The Peg Leg Update: Vol. 2: Issue 2

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  • 8/9/2019 The Peg Leg Update: Vol. 2: Issue 2

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    vol02

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    THOSE SEEKING STEREOTYPICALCARIBBEAN FARE WILL BE DISAPPOINTED

    visit: thep

    egleg.com

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    Features

    We publish Te Peg Leg Update under aCreative Commons Attribution 3.0Unported license.

    Basically, eel ree to reprint anything you seehere, but attribute it please.

    [email protected]

    Find us on the Facebooks and witters too.

    Pg 3. . . . . . . . . . Local Suds 6

    Pg 4. . . . . . . . . Triple-hops Brewed

    Pg 5. . . . . . . . . . VFW Surprises

    Pg 7. . . . . . . . . . . Prairie Poetics

    Pg 7. . . . . Things Cateys Learned

    Pg 8. . . . . . . . . . . IceFest 2010

    Pg 10. . . . . . Bubbles in Bonaire

    Pg 12. . . . . . 8 yrs old: Cloudy Day

    Pg 17. . . . . . . Like Pot, But Not

    Lets talk about time travelin, rhyme javelin,

    somethin mind unravelin - get down.

    It eels so good to be back. Tanks orinviting us into your home, booth, desk and/

    or mind.My hope is that you will ollow Mr.

    Andre Benjamins advice - words I chose orthe introductory header this issue.

    Parse your way through this, the sixth is-sue oTe Peg Leg Update, in much the same

    was as you would approach a new hiking trail,summer campre with strangers or virginial artmuseum experience - with very ew preconcep-tions. It will transpire much more smoothlythat way.

    ps>ux starts this issue o with another

    excellent review o a local treasure - BosssPizza on Main Ave. here in Brookings. Whilehis vision might have been a bit hazy duringthe meal, I implore you to trust his stomach.

    I you have seen the recent beer com-mercials proessing triple-hops brewed beer

    while showing a pour resembling spilt pee,youll enjoy Mr. Roose Bellingtons critique onpage 4. He even included some nuggets o hopknowledge, so read up.

    Anthony Castillo, worldwide Rasta,walked into the VFW here in Brookings a ewweeks ago and ound something unexpected.Read his log on page 5.

    On page 7 youll nd a wonderul piece,but one that might have been more applicablewith a less tardy publication schedule. KateWegehaupt displays her poetic prowess witha proession o appreciation towards the moreburly type o olks in the area. Enjoy hercreative commentary.

    Below the poem youll nd a solid list oTings Ive Learned on My Own, by CateyWatkins. And just in case youre thinking oskipping the article, she included Mostlythe Hard Way, to display her devotion toknowledge dissemination.

    A short while ago, a talented group oindividuals gathered in the Lantern Loungeor an interesting night o verse, drink anddance. Read ps>uxs entry about the event. Itsnot hard to imagine him (or her?) as a youngbuck journalist, hot on the trail and ready torelay words on events.

    On page 10 you can nd Ben Helders

    story o good ood and better diving down inBonaire. As one o our oreign correspondents,he has put together another excellent piece ona most attractive place.

    Gina Caciolo, who will be urthering herwriting career in some sort o ancy schoolthis all (congrats!) continues her short ctionseries with 8 yrs old: Cloudy Day on page 12Its a story o love, rejection and dodgeball, so

    you know its good.Ten nally, on page 14, we have included

    a piece o our website. Te name is Like Pot,But Not: Its Legal, but Stay Scared, and it

    was written by none other than cuniorm:ation

    our local zen biking expert and requentcontributor to TePegLeg.com. Te articlespeaks or itsel, and no oence intended i wehurt anyones eelings.

    Enjoy.- Mitch LeClai

    Edito

    We have published Te Peg Leg Update once a monthin the town o Brookings, S.D., since the beginning o all 2009

    Tanks or taking a look

    Editor: Mitch LeClair - [email protected]: Stuart Ensz - [email protected]

    Scribes: Kate Wegehaupt, Catey Watkins, Gina Caciolo, ps>ux, Ross BellAnthony Castillo, cuneiorm:ation, Benjamin D. Helde

    Cover art: Benjamin D. HeldeIllustrations + logo design: Siri Boyd

    Layout: Brandon Henderson, Mitch LeClai

    For more information:visit thepegleg.com, e-mail us or bring a case o Hamms to 830 3rd Ave

    VISIT:THEPEGLEG.COM

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    Local Suds 6: 420 Mainby ps>ux

    Winter break is cold and lonely; I haveno money. A new decade slaps us in

    painully numb aces with negative teen,thirty, ty-degree temps Fthat. I workoutside, shingling houses, over Christmasbreak. I eat potatoes and op Ramen. own isdry, like every Christmas break. All the coolkids are out snowboarding and rolling, watchinSS9 ring in the New Year, while I spend theholidays in Brookings.

    Cabin-ever depression, Christmas blues,whatever you call it, I got it, until, that is, mybuds come back to town. Te last paycheckrom break surprises me with the capability o

    paying bills and still percolates my pocket withsome loose ow; a close riend just rolled inrom Vegas, and now I can celebrate.

    All that work, shivering, and darknesscongeals the spirit real quick then: a sunny,

    warm Saturday morning, a at bowl o stinkysalad, and a relaxed walk down Main StreetBrookings which, all o a sudden, doesnt lookso bad anymore. Fixed up, Im lookin to eed;nothing remedies that January pouty-ace

    like a beastly binge, but Im dippin rom thedrinkin or a bit my liver, cerebrum, and wal-let need a break. My stomach rumbles; Ive lostten pounds in the last month, shivering andeating cheap ood with little nutritional value.420 Main catches my eye a pizza buet? OnMain Street? Yes, please!

    As I walk in the entrance o Bosss Pizza,the glass door reects my tousled hair andbloodshot eyes. For a moment, I wonder i Ilook too sketchy or smell too unky to be ina restaurant than I see my buddy Glen theCan Man posted up close to the buet, MadBomber cap pushed back as he rips at a chunk

    o ried chicken. I think Im good.Te buet costs $8.55. As I ll up myglass with Dr. Pepper and survey the rows opizza, potatoes, and chicken, I eel like Charliegetting his rst glimpse o Willy Wonkasactory. I visit with Glen or a while as we bothstack plates six-inches-tall with pizza. Teymake my avorite kind here: thin, crunchy crustand heavy on the toppings. And Oh-ho!

    Whats this? Tey have not only barbecue

    and ried chicken, but boneless, spicy chickenwings. I try to t a scoop o cottage cheese onthe heaped plate, but realize it will have to waitor the next trip up.

