It is with great sadness that I extend my sympathy for the loss of our dear comrade, Proposition 19. Robust and lively, he will always be remembered for his ambitious and progressive character.
He gave a whole new meaning to keeping California “green.”
He is survived by his lifetime partner, Mary Jane.
Let us have a moment of silence.
And much like a person pours out some liquor for a homie who is six feet under, I’m pouring out bong water in memoriam of what could have been.
Isn’t it a tragedy when a life ends much too soon?
Sad, sad.
But hey, it could be worse. eMeg could have been packing her boxes to move into office 15 miles away from campus; but instead, she’s unpacking her boxes of invoices. (It’s worth noting that more Californians voted for Prop. 19 than they did for Meg Whitman, though she spent a whopping $141 million of her own dollars compared to a wee $1.4 million spent by Richard Lee.)
We constituents react in different ways.
Washington breathes a sigh of relief.
Eric Holder releases his iron grip on his telephone – no need to call the D.E.A.
Snoop Dogg doesn’t give a flying you-know-what; he’s rolling one as we speak.
UC Davis students continue with our daily grind. We go to class, study, take midterms and even play. For some of us, that means taking massive rips off percolator ice bongs.
Basically, much will remain the same with Prop. 19’s lamentable exit.
All that media coverage and wild talk of the future, and nothing!
Assuredly, though, dialogue about marijuana legalization and use has gone more mainstream than ever.
News outlets have been having a field day with the ballot measure’s defeat. But with something like 3,392,438 votes of support, it’s hardly an epic fail.
In pot-friendly cities like San Francisco, the smell of marijuana still lingers in the air during public events, on the bus and sidewalks – remnants of somebody’s good time.
Dallas television sports anchor Newy Scruggs (what a name!) was reporting on the first World Series games in front of AT&T Park.
“Right over there, there’s some people smoking weed, because it’s coming this way. We are truly…we are truly in San-…I’m standing here like, that’s not cigarettes! That’s weed. That’s weed!”
Yes sir, weed indeed.
And I found myself regretfully stuck in Davis last Wednesday, missing out on a historic championship parade.
I asked a girlfriend how it was, and she casually replied, “You couldn’t really see anything. There were too many people. We were standing around for hours, but it was okay, ’cause I was high, and it smelled like weed everywhere.”
Ahh, ’tis no surprise that Prop. 19 drew its strongest support from Bay Area folk. What can I say, a whole lot of us know all about the joie de vivre.
So if that’s l’esprit, let us celebrate the merry enterprises that marijuana has so luxuriously and generously brought to some of our lives.
Light it up; here’s one for you, Mary Jane.
Here’s to buying your first piece in Davis. Here’s to knowing someone who knows someone who knows someone who sells who you already know. Here’s to keeping the stench out of the dorm room (paper towel roll, dryer sheets, open window, air freshener, need I say more?).
Here’s to vapin’, rollin’ and smokin’. Here’s to edibles.
Here’s to automatic joint rollers, doob tubes and hemp beauty products. Here’s to cannabis cups, fairs and entrepreneurs.
Here’s to Doug Benson, Nancy Botwin, Willie Nelson and Tim Lincecum. Here’s to Harold and Kumar; I could easily see them fitting in at UCD.
Here’s to Bubba Kush, Blue Dream, Green Crack, Northern Lights and Trainwreck. Here’s to that GDP. Here’s to indicas, sativas, hybrids and not having preferences, too. Here’s to cross breeds, indoor and outdoor strains, glistening trichomes and deep hues of purple, orange and many shades of green.
Here’s to solitary smokers, deep in thought, blowing smoke out into the cool night air.
Here’s to intense hotboxing sessions where you not only release smoke from your mouth, but from your soul.
Here’s to great conversations, and exiting rooms that look like there were fog machines on.
Here’s to bonding.
Here’s to a fantastic, fruitful culture that crosses many boundaries.
Here’s to the medicinal, social, and as we’ve come to see, political and economical uses of marijuana.
Here’s to the growing recognition, popularity and acceptance of cannabis consumption.
Let’s have a toast – or perhaps a toke. The future will only be greener from here on out.
Reach MAY YANG at mayyang@ucdavis.edu.
