I haven't been posting much lately (thank you, Brian, for so helpfully pointing that out) primarily because I haven't thought my day-to-day life interesting enough to share. In fact, I have been blind to the simple parallelism that while the more "exotic" and foreign worlds I occasionally inhabit are fascinating to me, my own world is filled with things which may well be seen as foreign and exotic when viewed by "other" eyes.
This has opened up a new world of auto-ethnographic possibilities. For my first analysis, I have chosen to explore Bloomington's famous collegiate tradition: "sinking the biz." By engaging in that anthropological stalwart, participant observation, I have been able to bring into relief the most salient characteristics of this storied drinking game, and in so doing, to create a richly textured portrait of group dynamics among adult beerhounds in the context of contemporary capitalist America.
The setting
Established in 1927,
Nick's English Hut, or "Nick's," as it is referred to by locals of Bloomington, Indiana, is reputedly the oldest bar in town. Having provided respite and inspiration for generations of scholars, Nick's remains a popular destination for both students and alumni. Serving generous, midwest-style dinners and an assortment of fine domestic beers, Nick's offers its patrons a finely-tuned co-ed fantasy of youth, health, and plenty. A visit to Nick's is a visit to a historical monument, and thus is a source of social capital for its guests, who, through their patronage index a level of taste and distinction superior to that of just any aspiring Hoosier.
Sink the biz is a drinking game popularly engaged in by Nick's patrons. The game requires an initial investment in equipment (beer filled bucket, narrow glass cup, generous supply of napkins) and a steady supply of overpriced lager, needs which can be accommodated by the helpful waitstaff.
Game play is as follows: Each participant, sitting or standing around a table, receives a plastic cup to fill with beer. At the start of the game, a narrow, empty glass (hereafter referred to as 'the biz') is placed gingerly in the bucket of beer so that it floats. Participants then proceed, in turn, to pour beer from their own cups into the biz. An illustration is below:
When the amount of beer in 'the biz' causes it to sink to the bottom of the bucket, the last gameplayer to have poured is required to retrieve 'the biz' and consume its contents. Beer is added to the bucket as it is depleted. Issues of hygiene or "purity and danger" are rarely discussed, but may be reflected upon in uncomfortable silence by participants. Strategies and sabotage are discussed in detail later in the analysis.
Players
There is no minimum or maximum number of individual players in a game of sink the biz, however, when groups become so large that not all participants can access 'the biz', a second bucket is often added. This is the size of an average "two bucket" group.
Sink the biz as celebratory ritual
The decision to visit Nick's on a biz sinking mission is often made on the occasion of a ritual of celebration, examples being the completion of a semester or program, the anniversary of one's birth, and the departure or return of a comrade.
This particular visit was planned and announced by one Sarah M., a graduate student in anthropology who recently finished a harrowing, unwashed week of writing qualifying exams. Below, Sarah M., carefully pours from the height specified by the game's rules, rules which were reviewed at various times in the evening with varying levels of coherence.
If the sociability enhancing functions of sink the biz are to be expressed to their utmost, it is necessary that at least one participant in the game act as "the enforcer." The role of the enforcer can be played by anyone, so long as they are are willing to monitor the progress of the game, ensure that 'the biz' is rapidly retrieved and emptied, and attend to citations and discipline for such shenanigans as table-shaking and sinking out of turn.
In this particular game, the role of enforcer was played by Duncan K., whose cries of "punctuate your talking with drinking woman!" and calls for greater efficiency in rotation were matched by his own deep regard for both playing by the rules and trying to get his girlfriend, Georgia M., tremendously drunk.
Acting as the enforcer requires that a participant be willing to sacrifice the possibility of abandoning himself to casual and carefree gameplay. As seen below, his vigilance rests only when 'the biz' is in play.
The business of the biz: corporate bonding and rites of inclusion
As Chelekis (2005) and Marion (2006) have elegantly argued, contemporary small-town American drinking games serve to reinforce inter-personal bonds, sanction otherwise unacceptable behavior among friends and colleagues, and create a social world parallel to the productive realm, showcasing a distinctly post-Fordist mode of regulation and extraction.
Here, I would like to put forth an additional function performed by American drinking games, and by sink the biz in particular. As an unofficial social space, Nick's is a place of equality and inclusion. Individuals with diverse backgrounds, varied status and class, and entangled sexual histories are able to participate in sink the biz as equals, and even as friends.
The evening of observation saw the highly structured induction and submersion of at least one individual into the group. Maggie L., pictured below with the ethnographer, is the newest roommate at BLAMMO headquarters on Henderson street.
While my interlocutors all agreed that Maggie was a welcome addition at HQ, conflicting schedules and the purported tendency of certain roommates to "stay in their room," had thus far prevented her from being fully included in most BLAMMO activities.
