Field Study site for Kaela

I created an Independent Learning Contract called Intoxicating Truth for Fall 2018. I turned twenty-one in May of this year and became legally able to drink and buy alcohol. I wanted to enter the drinking world as intentional as possible, so I created an ILC that allowed to learn about alcohol and explore the culture of drinking. My uprising  lead me to believe that alcohol is ill important, that I don’t need alcohol and that alcohol is “bad.” I created the ILC to allow myself time and space to create my own understands about how I perceive alcohol and what role I want it to play in my life.

My main goals for the quarter was to embellish myself at my internship at the bar Sizizis. I spent 180 hours at my internship, where I got to experience in the bar culture first hand. Three days a week for two months I worked at the bar. At the time being the bar was being ran by just me and my field supervisor. Since there was only two people running the show I would step-in to help as much as possible. The tasks would range from double checking the space to make sure it was clean and stable to regulating the estimated gross income. All tasks felt valuable and they all revolved around alcohol. Right when I entered the back door to the bar I would check the cabinets for new products. I would check to see if there was new bitter, spirits, liqueurs or sodas, I would always check and look around at the supply for the night. Then I would created a drink, always a new drink each night I worked, I was always creating, mixing and matching flavors and tastes to create exotic unique cocktails and drinks. Some unusual foods I used for drinks were charcoal, matcha, seaweed and turmeric. I found a interest in using odd foods for drinks because it helped me created a balanced drink. I would aim for my drinks to have a side of bitter, sweet and sour all in one bite. My ability to blend ingredients to created a balanced drink expanded and I am intrigued by my creations.

Part of my internship was to make drinks for people but most importantly for the business was to cultivate a comfortable space for people to relax and indulge the effects that alcohol has to offer humans. I would say “Hello” and “Goodnight” to all the customers, and for the selected I was flourished a relationship with over time. I like to think that mixologist are more than booze tenders therapist and a friend at little. The clients drink a from a cup or more and then their thoughts become fluid, they talk-a-lot and I listened. Before starting the internship I had the idea that bartenders were a version of a underpaid therapist to the town after sundown. That still remains my vision, clients would walk in and expel their life while I tried to give them my honest opinion. I gained a sense of community and humanity for the customers. A candid showing of how people fell without the layers of pressure from society. I noticed main differences between how people act at a bar during the night verses how people act at other businesses during the daytime. People seems calm and free to show their animal self. Creating a great environment for me to study human behavior at a bar. I would write about my experiences after the work day ended, jotting down conversations that happened or repetitive actions that would replay between customers and I. Examining the customers helped me gain my higher awareness that I do not like to be in a bar, I do not like the idea of drinking just to feel drunk and forget about the “Bad week at work.” at the end of the work day.

Along with my internship, I had an academic component which I read books and articles and responded with notes, applying my knowledge to help with my internship and creating an annotated bibliography. I read books that explained the science behind how to create certain alcoholic beverages and how they are fermented properly. I read recipe books and would recreate the drinks at my internship, and this also helped me create my own recipes by understanding the basic standard measurements of to create a balanced drink. Along with reading books I watched movies and short films both documentaries and educational, this gave me more perspective on how people view alcohol use in the United States.

Another part of my ILC was a dance element. There is countless cultures that intoxicate themselves and dance till they reach ecstasy. So, I love to dance and I danced for hours and tried to reach a state of ecstasy, even intoxication by just dancing alone. Letting myself get fully involvement in my body and let my high come naturally in the form of serotonin instead of using an outside source such as alcohol.

I uploaded weekly writing’s on my WordPress ePortfolio, including what I read during the week, how my internship was progressing and my overall thoughts about the intoxicating truth of why humans choose to swig alcohol and my theories behind the behavior that people have about alcohol and their behavior during levels of drunkenness. At the end of the quarter my thoughts were cultivated into three paper zines. One zine is about my experience behind a bar at my internship, another is collection of multiple perspective about alcohol and its effect on humans and the other zine is a example of the wild thoughts that over take the brain when intoxicated.

