I believe one of the main reasons why I enjoy going up mountains, either alone or with a group; is to allow me to focus on the motivation of learning, climbing to learn. Modern man seems to concentrate too much on the result, neglecting the value of the attempt. Learning goes beyond results. A person learns from trying.

If someone has done his/her own best and has used all his/her energy in the attempt, the learning experience is an excellent one and the result acquires its natural importance. Summits will be reached; in others; climbers will get as far as they can. One thing that I have always valued in my expeditions is people's courage to continue learning. I strongly encourage those who are consistently facing new challenges in search of a broader view of the world and of themselves; to climb a mountain.

Each expedition is a great opportunity to be back in touch with nature. A man/woman and their basic belongings, just to survive, making progress at the speed of their own steps, surrounded by an essential world.

It's about making a basic connection, a return to a state of unity, which is usually accompanied by an increasing perception of our relationship with the planet, the species we are a part f, and the cosmos around us.

All of the experience gained through the relationships developed with other members of our group is an important part of the expedition. Sharing so many special moments with our fellow-climbers makes us feel that exchanging becomes a basic experience. Sometimes, we have to share a small tent as we wait for a storm to stop. Other times we relax at base camp and, if everything runs smoothly we also share the happiness of reaching the summit, one of the most incredible experiences about mountaineering. Our fellow climbers are right there, becoming our closest beings and willing to give us a hand to achieve a common goal. I can recall some really difficult situations when the members of the group where the only ones one can count one. They can be moving experiences which help you remember the priority of values.

It is the experience which lies in our deepest self. Very little can be said about it since it is the most individualistic and secret aspect of the experience. It belongs to the the secret world where we find the answer to questions like why we went up the mountain.

In my experiences, every journey means a new way of seeing the world, a feeling of great objectivity, a state of mind which allows me to settle down and make the right decisions in harmony.

Finally, I believe that mountaineering is a highly humanizing activity, which can help people develop, especially if growing is their ultimate aim. Climbers know fairly well that going up the mountain means facing one's own challenge, many times away from home and in the middle of a hostile environment. One knows that problems will occur, as well as answers. Conquests and failure as well will occur. But one also knows that in the right way and that a new experience is gained every step of the way.

This is the virtuous circle: going ahead beyond results, sacrifice and one's own ego, keeping the strength to go along the path of attempt.

Prints Showcase Vital Artistic Exchange between Mexico and United States

Now on View at Zimmerli Art Museum

Current media coverage of Mexican-American relations tends to focus on contentious – if not outright hostile – political rifts. However, during the 1930s and 1940s, artists captured the world’s imagination by portraying Mexico as a leading cultural destination, home to an internationally renowned muralist movement and a vibrant printmaking community. The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers focuses on this critical juncture in art history with Impressions: Prints of Mexico, 1930s-40s / Impresiones: Estampas de México, 1930s-40s, featuring 37 prints by Mexican, American, and European artists who promoted a romantic and idealized country during an era of radical change, which has shaped an enduring vision of Mexico in the American imagination. On March 6, Art After Hours: First Tuesdays celebrates Impressions / Impresiones with an evening of free programs: curator-led tours in English and Spanish; interactive activities presented by Rutgers-New Brunswick Mexican-American Student Association and Rutgers Bachata Club; and music by DJ RataPrincess. Details are available at bit.ly/ArtAfterHourZTues. The exhibition, primarily drawn from the Zimmerli’s extensive collection of works on paper with additional loans, runs through July 29, 2018. Most of the works are on view for the first time, with all of the wall texts and labels in both English and Spanish.

“This exhibition takes a broad, transnational approach to consider the transmission of art between Mexico and the United States during the early 20th century,” notes Nicole Simpson, the Zimmerli’s Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings. “It demonstrates how traditions from the neighboring countries have contributed to the multifaceted definition of what is deemed ‘Mexican’ art.”

In the years following its Revolution (1910–20), Mexico became a leading art center, driven by the work of the Trés Grandes muralists (Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiro) and a tradition of printmaking across the country. Artists from around the world visited Mexico, studying and working with local masters to depict their own impressions of the country’s history, traditions, and people. They created pictures of an attractive, charming, even exotic, Mexico; an image that was eagerly consumed by American audiences.

