Hi Y’all – It’s been an intense week. Many things have made me busy and most of them have been driven around opioids and healthcare needs in SW VA. I don’t want to talk about most of them.
For those of you unaware, April 8 JD Vance (HILLBILLY ELEGY) and I went head-to-head in a discussion of “Are We Losing a Generation?” about opioids and KinCare. The fallout from this panel has been about whether the venue that invited us (Appalachian Studies Association) should have invited him. None of it has been about the topic of the debate. Moral: when asked to participate in a debate with a famous figure, be sure of the trap that’s being set before you enter it, and decide if the platform to get a message out is worth the lunacy of the fallout. I’m not sure it was. I’m knee-deep in people who want to talk about Elegy, not opioids. Screw that.
So here, in heart-breaking simplicity, is the reality of what drugs do to sweet, kind, smart people who are mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. The message that was meant to be part of that debate. Please be warned, if you are tender-hearted, don’t watch this five-minute cartoon in a public place.
Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUngLgGRJpo
And perhaps next week will be better. Or at least more honest.
Wendy Welch: Books, Yarn, Cats, Opioids 
Preach on, Sister Wendy!!
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Oh, you’re so right–I’ve walked into one or two of those kinds of traps, too–not the famous bit but the underlying intent, etc. It’s no fun, especially when the core message gets lost in the shuffle.
Live and learn – next time I will know the right questions to ask and points to demand in writing
Fwiw, in Gate City this has been the most beautiful week for everyone to be frowsting indoors feeling miserable because of glyphosate poisoning…I know one 78yo with a back injury backslid onto pills, by the way he quit driving and started acting “old,” vague, and bleary-eyed instead of perky and annoying!
(“How d’you know that’s not the way he’s supposed to be at age 78?” say the poison defenders. Because I remember the way he was one week earlier. He’s certifiable but still NOT A WEED!!!)
I hate the whole pill-popping mentality but at least it doesn’t just literally attack people from out of the sky. Glyphosate does.
I just read the Y’All statement and their apology to you. That must have been quite an experience for you!!!
Yep
JD Vance was invited because they wanted to partner with him, not because they wanted to talk about opioids. You deserved better space to talk about your important work.
Yep.