What's It Like Living in DC, Charles?

(This demented ride is verbatim, but as Charles learns, not for free.)

Maria: "Can you help me with this paper I need to get published?"

Charles: "Sure."

Maria: "It's about how these pregnant women are being imprisoned for using drugs."

Charles: "Aren't all people caught using drugs sent to jail, pregnant or not?"

Maria: "Yea, but they are excessively punished because they are harming their fetus. If the baby is stillborn or has birth defects they get charged with aggravated assault. It's a backdoor way pro-lifers can pass legislation. Soon all people harming a fetus could be punished...Abortion doctors, etc."

Charles: "Damn. What's the paper about?"

Maria: "It has to be a creative piece on how to show that that law is classist and racist. No white women have ever been convicted of that crime. And I want to show how raising kids, even though the women are taking street drugs, is ok. and they shouldn't be imprisoned"

Charles: "Ok. So you have to write a paper convincing people that the pregnant drug users need to considered or exonerated in some way?"

Maria: "Yes, sort of."

Charles: "That's sounds like it would be tough. What have you got so far?"

Maria: "Well I was going to talk about the time last year when I was pregnant"

Charles: "You were pregnant?"

Maria: "Yea, last year and I.."

Charles: "So you have a kid somewhere?"

Maria: "No, of course not. I got an abortion. But when I went to the doctor to see if I was pregnant I was addicted to Adenol and Xanax. The doctor prescribed me Adenol, but I stole the Xanax. When the doctor told me I was pregnant, she asked what medications I was on, and I told her. She told me I needed to get off the drugs if I was going to have the baby. Right then, I was about sixty percent sure I wasn't going to have it, so when I left the office I took the drugs anyway."

Charles: "You kept taking Xanax when you were pregnant?"

Maria: "Yea. When I got in the car, I took a Xanax to relieve the stress."

Charles: "Ok."

Maria: "But that doesn't mean I wouldn't be a good parent. My parents took drugs all the time, and I was raised in a household where my parents did drugs. My mother was manic and drank to soothe her pain, my father smoked pot to relieve his anxiety. When the cops came to our neighborhood, I was always so scared they were going to take my parents away. So I want to prove that although parents use drugs, they are still capable of raising children and shouldn't be put in jail."

Charles: "Are you serious?"

Maria: "Yes, why?"

Charles: "Well, sorry about this, but a lot of people think that pregnant drug users should be put in jail. You have certain responsibilities to yourself when you have a child. Taking drugs shows that you aren't responsible, are willing to put the baby in harm's way, and will set a bad example when the baby is born. Everyone knows this, and feels strongly about it."

Maria: "Really. I never thought of that Good point."

Charles: "Doing drugs is a choice, and if you choose to do it while you are pregnant, that's not good."

Maria: "But doing drugs in not a choice."

Charles: "Really. Why not?"

Maria: "A lot of people who do street drugs are doing them because they have some mental illness that's not diagnosed, that they can't get help for, so they take drugs instead."

Charles: "So all the crackheads were crazy to begin with? I though most drug users got swept up in different forms of peer pressure or the allure of gangs and selling drugs. But it's always a choice. You don't have to do drugs. Most people in the hood just can't see their lives having any meaning and sometimes try it to make it have meaning or to feel better about it having no meaning, but its always a choice."

Maria: "But you don't have a choice. All those people, their lives are so bad, and something happened to them and they can't get to a doctor to cope with it, so they have to do drugs. It's not a choice. So you can't blame those women."

Charles: "So, if your life is bad, you take drugs? It's natural causation? I saw some shit in the Bronx, but people still had hope. Kids wanted to achieve and not end up like their druggie parent or incarcerated older brother. But when I said you have to do your work so you won't end up like those guys hanging out in front of the Safeway all day, they listened. They knew it was up to them, and they knew they had an opportunity with their lives."

Maria: "But I grew up in those schools. You don't understand me. You are so judgmental."

Charles: "I'm just saying that most people think pregnant drug users should be in jail, and it would be hard to convince anyone otherwise."

Maria: "But it's not about that."

Charles: "What?"

Maria: "I haven't been talking about the paper for a long time. I think all drugs should be legal, and I don't think those women should be put in jail."

Charles: "Ok, but most people would disagree with you."

Maria: "This isn't about most people. This is about you and me. Why don't you want to understand what it was like for me growing up that my dad sold weed and my mom was drunk."

Charles: "This wasn't personal, but ok, convince me that your situation can speak to a larger audience and convince me and them that pregnant drug users deserve different consideration"

Maria: "This is not about convincing. God. "

Charles: "Calm down it's not a big deal."

Maria: "Calm down? How do you think you have the power to make me calm down?"

Charles: "It's just not a big deal, you don't have to raise your voice."

Maria: "So I can't get emotional."

Charles: "It's past midnight."

Maria: "You can't even see beyond your own experience. I have a question. When you taught in the Bronx, did they give you any training?"

Charles: "Uh, yea, kinda. It was kind of a joke."

Maria: "I know they taught you hard stuff like lesson planning,but did they teach you soft stuff like cultural differences."

Charles: "Yea, we had some discussions and they made us read a book."

Maria: "What book?"

Charles: "Amaxing Grace by Jonathan Kozo.."

Maria: "zol..figures. What did they teach you about cultural differences?"

Charles: "I don't know really. We talked about how some kids might come from different backgrounds, and hard living situations."

Maria: "Did they talk about how you were white and they are black?"

Charles: "Are you trying to provoke me at 12:30 about a topic I rarely like to speak about not on my own terms? And you know that. I'm going to have nightmares if I continue this. I'm ending this and going to bed."

Maria: "You are so fucking judgmental. You were talking about teaching before, but now I can't ask you about it?"

Charles: "Not like that. You were deliberately trying to provoke me with that bullshit."

Maria: "So you don't know there are differences between black and white? I was there. I was a student in one of your classes."

Charles: "Not really. I don't think you have any idea what went on in my classroom besides teacher of the year shiz"

Maria: "How come you get to be the judge of all those things. It's not funny. You are so fucking judgmental and set in your views. I just can't stand you. I'm leaving."

Charles: "I think that's a good idea."

Maria: "No wonder you live alone."

Charles: "Yep. I guess I get what I deserve."

Maria: "You always do."