    Tree plates later, I stare dumbly atthe television on the wall, metabolism toooccupied with digestion to allow my brainenough energy to comprehend what theannouncer is so excited about. I waddle overto the sot-serve ice cream machine, in slowmotion at this point - I get a bowl o vanilla icecream and a bowl o chocolate pudding and eathem together.

    Bosss has two pinball machines: one is

    Adams Family-themed - the other, X-Files.I play through a ew balls, the toasty-happy-cloudy buzz dulled by greasy, carbohydrategluttony, but still rollin enough to speed up myreexes and make me trip on the machinesintricate synth track. On my rst play, I get

    within 130,000 points o the high score. I cantreplicate or another teen minutes, so I giveup and hit the street again.

    photo by Trevor Drawdy

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    Triple-hops Brewedby Ross Bell

    Every time I see a Miller Lightcommercial, I am let conused. What

    exactly does triple-hops brewed mean? riplehops seems like a lot o hops. However, I havehad more Miller Lights in my day than Imreally proud to admit, and I can tell you itdoesnt taste anything like hops. What do hopstaste like? What in the hell are they? Do hopsserve any purpose at all!? As requested, thisissues article will be an inormational piece oneverything hops.

    Hops are a little green cone-shapedowers that grows on the vines o the humuluslupulous plants. Humulus shares the same

    genus as cannibus; no wonder hops rule. Beingperennials, hops tend to yield little their rstyear, but they can grow almost anywhere thathas a decent growing season. It is completelypossible to grow hops in South Dakota, as longas you keep the plant away rom its mortalenemy: wind. Te hops that I have seen aroundthese parts tend to be surrounded by a shelterbelt or hugging a structure o some sort toprotect them against the wind.

    Hops have been used or beer purposesor the past thousand years. Germany andEngland were the original stomping groundsor the rst hops used or beer. It was discov-

    ered that hops act as a natural preservativeor beer, while also giving it a unique avor. Itwasnt until the era o British imperialism thathops were heavily used. Te Brits ound thatbeer could not withstand the long trek romthe British Isles all the way to India. Solution?Load the beer with hops. Tis event popular-ized the use o hops in beer and is how theIndia Pale Ale (IPA) was born.

    oday there are a couple o areas in theworld that are well known or hop production.Te number one hop growing area in theworld is in Germany ollowed by the PacicNorthwest here in the US. European hop

    varieties are better known or their low bitter-ness. Tese varieties are used more in lagersthan bitter ales. Oktoberest styles and pilsnersoten times use these hops.

    Compared to their Euro counterparts,hops in the United States tend to containmuch more lupulin, the substance that providesbitterness. Washington produces the mosthops o any state. In 2009, it produced around75 million pounds o several hop variet-

    ies. Washingtons hop total trumps the numbertwo producer, Oregon, which boasts only 12million pounds. Hop production in the threestate region, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho

    yielded around $340 million in 2009. Onepound o hops etched an average o $3.50to $4 in 2009. A 56-pound bushel o corn

    yielded around the same price!oday, hops are used in most styles o

    beer in varying amounts, and yes, even MillerLight has hops in it. Te hoppiness o a beeris measured using the international bitternessunit (IBU) scale. Te more hops used, thehigher the IBU will be. A high IBU, however,

    doesnt necessarily guarantee a bitter beer. Athick, heavy stout can have an IBU o 80, butthe large amount o roasted malts will maskthe taste o hops and balance everything out,

    while an India pale ale with the same highIBU might make you pucker with bitterness.

    Te most hop-happy styles o beer areIndia pale ales, American pale ales (APA),barley wines and stouts. IPAs and APAs arebrewed with the intent on making a verybitter beer. Te dierence between the two is

    simply that APAs are brewed with a little morethought on the grain side o the recipe. APAscan be just as hoppy as an IPA, but they tendto be a bit more balanced. Stouts are the oddone out, using hops or balance more thananything. Barley wines are probably the mostdicult beer to dene, because they havesuch a huge range o avors, ingredients andcolors. Unlike what the name suggests, barley

    wines have very little to do with wine. Tey gotheir name because they typically have as muchalcohol as wine. What most barley wines doshare in common is a healthy dose o hops intheir recipes.

    Maybe the ne people at the Millerbrewery are using some European varietyo hops that are low in bitterness, hence thehopless taste. Or perhaps they just throw threelittle hop cones in their gargantuan batch obeer and call it triple-hopped. Im guessing thelatter.

    Questions? Comments? Beer date? E-mail meat [email protected]

    photo by david.nikonvscanon [via Flickr, CC3.0]

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    Forget What You Know About the VFWby Anthony Castillo

    It was a Monday, only 7:15 p.m., but thedark blanket o stubborn cold and intrusive

    winds seemed to engul every part o town exceptthe ever-enlightened main drag. I was late.Shuing my eet or blocks, as not to trip on theinconspicuous sheets o pressed ice that lie in waitand seem to almost peek out rom underneaththeir traps o snow, I almost waddled on myjourney north.

    Te sign outside was trying its hardest notto sway in the wind. It represented honor anddignity to any Midwesterner worth his or herweight. Te pride that the sign outside embodiesis only trumped by the warm welcome you will

    receive rom the staf and regulars.Cheap beer and a resh selection o grub,plus one chance at a tantalizingly large potevery Monday, Tursday and Friday nightduring Bingo can only happen in one place:the VFW.

    Sitting across rom Wells Fargo on MainAvenue, the VFW is the place to be Monday,

    Tursday or Friday at 7:00 p.m. i you want totry something new and get down with someBingo. Tere are at least 21 games o eachnight, and you can buy as many score cards as

    you want. On Mondays, the cards are $9. OnTursdays and Fridays, the cards are $15. A

    little pricey? Not worth it? Tink again. OnMondays you can potentially win $250. OnTursday or Friday there is a chance to win$500. Even i you dont win the large cash pots,every game results in cash prizes. Most o thenormal games give out about $10 to $20. Tatshould be enough to pay or your games andmaybe even some drinks at the bar.

    On that note, i the thrill o Bingo isntenough to tickle your ancy, the cheap beerand mixed drinks denitely will. You cant go

    wrong with $3 Fat ires, am I right? Teyalso have some great ood options too. TeVFW has sloppy joes and other items that will

    round out every bit o your satisaction. Someo the regulars bring delightul treats ($.50)and scrumptious sandwiches ($1.00) or theMonday evening games every now and again.I youre rom South Dakota and have everhad any homemade treats rom Grandma orGrandpa, I think you know what Im talkinabout.

    As or the company, you cant nd smileswider and more welcoming than at the VFW.

    Dar olzin is the Commander o Post 2118.He sat down at our table or a while ater thegames and time ater time, tale ater tale, hepulled the carpet o expectation right out romunder us.

