Is Butter Beer in Harry Potter Sending the Wrong Message?

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Harry Potter Butter Beer

Yes, I’m a Harry Potter fan; and, no, I’m not trying to be a stifler. However, when Harry, Hermione and Ron raise their pints of Butter Beer with a professor during the new film Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, it brings up a good question: “Is this a harmful message?”

Personally, I’ve seen actual pictures online of the real life actors drinking beers; yet, they’re not 21 and what’s new about those kinds of behaviors by youths. The reality is that youths are drinking; nonetheless, that is not an excuse to portray alcohol consumption in Hollywood films that are targeted at youths.

The reality is that underage drinking is a serious problem and presenting it as an “acceptable thing” is not the message I believe we want out there. In conclusion, this scene could have been edited. Although, I don’t think it was an intentional promotion of alcohol, I think someone associated with the film’s production should have picked up on the possible implications and reconsidered putting the Butter Beer in the new Harry Potter film.

Rock N Roll Hall of Famers Eric Burdon & the Animals to Play Rally for Recovery

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Eric Burdon Animals Rally Recovery

IntheRooms recently announced that their concert, as part of the day-long National Recovery Month event, will be headlined by “Rock N Roll Hall of Famers” Eric Burdon & the Animals.  For those who may not be familiar with the performers, Eric Burdon & the Animals, they are best known for their 60’s super hits, “The House of the Rising Sun” and “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.”

As it stands, the event is scheduled to begin at 8:30am with a 6K walk for charity that will circle the Macarthur Causeway of South Beach.  After that, all participants will return to home base at Bicentennial Park (Downtown Miami) for some early afternoon speakers, children’s activities and food.  Finally, the evening will be capped off with a headlining performance by Eric Burdon & the Animals.

For those interested, the South Florida Rally for Recovery will take place on September 12, 2009.  Participation to the event will cost $9.00 and will include entrance to the concert.  All proceeds raised by the event will go to the Intherooms, not-for-profit, recovery foundation, which raises community awareness on addiction recovery, helps fund treatment programs, and also awards treatment scholarships.

Recovery Site Review: Changing Lives Foundation & Why Don’t They Just QUIT?

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I was recently turned on to the “Changing Lives Foundation” website (changinglivesfoundation.org) by a fellow writer in recovery, so I thought I would check it out. After clicking through the site and reading the different sections, I found it very informative, as it is all about recovery, and maintains a very positive attitude about the recovering individual’s personal power to overcome their addictions.

The “Changing Lives Foundation” notes its mission on the website: “Changing Lives Foundation is committed to bringing to the public clear and concise information on substance abuse, drug addiction, alcoholism and compulsive behaviors. Perhaps more importantly, we focus on how individuals and families recover from these problems.”

The site was founded by, recovering addict/author/counselor, Joe Herzanek and his wife Judy. Interestingly enough, Joe has personal experience with recovery, as he now has over 30 years of abstinence from substances; this knowledge is really reflected at the Changing Lives Foundation website.

Additionally, Joe Herzanek continues to be an active member of the recovery community; he currently counsels recovering inmates, their family members and others in the community. He has also written his popular and effective recovery book titled, “Why Don’t They Just QUIT?.” For more information on Joe and his book “Why Don’t They Just QUIT?,” visit the official website at: www.whydonttheyjustquit.com

Recovery Arts: ADDICTION TESTIMONIALS PT. 7

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Smashing Pumpkins Testimonial

As the guitar wailed like electric wolves in the night, we made our way towards the stage and into the pit. We were small and out numbered, so we chose to stay on the fringes; something we’d do for the next several years of our lives as we entered deeper and deeper into the underworld of drug abuse and crime.

Standing on the edge of the pit with the slews of onlookers, Santos noticed a guy with a Mexico soccer jersey on, and they struck up a convo: “chingalo buey!,” “no mames, buey,” “Oye! Que estas fumando…” They’d struck a common chord, much like Billy Corrigan and the other band members that broken into, “Who want’s candy? Long as there’s some money…” And so the deal went down.

Next thing I knew, we were dashing through the crowd, bumping people over as we made our way to were my brother and his friends were. Santos had his hand cupped, but I knew by his wide-eyed gestures that we had just capped some weed and were headed to get our first taste. Although we had lied about it to other people a 100 times, we were actually about to enter into a new class of cool…In our minds. We were about to be initiated into the drug sub-culture of the hippies in the 60’s, the disco fever attics of the 70’s, the hip-hop underground of the 80’s and now the “too cool” grunge kids of the 90’s.

