My parents smoked a lot of pot when I was a little. My father had the strongest habit, smoking joints like they were cigarettes. By the time I was 13-years-old, he smoked 20 joints a day.
My early childhood memories come in smoke-filled visions. Most nights, I would sit between them on our couch watching TV while they passed joints to each other. I still can’t watch certain movies or shows without thinking of marijuana. Blazing Saddles, History of the World Part I (my parents loved Mel Brooks), The Jerk, Miss America pageants and boxing matches. I also can’t look at album covers without thinking about pot. Before smoking they would go through their stash to pick out seeds and stems and they always did it on album covers. Next came the rolling, the smoking and finally the laughing.
My parents had an awful marriage. They weren’t very affectionate, argued a lot and even slept in separate beds in the same room. But on those nights, they came together and forgot about it all. Sitting between them in a cloud of smoke I was high too–on the togetherness. It was our own version of “family time” as dysfunctional as it was.
Georgette Gilmore, editor of Barista Kids, blogs about growing up at Good Stock.
(Photo: Flickr/alexisbellido)
Now this could be a fascinating thread.
I do believe there is room for reefer in this world.
Too bad, Georgette, that your parents didn’t get along better.
Hard to tell what the point of the story is. I’m interested to know more about how this situation impacted Georgette. Did it make her straight edge?
Did pot pull her family together or was it a symptom of an unhappy marriage?
And how the heck does one smoke 20 joints a day?
Yes, control it and tax it but how do we test someone who is high and behind the wheel.
Why are you telling us this?
The argument about behind the wheel is annoying. How do we know when someone has popped a prescription and drove? I know a woman who takes Valium when she has to drive someplace new because she gets nervous (and yes gets into annual car accidents that are never ever her fault).
I haven’t smoked pot since….since….. whatever, its been a long time! Not that I am against it, I just have too many things that I need to remember throughout the month to kill brain cells. With that said, are you high Georgette? What is the purpose of this thread? It didnt even end with a question! Just a random thought about your parents being high when you were growing up.
hrhppg, if someone is taking prescription drugs and gets into many accidents throughout the year… it IS their fault!
korus, THC is much like BAC, there are different stages and it can show with limited certainty how long ago the person got high.
bebop, in order to smoke 20 joints in a day, one must have pre rolled them before getting high!
Must’ve been pretty crappy grass, too.
Jeez, Georgette, I’m sorry you had to endure that! (no really’; I’m not trying to be snarky!) What a way to grow up.
bebop… you’re probably right… if it had been Humboldt, Pop prolly wouldn’t have even made it to the third one! 😛
I too, Georgette, wonder why on earth you felt you had to pen this one. (I have a hard time imagining the sort of slow news day which would render this, even by Baristanet’s own usually low journalistic standards, worth running.) Did you maybe expect others to say, as they do in therapy groups and 12 step programs, “Thank you for sharing?” No thank you, very, very much.
Perhaps too you just wish to publicly acknowledge that your father was an addict? An unfashionable word used in conjunction with cannabis, I know, but it sure sounds true in his case. 20 joints a day is not what I’d term a moderste user for recreational purposes, after all. And I’m also betting that your old man was pretty much of a bore, such heavy users usually are save to other heavy users.
With the Kelly Rowland item of a week or so ago, ROC commented that Baristanet had hit a new low. But then, he hadn’t yet read your seemingly pointless item today yet, Georgette. I feel there’s a “back half” missing here, the very sort of thing someone very stoned would forget about.
And Spiro, whether or no there’s a place for reefer in this world, it could also very well be that Ms. Gilmore’s parents simply smoked pot in lieu of trying to get along better. Sometimes Occam’s razor works quite well indeed. Her meanderings also make the old phrase “the haze of memory” somewhat relevant today.
Hrhppg, you really never do make too much sense. Perhaps you’ve forgotten the multi-fatalities incident on the Taconic with a stoned driver from a year or so ago, that one even rated an HBO documentary. YOU may not be scared of stoned drivers, but I am. As much as I am of drunks on the road or folks who abuse medications, legally prescribed or otherwise. Smart people usually are, and there are probably a lot of people posting on this very site who are quite a bit smarter than you sound today.
a very evocative story — thanks.