    Dar is rom Preston, S.D. He played bas-ketball there in his youth and explained howPrestons basketball team became a ormidableopponent in the Midwestern brackets aroundthat time. I appreciated the time I spent with

    photo by Anthony Castillo

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    $3DomesticTalls

    327 Main Avenue www.ramohares.com www.facebook.com/ramohares

    B a r a n d G r i l l

    $5AppetizersMonday thru Thursday 4pm til close

    Monday thru Saturday 4pm til 10pm

    ADVERISEMENS

    Dar, as Im sure everyone he meets undoubt-edly does. He told us stories o how he used tocoach the Haarlem girls sotball team. No, notin New York; Haarlem in the Netherlands! Hespent several years coaching them and told usstories o how dierent their perceptions andpoints o view are rom our own. Dar recallsa moment when the team was getting readyor a game. He turned around to nd all thegirls in their underwear in broad daylight! You

    would be hard-pressed to nd that scene in anyAmerican dugout.

    Someone commented on how they loveall Dars stories. With a solid condence abouthis experiences Dar replied, I have nevertold you a story. Everything is the truth. Itook that as a statement rom a man who hascertainly learned rom his travels.

    Dar may be a name that is synonymouswith the VFW, but everyone inside has hisor her own story to tell. Why not share somestories over a game o Bingo and a brew?

    I met a un gal named Mel Lichty thatnight as well. Mels smile and easy-goingattitude made my night even more enjoyable.Already knowing the answer, I asked Mel whatthe best part about Bingo nights are or her.

    Te cheap drinks and a chance to winsome money, said Lichty with an obviousassertion.

    Above all, the VFW holds the communityas priority number one. All the paper that isused during the games is thrown into largedisposal bins and recycled. All the can tabsgo toward the Ronald McDonald House as

    well. Tat means you can do your part or yourcommunity by coming down and having abrew. Why wait? Power to the Community and

    the People.

    VISIT:THEPEG

    LEG.COM

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    Prairie Poeticsby Kate Wegehaupt

    My secret wish is to be a poet. Seriously,give me paper, a eather quill and

    some bongo music, and I might just havestumbled across my uture. You may laughand say, Kate. Te starving artist sowent outo ashion last year. And besides, do you reallyeven have what it takes? Shouldnt poets havelived a little? Experienced love or heartbreakor at least the death o the amily dog? Tatsa good point. I guess buying my textbooks othe Internet (or the rst time!) isnt really nail-biting poetry material. But poets can writeabout anything, so I hear. Poe wrote about araven and the word nevermore or pages and

    pages; I can only go up rom there. My onlyreal hindrance: I think Im too cynical.Robert Burns, an eighteenth century poet,

    wrote that his love was like a red, red rose /Tats newly sprung in June... like the melodie/ Tats sweetly played in tune.

    Tat perect, eh? Im not sure thatsaccurate.

    It seems that most good poets wroteabout what they knew - love, lie, experience,etc. Usually in a giant simile. Burns musthave been pretty head-over-heels about thisgirl, enough to disregard her aults (amingpudding two nights in a row? Te cow escaped

    again?) So he wrote about what he saw.I my goal is to be like those great poets(as blinded by love as they were), I need totake a cue rom Burns. I should gure outsomething I know - that I encounter oten -

    You know, poetry really isnt that hard. IBurns could crank out some silly ower-lovecomparison (how trite), I knew I could. Andreally, gentlemen. Tey say that a poets wordis truth with a capital .

    Maybe this whole cynicism thing willwork out or me. Pulitzer, here I come.

    Ode to the Winter Seasone of Men(all the cool old poets added es to the end o words)

    O, what is man, but a South Dakota winter?Love comes in a spring jacket, then in a parka,all within one week. His brain signals,so like the electric lines that fail during a winter storm.Te drip, drip, dripof my nose on the way to class,he is no kleenex. Tis snowMan;this lighthearted snowball chucked in my face.Te ice sheets around his heartthaw to dirty slush, then freeze again.He is a frozen tundra of testosterone, a frostbit mind.As a bicyclist strives to cycle on slick sidewalks,so the wheels of my heart spin-out.

    I see a prehistoric yeti through the blizzard.It is man.

    and then write rom the heart, as honestly aspossible. Okay, I can do that. ime or a littlebrainstorming:

    Im a girl. I live in South Dakota. Um.Eureka! As a emale, I would like to

    think Ive been observant and picked up a littleknowledge on the way guys operate. And Iknow the weather in South Dakota stinks.

    Tereore:

    Things Ive Learned on my OwnMost of them the Hard Wayby Catey Watkins

    1. I you wear a messenger bag and a button

    up shirt, do yoursel a avor: make sure itdidnt unbutton your top showing your bra toeverybody (particularly i youre interviewing

    with them).

    2. You cannot sing/dance/talk in any manneras attractive as you think you can ater ourhours o drinking.

    3. No matter how good o an idea it seems,a jar o peanut butter and a brick o cheeseis never a smart choice or supper. (Yeah, Iate the whole brick o cheese because Im acollege-level genius.)

    4.Tere is rarely such a thing as a ree drink.Ive come to a point where I wont acceptdrinks rom men I dont really know, because

    theyll expect me to talk to them, and some-times, its just not worth it. I dont care aboutyour high school ootball glory, especially notor a six-dollar drink.

    5. All women are crazy: it is only a matter towhat degree and how well or how long theycan hide it.

    6. You are always 2-3 times more likely toskip an 8 a.m. class than any other. Dont kid

    yoursel; this year wont be the one in whichyou break the cycle.

    7. 13 beers will cancel out 5 miles o running- let me just save you the caloric math on thatone.

    8. I he says hes well-endowed, he probablyisnt. Save yoursel the disappointment.

    9. I you wouldnt want to explain it to yourdoctor, dont do it.

    10. Sushi beore tequila is a recipe or disaster

    11. Drunken bicycle riding is still dangerous,especially i youre going to try eating a stolenPopsicle and text at the same time. Good idea,princess.

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    Gettin Gritty: IceFest 2010, Lantern Loungeby ps>ux

    At the risk o alienating yet anotherpossible advertiser, I gotta call um like

    I see um: the Lantern Lounge is a sketchyjoint. Nothing against the Lantern Lounge;I like partying here, I know a couple o thebartenders and the competition at the pooltables is unrivaled by the regulars o any otherbar. Im orever loyal to the Sullys sharks, butI have seen more than one riend play someFriday night at the Lantern and get hustled.Somehow, the guys at this bar always introducegambling into the competition.