Although residents of the United States expressed an avid interest in visual depictions of Mexico, the two countries experienced a complicated and intertwined relationship. Both nations faced large-scale recovery efforts – the former from the Great Depression and the latter from the Revolution – and later served as Allies in the Second World War. However, during the late 1920s and early 1930s, the United States government oversaw a repatriation of more than one million people of Mexican descent. While the event is largely overlooked by history books, the biases it generated remain prevalent in political rhetoric.

This exhibition focuses on the important role that prints played during the 1930s and 1940s in perpetuating the idea of Mexico as a country steeped in tradition. Stylistically, these prints range from socio-realist, documentary views, to works that draw upon the ancient forms of Mesoamerican art, as well as forward looking subjects that incorporate modernist compositions and Cubist-inspired shapes. This exhibition is divided into three sections that reflect internal and external perspectives of a rich cultural heritage.

“Everyday Mexico” considers how artists, the majority of them tourists from outside the country, depicted the markets, street vendors, and local populations. Women of Oaxaca (1940) by Canadian artist Henrietta Shore is an abstract, rhythmic composition of women carrying water jugs that turns a mundane task into a beautiful, evocative scene. The American Howard Norton Cook’s Taxco Market (1932-33) meticulously details the produce and vendors of an open-air market. American artist Olin Dows also captured traditional craft in the woodcut The Mat Sellers (1933), but with a crisp, modernist rendering.

The section “Jean Charlot” focuses on the French artist and historian who researched and reinterpreted Mexican art and history. His color lithograph Malinche from the 1933 series Picture Book (several images are on view) transforms this historical woman who played a pivotal role in the Spanish conquest of Mexico into a childlike figure. Conversely, Volador (1948) presents a dramatic view of the pre-Columbian ritual ceremony Danza de los Voladores (Dance of the Flyers): performers climb a multi-story pole and, attached to ropes, fling themselves from it, spiraling to the ground. Here, Charlot’s sturdy, monumental figure atop the pole recalls Mesoamerican sculpture and stone carvings, which he witnessed firsthand as staff artist to the excavation at Chichen Itza.

“Mexican People: A Portfolio of Labor and Industry” displays a complete 1946 portfolio by artists from the famous Mexico City printshop Taller de Grafica Popular (People’s Graphic Workshop, founded in 1937). It was commissioned to document and promote Mexican products, with artists’ traveling throughout the country to witness traditional, often labor intensive, crafts. Alfredo Zalce’s color lithograph Lumber Workers depicts men precariously balanced on floating logs as they attempt to saw them down to size. Isidoro Ocampo’s Pottery Maker captures the subject kneading clay with his feet, the beginning of a multi-step process to create the vessels that were necessary for so many daily domestic activities, as well as a popular worldwide export.

Other artists include: Emilio Amero, Raul Anguiano, Alberto Beltran, Angel Bracho, Arturo Garcia Bustos, Prescott Chaplin, Miguel Covarrubias, Richard Day, Irwin Hoffman, Leopoldo Mendez, Francisco Mora, Pablo O’Higgins, and Fernando Castro Pacheco. In addition, Diego Rivera’s 1930 lithograph Nude with Beads (Frida Kahlo) is on view. This intimate and revealing portrait of the young artist, created the year after they married, is one of only a few lithographs ever made by Rivera. 

Impressions: Prints of Mexico, 1930s-40s / Impresiones: Estampas de México, 1930s-40s was organized by Nicole Simpson, Ph.D., Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings, with Diego Atehortúa, Rutgers University Class of 2018. The exhibition, on view February 17 through July 29, 2018, is supported by PNC Bank.

Mountaineers know that, at a certain point, hydration becomes an even more important aspect than food. We know for a fact that our body is mainly made of up water and, therefore, proper functioning will greatly depend on a balanced content of this basic element. Dehydration, on the other hand, influences sensibility on athletic performance. The body's loss of liquid is significant in the mountain and tends to become worse as ascent progresses. Lack of oxygen saturation in the blood causes hyperventilation and huge amounts of liquid are lost in the form of vapor- through breathing.

