Street Beat
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
Photos by Kevon pg. 3-4
BBQ Fun! pg. 5
Group Photo pg. 6
Learning by A.M. pg. 7
Creative Writing Group pg. 8
Writings by J.S. pg. 9
Creative Writing Group pg. 10
Inspiration by A.M. pg. 11
Life Motto by T.P. pg. 12
Engraft Potions by K.S. pg. 13-14
Life Motto by A.T. pg. 15
Success! By A.T. pg. 16
Words to Live By by R.B. pg. 17
The Snake by J.B. pg. 18
Peering into Heaven by H.G. pg. 19
Photos by Kevon S.
Photos by Kevon S.
Water balloon toss, bean bags, and our grill master of the day!
Thank you everyone!!
What is something you would love to learn how to do?
For me I would love to be a ships captain or the lead person to an the space shuttle.
I would find each job an adventure because every day would be different, not the same routine every day.
Boy O Boy, the (stories) I would have for my grand children won’t be at home that much, I suffer from the nagging wife syndrome so that’s a plus.
Get a chance to see the world and to travel to exotic places. Due to the fact I’m an aircraft mechanic these positions are right up my alley. Well that’s it for me I better stop before I start telling you all about my dream to become a submarine captain.
By Andre M.
Moments of Success by
Julius S.
Moments of success for me was when I moved out of my family house and found my way of independent living. I found acceptance from people, places, with the hope of things getting better. Having my own place is something on my bucket list of experiences that I’m working on currently.
(7/19/24) by Julius S.
Hello TRC how’s it going? Well for me I guess on edge about moving into my new place my lack of understanding means that I will have a hard time adjusting to life but hey my life is a lonely road.
Who is someone that inspired me? By Andre M.
Believe it or not that someone that someone that inspired me would be a New York City police officer.
I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar. In other words I was doing some skullduggery in my neighborhood and got caught by the beat walking cop. I’ve seen him around before so he was not new to me and vice versa. But this time I was drunk, high and very belligerent to him. Of course he called for back up and the next thing I knew about half the police force battalion was in my “azz.” Due to the fact it was beat so it was his collar. I do remember he was a rookie cop at that. He tried to give me a break but it was too late. His boss a sergeant told him I needed to be arrested and I didn’t think that was a good idea at the time and got very defensive to the point where I spit on him.
“Oh my god, why did I do that” I just knew they were going to beat me like no tomorrow. He stop to catch his composure not only that he also stopped his boys in blue from putting hands and feet on me. So I had to jump back and check myself because I just knew he was going to check me for me. If you know what I mean. I’ve never seen anything like this coming from a cop. Thought my life was over. But no he just wrote a mile report on me. That really really inspired me to the point I had to go and find him to apologize him for all he did because that outcome could have turned much much differently for me. Kudos to that cop. That’s a true story.
P.S. there are some good ones out here all cops are not bad.
My life motto what I try to live by is “Try to do something new or get something new in your life.” That miss repeating the same things in my life every day cause the boredom, frustration and make me feel depressed. That feelings turn me to use of alcohol. I came to New York City from my country almost 20 years ago because I felt very low and I touch is not any good opportunity there for me. I uses the ocasion get to NYC and I tried change my life for better. I enjoyed myself with new opportunities, new places and new people. I changed many times my job, my place to live and surrounding around me. Always I want go to see some new place where I never came before. I liked exploring same building parks and churches if I was able get to them. But also alkohol was with me by years. Now I believe alkohol limited my activity, my will to learn and make my life better. Alcohol abuse become the most part of my life, but I could not realized that. In the end I lose totally positive energy, will and focus on my life goals. Now I’m in the process to restore my life to the motto what I write down today.
Tomasz P. (7/23/24)
https://betterfundraising.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/somethingnew-2022-Jun16-600x386.jpg
En ra t Potions
En ra t Potions o skilled drawin chemistry, paintin the musical ambient li ht fixtures crossin across the sur ace. A water all search o words a code o ethic to be alert. Sin in the si ns, while the ink dances on lines the lips o the heart speaks, with a paint brush, dippin or more thou hts, crosses over my sensations, pullin more o this natural ener y, ivin a color ul clear ima e.