    A cloud o indicators point to theLantern as a place that enables a grittier

    sub-culture ethos than someplace like Skinnersor 9 Bar: the bathrooms always smell like pot,the bouncers are the biggest, ugliest, never-smiling-est muthers and smells o body odorand sheetrock dust wander through the USA

    photo byJohn Seward

    Committee, and an amateur audience membertrade reestyles back and orth. Its easy toidentiy the proessionals rhymes compared tothe clunky attempts o the other kid, but bothguys are obviously enjoying themselves in amoment o pure improvisation.

    rey Lane continues, What identiesMidwestern hip-hop as much as anything isour cooperation. We work hard to build eachother up. I put just as many hours towardsrap as towards my day job, but its completely

    worthwhile. We all just dream o one dayleaving a lasting impression on people withour music. I dont want to be the next upac

    or the next Lil Wayne. I want to be the rstrey Lane, and that will never happen withoutall these other riends here to support andappreciate my work. I return the avor. We alllove this shit.

    Gold haze over a dance oor hal-covered inbroken glass and spilled beer.

    onight, a bartender almost empties abottle o tequila; there are a ew drops let,so he shouts out to someone he must knowand tosses the bottle across the room. Terecipient, almost too drunk to stand already,

    shouts, Tanks, drains the bottl, and drops iton the Lanterns uncarpeted cement oor. Itbreaks. A ght immediately erupts. I, or one,am eelin pretty comortable tonight.

    Its Tursday, January 28th, and theLantern hosts Brookings rst annual IceF-est. Hosted by the non-prot organizationDowntown Brookings Inc., this years IceFestheadliner is Bo$$ Regis, a Brookings studentand Brooklyn native. Hes worked hard or acouple years to break into the hip-hop scene;

    tonight, hes releasing his rst ull-lengthalbum.Along with Bo$$ Regis an array posse

    or crew is common nomenclature or alarge group in the rap scene o other SouthDakotan rappers perorm. Te multitudeo perormers is hard to keep track o. TeCommitted Committee is a group o eightperormers, overlapping with another group:Night Shield Entertainment. Perormingalongside these groups is Flame On, a groupeaturing solo artists rey Lane, V the NobleOne and AdApt, who also perorms in ruth& AdApt and Te Scaletippers. Artist ater

    artist takes the stage over the course o thenight, almost as quickly as the audience drainsLantern eas and shots o Sailor Jerry.

    rey Lane is a Sioux Falls native whospursued hip-hop or almost six years. He

    looks remarkably like Biggie Smalls, excepthe wears a preppy long-sleeved polo and jeansso new they almost glitter. His clean babyace eatures a smile that obviously does notconsume tobacco or coee. He talks about theuniqueness o the Midwestern rap scene.

    Its hard to put a nger on what exactly

    makes the Midwest rap style, he says. Wetake elements rom the East Coast, elementsrom the West, the Dirty South style. Hethinks or a moment. Tats probably whatmakes us most unique, that we use parts o allthose styles to cook together a completely new,unheard-o avor. One that couldnt happenanywhere butthe Midwest.

    Bo$$ Regis, the man o honor on thisnight, walks past and they exchange a high ve.In a corner, Maniac, a member o Committed

    rey Lane excuses himsel to set up someolding tables and make sure everything isready or the show; he obviously considershimsel at work tonight.

    Tats what I love about that kid, V theNoble One steps in. Hes got an unbelievable

    work ethic. V the Noble One is originallyrom Bualo, N.Y., but moved to Sioux Fallsalmost twenty years ago. Hes been makingand producing rap in South Dakota since1994, helping give popular acts like SoulcrateMusic Factory a oundation or success. At-mosphere played with him (not the other wayaround) at one o their rst shows; its obviousrom the interaction between the numerousartists here tonight that all the younger guyslook up to V.

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    It eels so good to literally be writingthe book, he says. Tats one thing you cannever take rom me: When this scene blowsup, they cant tell this story without me. Hisattitude sounds a little boastul, but hes earnedit, grinding hard through years when no one

    within our states even listened to rap.

    Your work, your music: it has to matter, hecontinues. Some kids in the underground,they act like its a badge o honor not blowingup. Tats ridiculous. We all workin or bigsuccess, but it becomes worthwhile as soon as

    you get ans not just listeners, but true ans,the people who show up to your show becausethey need this music.

    Working this long composing andproducing, V has seen the massive turnover oamateur artists trying to break into the scene.I ask him about what it s like to deal withthe pervasive guys who think they can owbut really suck. He starts laughing, I used to

    have to answer calls rom those guys every day.Sometimes it would eel like Id get a dozendudes a day, hittin me up, like, Man, just giveme some studio time. Play some o my tracks.

    Well, Im workin or my studio time. Implayin my tracks. You gotta have somethingmore. You cant wantharder than you work.Now, though - now I just give all those guys

    reys number. He laughs some more.Work ethic is what sets all these guys aparttonight rom some drunk dude trying to battlerap at a kegger. Tat s what I like about BossRegis, thats what I like about rey Lane.

    Tese kids are very hard workers.

    As the show kicks o, it becomes veryclear this is the place to be or individualskeeping it real, as it were. Some o therappers, like rey Lane and DJ AdApt, stayclear headed, working behind the table to sellmerchandise and keep the sound quality at itspeak. Others, like the members o CommittedCommittee, are obviously here or the party.Maniac and Night Shield slam bottles o Co-rona on the dance oor as AdApt rips througha set o sick songs his verses sound intricate,

    very mechanically polished, with a dark edgethat reminds one o a young Eminem with aLos Angeles accent. rey Lanes style standsout in its perect ormula; the artist has a aw-less handle on the conventions o his gangster,metropolitan style. A crowd o gyratingemales, looking like they are in a contest withthe rappers to see who can get more wasted,surrounds the singing and dancing perormers.

    Everybody at this show wants to behere. Te crowd loves and knows the music.

    Te perormers have worked incredibly hard,enabling themselves to perorm a genre that,

    until a ew years ago, only came rom theCoasts and Deep South. Everybody in the baris unied through the mutual dislike o cops,the reusal to rat out the group urtively gettinghigh in the corner and the alcohol instigatingghts and bringing dancing couples together.

    Tey are reciprocally xated on pelvic regions,

    with one member signicantly below what onecan only assume would be the other partnersun-inebriated standards o physical aesthetics.Keepin it real never elt so right.

    In the middle o the show, CommittedCommittee and Nightshield Entertainment(both groups overlap) take the stage. While

    rey Lane and AdApts style is polished, styl-ish, thematically deep stoner-rap, Night Shield,Maniac, Philthy Fresh, Ron G, D.S.C., and ahost o other misspelled symbolic phonetics (Iasked i I could call them that) blow up with amaniacal, sloppy, out-o-control sound similarto an enunciated reinterpretation o Lil Johns

    crunk stylings.Night Shield and Te Committee

    are clearly inuenced by their background.Almost all o them grew up on reservations even the white guy, Buddha.

