We Don't Need No Water...

            Let the motherfucker burn.  From lighting up to burning one down, to live in Burlington is to be surrounded by a constant stream of smokers.  Pot smokers, cigarette smokers, hookah smokers, midnight tokers...  The list goes on and on.  Despite it's nasty side effects (like that whole dying thing) college students across the nation are hacking butts.

            To be completely honest, I judge cigarette smokers.  I always have.  It floors me how anyone my age, who grew up knowing that the effects of smoking tobacco can be lethal, still continue to smoke.  And yet… I’ve smoked.  I’m not proud of it and I’m really not proud of the fact that I just admitted that I’m a total hypocrite, but it’s true.  Even though I know how awful and disgusting it is for my body and health, I wanted to try it.  The question is: Why?

            Anyone who’s seen the famous poster of Johnny Depp smoking what I presume is a cigarette (though could very well be a joint) and playing the piano cannot deny that’s it’s a dead-sexy picture.  Most of my guy friends even admit given the chance they’d “tap that.”  Maybe it’s just the fact that Johnny Depp himself is (at least in my opinion) dead sexy.  But I can’t help but admit that part of his allure stems from the cigarette held nonchalantly between his lips as the smoke creates a foggy aura of seduction.  Taking this image into consideration, I draw two conclusions: 1. American culture’s over-exposure to pop-culture and Hollywood definitely creates a false sense of a cigarette’s charm and 2. There’s something about the actual smoke that one exhales that evokes a sense of fascination and adds to a cigarette’s appeal.

            In an attempt to better my understanding of the history of this annoyingly appealing (and deadly) pastime, I visited the Fleming Museum’s newest exhibit Up In Smoke.  I have to admit that from a distance, the exhibit doesn’t look like much and to be totally honest, it’s not the best exhibit I’ve seen at the museum.  However, it does seem to be the most relevant.  Though the labels are permeated by typos, they begin to explore the complex and ancient pastime of smoking.  Smoking began as a ritual in the ancient worlds of Tibet and eastern Asia.  The very act was thought to have both physical and mental benefits and still is considered medicinal by a variety of cultures.  In our society, smoking tobacco became a pastime for Americans, as it was one of its primary cash crops since before the Revolution.  Smoking spurred conversation and relaxation and tobacco’s addictive qualities caused users to receive a certain level of satisfaction from it that could otherwise not be attained.  Advertisement agencies and eventually Hollywood transformed it from a mere hobby (or addiction) into a rebellious and provocative act of defiance.  A person smoking a cigarette had a sense of danger about him.

            However, what struck me as most interesting about the exhibit was the section that did not necessarily focus on the act of smoking but rather the literal smoke itself.  Smoke is the product of fire, man’s most beloved and fear possession.  Without it, we cannot survive (especially up here in Vermont) and yet we fear it nonetheless.  Especially those of use who were here and witnessed the crazy fire on Pearl Street over the summer are all too familiar with that feeling of awe that can only be induced when one is staring at Mother Nature’s unforgiving magnificence.  Watching the flames engulf that building as onlookers stood helplessly around it makes one feel mighty small in the face of nature.  We love to watch a fire burn in a fireplace, where we can control it; and yet we fear the ramifications if it gets out of our control. 

            On some level, I see the very act of smoking as one more attempt not only to control the great force of fire but to literally take it into our bodies.  The only thing that can produce smoke is fire; but when we smoke, that’s exactly what we watch ourselves exhale.  It’s a way of becoming one with one of the elements of our world.  And while there’s still no excuse to indulge in such a life-threatening activity, I can’t help but think the ancient smokers were on to something.