The Rainbow Stories
The Rainbow Stories is a piece of literature written by William T. Vollman, it consists of a series of short snippets no longer then ten paragraphs. Each different snippet has a specific title that relates to the material to follow. The setting is in a large hospital where patients follow long lines through the halls so they don't get lost or end up getting the wrong procedure. Vollman observes not only many different procedures but also things that are not covered in medical handbooks. He writes about the waiting room and stories that people share with staff and other patients. There is a very fictional feel to the piece.
Things seem to be exaggerated more then necessary. There is one part that seems as if it is straight fiction. A story is being told about a man that was decapitated in a motorcycle accident; a doctor imagines the riders head flying through the air at 60 Miles per Hour and the remainder of his body riding on with out even the notion of decapitation.
Vollman uses the structure he does because it provides for a grater impact with a shorter text length as a whole. It also provides maximum information while keeping the format of a story. The use of witty titles also helps deepen the meaning of each section. Most of the snippets are stories about patients or just accounts of what Vollman observes in the hospital, while others are statements by Vollman himself about the hospital system as a whole; the last paragraph is of course a conclusion where he says he doesn't know if the stories are true but are written in there unaltered state.
This piece almost seems to be set up as an exposé to show people what heroin addicts go through for their supposed treatment. It explores the economy caused by these methadone clinics and how they affect people. You can give blood for money, get tested for aids or other diseases and get your fix of methadone if you are clean all in the same place and time, as long as you follow the right line on the floor.
There is strong symbolism through colors in this piece, Vollman lists all the colors of the lines and where they lead to. The red line leads to Atlantis, this was the most important and prominently used line in the text. The red line seems to led to hopelessness or back out to the real world, maybe both in some cases.
Bruce K. Alexander’s essay “Reframing Canada’s ‘Drug Problem’” is about shifting the focus from intervention to prevention. Alexander explains that in Canada there have been three major waves of drug intervention: “Criminal prosecution and intensive anti-drug” (225), “medicinal and psychological treatment” (225), and the ‘“harm reduction’ techniques” (225) being the most resent. The “’harm reduction’” (225) consisted of: clean injectable heroin, clean needles, methadone, and housing for addicts. Although each of the methods is devoted and knowledgeable, they have done little to decrease the deaths or suppress the unhappiness. While clean heroin did work well few addicts quit using and many found
Seeing drug addicts and homeless people is not something new for me. I know that the homeless and the drug user have a story and a reason for why they are living the life that they do. I am aware of withdrawal and I am aware of the urgency of addiction. Nonetheless, this ethnography showed me that sometimes it’s not addiction because they love it but because they physically cannot stop. This also showed me that these people are not docile; they can function and know how to get what they need to survive. However, I do wonder if their want for normalcy ever outweighs their need for drugs.
The film consists of an argument intermixed with various examples of how the drugs are distributed. The argument starts with the fact that children are being overdiagnosed and put on too much medication, then, the experts analyze the different school shootings and how all the school shooters were on medication, and lastly, the film shows how the pharmaceutical companies control the government and the FDA, so there is no way for the government to negotiate with those companies. Throughout the documentary, there is a secondary narrative of a man who is trying to get away from his addiction. Mike details how he became an addict, and his doctor explains how they treat patients like Mike to help them get past their physical dependence on the drugs. Knezev creates a strong argument against the pharmaceutical companies and the drugs they produce. He is a social activist who has written many books combatting social issues as well as creating other films such as American Addict and Fragments of Daniela. His inspiration for creating American Addict and American Addict 2 is the fact that America is “5% of the world population and is ingesting 80% of the world’s pharmaceutical narcotics” (vimeo.com). First, he uncovered the tiered pharmaceutical system; then, he created an argument against the corrupt system he found by interviewing many politicians and investigators who have
This medicalized interpretation of heroin addiction heavily emphasizes a constant state of suffering for those who are affected (Garcia 2010, 18). Furthermore, Nuevo Dia employees take this framework into account when contributing their efforts to treat addicts, on the premise that relapse will soon follow recovery (Garcia 2010, 13). When detox assistants assure themselves that their patients will return to the clinic, as if they never went through a period of treatment, one can expect that the quality of such to be drastically low. The cyclical pattern of inadequate therapies, temporary improvements in health and detrimental presuppositions all widen the health inequality gap in New Mexico. Garcia shares that the “interplay of biomedical and local discourses of chronicity compel dynamics of the Hispano heroin phenomenon,” which is evident in how the judicial system handles the social issue of addiction (2010,
Addiction is one of the hardest problems to overcome, yet people often find some reward in abusing drugs. We all ask the question to what makes a person an addict, or why is it so hard for drug addicts to kick a drug problem. However, can we say that getting a hold of drugs is much easier in today’s society, or is it made available to easy. In this day and age, heroine seems to be a major epidemic; furthermore, opiates have been around for centuries. Therefore, people have been battling addiction for as long as opiates have been around. In Drugstore Cowboy, the film takes a look in to the life of four people who rob drugstores in order to support their habit; however, this lifestyle
In Righteous Dopefiend, Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg provide a powerful and poignant account of the culture and challenges faced by homeless heroin addicts in San Francisco. Numerous factors, including structural violence, affect the health and quality of life held by the addicts creating a unique set of challenges for health care providers and law enforcement agencies. The problem of heroin addiction is not one-dimensional and many issues go into creating a “syndemic” (Sobo 193). Heroin addiction deserves to be looked at from many angles so that effective solutions can be introduced to help those affected, including the unique community of the Edgewater homeless.
