When I was back home two weeks ago, my mother mentioned John — the cute boy with red hair and freckles on whom I had my first crush in grade school. I was sorry to hear that he has spent years battling alcoholism. I gather it began in college, which doesnâ??t surprise me, after visiting my sonâ??s college this fall.
We enjoyed so much about visiting Martinâ??s school. The wonderful concert in the auditorium, the birthday messages written by friends on the sidewalk in front of his dorm, the bulletin board notices of creative activities and organizations, the engaging academic community, the sense of belonging. But there was another side to college that Martin said disturbed him, and it too was in evidence — the broken chair in the kitchen, destroyed by a few drunken students a week or two earlier, the bloated face of a hall mate, the beer bottles left in odd places. Even at a college based on principles of simplicity, emphasizing personal restraint and responsibility to community, excessive college drinking is rampant.