Lectures at the fralin biomedical research institute
Lectures at the fralin biomedical research institute
MOVIES and DOCUMENTARIES
(2021). Four Good Days, starring Glenn Close and Mila Kunis and based on a true story, is a movie that looks at addiction through a mother’s perspective. The daughter in the movie has been in programs to fight substance use 14 different times but always seems to relapse. Throughout the movie, the mother decides to help her daughter fight through 4 crucial days of recovery from substance use. Throughout the hardships and heartbreak in the film, the struggles of recovery are very well represented.
ART
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We are always looking for artists to contribute to our gallery. If you would like to submit art, poetry, or other visual media to be featured on our website, please email us at iqrr@vtc.vt.edu.
Featured Artist
Debra Keirce
Debra Keirce has a story that is her reason for creating each original oil painting in her Northern Virginia studios. She insists that her stories are just the jumping off point though. Her hope is that every collector experiences her fine art in a way that allows them to finish or rewrite the stories she starts.
Debra is an internationally acclaimed and collected master artist. She paints in a classical realism style. Her art ranges from miniature palm sized pieces created under lighted magnifiers, up to four foot tall mantle sized works. Debra's art is in permanent collections of museums in Montana and Tennessee, and corporate collections in Amazon Web Services. She is also represented by four reputable galleries, and three juried societies. She is an active signature member of several art societies.
Debra's art relates to addiction because as far back as can be traced, five generations at least, both her maternal and paternal relatives have been impacted by severe alcoholism. The disease has shortened lives, broken families apart, and wreaked devastation on the people she holds most dear.
Much of her art has a story thread about how there is great beauty and joy, even in dark places. Her pub scenes show the reflections and abstract color shapes that decorate walls and countertops that hear the achievements AND the losses of alcoholics daily. Her cocktail glasses hold candy bars or flowers because even though alcoholism is a tough hand to be dealt, people so often rise above the disease and put much beauty and good into the world.
There is a stigma associated with addiction, and it hampers communication. Debra believes that recovery is hard enough, without the fact that our culture in North America has a deep misunderstanding of it. She has seen firsthand that you don't need childhood trauma to be an alcoholic. You don't choose to be an alcoholic. You can't just say no to drugs and alcohol if you are an alcoholic. There but for the grace of God, you are NOT an alcoholic if you don't understand this in every cell in your being.
Through her art, Keirce conveys experiences. She wants for people to enjoy the beauty with all of their senses. She wants for collectors to feel the emotions, but walk away smiling and hopeful.
To learn more, visit her website at www.DebKArt.com
BOOKS
Beloved former ABC 20/20 anchor Elizabeth Vargas reveals her alcohol addiction and anxiety disorder in a shockingly honest and emotional memoir. From the moment she uttered the brave and honest words, "I am an alcoholic," to interviewer George Stephanopoulos, Elizabeth Vargas began writing her story, as her experiences were still raw. In Between Breaths, Vargas reveals how she found herself living in denial about the extent of her addiction, and how she kept her dependency a secret for so long. She addresses her time in rehab, her first year of sobriety, and the guilt she felt as a working mother who could never find the right balance between a career and parenting. Honest and hopeful, Between Breaths is an inspiring read.
MUSIC
This playlist includes some of our favorite addiction recovery music across various genres
PODCASTS
Join Angela Pugh, a recovery coach who specializes in alcohol use and addiction. Addiction Unlimited is full of tips on recovery and mental well-being, from relationship advice to establishing a healthy morning routine. There are also stories from other people in sobriety and expert guests who will encourage you to find, build, and sustain recovery in the ways that you need.
POETRY
How much grit do you think you’ve got?
Can you quit a thing that you like a lot?
You may talk of pluck; it’s an easy word,
And where’er you go it is often heard;
But can you tell to a jot or guess
Just how much courage you now possess?
You may stand to trouble and keep your grin,
But have you tackled self-discipline?
Have you ever issued commands to you
To quit the things that you like to do,
And then, when tempted and sorely swayed,
Those rigid orders have you obeyed?
Don’t boast of your grit till you’ve tried it out,
Nor prate to men of your courage stout,
For it’s easy enough to retain a grin
In the face of a fight there’s a chance to win,
But the sort of grit that is good to own
Is the stuff you need when you’re all alone.
How much grit do you think you’ve got?
Can you turn from joys that you like a lot?
Have you ever tested yourself to know
How far with yourself your will can go?
If you want to know if you have grit,
Just pick out a joy that you like, and quit.
It’s bully sport and it’s open fight;
It will keep you busy both day and night;
For the toughest kind of a game you’ll find
Is to make your body obey your mind.
And you never will know what is meant by grit
Unless there’s something you’ve tried to quit.