    Te Committed Committees peror-mance continues; by this point in the show, theaudience is getting crazy. It seems the rapperson stage and the people dancing are a chemicalsolution, waiting to reach the proper pointo alcohol saturation beore exploding into acloud o motion, passion and energy. Maniac

    wears a gothic, sweat-smeared version o warpaint around his eyes like a homicidal rac-

    coon. His hair sticks out in odd, tight Frenchbraids. Te bands lyrics share stories aboutgrowing up in poverty, living in a culture oalcohol abuse and desperate living. Nobodysgiven these guys a thing. Teyve worked orit all; that much is clear rom the explicitperormance. At the climax o an intensedance beat, Maniac leads the crowd in a chanto Hoka Ay! I ask a ew band members later

    what it means. Tey give me dierent spellingsand denitions: Hey, Wsup! and Fuck yeah!

    We in the house!I catch a ew o the guys in line leading

    to the Lanterns disgusting bathroom amongthem Maniac, D.S.C., Philthy Fresh, Ron Gand Buddha. It doesnt take long to ascertainthese guys are hard or real. Te glare at me asI ask a ew questions, asking me whats up withthe notebook that I occasionally scribble in.Soon, they have me cornered against a slimytile wall; Im surrounded by huge men withtattoos on their necks and rippling orearms.Listen man, wsup with the little book - youlike a reporter or somethin? Philthy Fresh

    asks. I slip my old rusty out o an insidepocket on my bulky coat and whisper with itsmoothly behind my notebook. Te three menlined up at the urinals dont even notice as thegoodness disappears rom whence it came, butthe threatening rappers visibly relax.

    Listen, Philthy Fresh puts an arm

    around me, Dont make us all sound like abunch o drunk Indians, just we all crazy andrep or the rez. Were out here, doing ourthing in this scene. But we always respectour background. I ask more about how theirheritage and tradition inuence the music, to

    which they reply, We Natives rst, always takecare o each other always remember where

    we came rom. But we also rappers moo.Dont ask the question we hard and they allknow it, says Ron G. I ask about the HokaAy chant, curious i they have ever consideredincorporating more Lakota into their music.Philthy Fresh visibly reacts and replies, Aw,

    naw. We have to keep the language sacred.With white kids, you know how its coolto rebel or whatever; not us, we respect ourelders.

    Bo$$ Regis comes up last as the eveningsheadliner. He perorms several songs romhis newly released album Da Good Sh!t. Teperormance had an extra edge this evening:both Bo$$ Regiss parents moved to Brooklynrom Haiti. His show seems to be person-ally emblematic, his raw emotion laced withadrenaline burns as he pursues the dream oashing lights and a screaming audience. Bo$$denitely belongs in this environment.

    Te rst annual IceFest was part o theMidwest Rising Stars tour. Adapt and V theNoble One, along with the crew includingNight Shield, rey Lane, and Bo$$ Regis haveperormed several shows across the region,especially in Sioux Falls at Club David andNuttys. Downtown Brookings, Inc. organizedthe tours appearance in Brookings; JohnSeward, Downtown Brookings manager, has

    worked hard in the past year to highlight localbands, simultaneously creating activity andculture in Brookings.

    Check our website [www.thepegleg.com]or links to the artists appearing in this article,urther reviews o local music, and other com-munity and culture-building eorts courtesy oDowntown Brookings, Inc.

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    Making Bubbles in Bonaireby Benjamin D. Helder

    Maybe youve heard o Aruba, amousor casinos, nightlie and beaches.

    Chances are you havent heard o Bonaire,which is an island just to the east o Aruba.Tese two islands, along with the exasperatingCuracao, make up the ABC Islands o theNetherlands Antilles; the Netherlands owns all

    the soil is at best comparable to the gravel roadI grew up on, the ora is almost exclusivelythorny bushes and 1 to 15-oot-tall cacti, theauna consists o amingos, iguana, goats, anddonkeys, while the architecture, culture, androughly hal the people areDutch. It was allI could do to not burst into laughter when I

    three islands, yet they sit just above Venezuelaabout 70-80 miles. Bonaire (Dutch or goodair) was my destination and domicile or therst week o 2010.

    Bonaire nonchalantly breaks the Carib-bean tropical island mold: you cant nd aproper public beach anywhere (its all rocky),

    photos by Benjamin D. Helder

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    to see seahorses. Much to my chagrin, sharksightings are rare on Bonaire, as most largercritters do not requent here, with the notableexception o dolphins, who requently trailboats in groups o 20 or more.

    Diving is most denitely Bonaires strongpoint, as it has little else to oer. Well, I takethat back; you could visit a donkey sanctuaryi youve never seen one beore, drive 30 milesthrough some potholes that resemble a road

    Bonaire recovers a ew points in thecuisine category. Around town, the hungrytraveler will nd cuisine with inuencesstrong or subtle, overt or covert rom Ven-ezuela, Suriname, Argentina, Mexico, theU.S., Indonesia, China, Lebanon, Italy, Franceand the Netherlands, as well as the rest othe Caribbean. Many establishments aremore European in their approach to serving,eaturing three or more distinct courses and

    was asked in a Dutch accent about my azha(thinkAustin Powers 3).So why journey to Bonaire? Te answer

    or most is scuba diving. Bonaire is quiteunique in that its entire coast, all 81 miles,is surrounded by a pristine ree system, theprotection o which dates back to the early60s. Advances in diving technology duringthe 60s and 70s were paralleled by increasingree protection on the part o the Netherlands

    Antilles government, as well as a number oedgling on and oshore parks agencies. Inmany places, the ree has grown right up toshore, making Bonaire a haven or shore divers

    (as opposed to boat diving). While nearlythe entire ree is divable, the BNMP (BonaireNational Marine Park) has designated 63 siteson the mainland and 26 on the satellite islandKlein as ocial dive sites.

    Nearly all o these are on the leewardand more protected west side o the island,providing a growth-ostering environmentor coral and smaller sh species, as well ashawksbill turtles and a handul o ray types.Bonaire is also one o the best places on earth

    in Washington-Slagbaai National Park i thatappeals or visit a Naturist Resort i youreinto that sort o thing.[http://www.sorobonbeachresort.com/]

    While decent deals rom dive shops arenttoo hard to come by, everything else therewill cost ya. Gas runs roughly $4 per gallon.Surprisingly, most grocery items, even produce,originate rom the USA or Western Europe.Proper European meat cuts and cheeses arereadily obtainable. Tis could be good orbad; the unadventurous palette will eel quiteat home, while those seeking stereotypicalCaribbean are will be disappointed.

    encouraging a slower pace to your dining. Teoutlying communities also eature more localair. Many amilies serve passed-down dishesout o their homes or makeshit businesses. I

    youre on Bonaire and looking or iguana stew,then you came to the right place.All things considered, visit Bonaire or

    the diving and not much else. My companionsand I decided it s marvelous as long as youreunder the water, but kind o dull i youre outo it. I you plan to go, be sure to get a holdo me and Ill steer you to the best dives. Saebubbles!

