Ahh! Or Art?

This morning as I walked to class for the first time since Friday I was somewhat horrified to discover what my neighbours had gotten up to over the weekend. What is it with Dunedin students and fire? One couch in ashes – all that remained was the inner springs, and one wheelie bin fried, just a melted mess of plastic and food waste left strewn across the footpath and what a terrible stench!

It seems that over the years burning things, especially couches, has become a norm in the Otago student culture, so much so that not one person I saw walk past the mess stopped or commented as they walked past – not even two senior citizens who surely wouldn’t have had such repugnant youth in their student days… So my question to anyone reading, are we breading scholars, or are Dunedin students filthy, uncontrollable, arsonists? Arson: the act of intentionally or recklessly setting fire to another's property or to one's own property for some improper reason. ‘Some improper reason’ in Dunedin = Alcohol. Drinking in this part of New Zealand is likened to an art form. So are we actually breeding artists? Of which the dictionary defines someone whose work ‘exhibits exceptional skill’. Surely that cannot be denied. From Alcohol Use and Tertiary Students in Aotearoa – New Zealand, ALAC Occasional Publication No. 21, June 2004:

“University life may actually promote drinking among students. Drinking has been described as intrinsic to the student culture and a more defining feature of tertiary study as academic work itself…

…Drinking stories’ play a part in maintaining group dynamics and are seen positively by students, which means drinking harms could actually be seen as a good thing. ‘Drinking games’ are also prevalent, with the aim of getting drunk quickly, socialising, controlling others and getting others drunk…”

That publication also states that of the students surveyed, 71.7% drank once a week or more, & 7.3% drank four or more times a week! (Based on Hall of Resident students, 2001).

It’s well known that many of the greatest artists to ever walk the earth had the help of either alcohol or drugs to become the person who we idolise or try to emulate today, take Ernest Hemmingway for example – he was a self-professed alcoholic. So is the drinking culture just conditioning those who are strong enough, to become the next big thing? Just walking around in North Dunedin there are glimpses of something better peeking through, and there are stories of those who have come out the other side on top. Notable Otago University Alumni include Michael Laws, Janet Frame & Dame Sylvia Cartwright. Also out of Dunedin comes an abundance of successful fashion designers, not to mention the now iconic iD Fashion Week that shows them off.  This culture also has a way of bringing people together, not just for drunken rendezvous, take Six60, not so long ago the five Otago University students were unknown to New Zealand music, but today with over 150,000 Facebook fans they are taking their music around the world. Perhaps drinking is unlocking an unknown receptor in students’ brains, creating opportunities for creativity.

I have never heard anyone complain that the way things are done down here are out of control, and everyone I spoke to before choosing to study here only had great things to say - in fact couch burning wasn’t mentioned. I’m not trying to be an old nag, I just really don’t understand. I have been a tax payer for many years and feel that my hard earned dollars deserve to be spent on initiatives that will benefit society – student allowances should not be pondered on beer – and for those lucky enough to have parents paying their rent, do the parents realise what their kids are getting up to on the weekends? And what do councillors and MPs think? I also don’t understand how drinking four times a week can be conducive to a good study regime.

Perhaps the burnt out wheelie bin is just someone’s installation that didn’t quite make it to the gallery, and all those couches are in preparation for the day we riot against John Key’s capitalistic regime, but for now I feel something isn’t quite right and wonder what can be done.