interesting weekend

[FrankS]

I just got back home from a very interesting weekend that I recorded with a Canon 7 and J8 lens. My university had its annual event called Homecoming. Former grads are encouraged to return to the university on this particular weekend. Classes or programs with anniversaries of 10, 20, 30, etc. years are targeted. For me, it has been 20 years since getting a degree in education, and 25 years since my first degree in Biology/Psycology. I met a buddy from education and we toured around the university grounds and the city of Kingston, enjoying the wares of many pubs. The atmosphere was VERY party-time. In the evening, porch and lawn student parties swelled into the streets, eventually closing them to vehicular traffic. Some students were also parying and witnessing the event from their porch roofs. The crowd of student partyers was jovial and I witnessed no negative emotions or behaviours except in some interactions with police officers (who stayed calm) and the assinine/stupid behaviour of breaking beer bottles. Lit only with street lights, I took many photos of the crowd's goings on with the camera set at f2 and 1/15sec. I have no idea what will turn out but it was quite an experience. Even though I had no plans of driving my car during or at the end of the evening, it was a moot point because I couldn't have. The choice parking spot I found on a students' residencial street with free parking, turned out to be inside the area that police cordoned off due to the crowded and rowdy situation. I wish I had a film scanner so that the amount of work required to post some of these images would not be so daunting. I'll post whatever's good once I get stuff printed.

 

[FrankS]

BTW: the Canon 7's exposure meter is useless in dim lighting conditions and it is useless to me during the daytime because I need my reading glasses to see the small numbers on the exposure scale. My M6 rocks, but I purposely did not bring it with me into this particular environment due to the heavy drinking of all those involved. 🙂

 

[the lobster]

Sounds like a fun weekend.

Smart move leaving the M6 behind, but are you sure you weren't carrying a Seagram's 7? 😀

 

[peter_n]

The serious underage drinking at colleges, and the fact that the police essentially turn a blind eye to it, just continues to amaze me.

My two kids are both at college and some of the stories they've told me are unbelievable.

 

[einolu]

Glad your using the 7!

as for underage drinking, I think that 21 is much to late for a drinking age. how come I can buy a gun before I can drink? heh.

 

[Kin Lau]

The drinking age in Ontario is only 19... even lower at 18 in Quebec.

 

[FrankS]

So my buddy and I, in our mid to late forties, are walking around trying to blend in, but we've got students coming up to us asking if we're alumni. Boy I miss university days! Still feel like a kid inside, but look like an alumni.

 

[Dan Chang]

BTW: the Canon 7's exposure meter is useless in dim lighting conditions and it is useless to me during the daytime because I need my reading glasses to see the small numbers on the exposure scale. My M6 rocks, but I purposely did not bring it with me into this particular environment due to the heavy drinking of all those involved. 🙂

Frank get ride of the meter and turn it into 7M 😉, 7 is really ugly with the bug eye

 

[JoeFriday]

I attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.. very well known in its day for being THE party school in the country.. I believe Johnny Carson once said "there are only two places to be on St. Patricks Day... Ireland or Oshkosh"

when I started school there, the drinking age was 18, and then raised to 19 by the next year.. that didn't really affect the party situation.. the lawn parties that Frank described were weekly events during the warm months.. otherwise, parties were held almost every day of the week at some of the 'party houses' near campus.. students that would pay their rent by throwing parties and charging a few bucks for cups

eventually, the drinking age was brought up to 21, and the parties went 'underground'.. almost literally.. they were held in basements.. it didn't stop the drinking, but it made it less open and fun, IMO

Oshkosh now is trying to downplay the party school reputation.. at least as a University.. it's a different story among the students, however.. UW-Madison has taken over the official title.. it's routinely rated the No. 1 (public) Party School in the nation as determined by Princeton University polling

 

[ray_g]

.. UW-Madison has taken over the official title.. it's routinely rated the No. 1 (public) Party School in the nation as determined by Princeton University polling

Why is it that I wish I had gone there, and that my kids won't?

