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“Beer and Loathing in
Within the first page, Strausbaugh and his college buddies are already off and running, stocking up on some Natty Ice and beginning their 12-hour journey to
When describing the punk spring breakers he writes, “They deserved no attention, yet saw themselves as rebellious social engineers or anti-status quo heroines.” He adds, “Obviously sporting special occasion shaves for labia majora attention: ‘Ashley, look a mohawk! He probably owns a hell-raising James Dean jacket and his mother’s maiden name is something dark and dangerous. I’m wet like a seal with a gland-problem!’”
His style gets tricky with its wordiness and in the various cultural references readers may or may not be all that familiar with.
In the continuing description of the mohawk, he makes references to Kool-Aid, Xanadu, Crest Whitestrips, Ford, Tucker Max, Staind and Vin Diesel.
The disrespectful language Strausbaugh uses to portray the women him and his friends encounter, though blunt and perhaps unfortunately accurate, could be off-putting to a female audience, as if by reading they are intruding on some club and shouldn’t be there.
Throughout his short accounts, he refers to girls and their bodies as a “nine, six and a wolverine,” “Tits McGee,” “prized carcass,” “pregnant walrus,” “unfortunate breed” and of course the less creative stock terms, slut and whore. The description of “Tits McGee” and her breasts lasts about a page with the conclusion that even though she is a little older, her breasts are “still worthy of salivating over like dogs eyeing dinner meat.”
On the flip side, a female audience may enjoy being a fly on the wall, appreciating the inside look at how a guy may think or speak about them when it’s not around to hear.
When it seems like “Beer and Loathing in Panama City: A Bloodthirsty Spring Break Exodus” is going to conclude as little more than an entertaining and frank spring break tale, Strausbaugh makes some insightful statements about life and the importance of taking a spring break vacation. He reminds us, perhaps pessimistically but more realistically, that true love doesn’t exist and that people settle, following societal norms.
Spring break is freeing, an escape from the pressure to settle down and let life pass you by. In Strausbaugh’s words, “It was a drunk dream reminding us how fun life can be.”
Keith Strausbaugh is a 23-year-old graduate student and teaches freshman composition at
Nora Crocker can be reached at ncrocker@student.umass.edu.
Sounds like another lame attempt at college "hijinks" humor, with non-PC references thrown in to make it "edgie".