Papa Peter: An Appeal from TCERT

What is the step after binge drinking? Blackout drinking? College drinking? Make-me-cry drinking? Go-to-the-hospital drinking? My friends, it is time to calm down. I suppose I'm speaking mostly to freshmen, but admittedly, seniors are guilty too. Getting drunk is great; nothing says fun like uninhibited conversation with that girl who is just slightly too attractive for you, or sloppy smooches and grinding in the basement of a fraternity, or just a good old-fashioned freestyle battle outside of North Campus. Alcohol is a fun and beautiful lubricant, but only when consumed with care. For some, college is-and should be- the place to explore uncharted sexual, alcoholic and psychedelic territories, but within reason. It seems like every weekend I hear about more students getting in fights, crying because blah, blah, blah, or getting TCERTed.

At Trinity both the administration and Campus Safety give minors a lot of liberty to act like adults with alcohol, without the fear of real punishment. Unlike some colleges, who dole out police citations for walking around campus with a red Solo cup, Trinity turns a blind eye as hundreds of misdemeanor crimes occur every night throughout campus; in short, they treat us like people old enough to drink responsibly. But when you dumb-heads black out four or five nights a week and vomit all over yourselves, you're acting as if this is your first time drinking a beer. Still, I recognize that some of you never drank in high school, and are just now learning your limits. To you new students: take it slow. You have four years to piss off your liver and fill your Solo-cup-belly before the real world catches up to you. To the older students: shame, shame shame! We are all too smart, and too invested (financially and emotionally . mostly financially) in our education to vomit away our college careers in emergency room hospital beds, or on the pavement of Vernon.

Sometimes being just a little tipsy can be awesome. You know what I mean . your speech is just slightly slurred, you're talkative, you've got a little stumbling swagger; this is good, fun drunk that Papa Peter (or Dr. Walters if we're friends) condones. When you've gone past this point, you're doing things like texting your mother sexual comments that were intended for your girlfriend, you're planted on the bathroom floor of Psi U with your face in a puddle of vomit crying, your response to the question "who is the president of the United States?" is "I swaer to twnety-one I'm godd!" This is the sort of thing that needs to stop. I implore you all to please watch out for one another. Although clichés are annoying, they are often true: drink responsibly. One day, one of your friends who is just a little too drunk will not make it to the hospital, but will go back to their dorm room and pass out on their bed and suffocate on their own vomit. Bad.

We're all guilty of getting too drunk sometimes accidentally, but it's beginning to look like people are going out with the intention of blacking out. Let's practice being adults while at college. After all, college is just practice for real life.

Quick Tips:

 Learn your limits: count how many drinks you have in a night, and learn when is appropriate to stop.

 Party with a responsible friend who will help you keep your shit together.

 Forget drinking; play volleyball or chill with devil sticks.

 After each drink, have a cup of water.

 Have a belly full of food before filling up on booze.

 If you find yourself with your shirt off and it's cold outside, or if you're drunk before everyone else . you've had too much.