Getting Wasted

Vander Ven argues that college students rely on "drunk support." Contrary to most accounts of alcohol abuse as being a solitary problem of one person drinking to excess, the college drinking scene is very much a social one where students support one another through nights of drinking games, rituals and rites of passage.

Explores the peer pressures, rituals, social bonding, and consequences that occur during episodes of binge drinking in college, along with suggestions for reducing some of the excesses.

The book at the center of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings. Mark Judge describes in vivid detail the privileged milieu in which he and his classmate and friend Brett Kavanaugh were raised and fast times at their all-male preparatory school - benders, blackouts, and hookups. Judge candidly chronicles the twists and turns of his downward spiral into alcoholism. "It soon became obvious," he writes, "that drinking was one of the major forms of recreation at Prep. On Monday morning, the upperclassmen would return from the weekend with stories about keg parties, girls, and hours spent in bars in Georgetown. . . . At Prep, seniors would often go directly from class to a bar. They would even drink with alumni at football games." Cynicism and black humor underscore this hard-edged memoir of a young journalist's alcoholism and subsequent recovery.

In 2009 Elspeth Muir’s youngest brother, Alexander, finished his last university exam and went out with some mates on the town. Later that night he wandered to the Story Bridge. He put his phone, wallet, T-shirt and thongs on the walkway, climbed over the railing, and jumped thirty metres into the Brisbane River below. Three days passed before police divers pulled his body out of the water. When Alexander had drowned, his blood-alcohol reading was almost five times the legal limit for driving. Why do some of us drink so much, and what happens when we do? Fewer young Australians are drinking heavily, but the rates of alcohol abuse and associated problems—from blackouts to sexual assaults and one-punch killings—are undiminished. Intimate and beautifully told, Wasted illuminates the sorrows, and the joys, of drinking. Elspeth Muir is a Brisbane author whose writing has appeared in the Lifted Brow, The Best of the Lifted Brow: Volume One, Griffith Review, Voiceworks and Bumf. She is a postgraduate student at the University of Queensland. ‘Deeply personal and unflinchingly honest, Muir’s debut book is among the best long-form explorations of how and why some Australians drink alcohol to excess...It is a striking work and among the strongest debut books I have read.’ Australian ‘Intricately crafted...An intimate portrait of a grieving family and a nation unable to reconcile itself to the harmful effects of its drinking culture...Reminiscent of writers such as Chloe Hooper and Helen Garner...This book will help you think critically and compassionately about those who seek solace in alcohol.’ Books + Publishing ‘Wasted barrels headfirst into the alcohol-soaked heart of Australia to report on our fraught love affair with drinking.’ Liam Pieper ‘There is no lapse in urgency in Wasted; this conversation is a crucial one to have. Five stars.’ Good Reading ‘The prose style of this unheralded writer...is so achingly beautiful and assured, Helen Garner might be pleased to hand her the keys to the creative nonfiction kingdom and ride off into the Carlton sunset.’ Saturday Paper ‘[Muir] gifts readers gorgeously evocative passages which convey a depth of emotion...Wasted is a haunting read.’ Readings ‘Elspeth writes beautifully and honestly, documenting the shocking loss...in such heartbreaking circumstances.’ Mamamia ‘[Muir] concludes of her brother’s death, “What a waste of a life that was.” Yet by determinedly documenting the drinking culture that coddled him, she has opened vital new lines of enquiry into our duty of care towards drinkers. It’s a tragedy, but now, not entirely a waste.’ Lifted Brow ‘Interweaving brilliant reportage with memoir, Wasted delves into Australia’s complicated relationship with alcohol...Timely and eye-opening.’ Canberra Weekly ‘The strongest new Australian voice I’ve come across this year.’ Readings, Our Favourite Books of 2016 (so far) ‘Wasted is a book that every New Zealander and Australian needs to read...If I had my way, I’d give this to everyone in their last year of high school, and their parents too.’ Booksellers New Zealand ‘Elspeth Muir’s memoir begins after her younger brother’s night of heavy drinking culminates with him jumping from a bridge and drowning in the Brisbane River. Her handling of the subject is, by turn, heartbreaking, evocative and, in parts, refreshingly weird, and her assured voice makes this a sobering read.’ Best Non-Fiction Books of 2016, Readings ’This devastating personal story of loss and grief is also an unflinching examination of the damaging drinking habits of young Australians, and of a society that not only permits, but encourages them.’ Junkee

Three old friends in their mid-twenties. One remarkable day. For Ted, Danny and Charlotte, it's time to seize control. Make a difference. Change things. This is it. A day trip through the parks and raves and cafes of South London, where life is what you make it. The rapid-fire words of Kate Tempest paint a picture of lives less ordinary in an unforgiving world, soundtracked by an exhilarating score. A play about love, life and losing your mind, Wasted heralded the dramatic career of one of the UK's most exciting performance poets, Kate Tempest. It was originally produced by Paines Plough and is published here as a Methuen Drama Student Edition alongside commentary and notes by Katie Beswick, lecturer in Drama at the University of Exeter. The ancillary material is geared at students and includes: - an introduction outlining the play's plot, character, themes context and performance history - the full text of the play - a chronology of the playwright's life and work - extensive textual notes

Shortlisted for the 2015 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival award for Mountain & Wilderness Literature. David Chaundy-Smart took it as a compliment when his high school vice-principal told him he was wasting his youth by climbing. Here, he tells the story of how he and his brother, Reg, spent the last years of the 1970s fighting suburban boredom to become, in the words of renowned climbing historian Chic Scott, "one of the leading figures in Ontario rock climbing throughout the 1980s." With its vivid accounts of short and nasty climbs, dubious mentors, hapless climbing partners, teenage crushes, bad cars, underage drinking and questionable climbing techniques, this is a memoir of coming of age in a simpler era of climbing, told with compassion, humour and insight.

We all have past experiences we wish we could redo or undo altogether. In Nothing Wasted, counselor and teacher Kasey Van Norman's vulnerability invites you to discover God's personal and purposeful design for your future--not in spite of your story, but through it. What if the pain and mistakes of your past are exactly what God wants to use to redeem your future? A difficult childhood, public infidelity, and a fight with cancer--Kasey Van Norman has walked a rocky road of regret and loss. Shockingly, God would take her back to move her forward, uprooting her undealt-with wounds, secret shame, and intimacy-sabotaging patterns of behavior. No longer running from her past, but instead, allowing herself to be defined by it, Kasey discovered a God more intentional and loving than she'd ever believed him to be. In this book, she shares the truth that no part of our life story is wasted--but purposefully designed and used by God to shape who we are meant to be. With vulnerability, sound doctrine, and humor, Kasey unfolds the brokenness in her own life to: Remind you that a holy, sovereign God lovingly works through your past mistakes Help you look at your own past to embrace it as the necessary setup for your future Point to the God who can weave together a beautiful story of redemption in your life No experience or relationship has been a mistake. You are no mere byproduct of random events, and you do not need a do-over! Because with God, nothing is wasted. Also available: video study and study guide.