Dry air and sweating contribute to such loss of fluids. The speed at which fluids are lost varies from person to person. It can be through sweat, breathing, urine or diarrhea. People are not always aware of the amount of liquid that is being lost.

Certain drugs, such as Diamox, can cause dehydration due to their diuretic effect. Keeping the body hydrated is essential to reduce risks related to hot and cold weather or to altitude. If you make the decision to take Diamox, you must increase your liquid intake by almost double in some instances.

The most natural way to make up for lose liquid is drinking water. But this vital element is not easy to be found at high altitudes in the mountain. In fact, the only way to have water at certain points during the ascent is melting snow or ice found along the way.

The problem is that this water lacks the mineral salts necessary to stop the feeling of thirst and make up for the minerals (especially sodium) lost through sweat. Therefore, some minerals must be added to this water so as to make it good for hydrating, which can be achieved by either preparing some juice, soup or another hot drink.

A simple, yet highly effective recipe to provide water with the necessary juices, without giving it the sometime harmful levels of acidity found in some powder juices for example:

In one liter of water add 5g of tartaric acid and 6.5 g of baking soda

These products are easy to find. It is advisable to weigh them and carry them in separate envelopes. The truth is many suffer from strong stomach acidity due to drinking high volumes of powdered supplements during mountain climbs.

A climber must know that a minimum of 5 liters of water is needed on a daily basis to achieve both body re-hydration and a good adjustment to the altitude. This will also help with the Ph loss that hyperventilation might cause as well.

Lime tea works as an amazing sedative to help you sleep. Mint teas help with digestion and the altitude.

It is open seasonally during the climbing season (early December to early March) and dismantled during the winter months, when the extreme weather conditions make it impossible to keep it open.

Doura’s choice of medium is oil pastels, as these can better stand the extreme winds and temperatures. This unique art space is an amazing sanctuary. Miguel studied fine arts for 5 years in Buenos Aires. 

Helping Women Stay Safe

We all have an obligation and responsibility to intervene when someone is in danger or trouble. Put yourself in the position of the victim. Wouldn't you want to be helped? I know I would. You could have been put in place in that certain moment to make a difference and to possibly save the life of another human being. Step up to the plate. Be courageous. Have love for your fellow man/woman/child/animal.

What kind of a society do you want to live in? The criminal element expresses itself from time to time. When you choose to step up and engage in protecting those around you and discourage the criminal elements in society, you are investing your time and energy in building a life encouraging society for yourself and all your loved ones. We cannot accompany all our dear relatives and friends as they go about their daily tasks, but we can protect other wayfarers in the hope that others will step in to help us and our loved ones when confusion occurs. Whether we believe it or not, we do shape the society that we live in, can we really live with ourselves when we ignore each others pain?

All people should have the will and desire to help others, even those who are bystanders to a crime. People should want to help their fellow man and try to do the best by them in hopes that one day if they need help someone will be willing to step up and help them as well.

Here are things you can do to “stay safe(r).”