 

[JoeFriday]

Madison is actually an excellent school.. and the city itself is very nice.. a bit too liberal for me (and most midwesterners).. as a previous governor once referred to the city as "25 square miles surrounded by reality".. it's often called the 'Berkley of the midwest'.. but aside from the political atmosphere that you can't escape due to the university and the fact that it's the state capital, it's a great place to be.. especially during a Badger football game.. the whole city is red and white for the day

 

[ray_g]

I actually almost went there years ago. The lakeside bike trail is beautiful in the summer, and you stop for brats and beer when you get tired. 🙂

 

[dmr]

Believe it or not, when I was a senior in HS we could and did drink legally. 18 was the legal drinking age and yes, some kids did overdo it. It wasn't until I was in college that I remember any of what you would call hardcore drinking, binge drinking, drinking games at parties, and getting drunk for the sake of getting drunk.

Sometimes I wonder how all of us survived those days. 🙂

 

[back alley]

i was so fortunate as a freshman in university, i learned early how to balance out my drinking with my drug 'experimentation'.

😉

 

[Roman]

Well, like in most of Europe, there actually is a legal drinking age here in Austria (it is 16, if I remember correctly), but this is totally uncontrolled, no IDing, no fines, no nothing - and the result is that teenagers learn how to deal responsibly with alcohol, instead of doing stupid drinking games, binge drinking, etc., like they do if they don't learn how to deal with it early enough.
BTW, Frank, your outing sounds like what was going on in Isla Vista while I was an exchange student at UCSB...

Roman

 

[Heath]

Here in Australia the legal drinking age is 18, as is the voting age and the legal smoking age.. Age of consent is 16 and the age that you can get your driver learners permit is 16 years and nine months.

I find it crazy that an American can buy a gun or go to war before they can legally buy and drink a beer.

Heath

 

[rover]

This weekend I will be going to West Point to see the UConn vs Army football game. It will be the first tailgate party at which I will be taking a camera. I haven't in the past because, well, although interested as a people watcher, I don't think I want to photograph kids and remind myself of the way I was at these things.

I am glad those days are behind me. Fun, but better to look back on those hangovers than to live them.

 

[Skinny McGee]

Hey Frank cant you have your photos put on disk and show them?

 

[nomade]

The drinking age in Ontario is only 19... even lower at 18 in Quebec.

Last summer iw as still 20, i was in a bar @ Toronto, and then the waiter thought i can't have mroe than 17 years :bang:

Of course i wouldn't walk around with my passport and i forgot the ISAC, i had no proof of being 20...Thatw as an ugly situation, i've talked to the manager, to half of the waiters and waitresses there, and it was useless...

Isn't Egypt lovely, u can drink anywhere even if u've no id, i was pretty young the 1st time i had beer in a public place... 😎

 

[StuartR]

Roman -- Isla Vista is an exception, not the rule. I went to graduate school at UCSB, and I can tell you it was nothing like where I went to undergraduate (Middlebury College in Vermont). A large proportion of the kids at UCSB are more interested in drinking and hooking up than in learning anything. UCSB is another one of those places that is known for its party scene (after all, it is in a beautiful town right on the beach with surfing and so forth). The graduate school is a totally different scene however. I must say that I never really went into Isla Vista much...it was just kind of gross. It is like going somewhere entirely populated by teenagers with no adult supervision....OH WAIT, THAT IS WHAT IT IS! 🙂

As for the 21 drinking age, I agree it is misguided. I think it should be 16 or 18. I don't necessarily think completely unregulated sale of booze is the way to go there. There are problems in that too. When I used to live in Vladivostok I frequently witnessed VERY young children drinking beer...almost always street children. It really was if you are old enough to reach the counter, you can buy beer. There was actually a real problem with child-alcoholics. Kids on their way back from school or skipping school would buy Baltika 9, which is a 8 percent alcohol beer. These kids were 12-15, and at that age your body becomes physically addicted in 2 years as opposed to 10 for an adult. In any case, I am not suggesting that it is like this everywhere, or even most places with no real drinking age, but it certainly does make it easier for kids (children) to drink.