I have this Modest Proposal for fixing the US drinking age. 21 is well above the international norm of 18 for legally purchasing alcohol – although it turns out to be 25 in some parts of India, who knew? – and the usual justification is that drinking and driving is a bad idea. Drinking and driving is a terrible idea, no doubt, so why not go one further and allow 18-21 year olds to choose? You could either register for a driving licence, or a drinking licence, but not both. They’d be different colours. For those who need to drive, it would be status quo. For those who don’t, they could sign away the risk and, in return, no longer have to confine their drinking to dodgy college parties. It’s win-win, except for the conveners of dodgy college parties.
I put this idea to Will Guzzardi, a State Representative for Illinois, at a fundraising thing hosted by 270 Strategies, but he didn’t seem to think it was a priority. And given that the Republican governor of Illinois is among those indulging in brazenly racist rabble-rousing against Syrian refugees this week, maybe he has a point.
As always, a powerful counterweight to such baseness is the joy and love of good people. This was no better demonstrated than at Robert and Julie’s wedding. They are both such wonderful people, and it’s impossible not to be happy at how happy they are. To make things even better, Katie and Brandon were in town for it, and I realised how much I missed Katie’s facial expressions.
Pictures below are borrowed (with permission) from Stephanie Bassos Photography, who will make you want to get married just so you can have some of your own.
Robert and Julie
Groupon, past and present
Other than that, I’ve mostly been planning Thanksgiving / Christmas / post-Christmas-but-it’s-still-cold getaways. Randi and I did see Chapter Two last night, a play which felt very much from another time and place, which is good because it actually was (New York, 1977). There was a somewhat jarring switch from light-hearted dad-jokes in the first half to an outpouring of emotion in the second – a situation of the main characters’ own making, since they decided (for unclear reasons) that they had to get married in a week. Unless their wedding photographer was leaving the country, I couldn’t relate.
Macey Ann, Cloak Dangerfield, Matt Montagano, Abigail Osbiston, Kristina Francisco, Julie Dietz, Carl Thuringer, Katie Sharing liked this post.
Wait … What weird expressions?!
I never said they were weird! Just expressive. Like when someone makes an unexpected comment in a wedding speech *cough* the Katie Look of Quizzical Concern is astonishingly good.
Hahaha no worries. I definitely just labeled myself weird and projected that on you. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t know what you meant 😛