The author (not pictured) feels strongly against smoking becoming popular again.
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Smoking is somehow inexplicably cool again, and I'm not happy about it. After a period of health-conscious stigma, it is now viewed as culturally acceptable and even desirable to be seen holding a cigarette in one's hand. It signals sophistication, a rebellious attitude, and undeniable coolness.Newsweek reported on a "cigarette renaissance" among Gen Z, a trend that makes me upset and confused, and is hard not to take personally.I never had even the slightest desire to participate, because, for me, cigarettes represented something far more sinister — death. And I was too afraid to ever try one.I grew up watching celebrities smoke in moviesGrowing up, my mother, who was obsessed with old black-and-white movies from her youth, admired the glamorous film stars, many of whom smoked cigarettes.When I was young, we watched her favorite movies together on our oversize sofa. I, too, was mesmerized by gorgeous women like Rita Hayworth, dressed in Gilda's flowing gowns, as she used cigarettes to seduce and wield power over the men around her, or Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," carrying the now-iconic cigarette holder as she window-shopped for jewels. Both women seemed so different from anyone I'd ever met, embodying the height of elegance and sophistication.While I quickly adopted my mom's love for Hollywood's Golden Age, I have never smoked a cigarette, even though most of my friends did as teens. They were the "Breakfast Club" kids who rebelled against conformity and thought that if they smoked, in addition to wearing too much black, they'd appear more mysterious and desirably misunderstood.