1. Walk with our keys grasped between our fingers in case we need to use them as a weapon.
2. Making sure to have the correct key out and ready before we get to our door
3. When someone is walking closely behind us on the street, we stop to pretend to make a phone call or otherwise occupy ourselves to allow them to pass in front of us.
4. Walk past our destination, particularly if it’s our home, if someone has been trailing us for a while.
5. Scope out potential safe havens if someone appears to be following us.
6. Stay in well-lit areas at night even if it means taking a longer route.
7. Switch up our running routes to avoid potential stalkers learning our route.
8. Change direction if a car appears to be following us while we’re walking on foot.
9.Run outdoors with only one earbud in to keep the other on our surroundings.
10. Pretend to listen to music while walking by men who attempt to engage with us.
11. Change the locks when house keys are misplaced.
12.Take alternative routes to avoid areas we know we are likely to face street harassment.
13. Cross the street when we see men who look like they might be drunk.
14. Late at night, cross to the other side of the street when anyone is walking towards us.
15. Avoid eye contact with men trying to get our attention.
16. Decide the cost of a taxi is worth it.
17. Avoid entering stairwells or elevators occupied by only one other person who is a stranger.
18. Text a friend before going out for a run or on a date with a stranger.
19. Avoid social situations if a man whose prior advance made us uncomfortable might be there.
20. Decide not to open Facebook messages from unknown men, who could see the message has been “Read” and become hostile and harassing.
21. Never open the door for someone we’re not expecting and stay still until the doorbell stops ringing.
22. When bringing heavy bags and packages into the house or apartment, locking and unlocking the door with every trip.
23. Avoid sleeping naked in case of an intruder or on-looker.
24. Buy pepper spray: for the purse, for the car, one for the home.
25. Make sure we’re not the only woman on the subway car or bus.
26. Avoid getting off at our bus or train stop if a man who has been staring exits at the same time.
27. Check our mirrors frequently while driving, noting characteristics and license plate numbers of cars trailing close behind.
28. Driving in a circle if we sense we might be followed.
29. Park next to a light post when it’s dark outside.
30. Wear a hoodie when driving late at night to appear male to other drivers.
31. Check for an official city medallion number when entering a taxi.
32. Never leave a drink unattended at a party.
33. Run outside in baggy clothes, even if it’s hot, to decrease the chances of unsolicited commentary on our anatomy.
34.Making sure we have enough cell phone battery life before leaving one location to last until we get to another.

As Americans Navigate Rapidly Changing Workplaces, Zimmerli Exhibition Reflects on

What a Job Meant in the ‘70s with Photographs and Interviews

The status of Americans’ relationships with their jobs is…complicated. Advice for job seekers drastically ranges from “seek out a mission you’re deeply passionate about” to “just find something fast that pays the bills.” And while some view the proliferation of the gig economy as flexible and freeing for individuals, many freelance and contract workers suffer the anxiety of inconsistent paychecks and no benefits. However, not long ago, most Americans shared an expectation that a job should be reliable and provide a salary that supports the cost of living. It's Just a Job: Bill Owens and Studs Terkel on Working in 1970s America, now open at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, recalls that era. The exhibition pairs the two iconic documentarians of work life, underscoring how the decade was a dramatic time of transition for the American workforce. It is not simply a look back: many of the themes that Owens and Terkel identified remain strikingly relevant, engaging visitors to consider their own perspectives about working. The public also has an opportunity to hear from Bill Owens himself, when he presents an artist’s talk on April 3 during Art After Hours: First Tuesdays, one of the Zimmerli’s popular free programs.

“This exhibition takes a multimedia approach to the topic of working in the 1970s, immersing the audience in the stories and experiences of the period’s secretaries, industrial workers, and creative professionals,” notes Hannah Shaw, Mellon Intern at the Zimmerli and PhD Candidate in the Department of Art History at Rutgers University, who organized the exhibition. “No matter what field you’re coming from, you’ll find yourself absorbed by these vivid portraits—and confronted by all-too-recognizable struggles, ironies, and hopes that remain at the heart of American working life.”

In addition to 31 black-and-white photographs by Owens from his 1977 photobook Working (I Do It For the Money), the exhibition includes a selection of audio interviews selected from Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, provided by the Studs Terkel Radio Archive. First released in 1974, the collection includes the voices of Al Pommier (parking lot attendant), Dolores Dante (waitress), Therese Carter (house wife), Cliff Pickens (newsboy), and Roberto Acuna (farm worker and union organizer), among others, presenting firsthand accounts.

Owens is a significant figure in the genre of documentary photography regarding two key movements, but he approached his subject matter in contrast to many of his counterparts. After the 1950s, American photographers abandoned the search for a universal vision of society and pivoted toward personal points of view. Like other young documentarians, Owens sought to create authentic studies of what occurred behind closed doors, neutralizing the power imbalance long held by photographers, who often objectified their subjects. Owens has described his process as “see[ing] things that other people don’t in the banal and ordinary. Most lives are mundane but I make them extraordinary by infusing them with dignity.”

