The Scene's Players

The moon, Venus, and St. Francis de Sales illuminate the Rally's parking lot, contributing to a glow that is both celestial and imitation.

St. Francis de Sales is named after the father of the religious tract. According to catholic.org, in the late 1500's, he traveled from village to village for three years, slipping his handwritten sermons under doors belonging to Calvinists. He is credited for 40,000 converted Catholic-once-Calvinist souls and became known for his gentle approach to conversion (let us not rape the children back to Catholicism; let's convince them with poetry!) He slept in trees to avoid being eaten by wolves and is now the patron saint of the deaf.

Rally's fast food is owned by a company called Checkers Drive In. According to their website, it's the "one-stop flavor spot" within walking distance. CEO Enrique "Rick" Silva earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania law school and was president of Burger King Latin American region for quite some time. In the mid 1980's, Rally's and Checkers were born out of the conviction that Americans deserved better than a bland burger.

The Earth's moon has been around as long as we can remember, serving as inspiration for countless mythological creatures, literature, goals, dreams, and menstrual cycles. Its phases and orbit serve as endless enjoyment for those who need something to predict and rely on; something that is familiar but otherworldly. We have made the surface of the moon into what we want, projecting "faces" and "colors" which result from our planet's ever-changing atmosphere. Some would say they've seen the Dark Side of the Moon in their nightmares.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Earlier this year it was seen out in public with Jupiter, but rumors have circulated that they're drifting apart, and my sources confirm this to be true.

More to come later this week, as "The Inner-City Landscape" turns like sand through the hourglass, boldly and beautifully.

People everywhere

are miserable, it seems. A study of 50,000 opium users in the Golestan province in Iran demonstrated that opium users experience an 86% higher death rate than non-users. Among women, that rate was 143%.

If you're a woman living in the Golestan province of Iran, and you happen to indulge in opium (which is widespread and socially "acceptable") your risk of death goes up by 143%. 

More than half the participants were women, and mean age at enrollment was 52. The majority were married, living in rural areas, and nonsmokers (83%). More than two-thirds had no formal education.

For a second, I assumed these women are unhappy, oppressed by the men in their lives, wearing the Chador, too many mouths to feed, etc. That must drive them to the opium use, I reason. However, I must pause to make sure I'm not viewing this problem through Americanized eyes: Opium smoking is an engrained part of the culture, and even the article admits that daily use only amounted to 0.6 grams, "which was a relatively small amount, the researchers noted." 

The major cause of death among those surveyed were infections, followed by respiratory conditions, then digestive disorders. It is easy to argue that lifelong opium use can weaken the immune system, weaken the lungs, etc. causing vulnerability to infections. However, the article doesn't mention the level of professional healthcare these residents are accustomed to receiving. Since more than two-thirds had no formal education, my American Perception equates that with lack of healthcare. It also doesn't discuss the rate of pregnancy.

So what do we really have here? A report on the effects of opium? I don't think so. If this article were to be placed in a different context, such as the American west in the early 1900's, opium use might be replaced with tobacco use (whether smoked or chewed) and I bet the results would be the same. Women would are more likely to die than men. Infection is the most common cause of death. Two-thirds of the population have no formal education. It's very easy to blame these numbers on a single common factor, but I hope that a cautious researcher will remember that the research is only as honest as its subjects and circumstance.