Drug Assemblies are odd events. I don’t think they work well in preventing substance abuse, but I actually enjoy doing them – it’s a chance to meet the whole community and I can be a comedian, which is fun. Alas, entertainment is all it is, I fear. As far as “entertainment” goes, it is probably rather wholesome compared to the rubbish many kids are digesting every day in our media saturated society. I am constantly urging schools to schedule me with smaller target groups who I can see multiple times in a week. Most schools see the logic and happily comply. I understand the instinct to have me see as many kids as possible during a visit, especially when one factors in the cost and scheduling hassle of inviting a consultant to campus for a week. If we focus on 8th and 10th grade, parents are calling to see why their 9th or 11th grader isn’t having the program. Good prevention involves a long term relationship with a school and we install a pattern so that all students will eventually have a meaningful prevention seminar with me once or twice in their high school career. I seek to be honest and economical with words in all of my talks, as nothing needs to be sugar coated and no point stays poignant if overstated. I spent a glorious week in Colorado recently, where I gave an all school assembly and had the following exchange the next morning at a faculty presentation:
Teacher: “I enjoyed your assembly very much yesterday, but I am wondering what message the kids take away from your presentation?”
Brenda: “I don’t know.”
Teacher: “You don’t know?”
Brenda: “No, I have no idea.”
That is the bare bones truth, but I wish I had elaborated! I think what kids leave my assembly with really depends on what they come INTO my assembly with…The pothead who is totally committed to smoking dope will leave my talk feeling like I somehow gave him or her permission to keep smoking. The non-user will leave feeling validated for all of that healthy decision-making. The kid on the fence might go away and really think about the issue in a new way. It is sort of like asking an English teacher what kids leave a class with – for some kids a life-long love of poetry is born, others never open a book for pleasure again. One thing I feel sure of is that people in a large crowd give up responsibility for what they hear or even how they behave. It’s easy to sit in the back row with your buddies and blow it off or just find a way to not participate. I used a lot of media clips during my assembly, such as funny beer commercials, so we had a laugh together. I also showed a dance called Addiction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5×7alINFNKI. Many students commented that they enjoyed this creative way to portray the complexities of addiction. I find that some kids need to laugh their way into the subject, or dance their way in – I try to use different avenues to reach the vast spectrum of personalities out there.
Next stop Philadelphia – stay tuned for the continuation of the Drug Lady Diary…
It’s a rainy Wednesday in November and I didn’t get back from school until almost dark – this could make for an icky mood, but I am actually in Heaven. I am having the most extraordinary week in Richmond, Virginia. My students are lovely, funny, natural 8th grade girls. In introducing herself, one girl explained that she had found a new flavor of ice cream called Birthday Cake – “it even has frosting in it!” she enthusiastically declared. How gross, but how sweet to hear it from her. A friend reminded me today that I say I LOVE THESE KIDS week after week. I don’t know what the moon was doing when these children were born, but I have met uncommonly nice students this year, spanning India, Baltimore, Washington, New York, Virginia and Louisiana.