(gentle music) - Coming up next on this special literary edition of "Arizona Horizon," we'll meet the local author of a new memoir about growing up in a strict Rastafari family in Jamaica.

Also, tonight, a new book examines how drugs have shaped American society.

And the author of a new book explains why people should stop exhausting themselves, trying to be happy all the time.

It's all ahead on this special edition of "Arizona Horizon."

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Thank you.

- Good evening, and welcome to the special literary edition of "Arizona Horizon."

I'm Ted Simons.

A new memoir by an ASU Associate English professor recounts her experiences growing up and eventually breaking free from a strict Rastafari family in Jamaica.

The book is titled, "How to Say Babylon" and chronicles a life of self deliverance.

The book's author, Safiya Sinclair, joined us on "Arizona Horizon" shortly after her appearance on the "Today Show."

(screen whooshing) Thank you so much for joining us.

- Thanks for having me.

- Was this book brewing for a while?

Or was there a spark?

- It was brewing for a while.

I mean, I always say that it's a memoir, so it's like a lifetime in the making.

But I first started thinking about it like 10 years ago.

Or a decade ago after I'd left Jamaica and came to Charlottesville to do my Master's in Virginia.

But it was the first time where I felt in my leaving of home that there was some finality to it, or there was some shift in my leaving, and I began to think about writing this story.

- Yeah, yeah.

Rastafarianism, Rastafari.

What is that?

What are the beliefs?

We think we know, but let's face it, we know about the music.

- [Safiya] Yes.

We know about the visuals, the surface stuff.

- [Safiya] Right.

- What is it?

- A lot of Rastafari, they don't even say it's a religion.

They say it's a way of life, and they call it livity.

But the Rastafari faith is based in, it's born out of anti-colonial theory.

It was born when Jamaica was still under British colonial rule.

It was born from an aspiration of Black Jamaicans yearning for their independence, and they found that inspiration for that Black freedom in the emperor, Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian emperor, who at the time was the only Black ruler in the world, and Ethiopia was the only Black nation to never be colonized.

And so for the Rastafari, Haile Selassie then became this really big, aspirational figure.

He became a myth, a man, a part of the movement.

And they hardened around this and around this idea of Black liberation and repatriation to Africa.

- Yeah.

And your book starts with a visit from Haile Selassie, which is, it's beautifully written.

And you forget that this, he was like a deity, for goodness sakes.

I mean, they were just, they surrounded that plane, and he wouldn't get off the plane.

- He wouldn't get, he was kinda scared.

- Yeah.

- Because he arrived in Jamaica.

This was 30 years after the movement had begun.

And so this was his first time landing in Jamaica.

There were hundreds of thousands of Rastafari who flocked the airport.

I mean, how often do you get to see a group of people meet their messiah?

- [Ted] Yes.

- Face to face.

And so, but when he arrived, they had swarmed the plane so fervently that he was kind of scared to leave.

- [Ted] Yes.

- But when he did, the Prime Minister in Jamaica had laid out this very prim and proper welcome party.

They had a red carpet rolled out for him, but Haile Selassie, instead of stepping on the red carpet, he stepped onto the muddy ground of the tarmac and the Rastafari, to them, that meant everything.

- It was humility.

It was a humble thing to do.

- There was that he was walking on the same ground as them.

- Your father was a Rastafari with a capital R. Talk to us about him, your relationship, relatively quickly, if you can, 'cause there's so much to get through here.

- Yeah.

- But this was quite a guy.

And you were raised under quite a situation.

- I mean, yes, he's a very militant Rasta brethren.

He believes deeply in one of the stricter sects of Rastafari called Nyahbinghi.

And so this governs the way that we were supposed to dress, the things that we could eat, whether we could have friends or not.

And so the rules were stricter on me and my sisters and my mother than they were for my brother.

We had to cover our arms and our knees and we couldn't wear jewelry or makeup.

All of that was seen as the trappings of vanity of Babylon.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- [Ted] Thus Babylon.

- Yeah.

- But your mom introduced you to books.

- [Safiya] Yes.

- And words.

- [Safiya] Yes.

- And they, I mean, this literally freed you.

Talk to us about the path of breaking free from such a rigid lifestyle by way of words.

- It's my favorite thing to talk about, because I always say that my mother changed the course of my life.

And I mean that so sincerely, because especially when I sat down to write the book, I could see very directly tangibly how she did that.

And she always had me and my siblings reading books.

She gave us our love of literature.

She had us reciting and memorizing poems.

She handed me my first book of poems.

- [Ted] Yeah.

- And said, "I think this will help you.

I think you will like this."

And she was right.

- [Ted] She sure was.

- And from her, my gift, my love of writing and of poetry, it really bloomed.

- How difficult was it for you to break free?

Obviously your mother was committed and devoted to your father.

