PRINTPrescription: confidence
February 7, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
I have no doubt my mom wanted to strangle her sister when I was about 3 years old. Not because she hated her — they talk once a week if not more — but because I adored my aunt so much that I mimicked everything she did, including smoking. A toothpick, a straw, the stick from a lollipop — all were fair game when it came to copycatting her vice.
So perhaps you won’t find it so strange to hear I’m thankful I have asthma. Otherwise I could easily picture my desperate-to-fit-in teenage self taking the behavior from an innocent imitation to a full-blown addiction. One friend of mine described cigarettes as an old lover. Another said he felt like a battered woman because even though his 20-ish year addiction left his stomach hurting and lungs burning every time he took a drag, he kept going back for more. Gum, patches, toothpicks — none of these things made the process any easier for them. This week, Vox explores the little white prescription pill, Chantix, that attacks the nic fits in a new way and perhaps might give these friends the confidence to quit.
Confidence runs throughout this issue. Adam Stanley, a local musician, will be releasing a solo album — no small undertaking. Our cover story profiles Phil Overeem, a Hickman High teacher who had the courage to break out of the standard teaching mold both in his classroom and his spare time. His Academy of Rock helps teens perform in front of classmates and the community; it requires confidence to take creativity from the garage to the stage, and Overeem’s academy helps students build it.
I only hope that if these kids become rock stars, they won’t pick up the hard-to-kick habits so notorious in that industry. But maybe by then there will be new little white pills to smoke out those addictions.
