Read and Seed 5: Fourth Quarter of "Smashed: The Story of Drunken Girlhood"

1. I read the section titled 'Abuse' that ranges from pages 247- 339
2. The main topics included:
1. Trying to get help
2. Spring break
3. Changing location does not mean a change in behavior
4. Gender roles  
3. In this section Koren talks about starting her Junior year in college off on the right foot. She swears off drinking and engulfs herself activities that she enjoys, like doing stories for the school newspaper. However, she is once again, consumed by her old habits after only a few months. Koren cycles through loneliness and depression and falls behind in school. The author touches on something that i think is very interesting. She talks about changing living arrangements to move off campus in order to avoid drinking. But despite her best efforts, she lapses back into drinking shortly after moving. While on spring break in Cancun, Koren is sober enough to realize how alcohol abuse intensifies gender roles. She observes that the jocks drinking beer and tequila become more manly, but the girls who do the same are perceived as less feminine. By her senior year Zailckas begins to pull herself out of another cycle of alcohol abuse by attempting to identify herself as an alcoholic. She contacts an addiction councilor that tells her to try and practice sobriety as opposed to abstinence.  Koren realizes that the road to leading a sober lifestyle is not easy and writes about times that she stumbles but in the last few pages of the book she concludes that she feels she has come out of the abuse stage and can finally see that the days of her severe alcohol abuse have come to an end.
4. One of the most prominent things that I learned form this section is that although changing locations may be a good start to sobriety, unless the reason behind the abuse is acknowledged and dealt with properly.

1. The whole book is basically a testament to why the U.S. needs to start taking underage drinking seriously. The author makes some very strong arguments that underage drinking is perpetuating gender roles. She also makes valid points that because parents, teachers and community members  do not view underage drinking as a serious issue, they too perpetuate the problem.
2. The three most important things I learned from reading this book are:
1. Underage drinking is a huge problem that especially harms females
2. Gender roles are perpetuated by alcohol and the alcohol industry
3. Relationships with foundations in  alcohol/ substance cause more damage than good
3. This is so important because before I read this book I chose to only view alcohol as a fad part of my life, but I now know how truly harmful alcohol abuse can be. I know that we, as health educators need to make underage drinking as serious as cocaine and heroine use. 
4. I would recommend this book to anyone but especially women who have daughters, any chick who has ever been drunk, and anyone who has ever felt that they were alone. This book is entertaining and yet so powerful. Zailckas has inspired me to change my views of underage drinking and i hope this book along with health educators can make a difference.