current events post

I found this week's assignment challenging, but intriguing.  I decided to read an article that I had sitting open on my computer for a while, but hadn't gotten the time to sit down and read yet.  It was about the two deaths of young people at the first day of the New York City EDM (electronic dance music) festival Electric Zoo.  It struck my attention because electronic music and the festivals they draw have been the epicenters of social arguments in my life between me and my former friends.  As a [non-EDM] festival-goer, I am interested in the culture that surrounds festivals.  Wherever you go, whoever you ask, people will say that music festivals are unlike anything else.  They create their own world for a weekend where people can bond over the particular culmination of musicians invited to perform at the festival.  It's a holiday, a home away from home.  In fact, a lot of festival-goers go to many festivals.  People truly do feel at home here.  It's paradise--a place one can be passionate about their love for music, and all they have to do is buy a ticket and find a way there.  But this article talks about a third component--quite possibly the most important component to EDM festivals: the drug MDMA.  The article is written by a former drug dealer/promoter/artist booker who decides he wants to leave the music business.  He exposes the awful truth behind the EDM scene.  Basically, he reveals that these particular kinds of festivals don't operate correctly without MDMA, better known by its street name, Molly.  Drug dealers pay off law enforcement and concert promoters in order to get their drug into the festival and sell it to the young people who won't go to these festivals if the drug isn't available.

So this leads to an inherent problem.  Lots of kids want drugs, so supply becomes inflated and shabby. Like Walmart for drugs. Dealers capitalize on the high demand at the expense of quality.  The issue is that kids don't know this and are overdoing drugs they don't even know they're putting into their body. They're applying what they know about MDMA to this Molly crap they are finding at festivals from strangers who will tell them anything to get their money.  Festivals--their home away from home.  We trust our families, right?  This is a different kind of "family".

As you can see, I'm relatively passionate about this. Reading this article opened my eyes to the industry of EDM, and the drugs that infiltrate them. The drugs that FUEL them.  It's without a doubt just as important as the music itself.  Drugs kill young people frequently at electronic music events.  It's a huge problem and it really only slapped people in the face when an entire multi-million dollar music festival (including drug income) had to be cancelled because of two deaths on the first night.  It got me thinking about our reliance on drugs of all kinds, whether they are recreational or pharmaceutical.  How people "don't give a fuck" and people who do give a fuck look up to those people who don't give a fuck. It's one thing to not give a fuck about your homework or your dirty laundry or what people think of you, but it's another thing to not give a fuck about your LIFE/wellbeing/mental and physical health.  It's absurd! People are blind and allow themselves to be. Especially impressionable young people. Especially 14 year old girls listening to Miley Cyrus on the radio talking about doing molly and coke at dance parties and thinking it's acceptable because of that.
I played with some vitamins I have and made some photos of my roommate with them. I liked what windows this project opened for me. i don't know if i'll like the picture or if i'll print them, but it was a great exercise. i unfortunately don't have my contact sheets on me, they are drying currently, so i don't even have a reference point. But i'll see tomorrow!