7f -W Liquor from page 1 -kind of-with the music. "Iuse alcohol as a wayfor me the individual to merge with the whole. This way I'm assimilated by the body, the mass, and the mass is the party." Jesus. Now if you think it's easy in- terviewing people at parties who are in various states of sobriety and in- toxication, you're dead wrong. Most people will talk, but only with great hesitation, and usually with a what- kind-of-dip-are-you-to-be-asking-me- that sneer that makes interviews pleasant. But Ron's so drunk (20 beers, by his count) that he's more than willing to talk. And, through his drunken babble, he's hit on a kernel of truth. He keeps talking about the party's "aura," and "dynamism," and "feeling." He keeps saying how it's great to be happy with a bunch of other happy people. And he's right: There is a lot of ecstacy which has enveloped the party-a sensual, almost sexual, energy that everyone feels but no one can touch. The 20 kegs of beer the brothers of Alpha Delta Phi bought for the evening are doing their job, and the hundred or so people at their party are-depending on your point of view-either the beneficiaries or the victims of one of Ann Arbor's big in- dustries: drinking. It's peculiar, in a way, that alcohol has become our social chemical. After all, it's far from problem-free. Too much of it in an evening can cause people to insult their best friends, don proverbial lampshades, and awaken with nasty hangovers. Too much of it over a period of time can destroy a per- son emotionally and physically. At a bar at least, it's not particularly cheap. And by law, at least half the cam- pus-those under 21 years old-are for- bidden to drink it. Yet we love it. Kegs are the centerpieces of parties. Some of our most popular campus events are beer orgies-witness the 1,500 who turned out recently to the Theta Delta Chi "Beer Olympics" (in which, incidentally, our friend Ron was an "athlete"). Cdflectively, students in Ann Arbor spend millions on booze. The student thirst has driven the value of local liquor licenses to astronomical levels. Drinking is big business here. From practically the moment they set foot on campus, students are bombarded with opportunities to drink. Whether it's a "progressive drunk" party in the dorm, or a keg party at some fraternity or apartment, the social atmosphere almost demands that students partake. For many of the more than 90 percent of college students who drink, the alcohol is the center of the party, the prerequisite for having a good time. Why? Perhaps, as one freshwoman giggled at a recent party, because booze is "wonderful." It's an amazing substance that can be all things to all people. Lonely people drink for frien- dship; gregarious people drink to be sociable. The insecure drink to prove themselves; the depressed drink to lift their spirits. Drinking is portrayed in our society as at once macho and virile yet smooth and gentle. It's simultaneously sexy, shy, aggressive, and subtle. Amazing stuff. For Ron, getting good and drunk gave him the ability to conquer his social inhibitions. One man show Kegs: rolling in the barrel Ron at the Alpha Delta Phi party two weeks ago. (Incidentally, though he's in a fraternity, Ron doesn't belong to the Alpha Delta Phi). "I have the ultimate prerogative over whether I will be lonely or not. If I want to be lonely, I can be. If I want, at any moment I can be with armies of people." "That's the last essential ingredient of a fraternity party--the women," he said pointing at a pretty coed across the room. "That's probably the key to the success of fraternity parties: The fact that there are women ready, willing, and able to cater to every sexual whim .and fantasy." But the desire to drink-and drink heavily-is by no means limited to members of fraternities or upper- classmen who are drinking for the buzz. Often students-particularly fresh- men-drink to be seen drinking; they drink not so much to experience the ef- fects of alcohol but to fit in with everyone else. Take Eric, an eager, young freshman from Wisconsin living in Markley. "This is really the first party I've been to since I got here," he said a couple of weeks ago during a party on his hall in Markley. "Socially I think drinking's positive in a way-this sounds kind of bad-but you're fitting into the norm. It helps your- social status. It helps your reputation, kind of. one half-gallon . . . We kept every em- pty bottle for the first term. "It was an incredible display .. . it filled up my entire closet shelf. I hate to admit it, but I think I did display it at times with a certain sense of pride. I wouldn't brag about it so much ... it was more like I'd leave my closet door open, hoping that someone would say something to me. I wouldn't, like, point it out. And when they'd comment I'd handle it nonchalantly-like 'Oh, yeah, we drink a little bit around here.'" John Rogers is a amusing man. He's sober-looking, medium height, with short black hair, and wears old-fashioned gold wire-rimmed glasses. He looks more like an accoun- tant than one of the owners of Good Time Charley's. He smiles a lot. "Mr. Rogers, what would you say is the ratio on any given evening between people over the legal drinking age in your bar and people under the legal age?" "It's hard to say," he replies. He cracks a smile.. "Well, would you say that a majority of the people are under 21?" "No, I wouldn't say that," he respon- ds, with a slight emphasis on the word "say" and a big, broad grin. come in. Neither Ron, nor Eric, nor Tim are over 21. By Michigan law, none of them was supposed to be drinking. Yet none of them had a bit of trouble getting alcohol. The Michigan drinking age law is probably the most openly and widely violated statute in the history of the