From the Rocky Mountain Collegian:
Addiction speaks for itself. There are people who are addicted to Facebook or people who are addicted to television.
Thursday night Chaske Spencer, who portrays wolf leader Sam Uley in the popular “Twilight” films, spoke about another addiction: drugs and alcohol.
As a part of Native American Heritage Month at CSU, Spencer was invited to give a lecture about overcoming substance abuse and raising awareness of the dangers this addiction can cause.
Over the years, Spencer has noticed a lot of addiction within the Native American community.
“It’s a great opportunity to raise cultural awareness and bring up issues about diversity,” said Courtney Woolsey, a senior Native American Cultural Center mentor. “Also, overcoming addiction is a very universal and empowering message.”
Spencer, who is celebrating sobriety of two years, nine months and six days, explains what a shock it is to be alive today.
“Statistically, I am not supposed to be here,” Spencer said. “Honestly, I’m just happy to have all my teeth.”
After moving from reservation to reservation, Spencer’s family settled in Montana where Spencer was “just a spec of color” in his dominantly Caucasian high school.
It was there, after suffering under peer pressure and wanting acceptance, that he took his first drink where “all the insecurities went away.”
An accident with drunk driving caused Spencer to move to New York City in hopes of starting his career as an actor and getting clean.
His vow for sobriety lasted one day. Trying to get completely sober took up to four years.
With the help of his manager and his friends, Spencer went into rehab and graduated after two months.
He was working as a bartender in New York –– still sober –– when he got the call to audition for “Twilight: New Moon.” The day he signed the contract for the film is also his sobriety date.
“Because of the huge success of “Twilight” I am able to raise awareness on a global scale,” he said.
Members of the Native American community from all of Colorado, CSU students and “Twilight” fans were present to hear his message.
“It was surprising but very motivating for him to speak about his addiction openly,” said freshman sociology major Jasmine Matthews.
Spencer’s advice for anyone who wants to overcome their addiction to drugs or alcohol is to “do it for yourself, not for anybody else, or it won’t work out.”
He also explained how he takes it “one day at a time” and surrounds himself with people who care about him. Spencer attends AA meetings every day and sometimes twice a day to keep himself in check.
Spencer is also involved with raising awareness about the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation water crisis. For more information on this crisis and to sign Spencer’s petition, go to his official website www.wix.com/dreamreve/chaskespencer.
Staff writer Lianna Salva can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com.
And From Twilight Lexicon a fan write up about his visit to Ohio: (more after the jump)
Chaske Spencer Speaks Candidly About Addiction at Kent State
Posted by Twilight_News - 11/11/10 at 11:11 am
Lexicon reader Alex (Freebird1790 on Twitter) had the chance to hear Chaske Spencer speak at Kent State. She was really excited to hear Chaske speak, and she asked if she could give us the details. Here is her report. Tonight Chaske is speaking at Colorado State in Fort Collins tonight. The genreal public can attend for $3.00; it’s free for current students.
Chaske Spencer Experience
I am obviously a Twilight fan but he wasn’t coming to talk about Twilight. He came to talk about his drug addiction and his alcoholism and how he is trying to make a difference.
When I found out about it I immediately asked my friend to come along with me. She has come to everything with my including Creation Entertainment Convention’s. So we put our names in the drawing to win a Meet and Greet with him and patiently waited to see if we would be lucky enough to win. We didn’t win unfortunately, and I was sad because I thought it would be so cool to have a picture with him to add to this experience posting. So I contacted the head of the organization that was holding this and asked if I could get a picture with him, and she said yes!
Basically the whole entire week leading up to his appearance, I was so excited! Then I got nervous the day of his appearance. I had met some of the people from Twilight before but it was always a couple of seconds, take a picture, thank them and leave. But this time I was able to go into the meet and greet and meet Chaske.
When I got up to the suite and after the meet and greet group left, I along with my friend went in with another girl to meet him. Chaske was the most relaxed, funny, kind and most humbled person! He shook my hand and sat back down asking us to sit down! I told him what I was doing and he said “Of course I know Twilight Lexicon!” He said, “I think they were around the New Moon set, and they are pretty cool.” So that was awesome that he knew who I was going to write to. I asked him for a picture and I got one with just him and I, and also one with my friend and me. He then offered to sign something, and luckily I had thought to bring my Twilight book. He signed it, being very funny, and we talked a little more, hugged him and then went downstairs.
My friend and I walked out of that room on cloud nine!
His presentation was very inspiring. He didn’t hold anything back about his drug and alcohol addictions. He said that he was always into movies and knew in the back of his mind that he wanted to act. He continued to let us into his past, and I think for any great speaker you must tell the truth. He said the scariest part in his entire life was when he arranged to go to rehab. He said nothing was scarier than the process of getting out of bed, walking to the shower, getting dressed, walking to the door, opening the door, and then stepping into the car and going to rehab. He said that when he was in rehab, he just wanted to get his soul back.
When he got the part of Sam in New Moon, he was excited and didn’t realize that on the day that he signed his contract was the anniversary date of his sobriety. When he said this I got chills, because it was almost as if someone was saying “Here is your second chance”. Before New Moon, he had never heard of Twilight, and he joked about how he googled it saying, “Oh shit, this is HUGE!” On the plane ride to Vancouver, he watched the first movie.
Through Twilight, he knew that he could help make a difference. He felt that he owed it to everyone to try and do what he could to help others that were and could be in his situation. He wanted to “pay it forward”. So he got involved in United Global Shift and also ‘Be the Shift’. He wanted to bring a “Sustainable change, not just a band-aid.”
Chaske said that he is thankful for many things. He is thankful for being alive, knowing that statistically he is not supposed to be here. He is thankful that he was outed about his addictions because he is now able to help others, and most of all he is thankful for his teeth! (He has a very nice smile, by the way). He also said that his relationship with his family is great! He even brought his parents to the New Moon premiere.
At only his 3rd time speaking about his past specifically, he really made me want to see what I can do to help. He was so inspiring and I was able to tell him that after his presentation. I am so thankful that he agreed to share his story and that Kent State held it. It is people like Chaske who can help make a difference and inspire us to all be better people; and that is exactly what he did for me.
For more information on how you can help make a difference, here are the two websites that he gave us:
www.unitedglobalshift.org
www.betheshift.tv
via: Blackpack
~Robstenfan
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