Can Sobriety Be Cool?
Categories: Teens & tweens, Alcohol & Drugs
Huey Lewis' classic anthem about The JULES group started out as a support group for friends of Julie Zdeblick, a Middleton High School junior who died of a drug overdose in 2004. It has become, however, "more of an awareness group and social group," according to the group's president, Ali Stone, 17. "We're trying to change the culture of cool," she explains. "Our message is that it's cool to be sober. You will still have fun. You will still have friends."
When I was in high school, the crowd I hung out with drank. Actually, that's not entirely accurate -- they drank a lot. I drank a lot. I don't know if such a group would have made difference to me and my friends, but I think that for a lot of kids, a non-alcoholic option is a good thing to have on a Friday night.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
David 1-24-2009 @ 6:58PM
Great Idea Kids need to see that fun doesn't have to come in a bottle or a pill form
Reply
Nikki 1-25-2009 @ 3:00AM
Sobriety is the best...and it can be tons of fun, it just depends on what you make of it.
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ame s 1-26-2009 @ 6:49PM
I graduated in 1986 from a small county high school. I think there were more of us who did drink on weekends than kids who didn't. I knew a handful that would sneak liquor into school 2 or 3 days a week. Some would add it to their soft drinks. One girl kept hers in an empty hair spray bottle.
If a kid wasn't on a sports team, there really wasn't much to do in our town. We'd note which direction the 2 "marked" police cars and the "under cover" car took off at shift change on weekend nights, and head off in the other direction with our beer. My late-husband was able to buy alcohol at age 19. I could buy it at several local stores at 16 because I looked older.
I'm honest with my daughters, age 9 and 11, about drinking. My late-husbands father, mother, and stepmother were alcoholics, as was my current husband's father. I tell them both that a time will come when a friend offers them alcohol and please don't try it,because odds are that they Will like it.
We stress academics, sports, and good friends in our home. We live in a town that has many activities to offer for kids and teens, and I'll keep a close eye on my kids until they are old enough to live on their own. That's really all I can do.
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Don 1-26-2009 @ 7:16AM
When I was in high school there was a group of kids that were part of a network of kids through out the country call Straight Edge. They were kids that were completely sober, they held sober concerts and other activities with the strict rule of no alcohol or drugs allowed, along with only sober people allowed to enter.
I hadn't seen the Straight Edge symbol since high school until last year at a large scale music festival I noticed a group of teenagers all with Straight Edge shirts on.
It's nice to see that something like that is out there for kids who want to be sober yet still want to be included in a group.
Reply
stan kaczmarski 2-12-2009 @ 11:00AM
Most of the kids I hung around with in high school drank and quite heavily at that.
There were more then average young people dying of either alcohol asphyxiation or running a car into a tree.
I personally drove my car off of a cliff while drinking and lived to tell about it.
I now belong to a fraternity of people that one day at a time no longer have a need to drink or use drugs.
There are young people in the thousands here in California and far more nationally, that belong to our younger sober set that can tell you that to be who you are to become, to be who you are meant to be and to be happy joyous and free can be obtained through sobriety.
You will always be in fashion when you are true to yourself"
And,
"Life Loves those who dare to live it"
~Maya Angelou.~
Google ICYPAA
Stan
Reply