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maryelizabethtrevino

Monthly Archives: April 2016

About Addiction

28 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by mbtrevino in Addiction, Overdoses, Public Health, Social Norms, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

addiciton

“Thanks for keeping up the pressure for recognition of addiction as a treatable problem.” This email was sent to me yesterday by a researcher who holds a position at a leading university. Her title is Ph.D. Her department is Pharmacology and Toxicology.

My last post about Tweaking was another attempt of mine to raise awareness about addiction so I repeat; “If you are struggling, seek help.” If I offended or confused any readers with my R-rated content, I am sorry.

I wanted to create awareness while attempting to entertain. It was a true story. If it helps one person, my blog did its job. (Good thing I have a paying job; I only have a few fans.)

The job I hold is in the field of addiction. My formal education is in Resource Management. Our greatest natural resource is people. I am privileged to work in a way that combines both; I’m tasked with reducing risky behaviors and increasing protective factors along the lines of public health through targeting social norms.(The email was in regards to my job.)

Addiction has reached epidemic proportions. Overdoses and deaths are just one tragic component of the problem. Some of the economic costs are measurable: increased health care, crime, rehabilitation costs to name the obvious, but the cascading effects are not.

The combined pressures it exerts on families and communities is immeasurable but addiction is treatable. Please encourage anyone who may need help to seek help.

 

 

 

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Tweaking

27 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by mbtrevino in Addiction, Meth, Tweaking, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Addiction, Meth, Tweaking

My tattered dictionary defines TWEAK as a sharp twist or fine adjustment. Yesterday, I heard the word used in the tale of a previous evening encounter. The narrator explained that the person he went to see was tweaking.

(I googled it)

It is listed as the fourth stage in the Stages of the Meth Users Experience; following The Rush, The High, and The Binge. It describes this phase as the most dangerous; Tweaking is a condition reached at the end of a drug binge. Disconnected from reality; the user is dangerous to himself and others.

The drug, Meth, is also called Tweak.

My friend uses social networking sites to seek a sort of companionship. When he arrived at his destination, the person he was going to visit was tweaking.

The tweaking person revealed that had been laid off from his job over a month ago. He decided that his stay-cation would be to smoke meth for a month before moving back to his MidWest hometown to re-start his life. (What had been intended as a hook-up/companion connection; tweaked into a hard lesson in the sad depths of addiction.)

The unemployed thirty-something Meth user was obsessed with trying to make the world’s best Meth Pipe.  His coffee table was littered with all kinds of laboratory-grade glass equipment that could be fashioned into some Hi-Tech-Meth pipe.

I googled ‘beaker’; (drug-bongs popped up first) with the price listed and being unemployed, he has apparently become a Tweaker of the Beaker; the legit dictionary kind of tweaking.

I was also informed that the Meth-using person admitted that he had been engaging excessively in repetitive rounds of masturbation; so he was no longer interested, or perhaps simply unable to function in the anticipated activity. End of tale.

But this tale is not tweaked. Tragically, it involves real people with real families.
Drug abuse is a genuine tragedy. If you are struggling, seek help.

Addiction can permanently tweak your life.

Five Pounds

22 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by mbtrevino in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

I feel five pounds away from being overweight. I haven’t ever really been overweight before but now, it seems like whatever this feeling is, could overtake me.

I am one of five kids. About to go with the youngest of us to say our final farewell to the youngest of our three brothers.

There is nothing more to be said. It has all been said before: in every way it should and should not be.  Written, sung, drawn, or dreamed; we tried it all.

I will leave this house, drive to her house and together, we will drive to his house. There will be tears.

He has lost so much weight in these last five months that if he loses 5 more pounds, he will surely die.

But he is dying. And after he dies, we will have about 5 pounds of his cremated ashes to scatter.

Can dread weigh five pounds?

Pride or Prejudice

13 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by mbtrevino in American Greatness, Prejudice, Pride, Refugees, Uncategorized

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Is America Great

Uber works well for some but I use taxi cabs, mainly to and from the airport in Seattle. I enjoy people and hearing their backstory. This driver’s name was Ahmed; I owe it to him to share this gem.

“My wife was still growing our baby in her when we decided to flee. Our baby needed to grow another 4 months inside of her but there was no food. We were being starved. The Somalia of my youth will forever live in my heart; but in 1990, it was dead.”

