2.25.2009

Separate Vices



The older black man in the hat with the cane looks at me from his perch on the bench outside of our building and asks me, one more time, for a cigarette.

As always, I apologize to him for not smoking, patting my jacket pocket to make sure that my sleep-self hadn't last night wandered the nightscape, breaking my resolve.

The man reminds me of my father, who smoked Raleigh Filters for nearly a half-century—a brand popular in the ‘50s. As an American classic, I once smoked Marlboro Lights, whereas my hipster girlfriend smoked cloves or American Spirits. Your basic college kid today, or "MIDWESTERN TRANSPLANT SCUM," smokes Camels or Camel Lights, sometimes imitating the native here by mixing loose tobacco with low-grade marijuana to form a "blunt."

To each, his own.

After a blackout one night, I arise to find myself covered in dog hair, strange because I neither own a dog nor recall meeting one—the slight scratch in my throat hopefully caused by second-hand smoke in a crowded Virginia bar. As the gateway to Tobacco Country, the Commonwealth’s addiction dates to the early 17th century, when the London Virginia Company finances the first permanent settlement of Englishmen, in Jamestown.

Yet, in a building adorned with images of tobacco leaves, Virginia’s House and Senate pass legislation by margins of nearly 2 to 1 and 3 to 1, for the governor’s signature—a significant common-sense victory for the people.

Hackles raised, Libertarians and lobbyists cite free will in the debate, asserting that plebeians may choose freely to work or not work in the state’s bars and restaurants. More sensible people, however, listen to the philosophers and scientists today, who increasingly tell us that free will exists only in our imaginations, that we are the products of not only our genes but of their inextricable link to our environment—that we are more like the plant growing in the field than we would like to think.

Moreover, the idea of choice here must be weighted to consider that many in the working class would sensibly choose to risk health for shorter-term imperatives such as rent, food and the car payment—concerns aside from the discovery of something called “third-hand smoke,” by which chemical residue from tobacco smoke permeates by stealth the indoor environment as a surprise and latent carcinogen.

At long last, the Washington, D.C., area joins the greater agglomeration that begins but does not end with New York City, with respectable alcoholics no longer fearing the reaper.

33 comments:

  1. i recall one time, after the smoking ban had passed, standing outside the bar i worked at. i was out back, smoking with co-workers, when it dawned on us that every single person working there smoked. even the owner. it was after hours, the place was closed, and all of us were huddling outside the rear door smoking.

    "guess the employee health reasoning for the smoking ban is rather moot." one of us remarked.

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  2. I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back
    I heard the 1990s are coming back

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  3. Good point. Working in a restaurant is also a good way to develop a cocaine habit. It's that theoretical employee who cares about his or her own health. There's got to be just one out there.

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  4. i've since quit smoking, but it doesn't so much bother me to smell smoke. it is, perhaps, a valid health concern, but i don't know.

    lots of people die every year from 'second hand drinking.'

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  5. But if you smoke outside, you don't paint the inside of the building with chemical residues that also cause cancer.

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  6. M@,

    I DON'T GET IT. WHAT DOES VIRGINIA HAVE TO DO WITH WASHINGTON, D.C.? WHAT, ARE THEY CONNECTED SOMEHOW OR SOMETHING?

    GO BACK TO THE MIDWEST.

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  7. M@SSHOLE,

    YOU MENTION NEW YORK CITY ONE MORE TIME AND I'M GOING TO POP A CAP IN YOUR ASS, TRANSPLANT.

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  8. Oh right, "DC is DC is DC"

    Next up, a hate-filled rant about the Home Depot in Manassass.

    There is an audience (of sorts) here, which is the only reason M@sshole posted this bile.

    Let us know how many job offers it generates for you, MmmmKay?

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  9. Libertarian is only capitalized under two circumstances:

    a) it's at the beginning of a sentence
    b) it's referring specifically to the Libertarian Party.

    If you're talking general libertarian philosophy, it's not capitalized. I'm an uncapitalized libertarian at the moment.

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  11. I was talking about Libertarians with a capital L. Congratulations, you are qualified to work as a proofreader. The pay is $12/hr.)

    And I posted this "bile" because I genuinely supported the legislation.

    Don't need a job b/c I have one, faggot. Oh, and it requires a passport. So shut the fuck up and go back to your cube work.

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  12. I heard the 1990s are coming back

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  13. You are a terrible writer. Please stop.

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  14. Your heart is as dark as your countenance.

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  15. I blame the Puerto Ricans.

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  16. I blame them for hogging all of the good weather and drinking too much in public.

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  17. And I think your expectations for a 15-minute blog post are way too high. Next week, for instance, I'll spend a week overseas just to write ONE magazine article.

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  18. Let's be a bit more positive around here guys.

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  19. But you're right. Regardless of poorly written posts, why not comment on the content? I thought the smoking ban was a good idea. No? Yes? Whatever.

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  20. " I thought the smoking ban was a good idea. No? Yes? Whatever."

    Hey dumb@ss: "Good" public policy in VA has nothing to do with with this blog. Which is precisely why you need to stop posting here.

    And we know that you're one of those angry closeted homosexuals who gets violent with his tricks.

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  21. Oh, girl, that's an old one. Someone from a submissive group seeks to dominate an individual from the dominant (but not better) group. Calls him a faggot. Insults his manhood. Oh, please.

    I might as well tell you that yo mother so fat, she gotta wear a tent as a dress. (Now THAT is fat!)

    Your assertion that Arlington County has nothing to do with D.C. doesn't make much sense. I've lived in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. It's called a metropolitan area. A small metro area, but a metro area nonetheless.

    Your real problem here is racial. I am sorry I let you bait me into making racist comments as I'm actually not THAT racist. I've got to stop saying such things.

    Your secondary problem is that you have a dingleberry you can't quite reach today w/ your snout.

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  22. Marissa, where are you? We need you.

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  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  24. Marissa has her head buried in Melpomene's crotch. And Dave is filming it.

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  25. And M@ is liveblogging it.

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  26. Read it again:

    "Hey dumb@ss: "Good" public policy in VA has nothing to do with with this blog. Which is precisely why you need to stop posting here."

    Manassass is in the "metropolitan area". Interesting how it all revolves around Washington, isn't it?

    Also interesting that you presume anyone's race based upon anonymous comments on a whiny blog. Nothing but a Rorschach test here. Do you need that explained to you, too?

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  27. I read this and threw up in my mouth a little bit.

    I printed M@'s picture, and spit the vomit onto the picture.

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  28. This is quickly becoming one of my least favorite blogs. M@ sucks ass! Every post is nonsense about something NOT DC. What the hell! Must be a cross post for whyihateVA. M@ please stop blogging, your posts sound like really bad excerpts from a 90's readers digest.UGGGGHHHH!!

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  29. Well Marrio, Matt being the racist pig that he is; he tends to confuse me with you. In his mind, anyone who antagonizes him AND thinks NOVA is a dump must be of a race other than his own.

    It says a lot about his family and his upbringing.

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  30. My job requires me to have three passports. Enjoy your one passport lifestyle, loser.

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