Post #131732 by tikijackalope on Sat, Dec 18, 2004 10:04 AM

I find it disconcerting how often references to meth pop up in the periphery of my world lately.

Even more alarming is the tone of normality and even acceptance I am noticing in some younger people I come into contact with. Casual references to someone's room mate, significant other, etc. being on meth, and the tone that it's no big deal, are becoming more frequent.

My background is in photojournalism and I still view myself as a documentarian of lives and events, even when doing commercial portrait work; I record how people really look, wrinkles and all, but in the best light, and I tell customers this upfront. I get the sense that any day now, in someone's family reunion photos, I'm going to be asked to photoshop away someone's meth-stained teeth and I'll have to decide if I give the customer what they want, or faithfully record the signs of the times.

And as for my hobbies, I've been fond of all-night neon sign photo-safaries for years, but am re-thinking that. In the last couple years, from coast to coast, all through the midwest and especially the Southwest, the smiles of the usually merely annoying street people are developing those trademark meth triangles between the teeth, and their behavior is more erratic.

A couple months back, I was wondering if maybe I wasn't like a square parent in an old reefer-madness film. Then a friend of mine who worked the overnight shift in a retail store told me about it taking four cops to subdue one of her shoplifters 'cause the kid felt no pain.

All of which leads back on-topic to theft of tikis, et al. I used to do elaborate lawn displays for Halloween and Christmas, and would alarm some of the plastic blow-molded pieces with those pull-pin activated motel room door alarms that screech at an ungodly decible level. I'd glue the alarm up inside the body of the decoration with JB weld and anchor the pin near the decoration. Nothing ever got stolen because when it would get yanked up, it'd scare the crap out of the thief and would be impossible to get away with stealthily. I'm not sure that'd matter to a meth user.