The 3rd Street Beat Mission Statement
The Third Street Beat is a newsletter written by and created for people with substance use disorder. Our mission is to validate that experience so people know that they are not alone, and to emphasize the many unique roads that we take to recovery. This is an opportunity to share our experiences to creatively support each other. We are non-political, non-denominational, multi-racial, and gender neutral. Our mission is one of recovery and harm reduction, and all experiences are welcome. All the viewpoints herein are personal in nature and related specifically to our contributors’ recovery.
The 3rd Street Beat Editorial Team
The 3rd Street Beat is produced byThe Recovery Center community with assistance from the occupational therapy team.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover Art is the TRC Garden
Hello TRC by Julius Simms p. 3
My Roommate by Darryl A. p. 3
A Poem by Raymond Bird, III p. 3
Peanut Butter Sandwich by Moses Flores p. 4
Perseverance by Moses Flores p. 5
Pics Around TRC p. 5
TRC SCHEDULE p. 6
Hello TRC. It’s been a long time no see. Well, I finally moved out of Project Renewal into my shared apartment, and today is the day I showed up early. I was happy to see all my peeps and wish Ms. T a happy birthday. I give thanks for another day above ground. Staying sober can be a struggle, but it comes with great rewards in the long run. Stay strong to live long and prosper, from Mr. Simms.
A poem where the lines break Is also like a poem
A poem where the heart aches Should never be left alone
How am I don’t know?
Who are you to wonder?
- Why? -
Raymond Bird IIIMy roommate is annoying. He snores like a bear. He keeps me up half of the night, and I try to go to sleep but he gets louder and louder. I want to throw a pillow at him. But it will cause problems and to top it off. My TV in my hotel is broken and I cannot watch TV. I’ve been in the same hotel for 2 1/2 years. They want me to move to the Bronx, but dealing with the steep hills and walking 10 to 20 blocks to the train station and being on the train for an hour or two hours to go to any of the five boroughs… So that got me a little frustrated. I know I will catch Hell in the winter time. My housing specialist told me in a meeting, but I will die a homeless man in a box. That got me a little upset. So I gotta prove her wrong. So I gotta get my life together.
by Darryl A.
Very serious instructions for how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
by Moses FloresThis might seem like a silly how-to. In fact, it might be a waste of paper and time. Yeah, I beg to differ. I believe that anything you want to done correctly must be done with a science. You see, most people I ask “how do you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” look at me with an “are you stupud” expression… and then go and tell me exactly the wrong way to make this simple sandwich. They will tell me that you put peanut butter on one bread and jelly on the other bread. Nono,no! You did not just make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You just made a peanut butter with jelly-flavored bread sandwich. You see, when you put jelly directly on the bread, the bread is a sponge that absorbs and sucks up the jelly. Pretty much cheating. Jelly-flavored bread to me just tastes like wet bread. This is cheating ourselves of the jelly, in a way.
This is when I explain how to make a proper peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Firstly, you must spread peanut butter on both sides. Because the peanut butter is a dry substance, the bread will not absorb the peanut butter. Then, when you spread the jelly in between, you get the true beauty of a PB&J sandwich. Remember the meaning of sandwichmeans to be “squeezed in between.” So my method is a literal representation of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with jelly squeezed in between the peanut butter sides. Plus, on a healthy note, we get more protein from the extra peanut butter.
P.S. on another note people call me a nut, but I’d rather be a hard protein than soft-ass grape jelly.
I will persevere
by Moses FloresI will stop at nothing. I refuse to relent.
More determined than most. I will not stop at all.
You can say I’m hell-bent I refuse to relent.
So I guess I’m relentless. But none of this works.
Without my resilience Ness What makes it all work?
Is that I was born fearless
Adding it all up I shall experience perseverance
Brian is always elegant
