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I'm not Irish, but kiss me anyway!
St. Patrick's Day. The day that St. Patrick allegedly drove the snakes out of Ireland.
Do I celebrate it? No, not really. I have no Irish ancestry. And if this is a metaphor for driving out pagans and druids and replacing them with the Church, then there certainly is no need or desire for a ceabration.
What I find appalling is that St. Patrick's Day has, in the States, become an excuse to get drunk on green beer and act stupid. Why? Where did this come from?
I still cringe and shudder when someone mentions the name "P.J. Bottoms" -- a tavern near the SUNY/Buffalo Main St. campus that had the green beer and other shenanigans on March 17 of every year. They'd start the day at 8 am with cups of green beer for a nickel, and raise the price a nickel every hour. The bar gained notoriety in the early '80s because of their "General Hospital Happy Hour" -- watch the soap and down the suds for cheap.
I've heard of too many young men who have died from excessive alcohol ingestion. Some voluntary, some coerced (i.e. hazing). It's not funny anymore; it's deplorable. The most recent example off the top of my head was the president of a college fraternity chapter who celebrated his 21st birthday with.....21 shots. He passed away within a day.
I want to take a picture of someone who's had too much to drink, is in the process of getting sick, enlarge the picture to poster size, and add the caption "Alcohol poisoning is very glamorous." (We did something like that in my fraternity days before the great FIPG crackdown, except we didn't add the caption to the poster.)
Not only that, it perpetuates a negative stereotype about the Irish, that they're excessive drinkers.
If you're gonna drink something on St. Patty's Day, consider quality, not quantity. Have a pint of Guinness, or a shot of Tullamore Dew (fine Catholic distillery, as one spirits distributor told me).
Do I celebrate it? No, not really. I have no Irish ancestry. And if this is a metaphor for driving out pagans and druids and replacing them with the Church, then there certainly is no need or desire for a ceabration.
What I find appalling is that St. Patrick's Day has, in the States, become an excuse to get drunk on green beer and act stupid. Why? Where did this come from?
I still cringe and shudder when someone mentions the name "P.J. Bottoms" -- a tavern near the SUNY/Buffalo Main St. campus that had the green beer and other shenanigans on March 17 of every year. They'd start the day at 8 am with cups of green beer for a nickel, and raise the price a nickel every hour. The bar gained notoriety in the early '80s because of their "General Hospital Happy Hour" -- watch the soap and down the suds for cheap.
I've heard of too many young men who have died from excessive alcohol ingestion. Some voluntary, some coerced (i.e. hazing). It's not funny anymore; it's deplorable. The most recent example off the top of my head was the president of a college fraternity chapter who celebrated his 21st birthday with.....21 shots. He passed away within a day.
I want to take a picture of someone who's had too much to drink, is in the process of getting sick, enlarge the picture to poster size, and add the caption "Alcohol poisoning is very glamorous." (We did something like that in my fraternity days before the great FIPG crackdown, except we didn't add the caption to the poster.)
Not only that, it perpetuates a negative stereotype about the Irish, that they're excessive drinkers.
If you're gonna drink something on St. Patty's Day, consider quality, not quantity. Have a pint of Guinness, or a shot of Tullamore Dew (fine Catholic distillery, as one spirits distributor told me).