High Tales Clerisy book club connects literature and cannabis to explore connections between individuals. By blending meaningful conversation rooted in community, while advocating for the advancement of cannabis, members utilize space to share ideas and network to foster long-term relationships. Book meetings are facilitated and hosted by founder Dre Morris.
By Greer Stewart
TRANSCRIPT
0:00:03:12 You need some water? I need some water.
00:00:08:10 Oh, no that just almost took me out!
00:00:09:24 Top challenge.
00:00:10:12 Wait..
00:00:11:27 You going for the big challenge, the hard one.
00:00:13:24 Woo woo woo!
00:00:16:07 All right, I call a rematch.
00:00:18:01 My name is Andrea Morris.
00:00:19:29 Most people end up calling me Dre,
00:00:21:17 pronouns are she/G.
00:00:22:29 The “G” stands for the gangsta.
00:00:24:07 I’m a proud born
00:00:26:05 native of Chicago, South sider.
00:00:28:24 I was raised by a single mother.
00:00:30:23 I was raised in
00:00:31:17 a community
00:00:32:24 building type of family dynamic.
00:00:35:20 I’m a proud product of CPS school.
00:00:38:00 Outside of all of that
00:00:40:02 I’m a big ass nerd,
00:00:41:28 like a super big nerd
00:00:44:02 and I’m a huge advocate for cannabis.
00:00:47:17 You can argue that it’s
00:00:48:16 community as well.
00:00:49:18 I require community in my relationships.
00:00:51:03 woo, baby!
00:00:54:06 Okay.
00:00:54:29 You ain’t wrong,
00:00:56:13 and you ain’t wrong
00:00:57:28 definitely, yeah.
00:00:58:24 Y’all tapping in.
00:00:59:19 I like that perspective a lot
00:01:00:14 actually.
00:01:01:02 – 00:01:01:20
Y’all tappin’ in.
00:01:01:20 Me too.
00:01:02:26 Y’all tappin’ in.
00:01:04:10 I was tired of reading books.
00:01:07:02 by myself,
00:01:07:22 and not being able to talk to nobody about it
00:01:09:17 I wanted to create spaces
00:01:11:15 that I wanted to see within the industry,
00:01:13:28 and just wanted to create the space
00:01:16:11 that I need and that I want.
00:01:18:22 I wanted to have more than a space
00:01:20:24 for people to come and get high
00:01:21:22 and just spend money.
00:01:23:18 I feel like that was a lot of what
00:01:25:21 was over saturating
00:01:26:23 the industry
00:01:28:03 You can smoke weed and still be productive,
00:01:30:07 like we are fully functioning human beings.
00:01:32:12 – 00:01:34:23
We have the ability to get up, read,
00:01:34:23 learn, take in information
00:01:36:17 and synthesize it
00:01:37:16 and be able to share it out
00:01:38:15 and give it out.
00:01:39:17 We’re reading
00:01:40:12 “The Body Keeps the Score,”
00:01:42:00 – 00:01:43:11 it’s a really, really powerful book.
00:01:43:11 We always trying to
00:01:44:02 one up on each other.
00:01:46:02 But y’all gotta remember that crabs don’t belong
00:01:47:24 in a barrel we belong in an ocean to thrive,
00:01:49:19 and to be who we need to be.
00:01:51:16 Who put us in that barrel?
00:01:53:00 Who put us against each other?
00:01:54:16 That’s something that we always got to
00:01:55:22 think of.
00:01:56:09 But to dive into that,
00:01:59:23 I said it to wake up the community.
00:02:02:29 Community is everything.
00:02:04:07 You don’t have to read the book
00:02:05:20 to slide, you can just come through.
00:02:06:20 and just have a good time. Smoke.
00:02:07:29 – 00:02:10:02
And just pour into the conversation
00:02:10:02 and the space.
00:02:10:19 I believe in creating community spaces
00:02:12:15 that go beyond just having a good time.
00:02:14:22 Another reason why I started High Tales,
00:02:16:17 I was feeling stupid with TikTok
00:02:17:04 and shit
00:02:18:26 mental capacity
00:02:19:28 and the attention span
00:02:20:23 getting really, really short.
