From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Wed Apr 23 2003 - 09:55:05 EDT
April 23, 2003 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Calvin College will host a former high school teacher and current Episcopal
priest who is also the author of a novel for young adults called "God of Beer"
and more recently wrote a book called "The Enigma of Anger."
Garret Keizer will speak at Calvin on Friday, April 25 for the school's annual
Wiersma Lecture, named after now-deceased professor of English emeritus Stanley
Wiersma. The talk will be at 7:30 pm in the Chapel.
Keizer, 49, made quite a stir with his 2002 book "God of Beer," about teens in
rural Vermont who form SUDS, or Students Undermining a Drunk Society. The
group strives to "lower the drinking age, raise the drinker's awareness [and]
destroy the non-drinker's stigma" through nonviolent protest.
In a recent interview with the Boston Globe, Keizer said beer has achieved
"godlike" status among teens everywhere because alcohol has achieved godlike
status among adults everywhere.
"A legal drinking age of 21," he said, "codifies into law the idea that
alcohol consumption is the pinnacle of maturity. Drinking in rural environments
has a lot to do with poverty and desperation - which aren't exclusive to rural
environments. Go into the city, and you'll find the same boozy billboards you
see in Podunk."
Keizer's talk at Calvin will be titled "This Christian Writer Business" and in
it he will reflect on his life as a teacher, minister and writer. In addition
to his novels and non-fiction works, Keizer also is a frequent contributor to
the Atlantic, Harper's and Christian Century.
-end-
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Wed Apr 23 2003 - 09:55:13 EDT