I pause, take a deep breath, as i I’m about to dive back in, an ocean o deep eels, waves floodin my entire body, vibrations, instantly rises, hidden emotion o ecstasy. I asp or air at last, si nal o the brush eels, eelin or another color, shadin in the void, the empty crest. Sink me a ain, ound my per ect match, enchantin blues, a jazzy look, the body arouses, then a sudden echo exchan in our ener y, around around we o, timeless ravity, infinite in atuation, slow down. A breeze radually swept the air, spreadin the paint, the colors, the eelin more upon the sur ace o our chemistry. 13
This passion, I ot lost in the en ra t potions, where do we o now? The heart is a mystery, the response ives a rhythm to this connection, paintin a clear picture, radually sinkin , the potion was leakin the juices out, it spoke immense climax, the introverted paint become a bit dull, addin more texture colors, as I paste my brush took fli ht, channelin all this u ly mess.
Patience spoke, mystery.
Creativity or perhaps this potion was startin to wear off, I read my en ra t potion a ain. Clear wisdom, dark knowled e, raw power. Transparent sound, confident ear, open soul. Doors to an exit, open doors to a dead end.
This paintin finally has a clear readin . I drew me under a broken lamp, a clash titan with me, a sharp stroke cuttin me deep into the heart and the discoverin these open wounds and scars, leavin it to heal, en ra tin a new me, leavin this paint on me, a natural new me. En ra t Potions. Kevon S. (7/23/24)
What is your life motto, or what words do you live by?
byAnthonyT.
My life’s motto is to never forget to count my blessings. Treat others as you would want to be treated. My parents taught me to respect my elders, never look down on the next person that’s going through the struggles of life, no one is subject to not being in a tough spot in life. Never deny the next person food if they are in need of, never know when you may be in the same situation. I also stand on being grateful for the food and shelter that my higher power bestows upon me and just thank him for my limbs, being able to see and to thank him for just giving life itself. Another one of my mottos is don’t talk about doing something you need to do just do it. One of my most loved life mottos is to keep your eye on the prize, let go and let god. He can he will. I’ll just let him do it. But get out of the drivers seat and get into the passenger seat and your higher power do the driving.
Success!
byAnthonyT.(7/16/24)
My success story for me started back in 1993. When I had hit rock bottom in my everyday life. I had a lot of significant losses in my life so my way of dealing with them was to drink and use them away but that route made the situation even worse. So I had to come to the realization that I had to make a change in my life or lose my life. So I chose to get on the winning side of life. So I got back into school, by going to a college prep class and worked on getting my high school diploma, which I was able to achieve in four months and then I was able to enroll into JR college, so that’s it I was able to achieve that success in my life.
Words that I Live By
1. To be human is to err, to forgive DIVINE
2. EYE for an EYE
3. When struck on the one cheek turn to the other cheek
4. Be quick to LISTEN and slow to anger
5. It is better to be thought as an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt
6. Be careful how you treat strangers, because many have entertained angels unaware
7. Carpe Diem
My name is Jack B. I was thinking about a man that was walking through a hot dessert when he ran into a snake. The snake said help I’m hurt, can’t make it to the other side. The man said why should I help you, you will bite me and kill me. The snake said why should I make you lose your life when you help to save mine. So the man picked the snake up, put him around his neck and help him to the other side. When they got to the other side, the snake bit him on the neck. The man said you bit me I’m going to die, why did you cause me to lose my life when I help to save yours. The snake said you knew I was a snake before you picked me up. So I’m not going to mess with drugs or drinks because I know it’s a snake before I ever pick it up it will kill me.
Jackie B. (7/23/24)
Peering into Heaven
If I want to hear the Divine then I will close my ears and listen to the song of peace that plays in my heart.
If I want to see the Divine then I will close my eyes and open the window of my heart to see the brilliance of understanding, light of wisdom and rays of hope and courage.
If I want to touch and feel the divine then I will put my hands over my heart and say thank you, thank you for my breath that keeps me alive.
If I want to smell the Divine then I will bathe with the perfume of the heart called peace.
If I want to taste the divine then I will feast on the delicious nectar of gratitude that can only come from my heart and be grateful and fulfilled.
Harry G. (7/26/24)
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