Unlike some of his contemporaries who revealed the painful consequences of such taboo subjects as drug abuse, gun culture, and violence, Owens primarily chronicled the ironic and absurd. His three landmark photobooks – Suburbia (1972), Our Kind of People: American Groups and Rituals (1975), and Working (I do it for the Money) (1977) – centered on middle-class suburbanites in the Amador Valley near San Francisco, where he lived and worked. Suburbia, in particular, included friends, neighbors, and other residents who participated in a collaborative community project, expressing an overall satisfaction with their lives. With Working, Owens turned to the tradition within documentary photography that had focused on labor since the late 19th century. But rather than expose dangerous, often illegal, conditions to effect social change like many of his predecessors, Owens provided a view of the American worker as reasonably happy on the job. He captured scenes that generated archetypal characters in a collective visual memory of the 1970s.

This is not to say, however, that Owens did not present a complicated, nuanced view of American life. Subtle details, particularly in the captions, that were innocuous, perhaps even humorous, 40 years ago take on completely different meanings today. Though more women succeeded in entering the workforce during the decade, we now recognize that they often were limited to lower wage secretarial positions, beholden to the demands of male bosses and husbands: Being a receptionist is a catch-all job; you do everything. Mostly we’re dealing with salesmen and they like to see young women. I’ve stayed here for six years because I got married and my husband didn’t want me to commute to a better-paying job. Such captions as Legal Secretary $250 a week and Computer Telephone Operator $200 a Week also diminish the role of women, constrained to their desks, to a mere job title and wage value. Conversely, men are depicted in active, mentally stimulating jobs: The only way to learn anything in photography is by making lots of mistakes; Television cameramen are a special breed; and It takes a year to make a gyro-ball guidance system for the C-5A aircraft, imply the impact these men make well beyond their offices. In addition, few of the satisfied workers represented are people of color.

Several photographs are reminders of once reliable fields that have been decimated not only by globalization, but by structural changes to the nation’s domestic economy. Local businesses have been shuttered by competition from big box stores and online shopping (Baking is the oldest trade in the world); print media has moved online (Newspaper Printing Plant, San Jose, CA); and factory jobs have been relocated overseas (In thirty-one years as a ladleman I've never been injured). In most cases, owners and shareholders have benefited, while workers and, sometimes, entire communities have been devastated.

It's Just a Job: Bill Owens and Studs Terkel on Working in 1970s America, on view January 20 through July 29, 2018, celebrates a recent gift to the museum by Robert Harshorn Shimshak and Marion Brenner in honor of the class of 1968. The exhibition is organized by Hannah Shaw, Mellon Intern at the Zimmerli and PhD Candidate in the Department of Art History at Rutgers University, with the assistance of Donna Gustafson, Curator of American Art and Mellon Director of Academic Programs. Gustafson also spotlights Owens in the essay “Performing Documentary Photography in Suburban America, 1970s Style” in the 2017 catalogue Subjective Objective: A Century of Social Photography, which accompanied an exhibition by the same title at the Zimmerli. Selections from Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do are provided by Studs Terkel Radio Archive, courtesy Chicago History Museum and WFMT Radio Network.

Sunny Stroeer got sick and still set the speed record on Aconcagua. We sat down with the ex weekend warrior to talk training, coffee, and the all-women team that tackled the highest mountain in South America.

JUUL: The New Epidemic Sweeping America's Youth

PARENTS PAY ATTENTION!

If you think your kid is not doing this, I can guarantee you they are. They are either Juuling or Phixing. This new epidemic is sweeping across campuses. Don't be caught off guard when someone whips it out. Do not be naive and defend anyone as it pertains to its unhealthy side effects.

Trends come and go at schools faster than you can say “conformity”; however, the latest trend is here at all college campuses and high school campuses across the United States. It's here to stay and will create a health care crisis in the future. The crisis has already began. This new craze is the Juul pen craze. Juul is the newest brand of e-cigarettes that some are hailing as the “iphone of electronic delivery systems (ENDS). This little device seems to be a handy sidekick for students from all walks of life.  However, this trend may be more insidious than most; medical professionals and neuroscientists everywhere are delivering a cautionary warning about an otherwise exploding trend. Along with the highly addictive potential of the JUUL’s nicotine, there is extensive evidence that long-term nicotine exposure starting in one’s young adult years leads to psychiatric mood disorders as well as attention and memory deficits later in life. 