 

Week nine I started making two zines as a final project. I thought it would be a good idea to make a zine becasue that aligns to my personal style and interest. I like making zines because I can creatively write my thoughts in a organized yet still abstract form. One is called intoxicating truth, it is a collection of my thoughts and themes from this quarter. I speak on alcohol use, addiction, alcohol culture and much more. The other zine is called dismantled equations, it is primary about my experiences interning at the bar Sizizis. I talk about what is was like to spend 120 hours behind the counter serving cocktails this quarter. How it affected my life style and how it changed my opinion about alcohol.

  

Cocktail Recipes

These are some of my experiments that I played with this quarter….

Little Dark One
2 oz Brandy
¼ oz orange liqueur
¼ oz Lime juice
⅛ cocoa liqueur
4 dashes of cardamom bitters

Build drink in a stirring glass. Add ice to a cup and add drink.

Moss Lime

2 oz Matcha gin
½ oz Herring Cherry Liqueur

Shake in a cocktail glass. Add ice and drink to a cup.

Looking for Love

Cranberry juice
Pomegranate vinegar
Soda water
Charcoal

Build in glass: Cranberry juice Pomegranate vinegar and charcoal.

Sea Bubbles
4 oz champagne
2 oz seaweed scotch
Add ingredients into a champagne glass

A delicate swing to the sea and back towards the vine yard. The seaweed flavor is well blanketed by the bubbles, not too strong seaweed, just right.

Elliot Bay

2 oz Rum
½ oz Ginger Juice
½ oz Sugar Syrup
3 Slices of cucumber

Muddle cucumber slices in a glass, add ice. Shake Rum, ginger juice and sugar syrup then strain into glass with the muddled cucumber.

2 oz Whiskey
Chocolate Liquor
Cherry Cola
Basil

Muddle basil in glass, add ice. Stir chocolate liqueur with whiskey, add to cup, top with cherry cola.

2 oz Gin
½ oz Plum Sugar Syrup
½ oz Lime Juice

Shake gin, plum syrup and lime. Drain into a glass with ice.

3 oz Ginger kombucha
3 oz White Rum
¼ Lime Juice

2 oz Vodka
½ oz Raspberry Jam

Mix vodka and raspberry, pour in glass with ice.

2 oz apple cider
2 oz Cinnamon Rum
¼ oz Lemon Juice
¼ oz Sugar syrup
3 Dashes of Cardamom Bitters

Warm apple cider, mix the rest of the ingredients, serve in a mug.

Before I was 21, I intoxications I was legally allowed to buy were tobacco. I never was a huge smoker, and well I was never a huge drinker but I have been waiting for the my 21st birthday like a fairy tale princess waits for their prince. I was curious and intrigued with the liquid that humans are obsessed with and drink daily. I had a few friends buy fake id’s, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be granted the privilege of being able to drink. I find pleasure in following the law for the most part, I tried to understand and learn why the legal age for drinking is 21.
Why is the legal age 21? Why are magic mushrooms illegal? Why is marijuana illegal in most states? Why can people legally purchase tobacco before marijuana and alcohol? What happens when people drink? Will I drink when I am allowed to? How much will I let myself drink?
Honestly before I was Twenty-One I drank at restaurants a fair amount of time. I would be with people that were usually way older than me, in their late 20’s-40’s. I was drinking at dinner at restaurants during my eighteenth and nineteenth years. The person I was with would order the drink and they never asked me for an id. I was always with a man when this happened, I never tried buying a drinking underage with another young girl. It always surprised me that they wouldn’t card me because I was with a older man.

I started this independent study: Intoxicating Truth, because I turned Twenty-One this year in May and thus became legally able buy and drink alcohol. I had a feeling this change my habits. Either daily or at least on the weekends. And what happened? Well I started going to a bar
I had only drank a few times before my twenty first so I had to step back and realize what could potentially happen. Being legal age to drink means that I now have open availability to source my own booze. To get high, to fly to the heavens, to drink from my mother’s milk.
On the social side I now am able to go out to eat and order alcohol with my meal. All I have to do is flash my id to prove my age and I’m ready to go. Now I can have peace of mind and order whatever I want. If I want to buy pizza and a beer, I can buy pizza and a beer. If I want a glass of wine with my supper, I can do so!
I have noticed that people that are at least 30 + like to try and teach younger “How-To-Drink” with personal advice that might only qualify to them. Not sure why people older than me feel the need to point out my age but it happens almost every time I drink in public.

