Alcoholism Is The Disease Of More.

Academic Achievement Was Something I'd Always Sought As A Form Of Reward. Good Grades Pleased My Parents, Good Grades Pleased My Teachers; You Got Them In Order To Sew Up Approval.

Our Culture Thrives On Black-and-white Narratives, Clearly Defined Emotions, Easy Endings, And So, This Thrust Into Complexity Exhausts.

There's Something About Sober Living And Sober Thinking, About Facing Long Afternoons Without The Numbing Distraction Of Anesthesia That Disabuses You Of The Belief In The Externals, Shows You That Strength And Hope Come Not From Circumstances Or The Acquisition Of Things, But From The Simple Accumulation Of Active Experience, From Gritting The Teeth And Checking The Items Off The List, One By One, Even If It's Painful And You're Afraid.

What Is This Drive To Be Thinner, Prettier, Better Dressed, Other? Who Exactly Is This Other And What Does She Look Like Beyond The Jacket She's Wearing Or The Food She's Not Eating? What Might We Be Doing, Thinking, Feeling About If We Didn't Think About Body Image, Ever?

But Then The Wine Came, One Glass And Then A Second Glass. And Somewhere During That Second Drink, The Switch Was Flipped. The Wine Gave Me A Melting Feeling, A Warm Light Sensation In My Head, And I Felt Like Safety Itself Had Arrived In That Glass, Poured Out From The Bottle And Allowed To Spill Out Between Us.