Dear Mom..

Hey mom,

So you've been asking me what cultural studies is about and since that's a very broad question, I've decided to explain one aspect of the class so it makes better sense to you. Something I've learned in this class is how to properly smoke pot. Don't worry, they aren't teaching us about it and telling us to go do it, but we're learning from this one guy Howard Becker that you can't actually enjoy smoking pot until you've really learned "how" to smoke it. Basically what he's trying to say is that you can't use pot for pleasure until you actually know what you're doing with it. Think of it like a type of body practice, similar to working out. You can't really enjoy working out until your body learns to get used to it. Anyway Howard Becker also tells us that if a person smokes marijuana for the first time they may not necessarily get high because they didn't do it right. I know you're always saying that pot is bad and it leads to bad things, but personally I don't think it's as bad as you make it sound. Like I said before it's a type of practice, so it's kind of like a hobby for people. Like working out, you can't just learn to get it right, right away, but after a few tries you could become a pro. So what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't always think negatively about pot. Sometimes it can be good because it gives the body new challenges to figure out and it can challenge our thinking as well. I mean if professors are teaching us about it, it can't be that bad right? That's what we're learning in cultural studies, right now anyway, I'm sure I'll have a lot more explaining to do down the road.