Here are a bit of random thoughts from my week seven realizations:

Alcohol Social Drinking in Cultural Context by Janet Chrzan

 

My Response to Chapter Five: It’s Happy Hour! Modern American Drinking

                            My initial thoughts about the concept of happy hour

Happy hour is a time when drinks are cheaper than the other hours. The hours are usually right off of work hours or the hours when the bar first opens, until it gets dark or until the bar usually has a lot of people. Happy hour can consist of a seperate menu or it can be part of the normal menu. There is a bar downtown Olympia called Swing, and they have happy hour all Monday which I thought was interesting. I suppose it is one of their slow days so they encourage people to come in and buy more because it is cheaper.

The words Happy Hour makes me wonder if the other house are not happy. What makes happy hour happy? Are the customers happy that they can drink earlier? Or are they most excited about buying a drink for a reduced price? Were they not happy before?

                                   Clock-Time and America Work Page 90-94

What is work in America today? For most it is working for someone else’s dream. Working on someone else’s schedule. Basing their live off of someone else’s time schedule. Full-time for five days a week, forty hours a week, and part-time for thirty hours or less. We have the desk workers, farm works, teachers, doctors and all in between. Most of these common professions require the employee to show up at the workplace at a certain time, usually the same time everyday at the same time. A repetitive cycle that one can groove with or get lost in.

I personally prefer to work “off the clock” or remotely. Work on my own time at my own pace. Why? Because I don’t always work best at 8:40am-3pm. Working earlier is actually terrible for my body type. I like to wake up whenever and have a long morning then work later in the day. Some days I even work at 2am comfortably. Something else harsh about working away from home for a long period of time is eating. I usually eat a very light meal at work, oatmeal and fruit is my go-to. I love making huge meals with multiple sides but it would be a hassle to bring all of my ingredients to work and I wouldn’t have enough time with my 30 minute lunch. And I really don’t like to make a meal the night before and then microwave it, that what most of my co-workers do. Okay back to the reason for the rant. When I work on the clock I am unsatisfied because I can’t give myself my basic needs of enough time to “wake-up” and make myself a balanced meal. Because of this a lot of the times I don’t have the opportunity to poop at home in the morning before work which sucks because who wants to be weighed down!!! And after work I can be super hungry and give into my craving food because it might be faster than getting home and making a quality meal. I don’t go to bars after work but i see how happy hour would be appealing after a day of not being happy.

The earliest documented clocked time starts in the 1880s in America. For the employers it was nice because they could measure how much they would pay people and it would help them regulate the staff and business budget. It also can benefit the employee that puts in more time. It was common to take breaks when they needed to, and sometimes a swig or juice was included in the break. Today breaks are measured beforehand. One 15 minute break every four hours. Even when the break might have been more useful at another time.

 

Dinner Party (with wine) then a Trapeze Show

I went to a trapeze show at the Brotherhood bar downtown Olympia. I went because my neighbor asked me. I was doing my laundry at my neighbor’s house and he boyfriend called her asking if she wanted to go to a trapeze show. At first we didn’t really care about going to the show. It is hard to want to do things when the sun goes before five. Well then her boyfriend/housemate/my neighbor came home. In his hands was dinner and wine. While he was making dinner we testing out the wines. They were both from grocery outlet. Grocery outlet has a large section of low priced wines. One was really bad. Bad is a simple word, and the wine was simple. Bland taste, could swear it was just grape juice. But not a good concentrated grape juice, but a diluted grape juice. My neighbor asked me how it was and I said “Its good” at first then I admitted that “I rather be drinking a 40 oz.” This wine was aged for four years, I didn’t write down the name or brand though, and I don’t know how much it was. So my neighbor tells me that there is another bottle of wine and that I could toss my drink in the sink and pour another cup from the more palatable wine. Then I expressed that we should keep the bottle of wine “just in case” or “For when you are drunk enough that you don’t notice.” This prompted interesting conversation about crappy alcohol. People talked about the cheapest beers that they have bought, I think the cheapest was 30 cents. Oh and there was the classic tale of when they bought game day beer, a twelve pack for $4… that they brought to burning man. Oh and the beer was from good ole grocery outlet. They tried one beer and thought “eh, not too bad”, then after a few they couldn’t drink anymore because it was not palatable so they ended up passing out the beers for free. Why am I writing about this for my weekly write up? Because dinner parties are a huge part of the connection between alcohol and culture. It is smart to eat before or during while drinking alcohol because it gives your stomach lining. It can also help people not get alcohol poisoning or get nauseous.