“If we stayed, we would be dead too. Most of our family had been killed in the conflict. There as no opportunity for life for our unborn child. We’d spent that last semester abroad in Italy and when we returned, the only remains of my family and our home was Grandfather’s old car in the shed. Mercifully, it started.”

“We drove 500 miles to Kenya. We went to the American Embassy to seek asylum; America symbolizes security. We were asked if we had a relative in the United States. My cousin lived in San Diego. We were granted refuge and flown there. We have lived gratefully in the US for 25 years.”

“We love America. America is so great. When I hear about Americans who don’t think that America is great; I say they should try to go live somewhere else. Our daughter was born in America after we were settled in San Diego. She is a now an elementary school music teacher. Our other daughter is finishing Nursing School this semester They are proud to be American citizens. Aren’t you a proud American?” he respectfully inquired.

With tears welling in my eyes from hearing a very tiny part of his incredible life story, and truly feeling it, I answered, “Yes, especially at this moment. Your pride inspires me.”

He pulled up to the airport, I got out. “Thanks for raising proud Americans. Thanks for the lift. I will try to do my part too. ”

Please be great. People still count on us. Thanks.

For Merle

06 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by mbtrevino in Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Kris K,, Uncategorized

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Once upon a time, I worked at Caribou Ranch. It was a recording studio. Kris Kristopherson was working on an album while I was there. Willie Nelson dropped by. He was headed to Red Rocks to perform a concert there. I drove him and got to go backstage and hang out with them. Willie had a few surprise guests. They loved playing music together; that joy made that night even more magical. I can’t write like they do but here is my blog/song to honor Merle. He died today. RIP Merle.

Bluebonnet Blues

As I looked toward the porch steps
And saw her shoe pile was gone
I shoulda known right there
That somethin was wrong

Then the dead bolt was unlocked
That was more than a clue
I’d trade all my tomorrows
If right now wasn’t true

Cause the dreamer in me
Refused to believe
She was gone
That our happily ever after,
our now and forever
was done

I walked through the front door
No sign of her there
I Begged and I pleaded
Offered one final prayer.

Dread quickly crushed all hope.
I was drowning in air.
Tryin not to loose faith,
choking back my despair.

Where’d she gone?……What went wrong?

Born a ‘true-blue’ believer
I swallowed my fear
Re-traced my foot steps,
Till It was painfully clear

Cause the believer in me
Just would not accept
She was gone

The dreamer in me
just could not concede
we were done

Who needed this love seat,
This couch and TV
The blue walls she’d painted
was all I could see

This wasn’t my Friday
Our plans had been made.
It was blue-bonnet weekend,
Those blooms quickly fade.

The rug had been pulled out
Sky blues turned to gray
No one would believe
that We’d end up this way

Feeling my heart break
– The wound time doesn’t heal
Her absence a ton of
Hardened blue steel

But the dreamer in me
Still tryin to pretend
We weren’t done

That our happily ever after,
our now and forever
wasn’t gone.

Her cobalt blue treasures
Were still sitting there.
Placed right where she wanted
with royal blue care.

what she’d clearly wanted
More than denim or lace
Was the strength and the courage,
To escape from this place

Our end had come.
She’d finally run.
And happy-ever after was done

But what I’d really wanted
All of what mattered most
Had instantly vanished
The past now a ghost.

Yet the dreamer in me
Refused to believe
She’d stay gone

That our happily ever after,
our now and forever
was done.

For three thousand nights
Since the day we first wed
We shared the same table
We shared the same bed

Her sapphire band
She’d left clipped to her keys
And Placed on her pillow
– This buckled my knees

Cause she was done sharing
And what we had shared
once was wrong.

Now the sinks full of dishes
Rumpled jeans; all I wear.
Weekends or Holidays
I don’t really care.

Days drag on like dry summers.
Midnights last way too long.
The only thing that’s almost right
Is Something always feels wrong

Pretending we were soul mates
Was her powder-blue lie.
She needed to be free of me
I’m still stuck hard on why.

My one that I lived for
Is now just a name.
Tryin hard not to blame her
Nearly drives me insane.

But the dreamer in me
Still needs to believe
Love’s not wrong.

Good thing I’m a dreamer
Makes it easy To keep Dreaming on.

(Dream on Merle)

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