[blogfocus saturday] on the efficacy of alcohol

Just who is this summer honey? Clue – she’s in this Blogfocus. 1] Work – the curse of the drinking classes. Drink – the elixir from heaven or the breaker of homes? Fourteen bloggers give you their take on the demon drop. Mr. Eugenides kicks off: There is a binge-drinking culture in this country: there are too many people storing up long-term health problems for themselves. People need to take more responsibility for their actions. Beyond this incontrovertible bromide, though, I don't know what the answer is; but I know it's not treating us like children. Lumping those of us who often go out for a drink of a Friday night and sometimes wake up with a sore head on Saturday morning, in with the alcoholics, the all-day drinkers, the genuinely habitual, and heavy, consumers of alcohol, just seems to me to be daft. 2] From the Baron at Gates of Vienna, it appears it’s not only on this side of the pond either. Dymphna and I can testify, through long association with Charlottesville and UVa, that it does indeed have a reputation as a hard-drinking “party” college. Virginia Tech may give it a run for its money, but the University of Virginia is definitely where the children of the upper middle class want to go for an alcohol-friendly environment. Local parents out here in the boonies know the University’s major attraction, and it makes them worry if they have a kid who gets good enough grades to be accepted there. 3] The Cityunslicker, as part of one meme, listed these, among others, including disclosures about his drinking propensity: 1. I don't actually work in the City, geographically speaking; 2. I have never owned any shares; 3. The animals that scare me most are mice and any other types of rodents; 4. As a drinking lightweight, I would easily lose to a small teenage Chinese girl in a drinking competition. Eleven more bloggers plus the Mystery Blogger here.