 

After dinner we went to the brotherhood to watch the trapeze shows. This is the first time I went to a bar to watch a dance performance. The bar had a full house. There was multiple dancers that would perform solo, each dancer performed for one song. There bodies were beautiful, I could see all of their muscles. There facial expressions explained how much they loved what they were doing and their body was proof that they practice heavily. I wondered why a trapeze show would be at a bar, but when the show started I understood why a trapeze show would be at a bar. It was very edgy and free form, they moved in exotic ways without pain or fear, kinda like the liquid courage people get when they drink a cup or two. Everything just flowed. This is one of my learning objectives: The student will capture the somatic elements related to intoxication. I thought it would be appropriate to add that I saw dancers perform at a bar because it wa somatic elements in the body of intoxication.

 

Rock and Roll run in Las Vegas

I went to Las Vegas this weekend to do a 5k race with my mom. The rock and roll runs are a 5k, 13k and 26k. The runs are in popular big cities like Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It was on my moms bucket list to do the rock and roll in Las Vegas, she did the 5k with me and the 13k the next day. We did the 5k Saturday, November 10th. At the end of the race there was complimentary snacks of pretzels, bananas, granola bars and light beer for the runners that are 21+. Doesn’t that sound nice? Run with a couple thousand people then drink together in a field? After the race I went to get my beer with my mom. There was a few long lines, it took about ten minutes. When I got to the front of the line I knew why the line took so long. People needed to have proof of being 21+. My mom and I got a wrist band earlier that day after showing our id at the convention for the run. But for the people that didn’t get the wristband, they had to show their id. Yea, because who doesn’t do a race with their id on them!!!!??? There was a older couple in front of us in the line, easy fifty years old, possibly older. The women had her id, but the man didn’t and we begged over for at least a minute or so to let him have on. They never gave in. He wasn’t the only one who got in the front of the line and then was denied a drink. I understand why they wouldn’t serve them booze, because without knowing that they are 21+ by looking at their id can legally threaten the boozetender. But it was kinda  a eye roll that they would give a beer to a man with more wrinkles on this face than the two people serving the alcohol.
When I was in the line waiting for my beer a person walked by and said to me “ You are too young to be in this line” and my mom screamed “Yea she is!” The man seemed to be flirting with me…maybe?? But he is not the only one who likes to point out that I “look too young to drink”. Well they aren’t too far off, I am only five months legally able to drink. I am not sure why people feel the need to point out my young age but it is so often that people bring up my youth while we drink or whenever alcohol is near.

 

 