Why is this so popular? Is it the new, compact look that makes them so much easier to hide than classic vape pens? Is it the higher nicotine concentration they offer to users? Or is it just a trend, something that will pass shortly? These are questions only a user could answer. 

Smoking a Juul (pronounced “jewel”), a new type of vaporizer pen (e-cigarettes that vaporize flavored nicotine “juice”), has become the new epidemic. More than 95% of kids in schools and colleges are doing this. Everywhere you look someone is blowing the thin, nicotine rich smoke into their sleeve. The 95% is not an exaggerated number, it's the reality.

                                                Phix shown in photo

Juul or Phix, both products come in numerous flavors. The nicotine content is five percent in Juul and PHIX. However, pods for the Juul only provide two hundred puffs, which is the equivalent of the amount of puffs that you'll get out of a typical pack of cigarettes.

The amount of nicotine in a cigarette varies by brand. On average, one pack of cigarettes contains 8 to 20 milligrams of nicotine and only 1 milligram is absorbed when smoked. Therefore one cigarette, on average, contains 1.2 milligrams of nicotine and the smoker will absorb about 0.1 milligram.

The nicotine content of the JUUL pods is always the same: 5% or 50 mg/ml. Now, this seems like a huge amount of nicotine – at least twice as much as most other e-cigs. This level of nicotine is creating a nationwide epidemic.

In speaking with students an addicts of Juul the conversation was heartbreaking. Kids are spending upwards of 30 dollars a week on “pods,” cartridges you attach to the Juul that contain the nicotine juice users fiend for. Juuls are highly addictive and bad for your health. Many diseases are linked to tobacco and nicotine, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, lung cancer, cancer of the kidney, cancer of the larynx and neck, mouth cancer and breast cancer. Not only that, but those who are being affected negatively by this trend are vulnerable young people who may not even realize what they’re getting themselves into.

Students are buying a Juul starter kit. It comes with a Juul, a charger and four pods. A pod is what the juice is in. They’re disposable, you use it once. The pods can be refilled. You can only buy a pack of four pods and it’s 16 dollars. One pod is the equivalent to the same amount of nicotine in one pack of cigarettes, but it’s cheaper. The Juul pods are so addictive, kids are vaping 4 to 5 pods a day. The Juul device looks like a flash drive.

The first time students do this they get a huge buzz from it. Once they start, it's so addictive that they cannot go one hour without ingesting it. The students refuse to go on school trips, due to the fact they cannot imagine not Juuling at whim. When they are unable to ingest it, they demonstrate behaviors of rudeness beyond the acceptable norms of society. 

The kids are stealing from their parents to pay for the pods. Parents are completely unaware of what their kids are doing. They literally can push the smoke into their sleeve. You won't smell a thing. Everyone who is Juuling is an addict. If they say they are not, they are lying.

E-cigarettes aren’t quite as safe as they’ve been thought to be in the past. Recent studies show that e-cigarettes reduce your ability to cough and may expose your body to potentially harmful chemicals. On top of that, different e-cigarette flavors may have different effects. What’s worst? Even though they’ve been marketed to help people quit smoking, they don’t have that effect. The companies selling them, including Juul, know all of this, yet they continue to stalk the youth of America.

In terms of the respiratory effects of both the act of vaping and the carcinogenic nature of the chemicals found in JUUL products, the jury is still out. However, in terms of the long-term effects of nicotine, researchers have some ideas.

The old myth that the brain cells you are born with are the only ones you ever get has largely been disproven by evidence from current cutting edge neuroscience research. Your brain is very similar to a piece of clay in that it is continuously being molded by your life experiences, constantly changing and creating new connections.  Then, around age 25, your “clay” brain becomes ceramic, and largely stays the same way throughout the rest of your adult life minus some special exceptions.  Thus, the decisions and experiences you are choosing to expose yourself to right now in college are going to directly affect the way your brain functions for the rest of your lives.  Following this, the impact of nicotine on your developing brain is a phenomena that is extremely pertinent in the research community.

