3rd episode – David

Posted on by comingoutoftheemeraldcloset

Oh, good – you’re here!

This is the last of the three interviews I did the month after legalization, i.e. over two years ago. While I have since refined the trajectory of this podcast, they (the interviews) still do a good job of reflecting those first concerns that come up when yesterday’s crime becomes today’s … hmmm … today’s what? Today’s pioneering? Today’s toleration? There has been very little envisioning of what successful legalization is. The good news is that we (and by we I mean you) get to define what lawful, effective cannabis consumption looks like.

While David is a cis-het white male, he is also a single dad, of a 4-year-old son. While it might be a stretch to qualify him as a “marginalized” voice, it does qualify as a voice that isn’t often included in the Conversation around cannabis use and law reform. David is also a master at empathetic listening (paying attention to another person with emotional identification, compassion, insight) – which is gold in my line of work. Just talking with him helped me tighten up my game.

After 5:17 of introduction, our conversation begins with a check-in about what has[n’t] changed since the full implementation of Measure 91, where we end up sharing stories about interactions with our respective neighbors.  By 15 minutes in, we’ve taken a turn toward the philosophic – what is therapeutic, what is a vice? Because let’s face it, it’s time to move past ‘I know it when I see it.’ It’s time to name it. Once we’re into the narrative arc of David’s booze ⇒ cannabis transformation,  at 28:00 is my favorite quote of the interview – reflecting on the creeping suspicion that smoking early in the day (instead as the topping-off of a night out drinking), David reflects ” … maybe it’ll be great.” The perfect attitude! Our response to cannabis is so often dictated by how we approach it. David’s positive curiosity proves the cornerstone of his advantageous, thoroughly enjoyable relationship to pot nowadays.  At 37 minutes in, he paints a picture of his ‘dealer’ which flies in the face of the negative stereotypes we’ve been taught. After that topic, I wind up walking David through the conversations I’ve had with my own [10 year-old] son regarding marijuana [and my use of it] over the years – what we talked about, at what age, etc. ‘Normalization’ is a bit of a buzzword now, and at 44:00, David points out how an exchange I was describing exemplifies how to normalize cannabis through honest dialogue. Then he tells a story about what consumption looks like in his household. After some speculation on how Washington D.C.’s radically different strategy of legalization might be playing out, we touch on (at 58:00) what I feel to be the heart of this podcast – how the exchange of self-narratives  best prepares us for integrating [with] the status quo. This leads to a humorous tangent about how not to engage across difference. We go a little bit into how much we reveal on social media, until we end with speculations on what else legalization may bring.

Interview date – August 2015 (two months into marijuana legalization)
Recorded on – Tascam DR-05 [handheld] digital recorder
Edited with – Audacity software

Always appreciated are donations in the form of: graphic design know-how, audio recording/editing know-how, website design know-how.

This show is recorded in full compliance with the Cole Memorandum.

 

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Episode 2 – Elena

Posted on by comingoutoftheemeraldcloset

Good to see you!

Elena was a podcaster’s dream – just wind her up [with a short prompt] and let her go [regale me with real events]. She brought not only her own experiences, but remembrances of the people around her: clients she cared for, family, local community. Barely a minute & a half into her interview, we meet Everett; and through him we begin our walk through the first social experiments figuring out how post-prohibition cannabis plays out, aka Denis Peron’s California. Around the 10-minute mark, Elena & I share a couple quick observations on the interaction of cannabis consumption and fitness regimens. In future episodes, I’d like to invite athletes on the show to talk more about how they integrate cannabis into their work-outs. In between a couple recollections of her days fronting Sacramento punk band Local Chaos, she spoke one of what were to be several short, basic phrases which struck me as heavy at the same time. “Honesty is at the core of coming out.” And then a couple minutes later – “Act like it’s normal and it’s perfectly acceptable.”  Simple sentiments, practically obvious, yet significant and often unapplied to our lives. And if you listen closely, at 25:49, you can hear me bite my tongue when she calls [the] east coat pot [I grew up on] “shwag.”  {ouch!}

We really kick into high gear when the conversation turns toward public consumption sites. Elena was right there when the law was getting “stretched” further with each of Peron’s successive locations. At 35:30, we touch on the topic of who cannabis is not for, while also noting “tell your children that something is forbidden, you might actually be tempting them to try something they didn’t care about at all.” From there on out she must have really had my number, because she was answering every question of mine by introducing me to somebody new – one of her own adult children, or a spunky senior like Hazel, Mary, Pat, Brandy or Pearl. Signing off, Elena walks us through her favorite cannabis recipe, the one that’s treated all the people/patients we’ve met thusfar.

 

Here is the study by Dr. Harvey Feldman (which Elena mentions at 27:15) on the social interaction piece of cannabis-based health regimens. Madeline Martinez has also spoken & written about this.

Interview date – August 30, 2015 (two months into marijuana legalization)
Recorded on – Tascam DR-05 [handheld] digital recorder
Edited with – Audacity software

Always appreciated are donations in the form of: graphic design know-how, audio recording/editing know-how, website design know-how.

This show is recorded in full compliance with the Cole Memorandum.

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First episode – Lasse

Posted on by comingoutoftheemeraldcloset

Howdy!

I’m so glad you’ve made time for us.

I gotta warn you. This interview was edited with a heavy hand. There is nothing wrong with your listening devise or the mp3 file. What you’re hearing is the sound of my crash course in audio-editing software. But the content is strong – again, thank you Lasse – and there’s a good amount of it to chew on.

The interview begins at 4:48. First, we get into our relationships with (and strategies for dealing with) our parents. His and mine reacted quite differently to suburban conformity – and you can hear how it influences our own views. Once we start smoking at 29:00, there’s a story which illustrates what problematic pot use looks like, then a couple more stories about the decisions surrounding getting high with siblings (or not). Forty-seven minutes in, I describe how I saw the Drug War propaganda effect not only kids, but their parents, significantly. Things lighten up as Lasse details how he uses cannabis today, then I ask him how he approaches the topic of cannabis with his kids. Around the 58-minute mark, you can hear a wonderfully well-timed Doppler effect from a train as it approaches and then recedes. Feel free to skip the BoringGrowerTalk at four minutes past the hour. And it wouldn’t be a proper session without some spiritual philosophies – for us, it was around the nature of stress, and the practice of gratitude.

Interview date – August 9, 2015 (one month into marijuana legalization)
Recorded on – Tascam DR-05 [handheld] digital recorder
Edited with – Audacity software

Always appreciated are donations in the form of: graphic design know-how, audio recording/editing know-how, website design know-how.

This show is recorded in full compliance with the Cole Memorandum.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:26:56 — 79.6MB) | Embed

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