Alcohol’s effect on culture: Sex and Alcohol
Week six I read online articles relating to the relationship to sex and alcohol. How alcohol can promote or tamper sexual activity. The articles wrote about myths and realities about how alcohol can affect people’s sex lives. One myth that a few sources explained was that it is a common belief that alcohol helps people be more sexual and supports their sexual performance. When actually it might be tampering their sexual performance because too much alcohol in a night and over time reduced the blood pressure. This is where the common term “Whiskey dick” comes in, when men drink alcohol they have a chance of not being able to keep their guy up, resulting in awkward sex. So is it really worth it? But guys aren’t the only gender suffering from alcohol side effects when it comes to sexy time. When women drink alcohol without drinking water their body might lack the ability to become natural lubricated. The lack of performance is one of the factors of sex and alcohol.
Right away when I think about sex and alcohol I think about people getting taken advantage of because they are too intoxicated and don’t have a friend nearby to save them. I wrote about my own experiences about drinking at college parties in my journal that I choose not to share. But what I will share is that I am not pro college parties (well at least the ones with excess alcohol), for many reasons. 1. There is usually underage drinkers. The whole reason why fresh out of high school students go to house parties is so that they can drink with friends. They don’t have the option to go to a bar like the of age adults. I never got a fake id but I had eighteen year old friends that had fake ids. I waited my sweet ole time to become twenty-one to go to bars and such. And I suggest that anyone who doesn’t want to pay a outstanding fee should just wait until they are twenty-one to enjoy the alcohol nightlife. Here are the potential fees:
“Even if you are unsuccessful, if you attempt to purchase alcohol you can be charged with a misdemeanor. The maximum penalty is not more than 90 days in jail and a $1000 fine. However, you will be charged a minimum of $250 and, if community restitution is required, a minimum of 25 hours of restitution.”

Also here are the fees of being caught under the influence while under the legal drinking age:

“Minor in Possession (MIP)
You do not have to be in actual possession of alcohol to be cited for an MIP. If you are exhibiting the effects of having consumed alcohol (alcohol on your breath, results of a breathalyzer test, statements by others, etc.), you may be charged with an MIP offense. The maximum penalty is one year in jail, a $5,000 fine, or both.”
https://lcb.wa.gov/education/know-the-law
Back to why I think college parties suck. 2. They are full of sex. A lot of parties have themes and these themes are usal to just dress in bra in underwear. I am so sex positive and dtf but it creeps me out that you never know if the party will be a casual party or randomly become a orgy, enough said. 3. Countless stories about women being raped at college parties. 4. If you are in college focus on school. Books over boys and booze. 5. In general college parties are just stretchy because they are not regulated. Anyone can join and anything can happen. Sometimes there might be random older man chilling when they don’t even go to the school.

Internship: What I did and What I do

Thursday..
Sizizis got some new liqueurs from Salish Sea. Salish Sea is a local organic liqueur company. It is a family owned business that is ran by Sam Desner with the help of his father Sandy. Sam has history of being a mixologist, this inspired him to make his own line of liqueurs. The company has a small staff group, about nine or so that work at their main location in Lacey Washington. They sale to local business, online and have a location in California (I think, I talked to one of the employees a month ago and I think that’s where the other distillery is located) Right now the company is small yet thriving and they plan to continue growing and spreading their goods, right now they sale online to twenty-six states in the US.
Well the liqueurs were actually donated from the Cryptatropa bar down the street. Cryptatropa has high-medium activity, there is a constant flow of customers. Because there is a constant stream of customers the mixologist must move fast to give the drinks out in a timely manner. We (sizizis) was gifted the liqueurs because we have less customers allowing us the freedom to make specialty drinks with multiple steps. Anyways it was cool to get some new alcohol on the shelve, never too much.
I did a small taste test on a few of the liqueurs and described their aroma, taste and color in one word. It is necessary that a mixologist or any food artist tastes their ingredients so they know how to use them. You don’t need to drink a full shot or a cocktail but a little dash with some sparking water can be enough for the artist to evaluate the taste so they know for future use. I think that it is important to write about your taste test because if you sever a drink with the alcohol you might be asked to describe it or you will have to talk about the drink with the customer.
Liqueur: red raspberry Aroma: sugary Taste: a kick Color: red brown.
Liqueur: grapefruit Aroma: citrus Taste: white flowers Color: light yellow
Liqueur: lemon grass Aroma: bright Taste: sea Color: brown
Liqueur: honeybush Aroma: cinnamon Taste: cough syrup Color: amber
Liqueur: jasmine Aroma: flower sap Taste: caterpillar Color: light beer
I made two really bad drinks using some of their liqueurs.
Horrible attempt #1
1 oz Salish Sea lemongrass liqueur
½ oz lime juice
2 oz vodka
½ oz triple sec (orange liqueur)
Shake in a Boston shaker for about 15 seconds, drained and then served in a tumbler with ice. What was so horrible about this drink was that the lemongrass was not noticeable. It was erased by the triple sec. I would love to make a drink where the lemongrass is honored. The color of this drink was nice though, it was summer light yellow, very feminine and pretty.
Horrible attempt #2
2 oz Whiskey
1 oz Salish sea rose liqueur
1 pipe of rosemary bitters
Shake for 15 seconds, drain and served in a tumbler with no ice. I have no freaking clue why I tried to combat with Whiskey. Whiskey has such a strong flavor to mask. If you want to make a taste of a liqueur to stand out it is best to use a low flavor spirit like vodka.
Sizizis has only been open for about a year as a bar. With the same name Sizizis, the location was tea shop, but that was over five years ago. Anyways we “aren’t sure why” the business doesn’t have a lot of customers yet, but on average we are lucky to have ten customers. There has been many nights ( I have volunteered at the bar for going on four months UNPAID) I am obsessed with the bar and want to see it thrive, so I don’t mind working there for free. Also my field supervisor helps me learn how to be a mixologist and that has a lot of value to me. But I would love to get paid and see the bar grow so I stay. There has been times that I have prayed to the bar and such, on Thursday I wrote the mantra:
Sizizis is a successful business.
Sizizis is a successful business.
Sizizis is a successful business.
I think that mantras are powerful. So I repeat this to myself to gain higher vibration for the bar, to encourage growth and stability. Yes, I pray for the bars success.