The first half of the article sounds like the beginning to an interesting short story. But this whole ‘article’ does leave me more dazed and confused… was that the whole point? Even if this is an editorial piece, it should at least have a conclusion…
Was your father either Cheech or Chong?
Georgette,
I think that this short tale is, perhaps, a vignette in a larger work about the burgeoning banality of suburban life devoid of any significant cultural context and nourished by television and self-indulgence.
Georgette, it’s time to come to terms with your childhood and move on,
To those asking what the point of this entry is, it’s a part of Baristanet Blogs (as you can see in the header graphic). If you want to submit your own posts to show up here, you can do just that: https://www.baristanetnew.wpengine.com/submit/.
Get your writing out there, even if you’ve posted in on your own blog. “Move on” by writing about it like we all do on the Web.
What I don’t get is this: one tim,e not long ago, Georgette wrote some unsettling happening or other on her Facebook wall. Being a big fan of Georgette’s blog (I read the above there long ago, it’s not new) I commented on her FB post “What would Mawmaw have said?” (Mawmaw is Georgette’s nutty but loveable grandmother and is a regular on the blog)… anyway, in response to my comment, Georgette wrote me a private FB message that she deleted my comment asking about her Mawmaw because, although she appreciated it, she didn’t want her family to see it and be aware that their life has been made public. I remember thinking, “What? Your family sees your FB and isn’t aware of Baristanet or your blog?” But whatever. She told me what Mawmaw would’ve said in the private FB reply, and that was cool. So, now I’m reading this story on Baristanet just as it appeared on her blog along with other colorful tales including crazy anecdotes about Mawmaw and I’m like, “Wait. What?” and I’m thinking, “Won’t her family see this?” “Will some of our comments be deleted?” I’m a serious fan of Georgette’s writing and her blog is very moving, humourous, thought-provoking. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…and maybe, just maybe, the seeds don’t roll far from the bone .
I am a ‘gette fan but I must admit I don’t look at the blog, which means nothing more than that I’m lazy and selfish. I’m from the old school and tend to think any piece of writing that is presented on its own should stand on its own, which this post doesn’t quite manage. But perhaps as part of the river-flow of a blog it works just fine, I don’t know. It’s pretty good material, if for nothing more than the shock value. I am curious to see how ‘gette shapes it into something meaningful (but not curious enough to follow the blog, apparently).
You’re being gratuitously harsh, cathar. It’s fine to criticize, and lord knows Georgette should expect criticism, but jeezus there’s not need to be so nasty. She’s just one of those writing people, not the devil himself.
I give up. For some reason whatever I write awaits moderation. I suppose I shouldn’t drink to much coffee.
I agree with a few people here. This short essay seems out of place on Baristanet. I go to B for news/features that relate to my community or my community experience. This is a very personal entry–perfect for a personal blog, not a community blog.
It’s raining, it’s pouring
The old man is NOT snoring…
Damn that old man.
Damn him straight to HELL!!
There, I just got my writing “out there.”
Now, “I feel better having screamed. Don’t you?”
Btw, cathar got banned from posting for a week, presumably for mentioning a “slow news day” above in his attack on Georgette. Thought y’all would like to know.
Hopefully by putting “slow news day” in quotes I’ll avoid cathar’s fate.
And now I shall remove myself from this little psychodrama for a while to get some work done.
And ‘Roo, how do you know that little tidbit? Crankypants has actually been a much sweeter version of himself lately.
” Georgette wrote me a private FB message that she deleted my comment asking about her Mawmaw…..” Hey Meg, not for nothing but if it was a “private” message why are you posting it here?
This is one steee-range, trippy thread.
Wow, who knew a personal blog post would cause so much trouble?
I realize that what I write on my blog is very personal and some may like it, while others may think it’s awful, boring, pathetic, or worse. I’m okay with that.
I’m pretty thick-skinned and criticism is fine, in fact, it’s helpful at times.
However Meg,
Writing about a personal conversation you and I had is inappropriate. You may think you’re funny with your “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…and maybe, just maybe, the seeds don’t roll far from the bone,” comment, but the truth is it shows what kind of person you truly are.
It’s always fair to question inconsistencies.