It was an incredibly impromptu decision, but honestly? That made it so much better. My friend, the one who convinced me to go with her, she asked me to go about two weeks before the actual concert. For example, I’d only ever heard a few 5SOS songs before I hadn’t been listening to them for a year, much less a decade. Some things were more accurate than others. Tuesday, we planned on going to the Grand Canyon extremely early, which meant taking it easy for the rest of the day so we could handle getting up. The rest of the day was mostly dedicated to wandering around downtown yet again. Carolyn, her roommate, Molly, and I all went out for coffee and stopped by Fractured Prune for some of the most delicious donuts. Dutch Bros Coffee, which I had never been to, was donating all profits towards the Second Chance animal shelter. Monday started, as did most of our days, with a stop for our caffeine fix. It was so hot and bright out but it was still cool to get to see, even with all the little tourist shops. Since it was still pretty early in the day, we decided to go to Sedona, where we had planned to go, but didn't have time to, when I was here in January. It's located in the mountains, all the restaurants we visited were good, and there were lots of places to amble. It doesn't take long to fall in love with Flagstaff, at least for me.

Our second day, we went to downtown Flagstaff and wandered around all of the stores. The meeting occurred the same day Congress passed a bill allowing $1 billion in new funding to be allocated to recovery programs so every citizen with an opioid addiction can access the help they need. In May of 2016, Macklemore was invited to Washington to speak with President Obama about America’s drug addiction, a growing disease that now takes more lives than traffic accidents annually and has risen threefold since 2000. According to the National Institute of Health, 52 million people in the US over the age of 12 have used prescription drugs non-medically in their lifetime. He attributes Kevin’s death to the pharmaceutical industry in America who, according to Macklemore, “…spends trillions fighting the war they're supplying themselves.” The lyrics also allude to the effortless availability of painkillers, both over the counter as well as prescribed. More recently, Macklemore has addressed more of America’s drug problem while also criticizing the pharmaceutical industry in the song “Kevin” from his 2016 album 'This Unruly Mess I've Made.' The song tells the story of Macklemore’s friend, an up-and-coming rapper who overdosed on prescription drugs at the age of 21. Despite a successful rehab in 2008, Macklemore experienced a relapse in 2010 which was later made the topic of the song “Starting Over.” Despite feeling like a failure for publicizing his sobriety only to relapse 2 years later, Macklemore hopes he can be a beacon of hope for those struggling as he states in his song, “If I can be an example of getting sober, then I can be an example of starting over.” It really was just skating, drinking, and writing graffiti.” Macklemore highlights his addiction to drugs such as marijuana, cough syrup, and painkillers and the subsequent downfall in his hit song “Otherside.” The powerful lyrics depict the personal struggles of an addict through the eyes of Macklemore while also emphasizing society’s infatuation with drugs and the effect it has on the younger generation, specifically through the rap industry. He stated, “… I was just a young kid trying to get into whatever I could. In an interview, Macklemore admitted his loss of innocence at a young age through the use of drugs and alcohol, and his involvement in minor criminal activity.

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