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The White Noise

The White Noise


A hit of addiction and mental illness, chased by chemistry and culture.
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    Cassie Rodenberg I write on culture, poverty, and addiction, and teach public school in New York City's South Bronx, recovering from stints as a chemist and interactive TV producer. Follow on Twitter @cassierodenberg.
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  • The No-Help Cycle: Jail Fails Addicts

    Sonya

    This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ————————- Sonya and Eric: Hunts Point, Bronx. Courtesy of Chris Arnade. Sonya’s going to court today to see [...]

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    Who Feels the War on Drugs? Two Hours in Drugs and Poverty

    Brenda

    This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ————————- In response to the newly-released US 2013 National Drug Strategy (PDF), I’ve written a portrait of those [...]

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    Beauty and the K2: Synthetic Marijuana Dependence

    Beauty: One Year Later

    This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ————————- A year since I met her, Beauty smokes more K2 (a synthetic cannabinoid) than she ever has, [...]

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    One Year Later: Why I Still Write on Addiction in the Bronx

    Cassie, Bronx

    It’s been over a year since I first went to Hunts Point, Bronx, since I first spoke to the people who would grow to consume most of my daily thought-stream. Here is a reblog of my original post on the community, now having made hundreds of trips to the neighborhood instead of just five. In [...]

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    To Read: “Addiction Inbox” Anthology (Review)

    book cover

    Addiction remains a topic riddled with bad science commentary and outdated beliefs, mainly because no one wants to talk about it. One of my favorite drug and addiction writers Dirk Hansen has tied his posts, those covered in his Addiction Inbox blog, together in an anthology — a fascinating and detailed one, about questions and [...]

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    Roland: Children’s Group Home to Drugs to Jail … Now What?

    Roland

    This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ————————- Roland: Hunts Point. Courtesy of Chris Arnade. Roland’s new to drugs and the street life at 21 [...]

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    Sleeping on Pins: A Life Without Opiates

    Charlie

    This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ————————- Opiate withdrawal refers to the wide range of symptoms that occur after stopping or dramatically reducing opiate [...]

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    Guest Post: Coping with Addiction in STEM Education

    science ed

    I’ve asked a scientist who has struggled with mental health issues and substance abuse through STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) graduate school to write about it, to highlight the pressures faced and the way problems are noticed, exacerbated and often, perhaps unintentionally, masked over the course of education. This as well as other recent [...]

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    A New Welcome, Why I Write on Addiction Culture

    Question_mark

    Welcome, if you’re new to SciAm Mind, or to me. I write on addiction and the culture surrounding it, something that morphed from my original focus of addiction and mental illness chemistry (though I’ll still delve into that sometimes). This is mainly why, but let me explain more. Because we don’t like to talk about [...]

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    A Family’s Struggle: Heroin, a Life Saga

    Michael and his mom

    This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ————————- In late January, Michael traveled with his friend Pepsi, Chris and I to visit his parents in [...]

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