- [Safiya] Yes.

- But still instilled all of this stuff in you.

You move, how difficult was that?

- It was very difficult.

I think it's just as difficult as anybody could imagine when you grow up with a very close-knit family, and you grow up in a particular way for most of your life.

And to make the decision to say, "Well, actually, I don't think that this way of life is for me."

It is hard to do that severing.

But there was a time where I felt that it was necessary for me as a woman, because I felt diminished under the rules of Rastafari.

And I wanted to celebrate my womanhood.

- [Ted] Yes.

- Instead of being diminished by it.

- When you were writing this book, was it cathartic?

Was it easy?

Was it difficult?

- [Safiya] It was not easy.

- Oh yeah.

- It was not.

But it was cathartic.

And a lot of the writing of the book itself, I found to be healing.

I found that it gave me a different view of my parents, a more nuanced view of my father.

And so in the writing of it, the book itself became its own currency for healing.

- [Ted] Yeah.

- Yeah.

- With that in mind, I mean, this is your story.

- Yeah.

- It's a remarkable story.

But what do you want others to take from the book?

- I really wanted the book to broaden the idea that people have about Jamaica to sort of re-narrativize the stereotypes of what they think of when they think of Jamaica.

I want people to know what Jamaica's like beyond this postcard idea of paradise.

I want when people think of Rastafari, to not just have a vision of the men or the music, as you say, but what is it like for a young Rasta girl?

Or young Rasta woman?

What are their lives like?

- [Ted] Yeah.

- What are young Jamaican girls' lives like?

And for women anywhere to kind of know that if they ever felt that they were staunched under the rules of silence or any kind of repression, or their autonomy was taken from them, that what they have to say is important and they too can speak themselves into power.

- Well, you did a great job.

Congratulations on this book and continued success.

- Thank you so much.

- You bet.

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- A new book sees the use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and narcotics, illicit or otherwise, as a defining characteristic of US history in the past 100 years.

The book is titled, "Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge."

The author is Benjamin Fong, an Honors Faculty Fellow at ASU Barrett Honors College, and the Associate Director at the ASU Center for Work and Democracy.

(screen whooshing) Thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate you being here.

This is a book where you kind of go over these nine substance, you pick nine.

First of all, why nine?

Why'd you pick nine?

- I wanted to be as comprehensive as possible in covering the range of psychoactive drugs, and it just sort of worked out that way.

I fudged the categories a little bit here and there.

So for instance, in the psychotropics chapter, I got to talk about a range of psychiatric drugs, but it's sort of just the way the categories worked out.

- And we should mention where you got coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, opiates, amphetamines, psychedelics, cocaine.

The whole nine yards here, huh?

- Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I wanted to problematize the distinction, the often rigid distinction between licit and illicit drugs in the book.

And the hope is that we can see these broad variety of pharmacological substances as doing very similar things, even though we oftentimes have very different associations with them.

- And again, this is about the last century or so.

Why did you pick that?

That really is the timeframe when all of this exploded, correct?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So, I sort of start the book, roughly in the late 19th century.

This is Postbellum industrialization.

This is a moment when we had a fabulously large patent medicine industry.

So there were some 50,000 proprietary nostrums on the market at the time, with things like medically pure heroin, cocaine, chloral hydrate.

Basically anything you wanted at the time, you could get over the counter and pretty cheaply.

But this was also the time when we started to push for domestic drug controls.

So in 1914, we get the first domestic drug controls on opium and coca.

And it's also when the US becomes very intimately involved in pushing for international drug regulations as well, so that basic love-hate affair with drugs that sort of defines American history.

That's kind of when it started.

- And indeed, you write that capitalism had played a big part in what became increasing regulations of narcotics and these sorts of things.

Talk to us about that.

- Yeah.

So in the late 19th century, I mean, it sort of, I weaved that story into different chapters in different ways.

But if we're just talking about the late 19th century, part of my argument there is because United States did not really develop the kind of countervailing forces and structures that Europe, for instance, developed, with industrial capitalism.

We got largely moral responses to the social ills that industrial capitalism had unleashed.

And I think that's what accounts for the unique strength of the temperance movement in leading to Prohibition.

There was Prohibition in other countries, but there was nothing like the scale of the American Prohibition experiment.

- And indeed, you also write that one of the reasons this got all the, from temperance on, was that you had industrialization, you had workers, and you couldn't have workers nodding off and being high and not doing as much work as they possibly can.

- Yeah, I mean, so when the temperance reformers were picking out the urban saloon as their target, they weren't sort of spinning it outta thin air, right?

There was a new problem of intense, escapist intoxication in cities.

But it wasn't necessarily more alcohol being drunk.

So what was the difference?

I mean, in the early 19th century, Americans drank roughly four times the amount of alcohol we drink per capita today.

