The Drug Fits The Face

In Nelson County, Ky., all high school athletes in fall sports were tested for drugs at the beginning of the school year, followed by two more rounds of tests for randomly selected athletes. This spring, students involved in other extracurricular activities -- like band or yearbook -- also will start random testing, said Karen Johnson, the school district's director of federal grants.

-- AP

Drug testing in sports is widespread around the world. But I'm trying to figure out what would count as a performance-enhancing drug for Yearbook Club.

Students who test positive are temporarily pulled off their team and receive counseling from a school adviser, Johnson said. Police are not called, and students rarely, if ever, risk being suspended or expelled from school, she said.

Now, it may just be me, but kicking drug users out of extracurricular activities doesn't seem like the best way to reduce their drug use. Too many teenagers already do drugs because they have nothing better to do.

And in the meaningless statistics category, this is journal entry #400 for me.

Update #4: The anti-drug commercials in the Super Bowl this year were a lot lighter handed than last year, when they accused drug users of supporting terrorism, for instance. This year their message is that drugs can mess you up, so you should confront people (well, teens) you love about their drug use. This is an anti-drug message that can be presented by both folks who are for and against drug legalization and use. It's the same approach that we take to alcohol abuse. They're also encouraging kids to get involved, which is what I advocated above.

We're still a long way from drug policy which respects well-considered individual decisions, aids drug safety through legalization, and treats addicts as patients instead of criminals. Or one with a sense of humor like the great Shards O' Glass ad. And the beer companies seem to be walking the line with ads promoting responsible drinking. It's a pity CBS refused to air ads about responsible taxation or how to get laid by socially responsible chicks. And how about an ad for responsible gas mileage?

However, any thought that CBS was caving to social conservatives was utterly demolished by the half time show. With that kind of money and production value, you'd think they could've gotten some actual musicians. Sheesh.

Happy Spring!

Our Father Which art in Heaven
stay there
and we will stay down here on earth
which is sometimes very pretty
with its passions of New York
and its Parisian mysteries
(worth all those of the Trinity)
with its little canal at Ourq
and the Great Wall of China
the river at Morlaix
and Cambrai mints
the Pacific Ocean
and the Tuileries ponds
with its saints and sinners
With all the wonders of the world
right here on earth
strewn about
for everyone
marvelling at themselves
without daring to admit it
like a pretty girl who won't appear in the nude
With all the horrors of the world
which are legion
its legionnaires and torturers
its rulers north and south
the bosses and their priests their traitors and their henchmen
with its seasons
and its centuries
and its pretty girls and dirty old men
and the straw of poverty rotting in the cannon's mouth.


-- Jacques Prevert, "Our Father"

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Today is Imbolc, the beginning of Spring. I got up before 6, brushed the snow off my mom's car, and drove up to Halfway House on Flagstaff road. I then realized I wasn't quite sure where Andy said he would be, so I checked a few more spots without any luck. I ended up watching the "sunrise" from a hill near the Chautauqua trailhead. Since it was cloudy, it was really watching things get slightly lighter and then, around 7:30, seeing the sun appear from behind the clouds for a little bit. I took my hoop drum that I made at Dragonfest. It was the first time I've played it alone, so I explored what tones different parts of the drum make. The rock Phil gave me broke a while ago, so it rattles when the drum is struck, like an odd resonator. It adds funk :-)