A Short Story: You Re Not Drinking

Drinking, A Love Story, Written by Caroline Knapp: Is an insider’s story about fighting the battle of alcoholism and addiction, victoriously winning sobriety. Caroline Knapp fought her addiction for 20 years before becoming sober. “The Drink” as she called it, was her true love. The most beloved form being a good crisp dry white wine, but any form would do. She fell in love with alcohol at a young age and loved everything about it. The smell, the sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle, the cold liquid anesthesia running down the back of her throat after a long day at the office, the routine of drinking, but most of all she loved the way alcohol made her feel.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver. Named “One of the true contemporary masters,” by Robert Towers of The New York Times Review of Books, Carver creates fiction that opens the reader’s eyes to a seldom spoken of, but all too real, part of American life. Alcoholism, and its ability to destroy families and escalate domestic disputes into violence, was a common theme throughout Carver’s short stories. Though there are many equally powerful themes in all of the stories, alcoholism is the driving force behind most of the misfortune in “Gazebo” and “A Serious Talk.”

“80 percent of teen-agers have tried alcohol, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in the top three causes of death among teens: accidents, homicide and suicide” (Underage, CNN.com pg 3). Students may use drinking as a form of socializing, but is it really as good as it seems? The tradition of drinking has developed into a kind of “culture” fixed in every level of the college student environment. Customs handed down through generations of college drinkers reinforce students' expectation that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for social success. These perceptions of drinking are the going to ruin the lives of the students because it will lead to the development alcoholism. College students who drink a lot, while in a college

My relationship with drugs first began during my senior year of high school. While most of my peers attended their first parties years earlier, my first was not until I was already 17 years old. I still remember feeling so cool for attending my first party and having my first sip of alcohol. The feeling of being drunk was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I felt liberated, like I could break out of my quiet shell and be that fun, goofy person that everyone wanted to hang out with. Prior to this night I had never used any type of substance, legal or illegal. Since then I have continued using alcohol while also trying various different types of drugs including caffeine, marijuana, tobacco, and adderall.

Jeannette’s parents tried to embrace in their children, to live life to its extent. As you can imagine, the parents lived mostly on the wild side. Rose Mary, a drug addicts who worries about herself constantly. She endlessly searches through garbage and panhandles for money, usually forgetting everything that is occurring at the exact moment. If

Jeannette’s father was a heavy alcoholic. He would often claim he was researching information for the prospector leave the house and come back drunk. After he arrived home he would get into fights with Rose Mary, over simple things which involved name calling and sometimes violence. In one of the fights

Lila lay on her bed staring at the ceiling thinking over the events of the evening. The more she recalled, the more she was mortified for acting like a love sick, slobbering idiot in front of not only the most beautiful man she’d ever met, but he was her best friends cousin of all things! Lila groaned, burying her head into her pillow. She tried to console herself by thinking she would never see him again. She could avoid him by simply not going back there. It wouldn’t be too difficult to do. She would never have the guts to venture to a club like that on her own. This is exactly the reason that Rachael had taken her there. Lila was trying to convince herself he was charming to all the ladies. He worked at a night club. Of course he would

Finally, Rose develops greater self-awareness, a greater awareness of others and the ability to consider multiple perspectives, as shown by her mental consideration of the possible repercussions for accusing the minister of harassment or asking him to take his hand away. Her evidence of awareness for herself and others is demonstrated through her inability to ask the minister to take his hands away. Due to an increased awareness of others, Rose feared the other passengers would fixate their attention on her, showing her shyness in through her mental thoughts. “She shaped the words [please don’t] in her mind, tried

Achieving sobriety is the ultimate goal for all patients recovering from an addiction to drugs or alcohol. However, the road to long-term sobriety can be long and challenging. That’s why it’s important to understand the benefits of getting sober. When roadblocks appear on the road to recovery, it can be helpful to remember what you’re gaining by giving up alcohol and/or drugs.

The erratic and unreliable behavior of Rose Mary Walls’ insured her failure to provide for her family, which ultimately aided them in their lasting homelessness. Throughout The Glass Castle, there are moments where Rose Mary has a chance to make a decision that would better her as well as her family, yet, she repeatedly ignores these valuable prospects and makes the choice to do what she believes would make her, individually, happy. An example of these actions is when Rose Mary goes to school to renew her teaching certificate.

I understand that, at least for me at the time, drinking was a way of connecting with friends, to socialize with strangers, and to alleviate the shyness. But in hindsight, I noticed there was a change from wanting to needing a drink.  It was a way to deal with the tree of work and life itself. Years later now my wife and son are in the picture, I do my best not drink "that much" at home, but still finding a myriad of excuses to do so.

"I don 't even have any mint - mojito" Stiles implied as he reached into his pocket to only to pull out the gum. "

“I…” Nyame trailed off, taken aback by his reply. She watched wordlessly for a few moments as he guzzled down another glass of wine. That should have stopped her. Alex drinking so much was a sure sign that he was beyond the anger point. She could visibly see the change in his eyes, the way he spoke where biting in tempo. It was all downhill from here. There would be no reconciliation tonight and somewhere in her heart she regretted that but it was background noise to her enraged thoughts.

Darlene turned off her cell phone and tossed it into her bag. She batted at her cheeks, and Walker pretended that her tears were invisible. If she was upset over anything else, he would try and comfort her. When it came to the subject of Tracey’s recent heavy alcoholism, though, he backed off. It had only taken one punch from her small, accurate fists to learn the topic was off limits unless she started the conversation.

“Salut,” the guests had repeated, clinking glasses and sharing smiles. I felt so happy, but as I looked over to Giovanna, my grin had disappeared. She typically is the life of the party and is extremely joyful, but she was just gloomily staring down at her glass with an ashamed look on her face.