Apparently George W. isn't the only one unwilling to discuss his smoking and snorting years.
According to a study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, only 6% of us has even discussed drug use with our kids. I suspect that grows from our ambivalence and uncertainty what to say:
'Sure, kid, I did it and loved it. In fact I still do."
"Oh I tried it, but it was awful...just awful."
"I never inhaled."
"Never touched the stuff"
Do we tell the truth, a version of the truth, or just outright lie? The study makes an interesting point: drug use was significantly higher during our teen years than it is now. If I read that right it means more of us got high than our kids' generation.

One issue does have me worried. The study points out rightly that many of the drugs available today are more dangerous than those in common use 25-30 years ago--we just weren't doing crystal meth or Ecstasy. And whatever we may think of pot, by not discussing drugs with our kids, are we giving them tacit permission to try stuff that might kill them?

Maybe we need to set a good example for our president and have the discussion with our teenagers--no matter how ambivalent I may be about pot, I'm absolutely clear that I don't want to see my kid in jail, in rehab, or in the graveyard.

Lately I've been thinking about Tom Lehrer. I figured no one under 40 had ever heard of him, but guess what? His rendition of the periodic table, The Elements, is all over Kazaa and Limewire. Are kids using it to study or have they discovered for themselves the subversive charm of melodic satire or both? I still have old vinyl of That Was the Year That Was and, as soon as I find an amp to hook the turntable up to, I'll give it a re-listen.

So, where's he been?

I will never...never...be old enough to be a grandmother. But if I were,would I want to be known as Granny? I think not. In this article from PhillyBurbs.com, Boomers, who've tried to change so many other things, set out to change what their grandchildren will call them. OK--assuming any of us will in fact be/are grandparents, what do you want the little ones to call you? I already have dibs on 'Queen Mum.'

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."

Fear and Loathing began as a magazine assignment about a motorcycle convention in Nevada and morphed into a star-turn hallucination, starring the journalist.

Reading Thompson was dangerous--like a contact high or shared hallucinations. Turning each page, I expected something to detonate, someone to crash and burn. Thompson raised the bar on creative insanity in print and kept us laughing the whole ride.

I wasn't surprised that he killed himself---did we really expect him to mellow into a benign old age? I was just surprised at how much it mattered to me.

Some interesting Thompson sites:

This one's terrific
---full of information, essays and (when they get their bandth issues resolved), pictures.

An interesting Australian slant on Thompson's later years and death.

An archive of Thompson's ESPN articles

a writer reports on an evening of Hunter Thompson Live.

an interview with him here

And of course, you can go to Amazon if you need to (re)read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

This 'Baby Bosses' thing seems to have really hit a nerve---it must be like finding yourself working for the babysitter. Here's another information request, this time from Canada:

"I am working on the baby bosses story and looking for an aginghipsters.com member who may be from Toronto and would be willing to share their experience of having been bumped or even be managed by a younger co-worker."

amediwake@globaltv.ca
Global Television
www.canada.com

You can read the original article here