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    Dakota stood, toes curled in his sneakers,with his eyes ocused on the line his eet

    were perched on. He waited.I PICK RUMAN!His small palms stuck to the side o his

    green athletic shorts and he tugged on the backo his WILLIAMS ELEMENARY t-shirt.

    I PICK JENNY!Mrs. Hinder was at the nurses station

    helping a student who tripped on his way outrom gym. Te lunch lady, subbing, sat in thecorner, smoking a cigarette, and told the kidsto, Play nice, and stay away rom my smoke.

    I PICK HENRY!

    While his eyes were down, Dakota sawJourney kick the back o her heels together andthe bright pink lights in her soles lit up likemagic.

    A group o clouds drited along underthe sun, respecting its authority. One straycloud slid along, showing o to the group andproving its willingness to be dierent.

    Journey turned and looked at Dakota.She whispered, I heard your new nickname isSmell-ace. Her blue braces shined through asshe giggled. Dakota attempted to pull the backo his shorts o his damp thighs.

    I PICK MARY!

    Dakota thought he could still smell theonions rom his ham sandwich under hisnose. Onions suck. And you suck or likingthem, Ryan had taunted. Ryan had come upbehind Dakota at the lunch table and smushedDakotas nose in between the pieces o rye.You smell because o them. Smell-ace. StupidSMELL-FACE!

    No, Dakota lied to Journey. Its nottrue.

    She snied the air in his direction andtook a ew large steps back. Te pink nail

    8 yrs old: Cloudy Dayby Gina Caciolo

    polish on her ngers apped in ront o hernose.I PICK JOURNEY!Journey sprung orward and clapped high

    ve with Ryan. Dakota adjusted his tiny glassesand snifed. Ever since a gym class in rstgrade when Dakota got hit with our balls atonce, no one has wanted him on their team.

    Its between Baby Jamie and Smell-ace.

    Who do you want?I dont want either.Me neither.Te lunch lady isnt gonna notice. Lets

    just play one short.Hey yeah! Itll still be even!Dakota looked over at Jamie. Jamie stood

    at the end o the line with his coke bottleglasses and short shorts, and picked his nose.He was three inches shorter than everyoneelse and still hadnt kicked his baby weight. Heturned to Dakota. You want to go look at thebugs that crawl around the tree?

    By now, everyone had started playingdodgeball on the other side o the eld. Notreally, Dakota said. Im gonna go watch themplay. Maybe somebodyll get hurt and they llpick me.

    Jamie nodded his head. Good luck.His weight bounced rom one leg to the nextas he wobbled over to the tree by the ence.

    Jamie plopped onto the spongy green grass andpicked at bugs and put them in ront o histhick glasses.

    Heartbeats raced inside o Dakotas chest.What i they did pick him? He thought abouthow he really was terrible at dodgeball. He satagainst the wall o the school and watched thenew game begin.

    Ryan counted out to three and everyoneran orward to retrieve the balls rom themiddle line. Several kids rom both sidesretrieved the beaming red orbs, but only hal othem survived. Dakota paid the most attentionto Journey. Te lights in her shoes danced asshe jolted away rom the balls being thrownat her. Ringlets o brown hair bounced on hershoulders.

    Hey! Smell-ace! Ryan yelled. What doyou think youre doing over here?Im just watching. Dakota elt his

    shoulders tense.I didnt say that was ok. Balls continued

    to y as Ryans knuckles turned red and botho his hands gripped the ball tighter. Dakotapulled his knees up to his chin. He closed hiseyes and buried his nose in between his knees

    HEY! Smell-ace! Im not done.Dakota turned his head as one o the

    balls ew towards him. He couldnt duck astenough and the ball landed hard against hisace, breaking his glasses. Broken shards o

    glass sprinkled onto his bare legs; small cutsormed along his thighs. iny droplets o bloodormed as tears developed in Dakotas eyes.

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    the motivational health posters blurred in ronto him. Who are you? Dakota asked.

    Steven, he said. Im new.Trough his already squinted eyes, Dakota

    could see that Steven had darker skin than hisown and had noticed he talked a little dierentthan anyone else in his class. Im Dakota.

    Cool, Steven said. Im rom exas. I justmoved here a week ago. I didnt have to cometo school until today.

    Wow. So you didnt have school or aweek?

    Yeah, it was pretty awesome.Tat is so cool. Did you play games the

    whole time?

    Well, Steven said. My dad is a truckdriver. And he drove to New Jersey and back.So I got to go with him.

    Dakota paused and his jaw lowered. Tat.Is. So. Cool.

    Yeah, my dad is the coolest. So whathappened to you?

    Nervously, Dakota moved his handsunder his butt, sat on them, and rocked romside to side.

    I tripped too.Tats a bad trip.Tey both laughed. Dakotas eyes had

    slowly started to adjust. He still couldnt see

    anything, but he elt comortable without hisglasses on. Te nurse had come in and cleanedup Dakotas cuts and helped him nd the sinkso he could wash his ace.

    So, youll have to go back to class, thenurse told Steven.

    Te cold water splashed over Dakotasace and he took in deep breaths; it elt relax-ing to him. Fingers tapped on his shoulder ashe turned around.

    Everyone stopped playing to point andlaugh. Mrs. Hinder ran across the pavementand blew her whistle.

    I get a sub or ve minutes and this iswhat happens? she said. Everyone stop laugh-ing right now. Dakota, dear, are you ok? Mrs.Hinder hustled over to him and slowly helpedhim up. Trobbing pains shot into his nose,and he lightly shook his head rom side to side.

    Oh, you poor thing. Lets get you inside,Mrs. Hinder said.Dakota squinted but couldnt see a thing.

    He stuck out his hand or Mrs. Hinder to takeit and she grabbed it and pulled him alongback into the school. He cried a little harderand Mrs. Hinder stopped and leaned downnext to him.

    Dakota, just dont worry. Te nursellclean you up.

    Dakota snifed again and nodded hishead. He walked into the nurses station. Tekid who had tripped earlier was still in there.

