on September 2, 2013
[Editor's Note: Chapters 1-19 were finished and written in 2001]
Chapter 1
How I First Met Mary Jane
Hello, my name is PT Rothschild and I’m an ex-pot smoker. As such I am writing this book for several reasons. The first and foremost reason is that you will never have any government expert or scientist, laboring under a grant, write a study and tell you the truth about pot. The second reason is now that I have quit smoking pot I can come forward and say things about pot without a hint of repercussion. I fear no piss test. And the third reason is to tell you what lies at the end of the rainbow once you stop smoking the good weed. So let us take the journey together through the myths and the smoke screens as I share my history of knowing Mary Jane with you.
I am from the DRAGNET generation. For those of you too young to remember the famous TV show of the fifties, the signature line of that long running series which starred Jack Webb was, “just the facts, ma’am”. Interestingly enough, the time period that produced the show actually gave people anything but. We were led to believe that you could run down a hill with a Thompson (.45 caliber sub-machine gun) blazing at the enemy in one hand and then pull the pin out of a hand grenade with your teeth using the other. We were led to believe that the ‘separate but equal’ policy of keeping blacks and whites apart really was, and that all people were happy with things that way. The treatment of red people (Native Americans) and yellow people (Asians) wasn’t even on the grid. Likewise the same could be said for Mexicans, except for Zorro, Poncho, and The Cisco Kid.
We were told that all Russia (the old U.S.S.R.) was communist and that if you smoked a marijuana cigarette on Monday you would be shooting heroin into a vein on Tuesday.
For those of you who have never fired a gun, believe me when I say that a .45 caliber anything has one heck of a kick. To be able to fire such an automatic weapon and have any accuracy definitely requires the use of both hands. Pulling a pin from a hand grenade with your teeth is another impossibility. You will lose a tooth before the grenade loses the pin. These are images of false possibilities brought to us by actors like John Wayne, and are pure ‘Hollywood’. The ‘separate but equal’ theory of happiness began to unravel the moment Rosa Parks’ tired and aching feet led her to a seat at the front of the bus.
The history of the sixties was turbulent, as many old status quo myths were exploded and shown to be exactly what they were – myths. Today the new century is still dealing with the conflicts that came to light in the sixties and which have come to signify inequality not only between blacks and whites, but also between men and women, rich and poor, and straights and gays.
In truth, the sixties revolution didn’t exactly start in 1960 but several years later, closer to 1963 as I recall, the year that I graduated from high school. It is true that the racial awakening began in 1955 with Rosa Parks but 1963 seems to me as the last great year for the DRAGNET generation. Things like the Vietnam War which also began before 1960 just mushroomed into national consciousness after 1963. Thinking back now, perhaps it was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that was the flash-point for the expanded level of consciousness that was to come forth. It certainly revoked my innocence in thinking that this Nation was above the rest of the World in that sort of thing, something I previously thought only happened to other people’s leaders in other people’s countries. – part 1
Part 2 manana
Chapter 1
How I First Met Mary Jane
Hello, my name is PT Rothschild and I’m an ex-pot smoker. As such I am writing this book for several reasons. The first and foremost reason is that you will never have any government expert or scientist, laboring under a grant, write a study and tell you the truth about pot. The second reason is now that I have quit smoking pot I can come forward and say things about pot without a hint of repercussion. I fear no piss test. And the third reason is to tell you what lies at the end of the rainbow once you stop smoking the good weed. So let us take the journey together through the myths and the smoke screens as I share my history of knowing Mary Jane with you.
I am from the DRAGNET generation. For those of you too young to remember the famous TV show of the fifties, the signature line of that long running series which starred Jack Webb was, “just the facts, ma’am”. Interestingly enough, the time period that produced the show actually gave people anything but. We were led to believe that you could run down a hill with a Thompson (.45 caliber sub-machine gun) blazing at the enemy in one hand and then pull the pin out of a hand grenade with your teeth using the other. We were led to believe that the ‘separate but equal’ policy of keeping blacks and whites apart really was, and that all people were happy with things that way. The treatment of red people (Native Americans) and yellow people (Asians) wasn’t even on the grid. Likewise the same could be said for Mexicans, except for Zorro, Poncho, and The Cisco Kid.
We were told that all Russia (the old U.S.S.R.) was communist and that if you smoked a marijuana cigarette on Monday you would be shooting heroin into a vein on Tuesday.
For those of you who have never fired a gun, believe me when I say that a .45 caliber anything has one heck of a kick. To be able to fire such an automatic weapon and have any accuracy definitely requires the use of both hands. Pulling a pin from a hand grenade with your teeth is another impossibility. You will lose a tooth before the grenade loses the pin. These are images of false possibilities brought to us by actors like John Wayne, and are pure ‘Hollywood’. The ‘separate but equal’ theory of happiness began to unravel the moment Rosa Parks’ tired and aching feet led her to a seat at the front of the bus.
The history of the sixties was turbulent, as many old status quo myths were exploded and shown to be exactly what they were – myths. Today the new century is still dealing with the conflicts that came to light in the sixties and which have come to signify inequality not only between blacks and whites, but also between men and women, rich and poor, and straights and gays.
In truth, the sixties revolution didn’t exactly start in 1960 but several years later, closer to 1963 as I recall, the year that I graduated from high school. It is true that the racial awakening began in 1955 with Rosa Parks but 1963 seems to me as the last great year for the DRAGNET generation. Things like the Vietnam War which also began before 1960 just mushroomed into national consciousness after 1963. Thinking back now, perhaps it was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that was the flash-point for the expanded level of consciousness that was to come forth. It certainly revoked my innocence in thinking that this Nation was above the rest of the World in that sort of thing, something I previously thought only happened to other people’s leaders in other people’s countries. – part 1
Part 2 manana
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