What I\u2019ve Been Reading This Week: <\/strong><\/p> Headless John The Baptist Hitchhiking<\/strong><\/em> by C.T. Salazar: <\/strong>what, I\u2019m not<\/em> going to love a book by a self-described \u201cLatinx poet and librarian from Mississippi\u201d that\u2019s called Headless John The Baptist Hitchhiking<\/em> (italics for proper titler format and<\/em> emphasis)? This is one of them \u201cat turns brutal \/ at turns tender\u201d books, which is one of my favorite genres of poetry. And as someone who grew up religious in the South, this book is a yes. Hey, speaking of unlearning vile institutions you grew up with\u2026<\/p><\/li> R E D <\/strong><\/em>by Chase Berggrun: <\/strong>an erasure of Dracula<\/em> written as the author was beginning their gender transition and contemplating womanhood in the face of monstrous misogyny. Need I say more? Portions of this book gesture towards a portrait of vampire as domestic abuser, a vital counter to 21st century vampire lit\u2019s tendency to focus on superhuman powers. <\/p><\/li> Commando<\/strong><\/em> by E\u2019mon Lauren:<\/strong> this collection from Chicago\u2019s first Youth Poet Laureate is like if a SZA album was a book of poems set in Chicago, which is about the highest praise I can give a book. <\/p><\/li> Southside Rain <\/strong><\/em>by Quraysh Ali Lansana:<\/strong> fascinating to read this 1999 collection right after Commando<\/em> (2017) and think about what has changed and what stays the same in Chicago southside poetry. Quraysh came up to Loyola for a reading in 2008 and was incredibly nice in person and generous with his time. He signed this book \u201cOne love\u201d to me, which is an appropriate epigraph. <\/p><\/li> A Street in Bronzeville <\/strong><\/em>by Gwendolyn Brooks: <\/strong>throughout history, you can always find examples of people trying to look cool and having sex outside of wedlock. That\u2019s what the dorks who landed at Plymouth Rock never understood.<\/p><\/li> Annie Allen <\/strong><\/em>by Gwendolyn Brooks: <\/strong>add Gwendolyn Brooks to the Lisa Jarnot Memorial Tier Of Poets I Don\u2019t Mind Rhyming. Kenneth Koch didn\u2019t make this tier<\/a>. I liked this collection less than A Street In Bronzeville<\/em>\u2014rhyming is really tough for me to handle\u2014but the immense skill on display here! Such a sense of rhythm (different from meter) and such a sense of delight in language. I\u2019m also a sucker for a \u201clife story\u201d collection. Hey, speaking of!<\/p><\/li> Maud Martha<\/strong><\/em> by Gwendolyn Brooks:<\/strong> y\u2019all know I cannot resist a poetic novella. What is National Poetry Month without a little celebration of genre experimentation? Sometime, I want to do a reading unit on the poetic mini-novels of Chicago, like Maud Martha<\/em>, City On The Make<\/em>, and House On Mango Street<\/em>. Absolutely taking suggestions for others. <\/p><\/li><\/ul> LINKS!<\/strong><\/p> The legal system in the United States is a shameful embarrassment that history should judge us harshly for. You might not be surprised, then, to learn that expunging marijuana-related convictions from people\u2019s records is a deliberately slow and arduous process. To try to speed things up, Rep. AOC and Rep. Dave Joyce have re-introduced the HOPE Act<\/a>, which would incentivize state-level expunging. Hang on, this can\u2019t be right\u2014it says Rep. Joyce is a Republican? Holy shit, getting weed convictions off people\u2019s records is bipartisan! Imagine that. The Daily Zeitgeist had a pretty good breakdown<\/a> in their B block Thursday. Some of these cases might be as simple as updating a website!<\/p><\/li> Over at The Triibe: Coldhard from Crucial Conflict reflects on weed legalization<\/a>, 26 years after \u201cHay\u201d came out. He and I may disagree on whether or not to trust dispensaries, but I never question a Black person being suspicious of suddenly-friendly white people. <\/p><\/li> Are you or someone you love struggling with drinking? Well, try weed! No, seriously, there exists a drug out there that can pleasantly soothe inhibitions and anxiety, but won\u2019t wreck your liver. Anecdotally, I can attest to swapping cocktails for a Pepsi spiked with a low dose of Spring Lake Craft Infusions SURP<\/a> does everything I want liquor to do, but none of the things I don\u2019t want liquor to do. I am also excited to try Se\u00f1orita\u2019s (NA) Margarita this weekend (5mg THC)<\/a>. <\/p><\/li> Or if instead of taking my word for it, you can read a somewhat more-rigorously researched LeafWell article on marijuana\u2019s potential for fighting alcoholism<\/a>. (Mallory points out that of course<\/em> LeafWell would this. To which I say, it was like, il<\/em>legal to research this stuff for a long time, man)<\/p><\/li> Hey, while we\u2019re talking about research the United States is woefully<\/em> behind the proverbial 8-ball on, have you heard about psilocybin\u2019s potential for treating PTSD and depression? I\u2019ve never tried shrooms\u2014honestly, despite the title of this column, I am pretty tame about drugs, never tried anything beyond liquor or weed\u2014but I think this research should be talked about more. Especially given the state of how this country treats veterans (or makes war movies<\/a>). Here\u2019s Johns Hopkins on using mushrooms to treat depression<\/a>.<\/p><\/li><\/ul> Sorry you got an email, <\/p> Chris<\/p>![](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/123fba2f-4ef8-4507-8387-9be6bac59be9_4032x3024.jpeg\"\/)
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