    Without his glasses, Dakota couldnt see who it

    was, so he quietly and slowly pulled his scarredlegs up and over the plastic cushion and satnext to the other kid. Dakota looked down andsaw the kid had bandages on his legs. Tey satin silence until the other kid broke it.

    Te nurse is in bathroom, he said.Oh, ok, Dakota said. He squinted again

    but couldnt even make out the eye chart thathe knew was at the end o the room. All thebrowns o the wooden closets and whites o

    Other than your glasses you look alrightto me, the nurse said. But because you cantsee, i you want to stay in here and rest untilthe end o the day, thats alright with me.

    Dakota rocked rom one oot to the otherHe squinted at Steven. Everyone was goingto want to play with Steven. He had an accentand his dad drove a truck. Hed be popular inan instant.

    I want to go back outside. Dakotarubbed his eyes with his sts and squinted atSteven. Dakota thought he saw Steven smilingand he elt better about his decision.

    Te nurse shrugged her shoulders. Letsget you two back outside, right?

    Dakota turned toward Steven and eventhough he couldnt see his eyes, Dakota knewthey each had the same idea. Tey noddedtheir heads agreeably.

    Te nurse took each o their hands andwalked them down the long, dingy hallway.Te bright light rom the outside poured ontothem as they walked outside. Te nurse walkedover to Mrs. Hinder and the two chatted.Dakota took in a deep breath.

    Do you want to go lay in the eld andlook at the clouds? Dakota said.

    Can you see them? Steven asked.Dakota nodded and smiled.

    Ok, Steven said. Last one to the grass isa rotten egg. Steven took o towards the eldand Dakota ollowed. He heard Ryan yell inthe background. Something about onions andthe new kid. He ignored it. He pumped hislegs as hard as he could and when he made itto the grass he collapsed, took in deep breaths,and stared at the blurry white orms in the sky.

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    Like Pot, But Not: Its Legal, But Stay Scared [from thepegleg.com]by cuneiform:ation

    Avideo aired Tursday, Feb. 25, on KSFYAction News. Although we must

    appreciate KSFYs attempt to inorm regionalcitizens o a potential new development in therealm o eelin good, the segment containsa lot o propaganda and straight-up wronginormation.

    First, we must acknowledge a certainamount o dissonance between the ideologicalorientation o KSFY and TePegLeg.com.

    While KSFY obviously approaches thisissue with a bias that ingesting marijuana isunhealthy and dangerous, the PLU generallyelects to avoid any qualitative value judgments

    beyond the basic acknowledgment that somepeople smoke some things, some people dontand some people try to make and enorcerules. Im a little disappointed to see this newschannel one Ive watched since I was a kid evidence such an obvious lack o journalisticobjectivity. However, such is the culturalclimate these days, particularly in the Midwest.I still love it here, but Im probably going totake KSFY Action News with moresalt than I used to.

    Youve gotta love the openingline: Its the popular new wayor kids to get high and not get

    caught Apparently we are moreocused on enorcing the construc-tions o hierarchy and disciplinethan public saety, but I digress. Inany case, it is not long beore thenews anchor does assert this newsubstances threat, stating, Tis willget you high like marijuana, but isnot marijuana. For the moment it is

    very legal, and very dangerous.Te article goes on to share

    K2s resemblance to marijuana, cit-ing its availability at seedy sex-shops(while showing video o a straw

    over a steaming heroin spoon and acrack pipe being lit) and an option to Factorin something potent but legal like K2 and thelist o things that can be used and abused getslonger and longer.

    Up to this point the news segments tonehas been reactionary and over-hyped, buthasnt contained any overt untruths. However,KSFY quickly begins to irt with this margin.

    Tey go on to state that K2 is two to three

    times more powerul than marijuana, listing itseects as, violent seizures, powerul hallucina-tions, and severe panic. No citation is givenor this statement.

    I can only cite a certain amount opersonal experience in the matter, but I eel itis relevant and valid within the context. Ivesmoked more than a little pot. Some o ithigh-quality, some o it nasty and crunchy, likethe herb equivalent o op cigarette tobacco.

    Ive also sampled some o the herbalsmoking products marketed as legal pot.Salvia divinorum used to get marketed in this

    way occasionally, although as a sage eatur-

    ing good ol 5-MAO, its in a little dierentcategory than reeer. However, Ive sampledlegal herbal smokes like ahia bud, spice,daganda and canavalia rosea. Teyre all prettygood. Teyre relaxing, last longer than atobacco buzz and dont make you eel dirtyor give headaches like nicotine does. Teyremuch cleaner instead o smoking an over-processed, chemical-laced cigarette, they come

    to you in a nice, clean bud with real leaves andstems. Many plants out there have little treatsor us i we use them in the proper manner.Some o these products give you a better highthan low quality pot. None o them get you ashigh as real dank. Tat s why these are legal.

    I KSFY news-anchor Brian Allen thinksthe stu is two to three times better than pot,hes probably not getting very good pot the

    kind that grows in rich orest soil out in thenatural sunlight next to the ocean with purplehairs and shiny crystals clinging to it. Noherb can match the vibe encrypted in thoseowers but I digress. In any case none othis legal stu is gonna make you hallucinate.

    Te problem is that KSFY explicitlydoes not ask the right questions to be good

    journalists. Media has a responsibility to givebalanced, rational details rather than makingalarming, irrational claims. Rather than mak-ing scary links to hard drugs through imposingdescription and clips o opiate and amphet-amine use, shouldnt KSFY give us some acts

    about the substance? I want to know what itis, not what its like. An intelligent, engagedmedia consumer is going to want morerelevant inormation when theyre making adecision about what to think when presented

    with something new and oreign. I would liketo know how long it lasts, what kind o thingsit encourages the user to think about, and howexactly it impairs the user.

    Well, since KSFY didntdo the job, TePegLeg.com willgladly ll the gap. Te psychoac-tive component in the K2 incenseproduct is JWH-018 a synthetic

    cannabinoid which interacts withthe brain in much the same way asHC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JWH-018).

    Perhaps KSFY could havedone some real research like thePhoenix New imes, which recentlycited an actual user as describing, Ismoked some o this one night whenI was watching a movie, and thisreally warm eeling started at the topo my scalp and just slowly moveddown my ace and head. I was on theedge o my seat watching this movie

    but I elt really, really mellow. Andall it took was one hit. Well, that certainlydoes sound like a dangerous way to be eeling,especially i one is going to go out and dosomething seriously crazy like watch a movie.

