Veronica Woodruff is an outdoor recreationalist and an environmental scientist. She’s spent more than half her life living in the mountains of BC, and her latest book, Blind Drunk: A Sober Look at Our Boozy Culture, examines the unique role alcohol plays, not only in mountain culture and ski towns, but in Western society at large. A mix of pertinent personal anecdotes and memoir with well-researched studies and history, Blind Drunk walks the fine line of introspection and engagement without stumbling into judgment or shame.
Blind Drunk walks the fine line of introspection and engagement without stumbling into judgment or shame.
Check out these highlights from Feet Banks’ recent conversation with Veronica:
Feet Banks: We should mention that the book is part memoir. It’s interwoven with science and history and studies about alcohol, the effects of history, prohibition, all these things. So it’s a nice hybrid. Was that always the plan? To weave in the facts with the personal?
Veronica Woodruff: I think that really aligns with who I am as a person. I work as an educator… And so I wanted to approach those things as an educator in a way that’s accessible—to create a personal story and then sift back into the research. And so there are some personal stories in here that I was a little bit uncomfortable putting into the public world.
FB: They always say, “if you care what your parents think, you’re never going to write a good memoir” or whatever. But was your goal with the book more in line with your education? Obviously the good thing about this book is it’s not a preachy condemnation.
VW: Absolutely. And I think the overall intention of writing the story is to make it accessible—this conversation around alcohol. To make it a more nuanced conversation, because if you said to somebody even back in the day, Well, you’ve already had two drinks. Are you sure you need a third? That could be received really negatively, potentially. I wanted to be able to create this opportunity for a conversation around moderation, not abstinence necessarily.
So it’s not just about not drinking, it’s about looking at what we’re using alcohol for, the different reasons and then the negative effects… And also because the line between [moderation] and drinking too much isn’t clear—that’s a big fuzzy line. There’s no definition of when you’re going to tip over into “alcoholism” or substance abuse….
In 2016 I started to look for the resources that could support me, because I didn’t really align with AA. I wasn’t going to stand up in a room and be like, Oh, I’m an alcoholic. Based on my social observations, either as a bartender or in my friend group, there was such a wide range of behaviours around drinking.
I had so many questions. Like: What does “alcoholic” mean? And is there another way to quit drinking without having to use this program that forces these 12 steps that didn’t resonate with me?
Listen to the pod here. Episode sponsored by Citizen Watch.