Nicotine is a stimulant, meaning that it increases activity in the brain.  It does this by acting as a key, “unlocking” receptors on neurons that then in turn cause chemical messengers to be released in your brain.  Nicotine fits in many different locks, resulting in the diverse sensations you feel when using either a traditional cigarette or an electronic alternative like a JUUL. It can activate dopamine, resulting in the pleasurable feeling you seek out at parties, or acetylcholine, resulting in the memory boost that people use JUULs for when studying in the library.  If you’re thinking about how awesome nicotine sounds right now and are about ready to go out and invest in a JUUL of your own, you are not alone; these short-term benefits are largely the reason why nicotine is so well-received among young adults, as we are especially sensitive to the advantageous results of nicotine. 

Nicotine joins drugs like heroin and crack-cocaine in its addictive potential:

Since nicotine causes dopamine, the pleasure chemical, to be released, it places nicotine in the category of highly addictive drugs that take advantage of the human pleasure pathway in the brain. For reference of the severity of nicotine’s addictive potential, other drugs like heroin and crack-cocaine are nicotine’s counterparts on this list of highly addictive substances.  The pleasurable nature of nicotine causes the user to continue to administer the drug, which eventually elicits an effect that sensitizes the individual to the drug.  This means that the individual needs to take more and more of the drug to reach the same effect it had as it did in their very first hit of it. In addition, the individual’s natural dopamine receptors stop reacting to the body’s normal every day release of nicotine, meaning they have to use the drug to reach the normal level of dopamine release that they had previous to being exposed to the nicotine. This creates a vicious cycle in which an individual is constantly chasing that high, resulting in a physiological addiction over which a person has very little control. Sure the person can abstain from nicotine, but they will go through severe withdrawal symptoms that are extremely uncomfortable to tolerate and interfere with everyday life such as irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, depression, and insomnia. Before you write off addiction as something that only happens to weak low-lives, know that addiction doesn't discriminate by age, sex, socioeconomic status, or moral standings; addiction can and does happen to everyone. 

Nicotine has been suggested to cause depression and other mood disorders in long term users who begin taking the drug during adolescence:

Since Nicotine is a stimulant, it is known for causing a short term high that makes the user feel good. However, as mentioned above, has the body becomes used to nicotine, less and less dopamine is being stimulated to be released, meaning the individual is experiencing chronic lower levels of pleasure. This is suggested to be the reason why that mood disorders like depression are often comorbid with long term drug abuse such as in the case of nicotine addiction. In particular, the adolescents seem to be the most at risk for developing depression in conjunction with long-term nicotine use. In studies that administer nicotine to rats, rats who received nicotine during adolescence were far more likely to display depression-like symptoms in conjunction with long-term nicotine use, as opposed to rats who start receiving nicotine in their adulthood after their brains had finished developing. The replication of this evidence from a variety of different researchers is highly suggestive that long-term nicotine use before the brain finishes developing can put nicotine users at risk for the development of depression and other mood disorders later in life.

Long-term nicotine use has resulted in observable deficits in memory, especially working memory, and attention when the individual abstains from nicotine:

Some students are using Juul as a study aid. Short-term administration of nicotine has been observed to produce acetylcholine, a chemical that is vital for memory retrieval and consolidation.  This is why you may look around the library and see your fellow college students using JUUL pens while studying.  However, in the long-run nicotine seems to have the opposite effect: long-term use of nicotine starting in adolescence has been linked with deficits in working memory and attention.  Although ex-smokers are somewhat able to regain some of these abilities by long-term nicotine abstaining, there is evidence their skill levels in memory and attention areas never fully reach the baseline levels of performance before ever being exposed to nicotine. Thus, by relying on JUULs for an extra boost while studying, you could be doing more long-term harm than good in the areas of memory and attention, even after you quit nicotine administration. 