Friday…
I served tea to a past classmate at Evergreen. I love when I see familiar faces walk into my bar. I am always happy that we found each other again, in such a magical setting. I took a food economics class so it was nice to see her in a food setting again, and in the real world.
It looked like she was on a date. Not the first date, but one of the first dates. They seemed comfortable with each other in the sense that they could be around each other, but not so comfortable that they could casually fart around each other. He ordered a gimlet and she ordered tea. I had the assumption that she is very intelligent when I had a class with her and back at it again she proved me right. I thought it was so sexy that she ordered tea on a date to a bar. Why do I think that buying tea on a first date at a bar is sex? Because tea (well at least the ones we serve) does not intoxicate the brain and dumb you down. I thought it was sexy because she was making sure that she stayed in charge with herself.
Earlier in the week I was thinking a lot about sex and alcohol. About how people pick each other up at bars for sex and such. And then there was a cutie that came in and bought tea. I am not sure if she just doesn’t drink but to me it seemed like a women who knew her worth and didn’t want to lose control of her values, so she bought tea to stay up on her game. It seemed like a survival technique for the dating world.
Honestly I hate seeing first dates leave the bar after they have had one or two drinks. My job is to make sure people don’t get shit face drunk, yes, but even one drink changes the mind of the inhibitor. It scares me that people might interact in sexual activity that they might agree to without alcohol. No one has left the bar shit face with another person. But I have seen people on a lets say first date drink just two drinks and then be way cozier with their date. I really don’t know why people go on dates to a bar other than the chance of getting lucky at the end of the night.

Saturday..
I confessed to my field supervisor that “I want to make ten drinks by 9pm.”, I might have made ten drinks by 10pm.
The first drink I made was a twist I created on the spot: (made this drink twice)
2 oz vodka
1 oz Salish Sea Red Raspberry liqueur
3-7 fresh mint leaves
Muddle the mint leaves in a medium tumbler glass, add ice to the brim, add liqueur and spirit into glass and stir in glass. It is ready to be served.
Very fresh drink. Taste like sweet tea. The Mint adds flavor, the liqueur add the sugar and pink color and the vodka does it thing.
Let’s talk about a few of the customers that came into the bar on misty November 3rd 2018. Regulars came in, the barkeeper likes regulars: 1.They bring consistent money 2. Gain familiarity & bond. There is this women that truthfully says that Sizizis has the best gin and tonics in town. She is being honest and genuine, it’s just funny because a gin and tonic is simple:

