If you’ve been to rehab, you probably remember receiving piles of handouts of varying quality, from coloring exercises to relapse prevention worksheets. The one that sticks in my mind is a picture of a u-shape curve that slopes to the bottom of the page, makes a little circle around itself, like a roller coaster, and slopes back up Continue reading
Author: Jess
The Geographical Cure
Fun fact: in Hong Kong, one of the main locations for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings is a church almost directly across from the United States Consulate. I wound up in both places just over a year ago.
Read the 1953 Harvard Crimson coverage of groundbreaking Yale alcohol study
In preparing a longer post about E. M. Jellinek and the Jellinek curve (to come soon), I came across an article titled “Yale Center of Alcohol Studies Investigates Drinking Habits of Carefree Undergraduates” from the Harvard Crimson, published November 21, 1953, and made available on the Crimson’s website. The subject of the article is a ground breaking study of college drinking behavior, and it begins, quite hilariously, like this:
Good Morning, Blackout: On Writing Against the Recovery Narrative
“Today I must be very careful. Today I have left my armour at home.” — Jean Rhys, Good Morning, Midnight
“Overthinkers are the most exhausting alcoholics.” — Sarah Hepola, Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
Vintage Ads from the Quarterly Journal of Inebriety (1876-1914)
In doing research for this blog, I came across the archives of the Quarterly Journal of Inebriety, which are hosted on the site of the addiction history researcher William L. White. I’m trained as an archivist, and am beginning research into the history of addiction treatment, so of course I found this fascinating.
Welcome!
I’m Jess. I’m 33 year old who has dealt with alcohol abuse for the past 15 years. I am starting this blog to share my experiences with alcohol abuse, to share links and information, and to give a voice to people who are still struggling. I am not a therapist or a doctor, just a regular person with a vested interest in these issues.
I am not sober, I don’t endorse AA, and I question the way addiction and recovery are framed in the popular press. That being said– I am not stridently against AA– there are many people who have found great comfort in 12 step philosophy, and if you are curious, please check out a group in your area. This site is for people who are intellectually curious, and would like to explore alternative ways of thinking about addiction without being bombarded with slogans or accused of being in denial.
I hope to get content up and running on this site in the next few weeks. If you are stumbling upon this site in it’s early stages and have questions, ideas, or suggestions, please feel free to email me.
unrecovered 