Why Being Drunk is Good

I am in a student-run theater group here at UVA and last night I hung out with a lot of my fellow thespians. In this organization, the students who are in the cast are called "casties" and the students who are the directors and choreographers and such are part of the Artistic staff or "A-Staff". Last night my fellow casties and I went over to one of my assistant-director's apartment and played some games, drank some drinks, and laughed some laughs. We played cranium for a while but we initially had difficulty deciding on how best to seperate into teams. Seeing as how there were 9 guys and 7 girls we naturally decided to play the battle of sexes. Of course the girls complained and so instead of spliting up the teams based upon gender, we split based on sexual preference; guess what team I was on.

Time went by, drinks were consumed, inhibitions were lessened, so we all decide to leave the apartment in search of some food. Now at this point I am moderately drunk, coherent, safe, aware of my surroudings, just a little loose, ya know. Now when I've had a lot to drink I do not stop talking. As soon as we left the apartment I spoke to every single person I encountered. That is no exaggeration either. In the lobby I met these two black girls named Airenne, pronounced just like "Erin" and her friend Shara. They were wonderful girls, I told Airenne that I had a friend named Erin, but that I liked the way she spelled it better. We left the lobby and outside there were these two people smoking, one person's name was Miguel and he was from Argentina and the other person was a girl from Mexico whose name I do not recall. Imagine that. I won't go into detail about everyone person I talked to but of the many I spoke to were the two hispanic workers at the pizzaria we went to, half the clientel at the pizzaria, random people on the street, Mary the cashier at the convience store we went to, Resaid the janitor at before mentioned convience store, the list goes on.

I really liked talking to Resaid; I approached him politely and said, "Hello, my name is Logan and I am fairly inebriated right now and I just wanted to say hello." (I must pause in the story and state that while I am drunk I always use the word "inebriated"; a mighty complex word for a drunk person I must say.) Moving on, Resaid says hello as well and I ask him where he is from. He says that is is from Bosnia. I then say "Wow that is really cool. Now Resaid, I don't know the politics of Eastern Europe that well but I have a friend named Luke (see previous entry) and he is from Serbia, would you two get along?" Neither startled nor offended, Resaid explains "Well yes, we would. Serbians and Bosnians get along quite well. Actually, all the common people get along just fine in Eastern Europe, it is just the people in power that are the problem." Having gained some insight into the politics of Europe I wish him a goodnight and leave him to his work. I must add here that all of my 15+ group members are still with me and they often try to pull me away from people which got really frustrating. I told them to leave me alone and to just watch me from afar and to only intervene if they thought I was unsafe or too troublesome. We eventually made it back to our dorms, I said goodnight to Luke and then went to sleep after a fun adventure.

I now bring you to my reason for writing: being drunk is a good thing. Do I seriously believe this wholeheartedly? No, but I do see some good effects of having your inhibitions lowered at times. I really met some very interesting people last night and I do not feel I would have met them had I been sober. I am a very social and friendly person by nature but I would not have been quite as forward or blunt as I was with many individuals that night. (Resaid is just one example of many). I really was exposed to the intrinsic nature of people last night; people are friendly, people are inherently good, and the majority of conflict among inviduals simply stems from a lack of understanding. I realize that that is in no way a revolutionary idea, and I really already felt that way, but to experience it time and again last night was truly a moving and fun experience. If people would just forget about what society deems as proper or politically correct behavior for a minute than people would truly have some geat interactions with some really great people. I know that should I go out tonight with some friends and get a bite to eat I won't stop everyone on the street to say "Hello, my name is Logan, I'm pretty inebriated, but I just wanted to say hello". I know that I won't feel comfortable asking people the most random question while they are trying to enjoy their meal at the local pizzaria, but what I do know is that I will begin to start looking for ways to start breaking down social barriers, to say hi to people who I wouldn't normally, to ask things one would normally deem as inappropriate. I urge you to say hi to that random stranger today, you'll never know what he has to teach you.

Oriental or Asian?

I decided to take a philosophy course this semester; so far it has been rather interesting. Debating with people and dealing with large, abstract ideas has always been enjoyable to me, so naturally, philosophy has been quite provacative. Recently we have analyzed the thoughts and writings of Socrates which has left me pondering the following question: Do I like "X" because it is good, or is "X" good because I like it? Think about it.

I went to my first discussion section for the class the other day and the TA's name was Joungbin Lim. He welcomed us to the class, wrote his name on the board, and then asked us what country we thought he was from. Wow, way to put us on the spot. Here arises the problem, this class is graded upon participation. Do I guess what country he is from so as to participate in this discussion or do I abstain from divulging my ignorance of Southeast Asian peoples. After guesses such as China, Japan, and Singapore were made, someone finally guesses the correct country: Korea. "Well, South Korea, obviously," Joungbin adds. Suddenly he gets really enthusiastic and decides to cajole us into asking questions about Korean culture. "Ask me about food, anything you want." After 30 akward seconds go by I muster up the courage to display the pinnacle of American ignorance, "Can other orientals tell other orientals apart?" I ask hesitantly. He gives an akward laugh and then explains that he can recognize Chinese, Korean, and Japanese people apart but that he could not distinguish between people of the smaller, Asian countries. People around me muttered softly to me, "Wow, good question". Having learned something new while holding on to my dignity I proceeded to tell my story to my friend Luke later that day.

"You didn't say 'orientals' did you?" he asked. "Yes," I replied nervously. Luke then proceed to explain to me that calling someone an oriental is offensive to most. Well, I refuted his claim by stating that calling someone an Asian is also incorrect because people who are from Russia, India, or Pakistan are not referred to as Asian, but they still are from Asia. He then reassured me that the word "oriental" is fine, but that I must use it as an adjective, not a noun. It is ok to say "oriental people have slanted eyes" but it somehow offensive to say "orientals have slanted eyes".

Always in a quest for knowledge, I scoured the internet for opinions about what is the most proper way to refer to someone who is from China, Japan, Korea, etc. when the person's nationality is unknow. I stumbled upon my first source in a forum entitled "Politically Correct?!!??!!". The writer who identifies himself as "Kanism" said the following, "another example which pisses the holy hell outta me is being called Asian...hey, I'm Vietnamese...either call me Vietnamese or call me Oriental...do me the favor of not lumping my ass in with Arabs, Terrorists, and all the crazy fuckers in the western part of the continent..."

Another source, answers.com states "Asian is now strongly preferred in place of Oriental for persons native to Asia or descended from an Asian people. The usual objection to Oriental—meaning “eastern”—is that it identifies Asian countries and peoples in terms of their location relative to Europe. The real problem with Oriental is more likely its connotations stemming from an earlier era when Europeans viewed the regions east of the Mediterranean as exotic lands full of romance and intrigue. However, Oriental should not be thought of as an ethnic slur to be avoided in all situations. As with Asiatic, its use other than as an ethnonym, in phrases such as Oriental cuisine or Oriental medicine, is not usually considered objectionable."

What do you think?