2 oz gin
Tonic water
½ Lime

Actually I think her name is Monica. This is her order “Monica’s gin and tonic”:
2 oz gin
¼ lime
Tonic water
¼ Salish Sea Rosemary liqueur
Dashes of grapefruit bitters

Kinda hilarious and insync but minutes before she and her like nine friends I thought to myself “I wish people would come in and order gin and tonics, those are easy to make.” and then a group of people came walking through the door, all bought Monica’s gin and tonic and some bought beers.
As the night trickles on it became day, morning. We stay at the bar until 2 am, people walk in and say “Good morning”. This man walked in an reminded us his name and then recited a poem. He is a sweet old man, he sings good too. I have seen him twice, he hasnt bought anything but he sings to us, tells us his life stories and recites poetry. HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAA it’s amazing and I enjoy his company. You never know what will happen when the doors open to the bar, it is always something new.

Tobacco and Alcohol
Throughout the quarter I have been reading poems from out of the book Pipe and Pouch compiled by Joseph Knight. It is a small just over 180 pages book of poems that are about tobacco. Some poems are about the tobacco plant itself, the relationship between tobacco or the pipe and the user, and a bunch of other pretty words about the beauty of tobacco and pipes.
I thought it would be important to touch on tobacco if I was going to study alcohol because they have a bond with each other. Where there is alcohol, chances are there will be tobacco nearby, in the form of a cigarette, pipe, or hookah.
I dream about vintage Hollywood movie sets where they are in bars and everyone is smoking out of their pipes looking sexy as fuck. How elegant it was portrayed for women to smoke, how mature and sophisticated.

Dance and Intoxication
Do you ever enter a rhythm with your body? You can’t control the movement? Dance to let it all out??? You can dance you can sing you can do everything!!!! Do you jump and hop across the street and feel like a child again?
I have spent a couple hours this week dancing to escape into the in body high. Similar to many body sensations. Dancing for me lets me free my mind, be expansive and relax me. I will write more about this next week and related it to my learning objectives.

The student added a new learning objectives during the first half of the quarter. The student added a somatic research and exploration learning objective. The student hopes to “learn about the relationship between dance and intoxication.” The student read articles on the relationship of dance and intoxication and danced by herself to gain her own philosophy about how dance can lead to intoxication, and how intoxication can lead to dancing. The students goal for this learning objective is to continue dancing and researching the relationship between dance and intoxication. With the possibility of making a dance event at her internship location Sizizis.

The students has spent less time than expected on the learning objective: “Hand build drinking containers using clay.” The student has researched ancient and tradition drinking containers and sketched her designs but has not started making the designs. The students goal for this learning objective for the remainder of the quarter is to make one to three polished pieces.

The student achieved her goal for the learning objective “The student will research the history and culture of fermented drinks.” The student has devoted an adequate amount of time on reading and researching her topic questions, How does alcohol affect cultures? And What is alcohols importance to human culture? The students goal for this learning objective for the remainder of the quarter is to continue reading books and researching, also to make a chapbook of people’s response to “Why do you drink alcohol/why do you like to drink alcohol?” by the end of the quarter.

The student has not spent spend a signification time on the learning objective “Gain a wider knowledge about pairing food with alcoholic drinks. The student will create a meal at least bi-weekly, and will write meal plans weekly. The student will spend three hours a week reading, creating a meal and meal planning.” The student is considering removing this learning objective.

The student has been active at her internship at Sizizis. The student on average has spent twenty hours a week at the internship. The student has gained social skills necessary for serving people, created cocktail recipes of her own, started helping organize finances and has wrote about her experiences. The students goal for this learning objective for the remainder of the quarter is to make menus that are relevant to the seasons, also to make flyers to pass around town to spread the word about the bar since it needs more customers to stay alive.

The student also plans on visiting more distillers, food and agriculture events, tastings and wineries. The student hopes that visiting these place will help her gain more insight on the alcohol industry and answer her learning objective questions.