But it wasn't seen as that big of a problem because it was built into everyday routine.

It was part of a slower agricultural ethos.

With Postbellum industrialization, you get new forms of problematic drinking.

Again, it wasn't necessarily more, but it was intense.

And it was very escapist in its nature.

- I was gonna say stress and isolation, alienation, all these things were triggers, were they not?

- Yeah, absolutely.

And the new factory life of the era was jarring to a lot of people.

I mean, it was in one generation, people started living completely different lives in these huge cities.

And the saloon offered a great deal of comfort for working class men, in particular.

And it became a natural target of outrage for middle class moral reformers.

- So you got temperance leading to Prohibition, leading to the National Controlled Substance Act.

And you write where medicines and drugs have almost flip-flopped a little bit here.

What exactly were the point you were making there?

- Yeah, so, well, today, for instance, I think that we're in this really unique period where, I sort of see the United States as going through periods of crackdown and then normalization.

I would argue that today we're in the period of relative normalization.

And it's a moment where traditionally, medical drugs like fentanyl, for instance, which has long been used as a surgical anesthetic, it's now demonized and seen as a big problem in the illicit market.

Whereas drugs like cigarettes, for instance, which are technically legal, are sort of seen as regressive and demonized.

So it's a time where the traditional categories through which we understand drugs are very much up for grabs.

- So where is all this heading, Benjamin?

You write about the history here, and before we get to where it's all heading, why is this?

Is this unique to the United States?

It sounds like it is, from your writing.

- I think it absolutely is.

And the scale of American drug use is really fabulous.

I mean, Americans, we comprise roughly four to five percent of the world's population.

We consume 80% of its opioids.

We consume 80% of its ADHD medications or amphetamines and amphetamine-like drugs.

And in the 21st century, basically every metric of American drug use is off the charts.

This is very much an American history and an American problem today.

- And a defining characteristic, as you write.

So where is all this leading?

- I think that the existing decriminalization and legalization movements will continue apace.

The psychedelic space is probably the most interesting right now.

I think that we're likely to see the FDA approval for MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, or Molly, in the first or second quarter of 2024.

I imagine psilocybin will follow closely after that.

In Oregon, it's already a legal substance.

And all the trends are pointing in the direction of further decriminalization and legalization.

- So last question, for those who say further decriminalization and legalization is not a good thing for American society, how do you respond to that, considering your research in your book here?

- I would agree if we're talking about decriminalization and legalization on their own.

And in the conclusion of the book, I sort of go over the irrationality of the Prohibitionist mindset.

The war on drugs has been a miserable failure.

It's failed on its own terms.

It's resulted in all sorts of pernicious consequences.

But I also think the main proposals of liberal drug reformism are also quite blinkered.

That decriminalization and legalization alone are not gonna solve the drug problem.

And for that, we need greater social provisions and protections in order to mitigate problems of drug consumption and abuse.

- Benjamin Fong, "Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge."

Benjamin, thank you.

We appreciate your time.

- Thanks so much.

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(uplifting music) - All eyes are on Arizona as the political season kicks into high gear.

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- Bestselling author Nora McInerny is out with a new book of essays on life, loss, and the mixed blessings of middle age.

The book is titled "Bad Vibes Only, and Other Things I Bring to the Table."

It encourages readers to, among other things, to drop the facade of perfection and embrace your flaws.

(screen whooshing) This, it's like a self-help book, but kind of a different kind of self-help book.

- I mean, if you find help in this book, I'm almost worried for you.

I've set out to write almost the opposite of a self-help book.

And that is, as a person who has, at various points in my life, been devoted to self-help, has assumed that there must be something wrong with me that needed fixing.

- Yeah.

And you, I think you describe it as aggressive optimism.

- [Nora] Yeah.

- What got you taken on this kind of idea?

- You don't notice it until it is antithetical to the way that your life is.

America is built on, among many things, optimism, right?

We love an underdog.

We love somebody who can pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

We love a Cinderella story.

And when your life falls apart, as mine did, several years ago, you start to see maybe the stories aren't that simple.

And maybe not every setback is a setup for a comeback.

Sometimes things are just hard.

- [Ted] Yeah.

- And that's the whole story.

That's the whole lesson.

- Real quickly, as much as you're comfortable.

- Yeah.

- Talk about how your life fell apart.

- Yeah.

Oh, spectacularly.

And in almost every way.

I was 31 years old when my husband, Aaron, died of brain cancer.

And he'd been sick for three years, out of our four-year relationship.

And he died six weeks after my dad died of cancer.

And my dad died eight days after I lost my second pregnancy.

And that's a pretty good trifecta.

- [Ted] Yes.

- I would say, of just terrible, horrible things.

And almost immediately, after all of that happened, literally at my husband's funeral, I'm 31, I've got a toddler, I have no job.

I have a bunch of medical debt.

