By Joe Darby
Well, Merry Christmas. Tis’ the season to be jolly, right? Or is it?
Let me consider that question.
Now that I’m long retired from the New Orleans Times-Picayune, I don’t get invited to nearly as many Christmas parties as I used to.
Let me be clear. I’m not complaining or anything. My capacity for parties, like the Christmas parties themselves, isn’t what it used to be. And let me also say that I’m fully aware of the reason for the season, the birth of Christ. But for centuries, the season has also meant celebration.
For the last 30 years of my employment at the TP I lived and worked on the West Bank, in Gretna. The West Bank was somewhat of a tight knit community and you got to know lots of people. Additionally, public agencies were big party givers. I covered courts and police, as well as local politics, so I was very familiar with the law enforcement guys and gals.
The Gretna mayor had a party, the Gretna police chief had a party, the sheriff and the district attorney each had their own huge blowouts. A whole bunch of private attorneys had their parties too. Even the Times-Picayune West Bank bureau had its own party, inviting the people that made news for us throughout the year.
It was sometimes difficult to keep track of where we would be partying on any given night.
At this point I want to explain what I mean when I say parties aren’t what they used to be.
All of these parties I used to go to featured open bars, all you could drink at no cost, and the booze flowed freely. Alas, many of those parties no longer exist, for one reason or another.
I have also heard that many businesses that formerly had big open bar parties now restrict their guests to two drinks each, by using drink tickets. Some even have the person’s name on the ticket and require showing an ID, so that non-drinkers can’t give their tickets to the boozers.
Talk about the Grinch!
One reason that institutions are cutting back on parties and/or parties with lots of drink is the ever rising number of complaints of sexual harassment. I suppose that many
Christmas parties have led to someone saying or doing something for which he (or she) had great regrets the next morning.
I don’t personally recall any embarrassing moments at the parties I went to, but of course
I couldn’t be watching everybody at once.
I also know drinking can cause problems. But I’m still of the opinion that people should be responsible for their own behavior and I look askance at arbitrarily restricting, for example, an adult to two drinks.
It just all seems rather Big Brotherish to me. Why can’t a grown up just be allowed to go a party, have a designated driver, put down a few cocktails and keep his or her hands off of the other folks? But, as they say, the times are a changing.
Again, wishing you a holly, jolly Christmas and a Happy New Year.
