Ina Coolbrith: A Bittersweet Life

Ina Coolbrith at age 30

Though she consorted with fellow writer Mark Twain, and was an influence on Jack London—both of whom tried hashish—it's doubtful Ina Coolbrith ever got the chance. Her duties to her family and others scarcely allowed her time to pursue her literary career, much less indulge in exotic pleasures.

Born into a Mormon family that was exiled and traveled by wagon train to California, her biography Ina Coolbrith: The Bittersweet Song of California's First Poet Laureate by Aleta George details the hardship she and many women of the time endured.

Fleeing an early abusive marriage in Los Angeles, Coolbrith and her family moved to San Francisco in 1862. When she wasn't busy taking care of her mother and siblings and their household, she was supporting them by working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week at the Oakland Free Library, where she was librarian. Her hours were so long that she usually stayed on a cot in the basement, eventually moving to Oakland.  

The hardest part of her arduous life was not finding the time to write, and watching her compatriots like Twain and Joaquin Miller (whom she named) have successful writing careers. She even cared for Miller's daughter while he went off and laid a wreath of California laurel she had made at Lord Byron's grave, something she longed to do. Miller read aloud Ina's poem to Byron as he placed her wreath: 

O winds, that ripple the long grass!
O winds, that kiss the jeweled sea!
Grow still and lingering as you pass
About this laurel tree.

Kerry Washington & Girlfriends Light Little Fires Everywhere

Kerry Washington plays an artist who finds inspiration in weed in Little Fire Everywhere 

I hadn't realized it, but I spent National Girlfriend Day yesterday binge watching Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere, the female-produced adaptation of the acclaimed Celeste Ng novel about race, class, motherhood and more. 

Set in the "planned community" of Shaker Heights, Ohio where Wu lived growing up, the series was co-produced by her and by series stars Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon, among others, including Lynn Shelton, the beloved actress/writer/director/producer who died unexpectedly in May at the age of 54 from acute myeloid leukemia.

Unlike the book, the series shows Washington's character Mia, an artist and single mother, smoking a marijuana pipe in her studio, and in her car before starting one of her menial jobs. Washington tweeted in answer to the question, "What was the most fun thing to bring to life on screen?" like this: 

As a producer, the most fun thing was the HOMECOMING and maybe the FIRE! As an actor... smoking weed 😂 and making artwork!!! #FireQuestions https://t.co/q49PQSCMLe

— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) March 26, 2020

Marijuana-Smoking Musicians Alanis Morissette and Liz Phair Go Inward

Singer-songwriters Alanis Morissette and Liz Phair were set to tour together this summer; instead a dual interview with them was published today in the LA Times. 

The two breakthrough artists made headlines and trended on Twitter by opening up about being female in a male-dominated rock world back in the day. They also talked about how songwriting helped them navigate life, and not feel "insane."

"Not many people can sit with themselves and go inward and investigate," Phair observed. "A lot of people avoid it. But the pandemic has certainly forced people to do that."

"But for introverts and empaths, the internal world is heaven. It’s rich," Morissette replied.

Phair puffs on The Joe Rogan Experience

Phair has spoken out in favor of marijuana legalization since 1993, and smoked pot with Joe Rogan on his podcast in 2018.
"I was never much into alcohol. I prefer marijuana," she said. "Marijuana is like shining a flashlight onto your unconscious." Morissette told High Times magazine in 2009, "As an artist, there's a sweet jump-starting quality to [marijuana] for me...So if ever I need some clarity... it's a quick way for me to get to it."

George Lopez to Willie Nelson: Can Someone Be Too High?

George Lopez interviews Willie Nelson on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

It was "Lopez Tonight" all over again as George Lopez, who got lots of stars like Cameron Diaz to "out" their marijuana use as the first Mexican-American talk show host, guest hosted on Jimmy Kimmel's show tonight and interviewed Very Important Pothead Willie Nelson.

"Cannabis is so widely accepted now—marijuana—is it shocking to you, how well it's being received?" Lopez asked. "No, I always knew that people would realize its benefits, and I think now that it's legal medicinally in 30 states and a lot of states recreationally, it's on the way, and I think it's a good thing," was the response.

Beecham House and Bhang

NOTE: I tried not to include "spoilers" but you might want to watch the series before reading too much of this!

The Empress  (Tisca Chopra) and her hookah in Beecham House.

Beecham House, the current PBS Masterpiece* series from female director/producer and force of nature Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham, etc.) presents an Indian, and a female, point of view of the British occupation of India. The sets and costumes are spectacular, and the acting is top notch. And yes, there are drugs.

Set on the cusp of the 19th century in Delhi just before the British ruled in that region, we're first introduced to hookah smoking by Daniel Beecham, the bad brother of the British protagonist, who is enjoying himself in a brothel, exhaling smoke like a devil while ominous music plays at the end of Episode 1.

It was likely hemp in the hookah. The extensive Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report, completed in 1894 by the British,was over 3,000 pages long, and detailed the many traditional religious practices of India regarding cannabis, concluding that the use of hemp was common among Indian people and that, at least in moderate doses, it had little or no detrimental physical or moral effects on them or their society.

Women Increasingly Find Marijuana Smoking "Morally Acceptable"

Women aren't buying into the propaganda anymore.

UPDATE 11/20: The newest Gallup poll has 69% of men and 66% of women supporting legalization, only a three-point difference. 

According to the latest Gallup poll, 70% of Americans say that it is morally acceptable for adults to smoke marijuana, an increase of five percentage points since Gallup last posed the question in 2019.

The jump is attributable to a change in women's perception. In 2019, 62% of women said they thought smoking marijuana was acceptable, compared to 69% of men. This year, 70% of women and said they approve, an increase of 8%, while the same 69% of men were in approval.

By contrast, drinking alcohol is now OK with 88% of men and 84% of women. On other issues, 90% of the public think birth control is morally acceptable, with 93% of women approving, compared to 86% of men; 47% of women and 42% of men approve of abortion; and 71% of women and 61% of men say having a baby outside of marriage is OK. On the death penalty, 62% of men currently approve and only 47% of women do.

Trump Clemency Grantee Alice Marie Johnson Responds to Stone Commutation

Longtime, tremendously hard-working prisoner advocate Amy Povah of the Cando Clemency Foundation clued me into this story on her Facebook page. Please support her and other groups working for prison reform.

Roger can get Stoned with his Richard Nixon bong while
thousands of nonviolent drug offenders wait for clemency. 

The vile Roger Stone* is getting a pass for perjury and other crimes, in part because he could be at risk for COVID-19 if he goes to prison. Meanwhile, thousands of at-risk, nonviolent prisoners remain behind bars with outrageously long sentences, and Trump is talking about withholding federal education funds if schools decide they'd rather not confine students and teachers in an unsafe space this fall.

I agree with Adam Schiff: "With Trump there are now two systems of justice in America: One for Trump's criminal friends and one for everyone else." (NPR missed the "criminal" when they reported that this morning.) Kamala Harris tweeted, "Trump commutes the prison sentence of Roger Stone while the officers that killed Breonna Taylor are still free. The two systems of justice in this country must end."

Johnson's case was highlighted at the 2019 State of the Union speech.

Trump made a public spectacle in 2019 of granting clemency to Alice Marie Johnson, a black grandmother who had served almost 22 years for a first-time, nonviolent drug crime until she was advocated for by Kim Kardashian. On her reality show, Kim is shown meeting about Johnson with Trump, who only wants to talk about her suck-up husband Kanye West.