Self Portrait in Thread

Artwor

Nia

Artwor

Motherfuck

I want to record the breakdown of male systems and the rise of the mother archetype. In my paintings, I show symbols of masculinity being disassembled and retranslated. I embrace the return of the feminine as we move out of the phallic world of industrialism and into something new

Baby of mine

I’ve been exploring. Adventuring and exploring in and out through my fears, questions, anxieties, and excitements through my own narratives; story-telling my way through these present emotions. I use myself in the medium of oil painted self-portraiture as a character for these narratives, investigating my own sentimental pieces and parts-- strong and weak, and what exists in between. I create worlds for myself: painting and finding objects to inhabit these worlds, often as a form of protection from what exists outside of my created space—the present and future. I push against it but also yearn to embrace it. Fear of exposing my vulnerable-self creeps around me and the need for protection is heightened. I use textiles or dense plains of a single color to create a backdrop or landscape, setting the tone for my preciously crafted territory. Tensions between materials mimic tensions I am exploring conceptually. I peek into and question the thin line that often exists between anxiety and excitement and travel back and forth in my chronology attempting to not answer or pacify, but further burrow into questioning my own views of myself and my roles in the world around me

The relationship between methamphetamine and alcohol use in a community sample of methamphetamine users

BACKGROUND: While methamphetamine (MA) and alcohol are often used in combination, little is known about the pattern of co-use between these substances. The goal of the present study is to examine the relationship between MA use and alcohol use in a community sample of non-treatment seeking regular MA users. METHODS: Participants completed a face-to-face assessment battery, which included a diagnostic interview for MA dependence and the Timeline Follow-Back interview for both alcohol and MA use over the past 30 days. Sixty regular MA and alcohol users supplied data for 1800 person-days. RESULTS: Compared with non-drinking days, drinking days and binge drinking days increased the odds of same day MA use by 4.22 and 4.50 times, respectively (p’s < 0.0001). Further, binge drinking incrementally increased risk for MA use above and beyond the effects of drinking itself (p < 0.0001). Lagged models revealed previous day MA use to predict following day MA use (p < 0.0001), yet, after controlling for this relationship, neither previous day alcohol use nor previous day binge drinking predicted following-day MA use. Finally, the effect of binge drinking on MA use was stronger among individuals with lower MA dependence severity or higher alcohol problem severity (p’s < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that alcohol and MA are co-used in predictable patterns, and in particular, that binge drinking may be incrementally associated with the likelihood of MA use. Future studies are needed to explore the temporal relationship between alcohol and MA use within a given episode

A Multi-level Analysis of the Impact of Neighborhood Structural and Social Factors on Adolescent Substance Use

This paper examined the effects of neighborhood structural (i.e., economic disadvantage, immigrant concentration, residential stability) and social (e.g., collective efficacy, social network interactions, intolerance of drug use, legal cynicism) factors on the likelihood of any adolescent tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use