In addition to the health risks mentioned above, there has also been evidence of nicotine priming an individual for future drug abuse such as in the case of opioids and alcohol, as well as evidence that e-cigarettes such as JUULs can serve as “gateways” to the use of traditional cigarettes.  Taken altogether, this evidence dealing with the possible long-term health implications of e-cigarettes such as JUULs makes it no surprise that experts warn against the unknowns of this new technology and that companies like PAX are hesitant to claim the “healthiness” of JUULs and other alternatives to traditional cigarettes. 

According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, more than over 18 million middle school and high school students reported seeing e-cigarette ads. The majority of youth were exposed to these ads in retail stores, followed by the Internet, movies, television, newspapers and magazines.

The marketing efforts have had dangerous consequences. The CDC has found that the number of youth using e-cigarettes radically increased, following the rapid increase in advertising efforts. E-cigarette use has serious consequences on a young person’s health. E-cigarettes contain addictive nicotine, cancer-causing chemicals such as formaldehyde, and the flavoring in e-cigarettes have been found to cause a disease known as “popcorn lung.”

Manufacturers maintain that they only market their products to adults, but that simply isn’t the case. These manufacturers are killing our youth. Placing them in line for lung transplants. They are selling their liquid nicotine in kid-friendly flavors such as bubblegum, mango and cotton candy.   Even more alarmingly, e-cigarette companies were adopting widely recognized and trusted kid-focused brands such as Cap’n Crunch cereal and Winnie-the-Pooh to market their products to children.

Senator Markey (D-MA) and eight additional senators asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate liquid nicotine retailers for deceptive practices. Eight senators sent letters to 147 liquid nicotine retailers requesting that they cease their marketing efforts immediately.  But companies like Juul have not stopped.

Young people can be influenced by sleek, modern design more than other demographics, and this is exactly why JUUL is focused on marketing to younger age groups.  

Some students defend their JUUL usage by claiming they aren’t as unhealthy as real cigarettes. While JUULs omit tobacco and some carcinogens found in cigarettes, their nicotine content and tasty flavor create the same, real addiction.

The only cure for the damage Juul does to youth is a lung transplant. Popcorn lung is a slang name used for a condition called bronchiolitis obliterans (BO), or obliterative bronchiolitis. It’s caused when inhaled chemicals scar the smallest airways within the lungs (bronchioles) and reduce their capacity and efficiency. There is no cure for BO except a lung transplant.

E-cigarettes are not regulated in the United States and can therefore be legally sold and used by minors. They aerosolize nicotine and other flavorings, and can be used to deliver other drugs of abuse. Ingestion of nicotine in large amounts often leads to nausea and vomiting, thereby limiting toxicity. Electronic cigarettes immediately impairs lung function, lasting for less than 30 minutes after smoking.

Additionally, JUULs contain the chemical propylene glycol, also found in antifreeze.  Propylene glycol is also an approved additive to food, but inhaling it exposes the user to a more potent and potentially dangerous dosage.

It’s true that e-cigarettes break down freebase nicotine into a salt of nicotine, but don’t assume this means there is not a large amount of nicotine in the JUUL. The JUUL is unlike any other e-cigarette on the market. E-cigarettes that have come before JUUL usually only contain about 16 mg of nicotine per ml of e-liquid. JUUL tops the game by delivering a whopping 50 mg of nicotine. Not only that, but JUUL is one of the only brands of e-cigarettes that will give users a spike in their blood nicotine levels.

JUUL’s combination of chemicals cause addiction and can lead to severe diseases like bronchitis, heart disease and cancer. Not only that, but those in the presence of a user can get the same, detrimental side effects — especially young children. If that’s not convincing enough, consider this: Smoking one Juul pod is equal to smoking an entire pack of cigarettes.  

Don’t be fooled by the 21st-century design or fall under the impression that they’ll do no harm — JUULs are very bad for you, just like cigarettes. While you might think you’re keeping things under control with JUUL, the addiction can become strong enough to lead you to search for something stronger, such as real cigarettes.

Looking “cool,” playing with a new gadget, fitting in with the crowd or getting a temporary high is not worth the money, addiction or disease. And remember: Cigarettes were marketed the same way before everyone knew they could kill you.

I hope this article saves your kids life.