We finally caught up to that same friend of my brother’s, only this time we were garnishing a hand full of REAL weed. As we asked him to roll a joint for us, he just started again: “Dude, don’t waist my time with your little kid bullshit weed, man.” We assured him, showing him what we possessed and there was automatic respect: “Dude, let me see that…man, where’d you get this from? Bro, you think you can get me some…”

Funny enough, we were initiated into the world of crime before we entered into the world of drugs because we ended up selling him half for roughly a little more than what we paid for it. The trend of selling drugs to feed our addiction would be a common practice in years to come. Anyway, he rolled it up for us and we went and sat far from the crowd, on a hill with all the other shady characters below some giant Banyan trees.

We lit it up. And as the smoke seeped from our noses, we would cough and laugh, and pass the joint. I just remember lying down in the grass with my hands tucked behind my head…looking up at the stars…listening to Smashing Pumpkins playing a melody: “Today is, today is, the greatest…day I’ve ever known…” Some how in my mind I felt the same, lost in the illusion of euphoria. I’d caught my first glimpse of a drug induced escape and it was love at first sight…

Ernesto Here — Read all the Addiction Testimonials from our categories section:
http://recoveryarts.com/category/addiction-testimonials/

Addiction Testimonials Pt.6

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Addiction Testimonials It was the summer of seventh grade (1994). Me and Santos had tickets to go to the third Lollapalooza with my brother and his friends at Bicentennial Park Miami. We knew that the one thing we absolutely needed for the show was some weed.

We spent the next few weeks searching relentlessly like a man, lost in a dessert, does for water. We looked between the grains of sand, under rocks, behind the clouds and came up short just the same.

Finally, something happened in our favor. An eighth grader, to whom I will only refer to as Jay, told us he could get us some. We were ecstatic. We scraped up $20.00 (we had no idea how much it cost) and we met Jay in a parking lot at the Falls shopping mall. It was dim and the only sound was the buzz of the fluorescent lights.

Jay handed us a small plastic bag, and we gave him several wadded-up bills. However, upon examining what we’d bought, even without having ever previously possessed weed, we were almost positive that we were duped and sold something else.

The contents of the bag were mostly red, gold, and brown and smelled like some half empty jar from my mother’s spice cabinet. Of course, we confronted Jay about this. He told us, “no worries,” that it probably wasn’t the highest quality stuff but that it would get us high. We, somehow, were satisfied by his response.

We spent the next few days examining the contents as forensic scientist do a hair from a crime scene. We smelled it, tasted it, conservatively stuffed a little into the end of a cigarette and smoked it. NOTHING.

We knew what we had purchased wasn’t weed but the final confirmation came when we asked one of my brother’s friends to roll us a joint with the stuff and he laughed at us, saying, “Sorry dudes, but you guys got gypped…” We had failed our mission, but Smashing Pumpkins was about to come on stage, and we were still on the prowl at the concert…

IntheRooms Requests Art Donations for Recovery Rally ebay Auction

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The South Florida Rally for Recovery and the InTheRooms foundation would like people to donate artwork to the foundation, so it can auction it off on eBay to raise funds for the South Florida Rally for Recovery.

Recovery Arts will be fielding any emails from possible donators who want to give for the great cause. Please send us a message anytime through June to: ernestosthompson@gmail.com. IntheRooms plans to have the ebay auction promptly after June, so please send any inquiries before then.

All funds raised from the charity auction will go towards the South Florida Rally for Recovery, which IntheRooms will be hosting September 12, 2009 at Bicentennial Park (Downtown Miami) as part of National Alcohol and Recovery Month.

The event will include a 5k walk around the Miami Beach area, food, guest speakers, a free concert, and much more. For more information, please visit the official website at: Rally for Recovery

For those who don’t know, IntheRooms.com is a recovery networking website dedicated to connecting people in recovery all over the world with online support on the web.

MacroJohn Recovery Photography

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Recovery Arts has been privileged enough to share some of the art of MacroJohn, an extremely talented photographer in recovery. John is 54 and has been in recovery since 2000. He specializes in a macrophotography or more commonly known as close-ups. More recently, John has been shooting a lot of wildlife, Hawks, Condors, Bald Eagles etc. To view all of John’s breathtaking works or to sign up for his daily email, please visit: website: www.macrojohn.com/recovery. Below is a personal essay that John would like to share with everyone out there. Thanks a lot for sharing John.