state. It was passed by popular referendum in 1978-over the heads of the governor and the state legislature-as a way of reducing drinking-related traffic accidents and alcohol use among teenagers. Although supporters claim the law-has done what it was intended to do, most underage students say it causes them only oc- casional inconvenience in getting booze. Local beer distributors, in fact, say there wasn't a perceptible change in the consumption of beer in the months following the passage of the new drinking law-even though beer is the beverage preferred by a large majority of under-21 drinkers. "I couldn't see a bit of difference in the consumption," said Hugh Wanty, the owner of 0 & W Inc., which has ex- clusive rights to distribute Stroh's and Miller products in the Ann Arbor area. "If there was (a change), it was such a small percentage that it was hard to distinguish that from all the ups and downs of the economy." "Those who wanted the product were able to get it. I think the bars did a fine job of checking and changing their clientele, and they did suffera drop in business. But the take-outs continued to operate properly. I think they tried to only sell to 21-year-olds, but the 21-year- olds were supplying the younger ones." Enforcement of the law in Ann Arbor has been sporadic at best. Underage drinkers were having a tough go of it for a while about a year ago after local police sent underage Explorer Scouts (some with fairly thick beards) into bars and take-outs to crack down on liquor sales to minors. But most studen- ts feel that things are now getting back to "normal," and-save a few touchy spots-liquor can be had with relative ease almost anywhere near campus. "There's really no problem. getting stuff to drink," said one student. "It's easier .if you're living with someone who's over 21, but you don't gotta be. By Janice Mabie Frank Stella: Prints 1967-1982 University Museum of Art Corner of State and South University Hours: 11 a.m -4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. PRINTMAKING BECAME stylish America during the late 1950s as many artists began turning their talent and energy to this emerging art form. Frank Stella, one of the most innovative and successful of thisselect group, soon followed this trend, adding a new dimension to his own career as well as to the field itself. Stella began to paint in New York City in 1959 after graduating from Prin- ceton in 1958. His rather geometric style caught on quickly, and he was en- joying the success of his Black Series paintings as early as 1959. Although there was one retrospective show of Stella's paintings in 1970, and another in 1978, the show which is currently at the University of Michigan Art Museum is the first major retrospective of Stella's prints. Many of the prints correspond with his earlier paintings. Because neither the 1970 nor the 1978 exhibits were comprehensive, this exhibit provides the unique opportunity of showing Stella's imagery and color theories from the beginning of his career to the present. Stella's printmaking career began in 1967 with his Black Series (modeled af- ter his Black Series painting of 1959). Professor Richard Axsom, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, chose 83 prints which effec- tively show the wide span of Stella's use of techniques, shapes and color. Professor Axsom is the guest curator of the exhibit and is the man responsible for having the exhibit premiere at the University Museum. Axsom has been following Stella's career for many years and felt that, as "one of the great painters and printmakers of the cen- tury," his talent merited a retrospec- tive show on his prints. He said that Stella "took the art world by storm" in the 1960s, and that he has been progressing and improving ever since. The exhibit is a good example of Stella's truly wide range of Talents. The first thing that the viewer is confronted with in the large room on the second floor of the museum is a large, busy, colorful work entitled Estoril Three II, one of the "Circuits" series just com- pleted this year. This particular print was made using the combined techniques of engraving, relief-printed etching and woodcut. Stella adds com- plexity, depth, and texture to his prints by combining several techniques in one print. Stella does most of his work in series. He varies color, technique, size, design, and framing within the series, while keeping one or more factors constant to unify the group. In the "Circuits" series, for example, he uses the same size frame, and repeats a few motifs, such as the fishnet design. From there, w w w w w w - w Stella: A retrospective he uses dratically different color schemes and techniques to differentiate them. As a result, each print has its own identity as well as a place within the series. Stella supervised the hanging of the show himself and was "thrilled with the space" that he had to work with, Axsom said. The University Museum gallery is the large shown in, This sho exhibit ir will open which Ste He has - -~ -~ - - ~ __ - - - - A 1 0 PART.HENON GYROS ie4twani '^1 USED EQUIPMENT S ALL GUARANTEED AND RECOND SAVE 50% OFF Manufacturers Sugg " Fisher Cassette Deck CR 120 " Teac 12 " Phillips Turntable AF887 * Teac a3 " Toshiba receiver so3500 Recorde " Sharp cassette deck rtl 157 " Onkyo t " Marantz speaker system * Onkyoc 3 way 12" woofer Infinity -+* Sansui r70 receiver* Hitachi, * Technic 5 bahd equalizer sa8010 Wad Re " Genesis HI FI STUDIO 215 S. ASHLEY 769-0392 or 668-7492 1 'Socially, I think drinking's positive in a way--this sounds kind of bad-but you're fitting into the norm. It helps your social status. It helps your reputation, kind of.' -Eric, a Markley freshman I I 1 ii 1 ! 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