My name is Michael Rose and I am a consistent participant of Youth Arts Collective and a student at Carmel Valley High School. This art piece means a lot to me because it deals with escapism and how I have watched others in my life escape from reality. The goblet is a reference to alcoholism and the balloon represents the high people get from an assortment of drugs with the purpose of running away from reality. The Balloon in the piece is made in a way to appear as if the saying, “on cloud 9,” was a place up in the sky.  I wanted this piece to be fun to look at and make people think. My perspective on escapism is that it can be healthy, but not in this context. Drinking and smoking as a form of escape can tear your life apart and destroy the body.