“What got me started on putting my photography to use in recovery was my search for one of those tear off 365 day calendars about AA. After searching for a few years and not having any luck, decided maybe someday I would make one. So I started by sending photos with AA sayings to friends. This expanded to my own website and a daily “Sober Inspiration” email every day.”

“What I have found along the way is how it influences my sobriety. I “try” to go daily to our “Attitude Adjustment” AA 6 am meeting. I listen for those nuggets when people talk about being sober. At last count I am up to about 700, and adding daily, so I have lots to work with. It gives me purpose in sobriety to pursue my passion for photography. I especially like macrophotograpy. It gives me a chance to have a close-up view of recovery, to see the little things that escape our daily struggles. The things I overlooked when loaded.”

My motto is:
Sights from my camera with Insights about recovery – together we can stay sober.

Tilda Swinton Gives Unforgettable Performance as Alcoholic in Julia

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Tilda Swinton Julia Alcoholic FilmAs it stands, Tilda Swinton has received a lot of attention for her unforgettable performance as an alcoholic in the film Julia. However, it goes without saying that Tilda Swinton is an amazing actress.

Julia started as a project that was to be a remake of John Cassavetes’ 1980 hit film, Gloria. For those unfamiliar with the name Cassavetes, John is a famous director and father to Nick Cassavetes, who is also a director and best known for the Notebook. In 2007, French writer/director Erick Zonca decided to take on the project and casted Tilda Swinton for the lead role as Julia.

In Julia, Tilda Swinton plays a raging alcoholic who has taken a boy ransom. Remarkably believable, Tilda Swinton personifies Julia, and her addiction as an alcoholic—passing out in random places and waking up beside strange people throughout Julia. However, even though Swinton gives such a remarkably believable performance as an alcoholic, it’s amazing to think that she really doesn’t drink at all.

Swinton recently admitted in an interview, “I can’t drink. I just go to sleep, or I throw up.” She did say, however, about getting into the role: “I thought about how…it is to be that self-destructive…It felt real to me.”

In addition to rave reviews, Julia has also won or been nominated for the following prizes:

Evening Standard British Film Awards 2009
Won: Best Actress – Tilda Swinton

Berlin International Film Festival 2008
Nomination: Erick Zonca (Director)

London Critics Circle Film Awards 2009
Nomination: Actress of the Year – Tilda Swinton

César Awards, France 2009
Nomination: Best Actress – Tilda Swinton

Charlie G Story – Pt. 2

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Charlie G Story – Pt. 2

When I got to the hospital, a doctor (It would turn out to be Robert Cullen, head of pediatric neurology) came out and told me that Joy had been dead when found by her mother, but that the police and paramedics had been able to get her heart beating again. She still was not breathing on her own and she had suffered massive brain damage from the lack of oxygen. He then went back into the operating room.

After countless hours (I do remember homicide detectives questioning us because Joy was not suppose to make it, and then going to get the chair), we were allowed to see her.

My beautiful, blonde haired, blue eyed daughter, who I had just spent the day laughing and playing with, YESTERDAY, lay unmoving on the bed. Joy was in a coma. A bolt had been drilled (drilled!) into her head to ease and monitor the swelling of her brain. Over the next few weeks a hole was cut into her throat and a tube inserted so a machine could breath for her and her stomach was cut open, a tube inserted and then stapled shut, so liquid food could be poured into her to feed her. After a couple of months, finally, Joy came out of the coma.

It would have been better if she’d stayed sleeping.

Joy was now in a vegetative state, blind, deaf and paralyzed as her body struggled with the erratic signals it was getting from her brain. Dr. Cullen and 2 other neurosurgeons asked us to sign a no-code, allowing Joy to die. They said she had only erratic electrical signals coming from her brain stem and she could lay like that for 30 or 40 years.

At first Becky and I both disagreed, we were sure we could get her to ‘wake up’.

I rubbed hot and cold wash clothes on her arms and legs, telling her “This is hot Joy” or “This is cold, honey”. I dipped a q-tip in sugar water and lemon juice, rubbing it on her tongue. I took colored gels from a spotlight at work and shined different colored lights in her eyes, telling her what each color was. I read every medical book and journal on neurology I could; even finding an experimental drug that was being used on brain damaged patients in Europe, to open new neuro pathways. Her doctors agreed to try it, saying, “Why not?”

It didn’t help.