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News & ArtsThursday, November 19, 2009
Life The View From My Window
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 11:15 AM
I'm sorry, black truck, but days like this require drugs.
3
I thought that D.A.R.E was eliminated a few years ago since it was found to be completely and totally ineffective?
PS I recommend a light tranquilizer or muscle relaxer. The brands you can buy at the pharmacies in Canada do nicely.
PS I recommend a light tranquilizer or muscle relaxer. The brands you can buy at the pharmacies in Canada do nicely.
6
There is literally not a cloud in the sky here. Cold, though. Hey, that can be a good excuse to do drugs too. (Even better excuse? It's legal here.)
8
Being a product of the D.A.R.E. generation (Class of '00), I was overcome with a rush of anger upon seeing this. I just wish I'd known how to raise a ruckus back then like that anti-Pledge-of-Allegiance kid in Arkansas.
9
That DARE graphic on the back of the truck is the owner's method of getting out of any tickets. What cop is going to pull over that truck? Bet it's full of drugs.
11
mama said there would be days like these, but then mama was a drug mule for the mexican mafia.
woot.
woot.
12
@8: Same, same, same.
I remember my overly-progressive teacher selected my essay as a "winner" out of our 4th grade class, so she got to read it as a representative of "the class of 2000! yayyyy!" at a big DARE rally full of police officers. The winning prize was a year's supply of Big Red soda.
"Everybody knows," she started reading from my chicken scratch, "that drugs are bad. Except the cops. Drugs waste your time and make you stupider. Anything that wastes your time and makes you stupider is not a good idea. Drugs also cost too much money. Anything that costs too much money is not a good idea. Why do the cops spend so much money and waste our time making us stupider with DARE?"
Paraphrasing and taking creative liberties, of course, but I seriously spent 4 "whole" pages clumsily protesting why I was sitting in this stupid DARE class for 2 hours a week. Oh, and I thought "stupider" was an appropriate word choice.
Surprisingly, I did not win a year's supply of Big Red soda.
I remember my overly-progressive teacher selected my essay as a "winner" out of our 4th grade class, so she got to read it as a representative of "the class of 2000! yayyyy!" at a big DARE rally full of police officers. The winning prize was a year's supply of Big Red soda.
"Everybody knows," she started reading from my chicken scratch, "that drugs are bad. Except the cops. Drugs waste your time and make you stupider. Anything that wastes your time and makes you stupider is not a good idea. Drugs also cost too much money. Anything that costs too much money is not a good idea. Why do the cops spend so much money and waste our time making us stupider with DARE?"
Paraphrasing and taking creative liberties, of course, but I seriously spent 4 "whole" pages clumsily protesting why I was sitting in this stupid DARE class for 2 hours a week. Oh, and I thought "stupider" was an appropriate word choice.
Surprisingly, I did not win a year's supply of Big Red soda.
14
We're having the same kind of day here in Indy, but that's OK 'cause I'm gearing up for a pot and merlot infused weekend!
15
it's very scottish out there. just watch trainspoting or yell FREEEEEEEEEDOMMM in the middle of cal anderson park.
16
The whole D.A.R.E acronym really fell apart as it was to hard to remember. Not to mention the fact that the parody Acronym:
Drugs
Are
Really
Excellent
Just outsold the original intent.
Drugs
Are
Really
Excellent
Just outsold the original intent.
20
I'm way to old to have had any exposure to D.A.R.E. during my formative years, but it always struck me as one of those programs that are all about concept with no real substance behind it; like a bunch of marketing people sat around a conference table until they came up with the catchiest acronym they could think of, and then built a whole branding identity around it for the sole purpose of sucking as much largess from the government teat as they could, while the actual program itself was merely an afterthought tacked on to justify the handout.
In short, the sort of thing my late grandfather would have characterized as "corporate snake-oil".
In short, the sort of thing my late grandfather would have characterized as "corporate snake-oil".
21
@19: Yeah, taking such a strong role in The Stranger's advocacy efforts as he does, I'm surprised Dan didn't use that position to tell people to vote to Approve R-71.
Too bad he couldn't reach out as successfully as the socialist orgs that planned and promoted the R-71 rally did when they brought a whopping TWO HUNDRED people to Westlake Plaza. What a hack, that Dan Savage is. Tut!
Too bad he couldn't reach out as successfully as the socialist orgs that planned and promoted the R-71 rally did when they brought a whopping TWO HUNDRED people to Westlake Plaza. What a hack, that Dan Savage is. Tut!
22
@19
Gee, in case you haven't read the gajillions of posts right here on SLOG and throughout the site, Dan HAS been supporting and participating in that struggle.
Gee, in case you haven't read the gajillions of posts right here on SLOG and throughout the site, Dan HAS been supporting and participating in that struggle.
23
@20: pretty much hit it right on the head. It involved lots of coloring books. And cheaply made videos.
27
The cop who did my DARE instruction back in the early '90s wound up arrested a couple years later for being a drug dealer. I found it somehow fitting.
30
@3: Nope. As a matter of fact, somehow the program has been expanded globally since its inception, amongst widespread criticism of its efficacy. "Some studies ..indicated that there was an **increased** rate of drug use among D.A.R.E. graduates. In 2001, the Surgeon General of the United States placed [DARE] in the category of "Does Not Work"..."
31
Not too long ago there was a DARE table set up outside my local supermarket, with 2 young women stationed at it, bugging passers-by.
On my wait out, one of the women went to hand me a pamphlet and began to say something so I said "no thanks, I'm pro-drugs" and kept walking. So the lady says "oh, coool" in this really, really sarcastic voice as I walk off. It made me dislike them just a little more.
On my wait out, one of the women went to hand me a pamphlet and began to say something so I said "no thanks, I'm pro-drugs" and kept walking. So the lady says "oh, coool" in this really, really sarcastic voice as I walk off. It made me dislike them just a little more.
32
My best friend's husband is a cop, and he worked the DARE program at in his precinct's school district for the last 6 years. He's a good guy--they aren't all assholes, even if the program is ineffective.
34
@everyone
I was also a '00 graduate and Dare actually helped me stay off drugs to a degree. The counselor that we had broke it down for us, Drugs aren't the worst, but you have a huge stretch of your life after 30 that you might find yourself in where your stability can easily allow for drug usage.
It worked until college where he forgot to explain that all the cool kids really were doing it and you should do some too if you wanna hang out.
I was also a '00 graduate and Dare actually helped me stay off drugs to a degree. The counselor that we had broke it down for us, Drugs aren't the worst, but you have a huge stretch of your life after 30 that you might find yourself in where your stability can easily allow for drug usage.
It worked until college where he forgot to explain that all the cool kids really were doing it and you should do some too if you wanna hang out.
35
Okay...I'm going nuts trying to figure out where he took it from. The camera height is a little high for just standing there holding a camera in the cross walk, and there are what look like drops of water so it must have been taken through glass. But if it was taken through the front windshield of a car it's a pretty high off the ground vehicle and I can't imagine he's in an SUV of some sort. A bus that happens to be blocking an intersection, and he's in a window seat? Except the truck had to get through the intersection to be driving away. Unless it's just stopped there. Or he walked to the front of the bus to take the picture...or he took it as he was boarding or leaving. But wouldn't the truck have moved further down the road before he could take the picture then???
Or it's I just need to get away from my computer for a while and go down to my bar and make myself a drink. It's pretty gloomy here in Baltimore too...
Or it's I just need to get away from my computer for a while and go down to my bar and make myself a drink. It's pretty gloomy here in Baltimore too...
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