Two main arguments for needle exchange programs include that the needle exchange would help prevent the spread of disease and that they are key to fighting HIV and in turn saving lives. Since, the needle exchange programs don’t really force people to get off the substance they are abusing, a lot of users will actually choose to do the treatment programs on their own because they don’t feel pressured into doing so. Not only do the needle exchange programs supply sterile needles they also supply counseling and therapy for those that not only want some help in the guidance of getting off their substance, but mental and life assistance to help them to reestablish their lives. By doing so the previously addicted can reestablish relat...
The sea in the novel is another part of the symbolism. It represents a god like form. In chapter 7 the narrator’s parents die because the ice on the water cracked and they fell through as mentioned earlier. This is a sign of how the sea can bring death and play the role of god in other words. In the beginning of the book (24) we are also introduced to the birth of Catherine while everyone is on the ship that takes the characters to North America, this showing that the sea can also bring life and existence to us. For the most part the sea in the novel brought death like when the dog got shot after she crossed the water but for that one circumstance life was created. For the most part there also seems to be ice structures or platforms in the water when a character is going to die.
In the physical sense, a rainbow appears after a storm in the sky. It is made up of seven different colors. As it forms an arch, we may look at its shape as being a segment of a complete circle. From the rainbows physical dimensions, Shange draws out other qualities that suit the fluidity and logic of her choreopoem. While it can appear a simple natural phenomenon we take for granted, Shanges choreopoem delivers the rainbow as a complex sustaining figure which forecasts a change in the weather and a change in the life of `the colored girls.' The rainbow is a powerful symbol in Shange's choreopoem. It is not only beautiful in one sense, but it's meaning is rather complex. There is more to the rainbow than its seven colors.
There are an estimated 25,000 heroin users in Victoria (Hodder, p.10). This is a very large amount of people on drugs, in the last 10 years it has been shown to increase and therefore the drug issue is becoming a major problem to all the people in Victoria.
Imagine a sky full of dark fluffy clouds. The air feels wet and sticky, and rain drops begin to fall. Soon the drops become a sheet of rain and this makes you sad because your outdoor fun is over. But, just as you turn your back to go inside, you feel the sun break through the clouds and warm your back. A smile fills your face because you realize that rain plus sun equals a rainbow. You turn around to see a glorious rainbow in the sky. As you gaze, questions begin to pop into your head. What are rainbows? Who are some scientists that studied them? What makes the colors? Why is there a double bow?
From the beginning, the four characters in the aftermath of a shipwreck do not know "the colour of the sky" but all of them know "the colours of the sea." This opening strongly suggests the symbolic situations in which human beings are located in the universe. The sky personifies the mysterious, inconceivable cause of reality , which humans cannot understand, and the sea symbolizes the earthy, mundane phenomenon, which humans are supposed to perceive. The symbolic picture generated by the above conflict implies the overall relationship between the individual and nature. In fact, the daily life of human beings is at the mercy of the uncontrollable waves of the sea; while, at the same time, the essential part of reality remains unknown to feeble, helpless humans.
As the common person may know, drugs are very expensive. Prescription drugs, although still expensive, are one of the cheaper routes to go. However it can also be dangerous, because it’s easier for doctors to notice the abuse. It is said that Americans pay more for prescription drugs than any other country in the world (Brym and Lie). Other routes a drug addicted person can go is through the illegal drug trade, otherwise known as the black market. For example, cocaine can go for around $1500 per kilo in Colombia, which is around two pounds. Often times the price of cocaine in America can go for a retail price of around $66,000. These prices even for just cocaine are what keep the drug cartel’s ...
What is the purpose of exchange in a heroin marketplace? Robyn Dwyer attempts to answer this question by analysing social relations within the culture of the heroin marketplace. However, her analysis contradicts the supply and demand model, which is the process most commonly accepted (Dwyer 2011, p.19). The secondary reason for her study is to question the derogatory constructions of heroin users and dealers, by showing that they have similar struggles and challenges as the dominant culture (ibid, p.19). Dwyer relates her research back to Davis’ quote (as quoted in ibid, p.19) which asserts that processes of exchange support a social hierarchy. When Zinberg’s and Manderson’s theories are applied to Dwyer’s research they support her conclusions
We live in a world where ‘education’ and the accumulation of skills have assumed fanatical proportions. We tch tch at heavy school bags, but continue putting noses to the grindstone. Always in the hope of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Except, that in the first decade of the 2000’s the way to that pot is no luminescent rainbow. And the sad part is, it needn’t be so. The proof of the pudding -- the training experience of companies including U.S.A.-based AT & T’s National Product Training Centre and Audi, IBM and Seimens in Germany; Pentagon’s Institute of Defense Analysis; and teacher Charles Gritton’s efforts in a Des Moines ghetto school that became a case study of success.