Non-Alcoholic Event Tickets

Vol 12, Issue 2

SABA MOLLAIAN

Hi, my name is Saba and I decided to lead an alcoholic-free life since I was 16 years old. Why, you wonder? Well, I’m glad you asked friend, because I was going to answer regardless. My journey began for religious reasons and eventually evolved into a personal reason not to consume it. However, having lived in the Global North for almost my entire life, alcohol has been something which I’ve lived side-by-side with. You name the occasion, get-togethers, parties, birthdays, etc., alcohol is most likely consumed by my peers. It has become a significant and inescapable presence in my life.

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Cartoon by Jenny Au

It’s no secret that Australians consume their fair share of booze. And trust me, I say that having lived in big drinking cultures – Czechs have beers named after their cities and Luxembourgers (yes, we’re called Luxembourgers) enacted 16 to be the legal drinking age. This drinking is a truth I’ve come to accept. Going to parties with my friends inevitably means that I’ll have to refuse drinks from lovely, yet insistent guys named Johnno. Denying Johnno’s gesture of friendship is oftentimes countered with: ‘Oh come on mate, otherwise I won’t be your friend!’ or ‘Just this one!’

As a consequence, I prefer to meet my friends in environments where I know not much alcohol will be consumed. This is the reason why I’m always disinclined to attend law school parties, as the main attraction for my friends is to let loose and spend a great night getting wasted. When people complain about the expensive entrance prices, you always have that one person explaining that you’re really paying for free flow. Well, as you guys probably guessed, that explanation has zero appeal to me. In fact, it makes me not want to attend the event, as I’d be paying for a good I won’t be using, in addition to having to deal with Johnno.

However, my good friend and partner in crime, Jimbo, who is one of the two activities directors, has taken a special interest in pushing for discounted non-alcoholic tickets within the LSS. He came up with the idea to have a trial run at Spring Social to make a limited number of these tickets available for those who decide not to consume alcohol, whether only for that night or who abstain from it. His main concern is that people would take advantage of those tickets and is worried about the logistics of it, quite understandably. Nonetheless, subject to the LSS committee’s approval, non-alcoholic tickets will be made available at this year’s Spring Social as a trial run. If you don’t drink, please come along to Spring Social to support this move to make the law school more inclusive to all its members. If you will be attending Spring Social and do consume alcohol, please do not consider this trial run as a loophole in the system to save $10. From my experience at MLS, I have found that everybody has a moral code to which they abide to, and my feeling tells me the trial run will be a success. However, it just takes one person to ruin it for the rest of us, so I hope everybody will respect the purpose of these discounted tickets.

If there’s anybody reading this article who would like to further discuss this, I am more than happy to have a chat. If you see me around, just approach me and I’ll happily talk. I’m the guy who’s rocking the beard around the law school, for better or for worse. Otherwise, just comment below.

Many thanks for reading this article. I hope you all have a swell start to the semester!

Jimi Muirhead, of the LSS Activities team, provided De Minimis with this statement after being given an opportunity to read the article:

“I could never, and do not plan to, speak to this issue as eloquently as my dear friend Saba. The Activities Team and I would just like to reiterate the experimental and somewhat tokenistic nature of this initiative. It is hoped this trial will pave the way for a more structured approach to tiered ticketing in the future. Details regarding the process for acquiring tickets will be released closer to the date. If you have any qualms or queries do not hesitate to contact [email protected].”

Saba Mollaian is a second-year JD student​

More articles like this: 

• EOX Ticket Price: Can't I Just Dance?

​The rest of this issue

• Legal Drafting Should be Compulsory
• July Used to be Fun
• Reviewing the Witcher Series
• International Perspectives: People Make the Difference