I cannot sleep, I cannot eat.

People are asking how I was.

"How are you?

How are you?"

People ask you that every day, right?

What do you say?

No matter what, what do you say?

- [Ted] Fine.

- Fine.

I'm standing there like at a funeral being like, "Yeah, good.

What's new with you?"

- So, but I mean, it's one thing to go through this.

- [Nora] Yeah.

- My goodness.

And it must be one thing to get through it.

- [Nora] Yeah.

- But it's another thing to put it out on the street, if you will.

- [Nora] Yeah.

- To make it public.

Was it difficult?

First of all, was it difficult going public with this?

- We live our lives publicly, whether or not we know it.

And whether or not we do it intentionally.

There's always someone watching, right?

And that was true in 2014.

I had Instagram, as many of us do.

I had Facebook, I had the Internet.

The only people who followed me were my friends and family, at the time.

But I was still talking about my life on the Internet because it was easier than sending a mass email.

- [Ted] Yeah.

- It was easier than sending a group text.

You know who I always forgot on the mass emails?

My brother, the nicest one.

- [Ted] The closest one, probably, yeah.

- The closest one.

I was like, "Oh, you didn't hear?"

Oh, it was bad.

Oh no, it's back.

I'm sorry.

I was doing it publicly, regardless.

I was doing it publicly at the grocery store, when you run into an old acquaintance and they ask how your life is and you're like, "Well, things have been better."

And I got many messages after my husband died.

Many messages from women, men, people who are going through similar things, who would say things like, "I wish I was doing better.

I wish I was doing more like you."

But they didn't know I was not doing well.

I was not doing well, but I was presenting such a good facade.

- Wow.

That is really interesting.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

So obviously that factors in there, but when you're writing about this, and you are revisiting all of these, how difficult was that?

- In a lot of ways, I don't know how else it could have been.

I've always been a writer.

I've been a journaler since I knew what a book was and that people could do it.

I thought, "That's what I'm gonna do."

- [Ted] Yeah.

- That's what I'm gonna do.

I have to do that.

- So it wasn't traumatic going back and revisiting and rethinking and re-feeling?

- Re-feeling these things?

Sometimes.

Sometimes it's been painful, but I don't think it's necessarily been detrimental to get it out there.

And I think, especially, if you look at all the titles of my books, they do beg the question, "Is this woman okay?"

My second book was called "No Happy Endings," because I had met somebody, I'd fallen in love, I had married again and blended a family.

This book is called "Bad Vibes Only" because at a certain point, once you've gone through something, people think, "Well, it all has to be good now."

Right?

It all has to be good.

And in some ways, the work that I do now is almost a penance for every lie I told when it really was bad.

- Yeah.

But, so, okay, so everyone, they ask you, you're sitting there at a funeral.

- [Nora] Yeah.

- And they're asking how you're doing, okay?

So we get that idea.

What makes us that way?

Why is there that aggressive optimism out there?

- Yeah.

I think we're uncomfortable with someone else's discomfort.

I know I am.

I know I have been in the past.

I've wanted to sort of lighten the mood when that's not what the situation called for.

I know that I've wanted other people to be okay so that I didn't have to worry about them.

And I also think, who doesn't prefer to be happy?

- [Ted] Yeah.

- Like who doesn't?

It's very natural.

We're creatures of comfort.

We want to seek the soft landing if we can.

We want that for other people.

And I don't think people are walking up to you at a funeral and saying something, hoping it will hurt your feelings.

I don't think that.

I think it's the most normal thing in the world to believe that what we say is somehow gonna help it.

- [Ted] It's the best thing they can do.

- It's the best you can do.

It's the best you can do.

And I've learned that what we say is really not as important as just showing up.

Showing up and shutting up.

- Interesting.

Interesting.

Okay.

So with that in mind, - Yeah.

- What are you getting?

What kind of reaction are you getting from the book?

- People love the book.

People love, not everyone loves the book.

This book is not for everybody.

No book is for everybody.

If you write a book for everybody, I wanna meet you.

I don't know what you wrote.

- [Ted] Yeah.

- Okay?

I don't know what you wrote, but I do think after, especially the past few years, more people are tired, right?

Are tired of pretending, are tired of faking it, are tired of small talk.

People also want to laugh about these things, right?

Laugh about the absurdity of it all, which it is.

There's essays in there about things that are so deeply embarrassing to me, but are still a part of my life, still a part of my history.

- Well, it's "Bad Vibes Only."

Nora McInerny, we could talk to you all day about this, because it's a fascinating topic and we all live this way.

- [Nora] Yeah.

- Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your story.

- Thank you.

I'll come back tomorrow and the next day so we can talk about it every day.

- That's good.

You're on.

And that is it for now.

I'm Ted Simons.

Thank you so much for joining us.

You have a great evening.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues)