Wednesday, July 16, 2014

What you look like after doing a 5 minute radio interview about cannabis



Not sad anymore, right?

Seriously, I just drank a glass of wine and ate a bowl of pasta with ground lamb, zucchini, olives and feta cheese. I ate it alone as Sophie is sleeping, and Henry is at a lacrosse practice in the far reaches of the city with his father. If I were toast, you could slather me with butter and homemade apricot jam. But I'm just me, and I just got off the phone with Bruce Kelly, the radio guy at The National Marijuana News. I'm not sure if you can listen to it or whether it was broadcast live, but I basically told Sophie's story which you've heard a million times. The site looks very interesting, though, so check it out. Evidently, the Bible Belt folks are very into this particular radio show. It touts itself as being unbiased, and from a cursory look, it does seem so, but I have really never listened to a 24-hour radio show, much less spoken on one, so give it a look and tell me what you think. One thing I do know, toast or toasted aside -- being on this medical marijuana journey has thrown me in bed with some of the most unlikely companions. I've met evangelical Christians, Armenian Orthodox Christians, atheists, pagans, conspiracy theorists who believe the government is capable of altering the weather, and die-hard Obamaphiles. There are people lying right next to me who believe that God has delivered this weed to us. I am grateful that they have not only let me into their bed, but also don't expect me to believe like them. In some cases, we have absolutely nothing in common except for our belief that marijuana needs to be rescheduled and studied, but most importantly made accessible to our children with refractory seizure disorders and other diseases. If someone had told me even two years ago that I'd be talking on a radio show about Sophie's dramatic reduction in seizures, and that I'm in this group of people many of whom have beliefs in general that are directly contrary to my own, I would have thrown my head back and laughed one of those maniacal laughs I periodically imagine myself doing.

I am humbled by this, by our ability to accept one another and work together to improve the lives of our own children and others' children. It can make anything seem possible, can't it? Well, please don't ask me to vote Republican or look kindly on Hobby Lobby's plan to build a museum to the Bible in Washington, D.C. -- I do have my limits.

8 comments:

  1. Oh,God Elizabeth, you are so funny and moving both at the same time. Only a few can do that…xxoo

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  2. It's all pretty amazing when you think about it.

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  3. I love your description. It's so true. Since I've begun going more activist (mostly due to friends and children of friends who have been noticeably helped), I've seen the same strange convergences.

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  4. As I was listening, hoping to hear you, I heard a good interview with a woman who is the head of a group of Republicans for marijuana reform or something like that and she was very knowledgable and reasonable on the subject. And she was from Texas.
    You do have strange bedfellows but as with anything in life- this is what makes it all interesting.
    With the added bonus of reduced seizures for your daughter! Actually, that is NOT the added bonus but the reason.
    You have become part of a rich vein of life. And honey, you are part of it.

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  5. I have reading your blog for a while now, but never left a comment..
    You are awesome!!! Keep writing, it is making the world a little bit better.
    Thanks for sharing!
    Mariana, from Washington DC

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  6. That light around you is beatific. Is that the word? I love everything about this post. Even the toast. Or toasted.

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  7. Reading your post ( which i really enjoyed BTW) reminded me of an article I read from the Newtown action alliance about gay marriage and gun control.. of all things.
    Before you call me crazy ...here is the link
    http://benswann.com/your-problem-with-guns-or-gays-is-not-political/
    Both your post and this article made me hopeful that somehow the great political divide which now exists in our country may not be a permanent reflection of our children's future.

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  8. colleen: While I found the linked article somewhat interesting, I didn't find it particularly persuasive, to tell you the truth. The writer's argument is fairly simplistic -- and I disagree with it. I happen to know and in a few cases grew up with people who are gun owners. They are actually not "other" to me, yet their demands to bear arms and belief that owning a machine gun is somehow linked to their personal safety is still bullshit to me. Just the other day, one of my Facebook friends, one of the people who was instrumental in getting medical marijuana to me in the early days, demonstrated through a conversation his extreme gun ownership beliefs and in doing so, called me a coward, someone who would let others defend me and my family. I promptly "defriended" him despite our close connection otherwise. I am not hopeful, like you, that this great political divide will somehow dissolve. I see it as getting ever wider, aided by technology and our natural, primitive tribal instincts.

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