hiphoplives

As an artist and writer and fan of Hip Hop, I’m obviously someone who believes in the power of words. So sometimes I think about words in a different way then maybe the average Joe (plumber or non). For instance, it’s funny how sick became a slang word for good. I mean it’s not that sick doesn’t have it’s precedents. Nasty, vicious, shit even bad can mean good. But sick in particular is a funny one. Nobody really likes being sick, except for maybe hypochondriacs and people with grueling and/or boring jobs. But even then, they’d still rather fake an illness then actually be sick. People wear their health like a badge of honor. Ever hear people brag in a break room about how long it’s been since they’ve been sick?

But there is no doubt that we live in a sick society. We watch television programs about those who heal the sick, those who catch the mentally sick in their depraved acts, and those who feed off the sick. When something terrible happens we wonder why people are so sick. Bird flu, AIDS, Anthrax, Pesticides, Carcinogens, these words all describe different forms of sickness. And I could fill a whole year’s worth of 100 word posts just listing more words used to describe a different form of sickness. Could it be that sickness is at the heart of all that we fear? Is it odd then to think that subconsciously we seek to steal that fear’s power by taking it’s core and turning it into something positive?

I think what we all want is health. Healthy relationships with our friends and family, healthy incomes that let us buy healthy foods, and a healthy environment to grow in. So on that note, my New Year’s Resolution is, I’m gonna start substituting healthy for sick in conversation and see what happens. That’s what I call “small s” socialized medicine. Now here’s a special healthy edition of Historical Weed Session.

Ganja God Bud (The pride of British Columbia, not only do the residents enjoy free health care, they get to smoke this gem when they got a headache. I would spend some time describing the bud, but just look at it.)

Location Buffalo Lake, Alberta Canada (Those who study the planetary grid will know that this in near Point 8, said to be a source of positive healing energy, it was also known to the native peoples as a spot for healing.)

Participants

Keewaydinoquay Peschel (She was a scholar, ethnobotanist, herbalist, medicine woman,teacher and author. She was born in 1919 in Michigan. Her mother lived on Garden Island, a traditional Anishinaabeg homeland. When it came time to deliver her baby, she had to take a fishing boat to the mainland. The child was born on the boat, and shortly thereafter the boat capsized. The young girl’s survival was viewed as a miracle. She earned her childhood name which meant “walks with bears” as a toddler when her parents left her on a blanket while they gathered blueberries only to return and find her surrounded by bears eating blueberries together out of one of the filled baskets. She began to apprentice the medicine woman at age 9, and at age 57 decided to go to a traditional western university and earn a Masters of Education as well as a PhD in ethnobotany. She was healthy.)

Graham Hancock (Also a scholar, teacher, author, and leader of spiritualists. He was born in Scotland, but spent much of his youth in India. He’s written books about Pakistan, Ethiopia, South America, the ark of the covenant, parallel universes, and lost civilizations, all written from a first hand perspective. In other words, he really went there. For his book Supernatural, rather than just talk about the altered states where medicine men encounter supernatural beings, he went through the rituals and encountered the beings himself, then wrote about it from a scholars perspective. Frickin’ healthy!)

Mutulu Shakur (Doc, the teacher, the healer, the inspiration, the revolutionary. He’s Pac’s godfather, and a proponent of natural medicine and acupuncture to cure sickness of all sorts. He’s also a political prisoner, and more than any of us, deserves a Canadian vacation and some healthy god bud.)

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