The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint
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Beloved stoner comedian TOMMY CHONG is now older, wiser, and officially an EX-CON. On the morning of February 24, 2003, agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration launched a sting called Operation Pipe Dreams and forced themselves through the door of Tommy's California home, with automatic weapons drawn. As a result of the raid on his home; the simultaneous ransacking of his son's company, Chong Glass; and the Bush administration's determination to make an example out of the "Pope of Pot;" he was sentenced to nine months in prison because his company shipped bongs to a head shop in Pennsylvania that was a front for the DEA. Well . . . now it's Tommy Chong's turn to fight back and tell his side of the story. Beginning with Tommy's experiences growing up in Canada in the forties and fifties as a mixed-race kid and going on to become a comedy legend, The I Chong is at once a memoir, a spiritual exploration of his time in prison, and a political indictment of the eroding civil liberties in post-9/11 American society. He tells the unbelievable story of his trip down the rabbit hole of America's war on drugs and of his experiences in the federal prison system, and he offers up timely observations on combating the conservative political forces at work in this country. Introspective, inspiring, and incendiary, The I Chong is a unique chronicle of one man's life and how his humorous and spiritual point of view saved him during his wrongful incarceration at the hands of an administration without boundaries. Kirkus Reviews Confessions of a pot smoker from comic Chong, who depicts his nine months in the federal pen for selling high-quality glass bongs on the Internet. Expanding his act without partner Cheech Marin, the aging hipster recalls his impoverished Calgary childhood and salutes his family and friends as he describes the 2003 raid and subsequent trial in which the authorities argued that drug paraphernalia supported terrorism. The book's second half begins as, sporting extra underwear, Chong heads for the minimum-security hoosegow. There he finds that his popularity outside continues inside. As a friendly con, he joins a sweat lodge, tries gardening, builds a kiln, reads the I Ching. (His memoir takes its format from that ancient program.) He meditates. "Some religions base their entire philosophy around the practice," he notes, "and some religions use meditation as a religion." Chong waxes righteous in a heartfelt '60s flower-child manner. He offers a melange of decent social consciousness and blameless self-regard. He believes his sojourn in jail is the establishment's punishment for his free stoner lifestyle. The Great Bong Raid and his arrest were, he believes, at the behest of the Republican Christian Right. The controllers of the Oval Office have it in for him personally. Despite his loyal fan base, Chong's manifesto is not likely to prompt regime change in America. On he sermonizes, though, with sweet assurance. For as long as he can remember, he has "always had a special relationship with God." He knows the key to Heaven and humanity's real mission in Life. He expounds on the major problems facing the world today and the only way to be truly happy. When you have dignity, he says, youhave respect. Life, he offers, is like golf. (Or like a box of chocolates. Whatever.) Preaching love and cannabis, this tract by a good ol' hippie contains less than meets the I Ching. It's also just a bit addled. Sincere but slight, best taken with a joint.
Ch'ien / The Creative Ch'ien / Ch'ien 1Shih / The Army K'un / K'an 26Po / Splitting Apart Ken / K'un 41K'an / The Abysmal (Water) K'an / K'an 50Ting / The Caldron Li / Sun 68Chen / The Arousing (Shock, Thunder) Chen / Chen 79Chieh / Limitation K'an / Tui 90Chun / Difficulty at the Beginning K'an / Chen 120Sung / Conflict Ch'ien / K'an 126Pi / Holding Together (Union) K'an / K'un 134P'i / Standstill (Stagnation) Ch'ien / K'un 155Ku / Work On What Has Been Spoiled Ken / Sun 165Kuan / Contemplation (View) Sun / K'un 171Fu / Return (The Turning Point) K'un / Chen 178Ta Ch'u / The Taming Power of the Great Ken / Ch'ien 182Li / The Clinging, Fire Li / Li 192Ch'ien / Modesty K'un / Ken 198Shih ho / Biting Through Li / Chen 204Acknowledgments 214
