother but my grandmother had moved her into her home to care for her in her later years. I remember this woman but not well. I called her Grandma Grandma because she was my great grandmother and it made sense to call her that. I don't remember her voice, but I remember her tiny eyes watching the world about her, probably with a critical air. The one thing she did each day for hours at a time was read her bible. Auntie Kay saw her doing this one day and blurted out that Grandma Grandma was cramming for her finals. That comment has held in my mind and brought a funny light to a woman who was probably anything but comical. Instead it illuminates the fun and humour within my aunt and my grandmother who continue to tell this story.

Welcome To My Reality – Week Thirty-One

1. Are you a planner or do you just fly by the seat of your pants? Are you organised or is it more like organised chaos?

I think it is more organized chaos for me. I try to stay on top of things but sometimes things just get out of hand. In certain areas of my life I am more organized than others. In teaching it is important to stay on top of things and take care of issues as soon as they arise. Dealing with them and moving on to the next step keeps the mind focused on the teaching and planning and the dreadful paperwork (that can overwhelm you if not deal with right away).

In my home I can usually find what I am looking for in organized piles that look rather daunting. All is well unless someone disturbs the piles. My spare bedroom has turned into a dumping ground - I need to organize a system for tacking it to get it back to a manageable situation. Right now I can not find anything in there and the room bothers me more than I want it to. I am supposed to be able to go in there and locate what I need - I used to be able to do that, for the most part, but since my husband has added to the piles with copies from the printer that I am not sure what to do with.

2. Name your top five or ten favourite authors and what about their work appeals to you.

Margaret Atwood - a Canadian author with poetic prose that just speaks to me. Her stories make connections that are universal and poignant.

Barbara Kingsolver - her stories have a way of weaving a path I am more than willing to follow. I am blown away by how her titles reflect her stories in multi-dimensional ways.

Jill Shalvis - contemporary romance with authentic characters and humour that leaves me giggling whenever I fall into her stories.

Carly Philips - contemporary romance with great characters and story lines.

Lori Foster - contemporary romance with great story lines and characters I want to get to know.