Back To It

September blues: remember those? What I remember is people moaning about the melancholy they felt with the arrival of September, but once I got past the sadness of summer ending I never did have the September blues. After Labor Day weekend I’d be swept up in the anticipation, the possibilities and new beginnings that autumn always seemed to offer. Of course there were some awful autumns in my life, the worst years, when I waged my private battle with several addictions. I dreaded change of any kind, including the seasonal ones. I wanted the world to hold still while I found my balance and figured out how to move on, what to do next. Luckily, I got help with those addictions 25 years ago and I once again love the changing of the seasons.

Going back to school or work or, in too many cases today, simply continuing the job hunt, can be daunting, especially if you’re trying to hold on to some semblance of sobriety. Life seems to be going by so much faster these days, with experience coming at us at a much younger age than ever before, including becoming a slave to addictions. Alcohol companies are taking advantage of this with their aggressive online advertising campaigns directed at the youth market, against which parents, let alone their kids, don’t stand a chance. See the article “Going Viral” on page 7 by Ames K. Sweet (writer and Together staff editor).

So where does an adolescent addict in recovery turn when there is no clear choice for a sober education? Or the high school graduate heading off to college for the first time, what choice does he or she have for living quarters not drenched in booze or drugs? Read our cover story on Sober Highs by Lesley Logan (author and Together staff editor) followed by an article on Sober Dorms, whose anonymous writer works on the front lines at an (also anonymous) East Coast college whose party school credentials are well established.

September’s promise of change includes a brand new season of TV shows. Even if you’re not addicted to TV watching you can’t have avoided hearing or reading about the explosion of addiction shows now on the air. David Felton (seasoned journalist who you probably read back in the day in Rolling Stone or more recently laughed to on MTV) sat down and watched many episodes of many addiction shows, became hooked and gave us a terrific piece on the spreading phenomenon of public-reality-breakdown-celebrity-gut-wrenching shows.

Money, money, money

No matter what the season, money is on our minds and, lately, not so much of it in our wallets. And even though it may be more difficult to get credit these days, we can usually find a way, especially as the holidays creep ever closer. But before you whip out that card to spend on something you may not need, read the Together Interview with Jerrold Mundis (pgs 12-13) by Charles M. Young (another Rolling Stone journalist we’re proud to call our own).

If all of the above weren’t enough, also in this issue there’s news, expert opinion, in-depth reporting and first person accounts that cover what’s happening in National Recovery Month here in New York, sleep issues, work issues and more.

If you read our first issue, you saw our review of “Crazy Heart,” the movie that won Jeff Bridges his first well-deserved Academy Award. Because we at Together have a particular slant on things, Kurt Brokaw, our resident movie critic, will be reviewing many old and new movies in our continuing series of Addiction in the Movies. This month he chooses his ten favorites and in subsequent issues will expand on some of them. Take a look (pg 19); there may be one or two that you missed and need to add to your list of must sees.

We Want to Hear From You

Some of us here at Together went to the International AA Convention in San Antonio in early July and handed out thousands of our first issue to what we believe is our core audience. We got great feedback, many subscriptions and heard stories of the magazine being passed around, talked about, and even admired. We hope it stimulated many discussions.

So, if you were there – or even if you weren’t — tell us what you like, what you don’t like, what you’d like to see in our pages. What areas are we not covering? What trends in addiction and/or recovery are you seeing out there? Write to us: letters@together.us.com. Go to our website: www.together.us.com, read us online, friend us on Facebook, Tweet us. And join our online community (not yet up and running, but keep coming back, it’ll be so real soon).

Thanks for listening. Have a gorgeous and serene September and October. We’ll see you again in November; just in time for the three-fold threat to sobriety: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.