    Visit this site to read an archive opeoples analytical descriptions o theirexperiences on products containing JWH-018:[http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Products_Spice.shtml]. No descriptions

    Video courtesy KSFY.com via ThePegLeg.com. Watch and read here:http://thepegleg.com/2010/02/k2-feel-good-and-stay-out-of-jail/

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    o hallucinations appear; one user states, Itgave me eects extremely similar to those romMagic Silver [an analogous legal marijuana],though possibly slightly stronger. One smallishhit through a water pipe also resulted in astrong marijuana-like high that lasted oraround 3 to 3.5 hours, and included time

    distortion, euphoria, stress reduction, greatcreativity and personal insight, heightened owo ideas, and increased appreciation o musicand art. It also helped me relate to my children

    with increased compassion and insight intohow to reconcile some o their dierences.

    Te poem I wrote, by the way, still looksreally good, to me, the next day. Very creative,

    with unusual and interesting metaphors andrhythmic patterns. I like it!

    Other users described it as Basically can-nabis, minus the un, Nearly identical to MJbut longer lasting and A pleasant cannabisalternative, Te strongest sensory perceptions

    seem to include a state o everything glowingand mildly undulating on some metaphysicalplane.

    One o these drugged-out, worthless, ad-dicts described the experience in this manner:Te eects come on in 10 minutes and areintense waves o relaxation, eeling careree,munchies, red eyes, etc. All the same sideeects o MJ besides paranoia. Overall I cantsay how happy I am with this. Even though itcontains the synthetic cannabinoid JWH-018that doesnt bother me. I have done a lot oresearch on this chemical and I honestly donot think its any more harmul than HC but

    this is all speculation since more research andtesting needs to be done. I have not noticedany negative eects except during one burn Ihad a bit o stomach discomort but I think it

    was due to my diet that day as it hasnt hap-pened since. No hangover or lethargy the nextday either which is great since weed tended tomake me eel very lazy and unmotivated eventhe next morning.

    Its important to note that these productsare intended or use as incense. Maybe usersshould try putting it in a burner, sitting overit, and meditating, as intended. Ill talk moreabout this later.

    For insight on this new development inthe drug world, KSFY interviews the Directoro Chemical Dependency Services or Volun-teers o America in Sioux Falls. Im not surethis man is going to have a relevant perspectiveon the substance, since he probably regularlydeals with hard, burnt-out addicts who havereached rock bottom essentially, hes notexactly interpreting a representative sample. Idoubt he has much, i any, experience with K2

    users rom his position. In act, I guaranteethe majority o the people he works with arenot even working through marijuana addic-tions or overdoses. Sure, people rom sketchybackgrounds are more likely to smoke pot,and people with addictive personalities may beheavy smokers, but the ranks o non-aected,

    high-unctioning marijuana users makes clearthat the simple use o this substance is not anultimately deciding actor in lie quality.

    Please do not interpret me as a pro-mar-ijuana, or even pro-K2, spokesperson. I havemade certain choices in my personal liestyle,but I acknowledge smoking has drawbacks,and Ive never tried the actual K2 product, so Imight not know what Im talking about.

    Te product does have draw-backs, onebeing that we may not know the manuactur-ing laboratory or see an ingredients list.However, you wont get these things on a pieceo bee rom the grocery store either.

    However, one must also consider theaspect o this generic origin being a product oa prohibitive society. Basically, these manuac-turers o a perectly legitimate, currently legalproduct still must ear the wrath o individualslike South Dakota Attorney General Marty

    Jackley, who, according to the news anchor,Knows all about K2.

    Jackley eels that, Although there are nostate or ederal laws that call K2 out as an il-legal substance, there are ederal and state lawsthat make possessing and ingesting a product

    with obvious drug characteristics a crime, andhe is ready to use those existing laws. No

    wonder this products originators dont think itwise to identiy themselves.

    One can see the whole issue o peoplesmoking a substance meant to be used asincense is a result o Pot-hibition. I peoplecould just nd healthy, all-natural herb, they

    wouldnt have to turn to inhaling unknown,synthetic compounds.

    Tink about it this way: when cocaine waslegal, they put small doses o it in soda pop.Soda pop has never been so good. Duringcocaine prohibition, people have turned tochemically distilling the psychoactive elementso the product urther and urther, eventually

    winding up with crack, which has ruined a lotmore lives than Coca-cola, and thats sayingsomething. I our society cracks down onsubstances like K2, they will simply be seeingmore potent, more heavily distilled versionso JWH-018 appearing in increasingly moredangerous, more violent underground circles.I think it sounds great to put a dropper o this

    JWH-018 on the patchouli in my oil burnerand sit down or a nice meditation session.

    Possibly the most troubling skewed rheto-ric in the piece comes rom Allens utilizationo a generic high-school girl to urther drumup the dangers o these kids all on drugs thesedays. While talking to this girl, the ootageasserts that kids are doing a lot o drugs stulike Oxycodin and Xanax. Apparently, high

    school kids are ghting, cheating and stabbingeach other in a dangerous black market cycle ohard opiate consumption.

    Brian Allen went and bought three bagso K2 online just because he could, and nobody

    was hurt. Tis should show us how, whetheror not the substance is healthy, the thicker theprohibitive system, the more traumatic theconsumption society becomes.

    According to the girl in Allens interview,she has two groups o riends: those who dontdo drugs, and those who are high all the time.

    Te group o kids who are high all the timeis denitely the larger, she says. KSFY never

    considers that perhaps, since all these kids arecapable o going through lie high all the timeand nobody has noticed (obviously, since thenews is presented as shocking and ground-breaking), maybe it doesnt ruin their lives asmuch as we would like to believe.

    Another recent news story urtherillustrates this point. A recent drug bust in

    Watertown has one neighbor marveling thatpeople on his block could be using drugs. AKSFY story on the incident says: Ive gotpower wheels driving around here all summerlong. A complete eet. Steve Hahn has livedin this neighborhood or 9 years and says he

    knows his neighbors very well, many o themwith kids and thats why the bust has him soconcerned. I was wondering i they were herein the summertime, because you know thosekids are out and about all over the place.

    Maybe the act that he and his kids havebeen able to live a sae, happy, normal lie inthe proximity o people who get high shouldmake him eel saer around people who gethigh. Tere was no trouble in this neighbor-hood until the cops showed up.

    In any case, Im troubled by the blindered-perspectives and vicious, prohibitive rhetoricpresent in our legal and media hierarchies.Maybe limited perspectives and aggressiveattitudes are what I should expect rom people

    who dont get high enough. Im not sure nor ina position to assert this. In any case, we oughtto know by now that prohibition doesnt work.Eventually somebody will get smart unor-tunately, or the moment, it doesnt seem to beKSFY Action News.

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    ADVERISEMEN

    @ the SDSU Art Museum on Tuesday, April 20th at 7:00 P.M.Facebook: SDSU Films http://www.twitter.com/SDSUflms