If there's one thing our generation knows all about, it's the effects of drugs and alcohol abuse. It's taught and re-taught to us throughout grade school, not to mention its constant presence in media, whether it's an anti-drug commercial or a Pulp Fiction re-run. But on Sunday, October 24, two guest speakers gave a presentation at the AMR I multi-purpose room unlike anything you could watch from your couch.
Jesse and Diana, two former Hopkins students and victims of alcoholism, chose to recount their stories to a predominantly freshman audience. While both are now sober and in the Alcoholics Anonymous program, Jesse and Diana agree that to them, the idea of one or two drinks is a foreign concept.
While no one can deny the severity of full-fledged alcoholism, the idea seems just as foreign to many college students. While most undergrads may not have a true physical addiction to alcohol, heavy, unchecked drinking is a step towards such an addiction.
It was in light of such dangers that a peer listening organization, A Place to Talk, took the initiative to bring Jesse and Diana to an audience that had much to benefit from their words.
A Place to Talk is an organization that trains peer listeners over the course of a semester in constructive listening skills. These peer listeners sit shifts at AMR I, awaiting any student in need of advice, counseling, or simply a chat about their day.
The true purpose of the event was to provide students with "someone who could recount their experiences and relate to the students without preaching," says Senior Laura Kushner, a member of the organization.
The first to recount his story, Jesse, began drinking at the age of 16. He was the typical "weekend warrior," as he put it, and all veracious weekend-drinking aside, he did well in school, played on the football team, and was active in the student government. It was only when Jesse came to Hopkins that drinking began to take control of his life. Jesse was unhappy in his first months at Hopkins; he thought the campus to be bleak, and began to drink heavily as a result. Not only was his drinking a problem, but his behavior as well.
"I used to hit people in the face when I got drunk, which was not so good," said Jesse.
It was this behavior that would cause much trouble for him at the end of his freshman year. Jesse was involved in a fight after drinking heavily and was arrested as a result. He was then suspended for a semester and during this time, decided to quit drinking for three months.
Jesse returned to school and during his sophomore year joined a fraternity, only to revive his old habits. He began drinking heavily every day of the week, neglecting classes and his job to sit and drink in front of the television.
He did this for some time, sinking deeper and deeper into his addiction, and it was only in March of 2001, only two months after Jesse's twenty-first birthday, that he had decided it was enough. He decided to seek help from Alcoholics Anonymous, the program that helps him stay sober today.
Diana recounted a similar story, her history of alcohol consumption beginning at age 15 and increasing throughout high school. Once at Hopkins, Diana drank several times a week, rarely went to class and went through four periods of academic probation.
Yet for some reason, Diana never connected her problems with drinking. Rather, she believed she was depressed. She quit the field hockey team sophomore year and soon after withdrew from the university. Diana returned to school after a time, but simply wasn't able to keep up with classes and academics while drinking in the manner that she did.
She continued to neglect classes and maintain her drinking habits, and when her roommates sat her down with an ultimatum of either sobriety or a new place to live, Diana was outraged. Convinced that they had no right to tell her how to live her own life, Diana continued on with her addiction.
It was only at a fraternity house one night that Diana came to a realization; "I knew that if I didn't find something to help me, I was going to do this until I died," says Diana.
She sought help at the Hopkins counseling center, for what she still thought was mostly depression. Diana, however, finally found solace in the Alcoholics Anonymous program, which allows her to live a happy and productive life today.
The stories told by these two recovering alcoholics begin not so differently from many of our own. It's only within the environment of college that problems began to surface for Jesse and Diana, and such facts hit home for many of the underclassmen listening.
One student asked both speakers if they thought it was ok to have a few drinks every now and then. However, for Jesse and Diana, they are powerless to follow any path other than sobriety. While the stories were morbid, the endings were hopeful.
Their concluding message: "Alcoholism is a self-diagnosed disease. The best you can do for someone is point them in the right direction."
