“There’s something black in my snot,” a friend of mine said, blowing her nose.
“It’s probably dried blood,” another friend replied, with her characteristic bluntness. “Wait, it’s in my nose, too.”
And on and on. This Friday I organized a concert. We had six terrific Wesleyan bands play down in the WestCo Cafe. And after the show, nearly everyone I talked to had cigarette ash in their nostrils.
After the crowd cleared, as the various performers helped coil up cables and move amps to the lounge, I spent most of the clean-up time picking cigarette butts off the ground, throwing out beer cans that had somehow gotten behind the drum kit, and gingerly picking up the glass shards of broken beer bottles. Since the second band, the smell of pot smoke had hung in the air.
The concert was registered with Student Activities and Leadership Development as a substance-free event. It’s against University policy to smoke in residential areas, including the WestCo Cafe. And I know that not everybody having a beer at the show was 21.
The night after the concert, Saturday, I caught the Punchline stand-up comedy show. Congratulating my friends after the show, I noticed that the beer cans and shattered 40’s were back.
Later that night I went to “An Evening at the Hot Box,” a senior’s phenomenal thesis performance. At this show, too, in the MPR, I saw people bringing in huge water bottles full of mixed drinks. Before the show even started the ubiquitous scent of pot was heavy in the air.
Even later, at CT Breakdown’s awesome funk concert, the entire front row was big guys with beer, talking loudly, pushing the crowd around, and consistently coming close to spilling their over-filled booze cups on the rest of the audience.
I’m not here to tell you not to get high, or get drunk, or get cancer.
When you’re alone or with friends, that’s your business. But I can’t help but notice that a huge percentage of the Wesleyan population seems incapable of enjoying a show without getting somehow fucked up either before or during. Are we so dependant on substances that a show as thrilling as “An Evening at the Hot Box” can only be enjoyed drunk?
That Andy’s infectious grooves can only be appreciated high? Are we so sure we won’t get caught or punished that the MPR, a public space, becomes a haven for public drug use? I’d be hard-pressed to name an MPR show from my two years at Wes at which some percentage of the audience wasn’t smoking up. At every show I went to this weekend, some combination of beer, cigarettes, and pot were present.
Try to have some respect. I guess when you’re drunk you’re not thinking about the people who have to clean up your broken bottles later. When you’re dancing, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal to throw your cigarette butt on the ground.
But in a couple of years, I’ll almost certainly be doing a performance as part of my music thesis. I’ll ask right now that if you want to come and see it, you do so sober. I certainly don’t intend to put a semester or two of work into a show which you won’t even remember because you have to get fucked up to enjoy yourself. Try going to a show sober.
It’s cheaper for you, you create less garbage, and hey, maybe you’ll enjoy yourself. Did you know that there are people who have fun because of the music, dancing, acting and art? It’s true. Try to pay us a little respect.
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