*Some names were changed due to privacy concerns.
Click on the photos below to read the full captions.
Kevin*, a second year Computer Science Major requested his face not be shown in the photographs. As he lit one stick of Marlboro, or as he calls them, “red marbles,” he confesses how his smoking habit began. “I started smoking when I was 18. On the day I turned 18, I bought my first pack of cigarettes as an act of independence and defiance. It was my moment of adulthood,” Kevin* shares.
“I have not fully quit, but I smoke significantly less compared to when I started. It gets expensive having to buy cigarettes often, and due to personal health reasons, I know I need to quit soon. I’m only 20, but I often catch myself coughing a little ‘too much’ and it just sucks having to deal with that,” Kevin* says.
Fernando Ruiz is a third year Informatics major who prefers smoking the Black and Mild cigars instead of cigarettes. “I started smoking the beginning of 2015. Only people close to me know I smoke. My parents definitely don’t know. I grew up in a very strict household; if they found out, they wouldn’t look at me the same way. I probably wouldn’t be welcome at home anymore,” Ruiz says.
“I’m trying to quit. A lot of my friends don’t like it when I smoke. I don’t smoke as much as I used to… so I think I made some progress,” Ruiz says.
“When I get a new pack, I like to flip one the cigs upside down. I like to think of it as a token of good luck. With the sh*t lungs I have, maybe I need it,” Rick* says.
Hiding behind the pool area of his apartment complex, Rick* prefers to smoke at night, when his room mates are already asleep. “Part of the reason I want to quit is due to the inconvenience associated with smoking, finding a place to smoke away from ‘prying eyes,’ I guess,” Rick* says.
Read more "You Take My Breath Away"
xmarisia.wordpress.com 