Freed from normal constraints on self-expression and candid declarations during gameplay, the new roommates were able to loudly effuse their affection for each other, their mutual satisfaction with timely chore completion in their household, and their hope that Maggie would continue to join them in social activities, especially those frequently taking place in the living room. Nick's also provided a forum where Maggie could be brought up to speed on the history of BLAMMO HQ, learning of such significant episodes as "the dryer that didn't work for like 4 months despite repeated visits by the useless maintenance guys who I totally hate."
As you can see below, sink the biz fulfilled its function as a means of inducting a new member into the social group. Upon her departure, Maggie and Sarah engaged in friendly high fives, signifying her newly acquired ranking in the BLAMMO hierarchy.
Sink the biz can also engender that rare four-field sight: cross-cohort bonding. The evidence below shows that third-year Rob was welcomed and accepted by fourth-years Sarah and Georgia.
How does one "win" a game of sink the biz?
Who are the winners and losers in a game of the sink the biz? To answer this question we must first define the goals of the game, both those stated and those operating at a deeper level of hegemonic, gendered sociability.
Insofar as the game reproduces the historical event "Sink the Bismarck," in which the Royal British Navy sought to find and sink a famous German battleship, the goal of gameplay is defined as the submerging of 'the biz.' Happily, this goal is easily and repeatedly achieved by participants, making them all "winners." Contradicting its historical connotations, however, many players take great satisfaction not only in avoiding a sinking, but in using carefully measured amounts of beer to cause others in the group to instead sink 'the biz.' A larger contradiction develops here. The broadly agreed upon function of a traditional drinking game is to inebriate all of its participants. Those who rarely sink 'the biz' thus fail not only to achieve its stated goal, but to reach the state of drunkenness assumed desirable by all those who willingly participate. Clearly there are more complicated power dynamics involved, an analysis of which merits careful and continued study.
In terms of embodied experience, however, sinking the biz is evidently taken as a rare pleasure. Beer is good, beer shared with friends is even better.
Established in 1927, Nick's English Hut, or "Nick's," as it is referred to by locals of Bloomington, Indiana, is reputedly the oldest bar in town. Having provided respite and inspiration for generations of scholars, Nick's remains a popular destination for both students and alumni. Serving generous, midwest-style dinners and an assortment of fine domestic beers, Nick's offers its patrons a finely-tuned co-ed fantasy of youth, health, and plenty. A visit to Nick's is a visit to a historical monument, and thus is a source of social capital for its guests, who, through their patronage index a level of taste and distinction superior to that of just any aspiring Hoosier.
When the amount of beer in 'the biz' causes it to sink to the bottom of the bucket, the last gameplayer to have poured is required to retrieve 'the biz' and consume its contents. Beer is added to the bucket as it is depleted. Issues of hygiene or "purity and danger" are rarely discussed, but may be reflected upon in uncomfortable silence by participants. Strategies and sabotage are discussed in detail later in the analysis.
Sink the biz can also engender that rare four-field sight: cross-cohort bonding. The evidence below shows that third-year Rob was welcomed and accepted by fourth-years Sarah and Georgia. 
Snowy city.
Chang Laoshi and her husband Wang Junjie go sledding with the neighbors in my mother's south Seattle neighborhood.
Lunch at the Space Needle.
Chang and Wang build a 雪人 (snowman)
Jose Bold and I (plus Montana below) make merry in the snopocalypse.
Montana has this funny habit...
Ryan Dobosh at Easy Street Records, showing us all how it's done.
The Seattle Aquarium
Jose Bold performing with "Awesome"
Some materials from the archives that I dug out of storage: classic flyers from a house party at The Plant, a pictorial of his dog attack and subsequent recovery that Mark sent me from Australia, and some love notes exchanged by Ryan and Vanessa.
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NYE at the Rendezvous, featuring Dave and Mark both wearing their groomsmen suits from Austin & Emily's wedding, and Dave and I enjoying our last moments of erotic entanglement before the heartbreaker went and got engaged.
New year, new look.
This is Archie, my advisor's miniature hairy dachsund. He comes to school every day with Rick and accompanies him to class. Trained to bark if alerted to any sleeping students, Archie spends most of the class time sitting in Rick's lap, sleeping in the corner (kicking and twitching as he dreams of chasing rabbits and squirrels), and occasionally making the rounds to see if anyone has any snacks. Archie isn't much for loyalty. The treasured pet of a prominent Economic Anthropologist, he is a classic pragmatist, interested in things only to the degree that they might be of utility to him. All the same, I've been making headway. I suspect this has much to do with my habit of buying Slim Jims in the grad student lounge before I teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays and presenting them to Archie as tribute. Not only have classes been going tremendously well but these days when I turn left at the second floor stairwell and Archie is hanging out in the hallway he immediately comes toward me and exposes his belly for scratching, whether I smell of jerky or not. My plan is to get him to sit in my lap before I graduate and it seems I'm on track thus far.2323=;+%3B%3D87+%3D3232%3B+%3B78935%3Bnu0mrj.jpg)
