Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16

by Moshe Kasher

Right about the first time I got high, the famous thespian/professional wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper had just graduated from the Royal Shakespeare Academy and body slammed Andre the Giant. (The Royal Shakespeare thing was a lie.) He was at the peak of his fame and thus got a starring role in the seminal classic They Live. (The seminal classic thing was a lie.) I loved that movie. In it, Piper is a blue-collar schmo who happens across a pair of unremarkable-looking sunglasses. But these are no ordinary sunglasses. As soon as he puts them on, an entire secret alien world is revealed to him. There are aliens everywhere and apparently they have been here awhile. Billboards that to the naked eye seem to be Coca-Cola ads are shown to have messages for the alien occupiers. Famous actors have been aliens this whole time, their freaky alien faces revealed once Roddy slips the sunglasses on. A whole alien world had been running right under our noses, just beneath the surface. I felt like Rowdy Roddy Piper after that first joint. Not like, I want to wear a kilt and beat up the Macho Man Randy Savage, but like, I knew about a secret fucking world that had always been there and mindless victims had been walking around it for years, pretending it didn’t exist. I saw the brave new world. I’m not sure what happens to normal people when they get high for the first time. I assume that they get high, feel delighted, and think, “That was soul stimulating. I feel enlightened but not overwhelmi...