00:02:21:25 I was not liking how
00:02:23:13 long it was taking me
00:02:24:12 to get through books.
00:02:25:28 Reading was always big in my family
00:02:28:19 and that’s why we here.
00:02:30:04 We gonna play a game.
00:02:31:27 another game
00:02:33:19 but everybody’s gonna take
00:02:34:12 turns going around and you are going to describe
00:02:38:07 something of those categories
00:02:40:11 Right.
00:02:40:23 And we,
00:02:41:20 the rest of us
00:02:42:08 have to try to guess, figure out
00:02:43:27 if you’re describing something
00:02:44:27 that has to do with the mind
00:02:46:08 if you’re describing something
00:02:47:00 has to do with the body,
00:02:48:10 or describing something that has to do with community.
00:02:51:17 You say whatever the fuck you want to say
00:02:53:23 you get up there and say,
00:02:55:08 dick and balls see,
00:02:56:28 see!
00:02:58:19 We can take it whichever way you want to take.
00:02:59:25 I’ll be thinking about it.
00:03:02:22 Huh, what, wait, huh?
00:03:06:21 I think we held it together as a group.
00:03:09:18 I’ve probably still not going to try
00:03:11:13 to fix this relationship
00:03:12:26 with this person, but it was
00:03:14:07 it was nice
00:03:14:22 to just gain a deeper understanding
00:03:16:21 as to what exactly they are,
00:03:18:24 or at least
00:03:19:10 a little bit
00:03:19:22 insight to what they may
00:03:20:28 have had going on in their mind.
00:03:23:06 So yeah, I want to thank you.
00:03:25:22 Thank you
00:03:26:22 for sharing a piece of your journey
00:03:28:12 with us to even throw
00:03:29:17 the book out as an idea.
00:03:31:27 Clearly, it was one that was needed.
00:03:34:19 It got the most votes.
00:03:36:08 It was not a tie breaker
00:03:37:22 this time this book generally
00:03:39:03 got the most votes,
00:03:40:21 in comparison to all of the other books
00:03:42:09 that were either thrown out or
00:03:44:02 put on the list. So clearly,
00:03:47:07 everybody, for
00:03:48:13 whatever reason, needed it,
00:03:50:10 or felt like they were gonna need it
00:03:52:15 or feel like they were gonna use it.
00:03:54:11 And, I’m just so thankful, you
00:03:59:17 not wrong, about what you’re saying with that person.
00:04:01:06 You ain’t wrong!
00:04:02:21 Last question.
00:04:04:14 So, we all know at some point
00:04:06:23 we utilize weed as
00:04:09:11 a means to navigate our trauma,
00:04:11:05 what else do you use?
00:04:13:08 What else do you do?
00:04:15:01 Video games.
00:04:16:16 Such a man.
00:04:18:02 Book club.
00:04:18:21 Book club! [book club, book club,
00:04:19:11 book club] music, dancing.
00:04:21:03 When I tell y’all today,
00:04:22:29 music got me out of it.
00:04:24:03 I turned to my childhood playlist.
00:04:25:23 You have to be willing to
00:04:28:09 positively
00:04:28:29 contribute to the conversation.
00:04:31:13 That is,
00:04:31:25 it is also a networking space
00:04:33:23 for people to come to connect with people.
00:04:35:17 So that way we can build community.
00:04:37:08 We are able to understand each other
00:04:41:11 through conversation.
00:04:42:20 It’s just all about wanting to
00:04:45:23 do something different with your time.
00:04:47:22 If you
00:04:48:04 just want to do something different
00:04:49:18 on your mother fuckin’ Monday night,
00:04:51:16 High Tales Clerisy n*gga
00:04:53:13 You know, this is basically
00:04:55:02 This the space for you, slide.
00:04:56:03 Everyone in this room is absolutely amazing.
00:04:57:15 This place will not be what it is.
00:04:58:21 if it was not for every person
00:04:59:25 that is here.
00:05:00:24 And I am so grateful.
00:05:01:24 I am so grateful
00:05:02:14 – 00:05:03:17
for everybody that showed up.
00:05:03:17 That showed out [inaudible].
Copy edited by Patience Hurston
