The afternoon was grey in that penetrating, depressive sort of way that November afternoons in New Jersey can be, and if you’ve ever been in New Jersey on one of those November afternoons you know the kind of grey I’m talking about. Well, that’s the kind of grey that November afternoon was, and we were let out of school early that particular Friday since that night was our school’s Military Ball, the big social event of the year. You got…
This piece initially appeared five years ago, on June 21, 2017, the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. I originally posted this piece on my non-fiction blog, fjy.us, and it became an annual event to post it each year on June 21. Two years ago I began posting it here, and this year it will appear on both blogs and on my Substack, Issues That Matter. Today, June 21, 2022, it is once more the Summer Solstice, and the actual…
“Of course I know how to roll a joint.” – Martha Stewart “That is not a drug, it’s a leaf.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger “When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point.” – Barack Obama “People say you can abuse marijuana. Well shit, you can abuse cheeseburgers too, you know? You don‘t go around closing Burger King because you can abuse something.” – Joe Rogan “Alcohol and marijuana, if used in moderation, plus loud, usually low-class music, make stress and…
When I lived in Key West in the late ’70s, early ’80s, a well known local contractor, whose name now eludes me (a fraction of a brain cell thinks his first name was Carl, but I have zero-percent confidence in that), was busted at sea in the Gulf of Mexico smuggling some large quantity of marijuana from the Yucatan. When the Coast Guard boarded his boat and arrested him, he had just three words to say, which were quoted in…
It is that time of year again, and it is Banned Books Week, marked this year from Sept. 26 through Oct. 2. I wrote this piece last year, my first piece on Banned Books Week in three years since my previous posting on the subject in 2017. I’m repeating last year’s piece here since not only have there been no improvements, but things continue to move in the absolute wrong direction. We’ve now gotten an open admission of the juncture…