Week three I watched the movies Somm: Into The Bottle and The Birth of Sake. The Birth of Sake is directed by Erik Shirai. This film shows the personal lives of sake makers. It shows what their lives are like during the six month production time and the other half of the year. The sake makers eat the same meals and have similar balanced time schedules to be in balance with each other to better make sake. The sake masters hold strong value in making sake out of peace and harmony. The consumption of sake in Japan has decreased becasue wine and beer are becoming a more popular drinking choice. A large amount of breweries are going out of business. Somm: Into The Bottle is directed by Jason Wise. The film is a complimation of interviews by muli-generational wine makers and sommlies. They were asked the same questions and the film would play back their responses in a complimenting manner. The questions and answers were about the history of wine and the culture around wine. Wine makers stressed the unknown of wine making, becasue they never know what the wine will taste like until months and decades.

Week one I read the books  The America Cider Book: The Story of America’s Natural Beverage and Stories From a Tea Room Window. Stories From a Tea Room Window is written by Kozaburo Mori. The book originally was called “Legends of the Tea Ceremony” by Chikamatsu Shigenori. When he was alive his work was never published. Since his death in 1778 the books name has been changed, and the words have been translated in the original language Japanese and Kozaburo Mori made a English version. The tea ceremonies have a lot of tradition, some has been “forgot” or is not in use today, but this book explains the value the traditions have and how to use the traditions appropriately. The America Cider Book: The Story of America’s Natural Beverage is by Vrest Orton. The book explains ciders involvement in America’s uprising, dating back to the 1700’s. There is recipes, folk stories and instructions on how to make cider at home. It was common for everyday families to make their own cider every year in the early centuries of America. The cider would be used for drinking and some would be turned into a vinegar for cooking.

 

Week one I read from the book Uncorked: The Science of Champagne by Linger-belair, said he is not a poet stating he is a physicist not a poet, but that is hard from me to believe becasue this book was so fluid. This book explains the basics and some advanced explanation about champagnes bubbles simple “easy to understand” language. He writes about how the bubbles are created and why they feel so good in the mouth. Linger-Belair lays out his years worth of scientific discoveries about champagne bubbles in just two-hundred pages. I also read from Champagne: How the Worlds Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times by Don Kladstrup and Petie Kladstrup. Champagne France is the birth place of the bubbly wine, champagne. Over time Champagne had a multitude of vine yards and some times in history there was less than “usual” due to wars. Champagne is famous for there wine and grapes selection.

I watched the movie a Year In Champagne by David Kennard. The movie explains the history of champagne making in Champagne France and how it has influenced the worlds wine making. The making of champagne starts with the soil of the grapes and the production doesn’t stop until the bottle is on the shelve. A lot of the wineries in Champagne are multi-generational. I also watched the movie The Truth About Alcohol directed by Dave Briggs. The film is based on answering questions about alcohol, most importantly why the weekly recommended alcohol rate in the UK has gone down for women and gone down even more for men. The film interviews strangers on the streets and scientist to gain public information about alcohol. There is experiments that are held in bars and pubs to answer some questions such as: “Why do some people get drunk more quickly than other?”, “What is the best remedy for a hangover?” and “Why is red wine supposedly better for us than white?”

I visited two distillers in Seattle. WestLake distillery and Oola distillery. I enjoyed a free tasting at Oola distillery which I thought was amazing that they give free tastings. Oolas distillery is located in Capital Hill in Seattle. They specialize in flavored alcohol. They have a rosemary vodka, chili pepper vodka and citrus vodka. They sell top self spirits along with two well spirits. The companies name is named after the owners last dog that recently pasted away. After I went to the Oola distiller I went to WestLake. I toured Westlake and saw the mechanics behind the scenes. The tour guide was pregnant and I thought that was ironic. The building that the distiller is in is ninety-nine years old. WestLake distillery specializes in single malt whiskey. I personal would never buy from them becasue their spirits  all taste very similar…..similar to gasoline…

Week 1, I started a instagram called the name of my contract which is, @intoxicatingtruth. My instagram is linked to my eProfolio under image gallery. Feel free to follow the instagram, I will post weekly.

I worked at my internship at Sizizis Thursday-Saturday. I created a few cocktails that I will share in a future post.