I WRIT340, therefore i am 340

As I sit down to write my 'Random' post my mind runs. ‘Write about shoes. Drugs. The danger of drugs? Too heavy? Ok, fashion.’ But I simply won’t avoid it; a sensitive subject, but one to be unpacked. One of my boyfriend’s best friends, Kat, recently passed away due to a drug overdose. With or without the task of writing a random post, this is where my mind has been stuck for the past week. I will do my best to make this post uplifting despite the reality of its content. Kat is not the first person close to home that I have lost to drugs. On June 20 th , 2013 my childhood friend Stefan Wagner died due to a synthetic drug and drowning incident. In the early 2000's my cousin Andy was declared dead to a heroin overdose. Immediately I was in denial and not ready to mourn. After five minutes, by some miracle, he was revived. In this moment the tsunami of sadness that was rolling into me turned to anger. ‘I hope he wakes up to see the tears of his family’ I thought. He did. ...

Enjoy the Rot The art behind the kombucha craze Imagine- you’re a college dropout looking to grow your own small business. You’re health conscious but you enjoy the occasional medical spliff accompanied by a cold beer. Your friends always refer to you as the “kush guru hippie friend.” What better way to fulfill your dreams than to start your own kombucha brewery? You’ve been drinking it for years! But what even is it? It’s hip. It’s healthy. But what are those little pulp bits in the bottle? How does it get such umami? You begin your market research and find that there is a whole world behind this popular drink. Like any millennial, you start your research on Google and stumble upon a recipe that looks simple enough…        Tea (green or black)        Starter tea*        Water        Sugar        Fruit or herbs (optional)        SCOBY* ...

The first half of Chuck Collins’, “Born on Third Base” covers the possible ways to take steps towards an equal society by wealth redistribution. The heir of the Oscar Meyer fortune donated half of his several million-dollar trust fund in effort to live a more equal life. He breaks down exactly who the one percenters are and the fact that most of the world’s wealth lays in the hands of about 550 ultra wealthy people. He writes (and speaks) on topics that are especially difficult to discuss as the wealth gap grows.   He writes in a frank style giving many anecdotes to support his assertions. The book is a good source of information of the history of government subsidies throughout generations and how they are affecting today’s world. However cracking inequality is a discussion that takes years of understanding the past and hard analysis into the future. This is impossible to do in 200-something pages, thus Collins’ book scratches the surface of the issue, but offers necessary ba...