From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Camille Sweeney, a MacDowell Arts Colony fellow, a somewhat repentant
 initiate of the Rye Bucks Drinking Society at Kenyon College. and one-time
 blogger (The C Spot: A Guide to the Life Erotic), contributes frequently to
 the New York Times and is at work on a novel.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Camille Sweeney: Maybe not so surprisingly, my first drink coincided with my first real makeout session. One night, the summer I turned 13, I drank an entire warm can of beer and found myself making out with a friend’s older brother’s friend in a closet jammed with sports’ equipment. I can still get a rush when I smell a baseball glove.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

In my family, drinking was always made to seem convivial and something that was better to be good at.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

My husband and I are supernaturally social, and drinking usually goes along with that. From time to time, we remind ourselves to be more moderate. I’ve never felt dependent on alcohol – like I do on coffee, for example – it’s just that more often than not, it’s nicer to have around during social occasions.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

See above.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

I get a little Zelig-ish when drinking, probably for maximum social impact – vodka with the Easties, tequila with the bad asses, rounds of Abita in New Orleans, martinis at the Monkey Bar, etc – but wine, red, white or rose, depending on the season, is usually my standard.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

Some of the best times have been with family and good intimate friends, but also with strangers, like an epic night I spent in a seaside town in Brazil with my husband and members of a samba band.

What about the worst time?

Unfortunately, drinking has to do with judgment, one of the first significant things to go when ingesting alcohol. Best example of worst judgment was when I lived in Prague, played in a warbly country band, drank through a rowdy rehearsal, and had to find my way alone in the pitch black from a deserted tiny train station outside the city to my boyfriend’s dacha down a dirt road. At the time I wrote a story about it called, “Lost,” that still makes me cringe.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

For years I carried around “Ulysses” wherever I traveled and would dive into Bloom and Stephen Dedalus’s stream-of-consciousness adventure that included a long drunken night that seemed so apt to me in my 20’s. Maybe my most recent favorite drinking-related art is Eugene Hutz’s (of Gogol Bordello) song, “Alcohol,” that he sings in concert like a slow painful love ballad. Lyrics go something like: ‘And you know that I’ll pick up/Every time you call/Just to thank you one more time/Alcohol.’ He’s got this really thick Ukrainian accent and plaintive Nick Cave tone, so until I understood the words, I was sure it was about his former girlfriend. It’s a perfect distillation of how one can feel repentant and yet so seduced by booze.

What do you like most about drinking?

Probably what I like most is the camaraderie, the myopic effects of alcohol that draw individuals and groups of people together deeper into conversation and other forms of interaction—like weddings, mosh pits and nights in the country listening to frogs. Of course, it can always backfire.

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Jillian Lauren’s New York Times bestselling memoir, “Some Girls: My Life in a Harem,” was published by Plume in April 2010.

Jillian has an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Flaunt Magazine, Opium Magazine, Society, Pale House: A Collective and in the anthology My First Time: A Collection of First Punk Show Stories, among others. Her novel, “Pretty,” is scheduled to be released in Spring 2011.

She is married to musician Scott Shriner. They live in Los Angeles with their son.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Jillian Lauren: I was eight when I had my first drink. It was chardonnay mixed with Coke (my own idea). I’m not sure why I was fascinated with drinking or what made me want to try it, but I remember that I snuck into the kitchen one night and mixed myself the chardonnay cocktail in my orange juice glass.

It was absolutely disgusting, but so warm and nice going down that I plugged my nose and drank it all. Then I drank another and another and was instantly drunk. I remember crawling down the hallway to the bathroom, bumping into one wall, then adjusting my course and bumping into the other. From the very beginning, I didn’t kid around about my drinking.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

Other than me, my immediate family members are not generally big drinkers. With the exception of dinner parties, I was pretty much the only one raiding the liquor cabinet in my household. My parents are both social wine drinkers and get tipsy at the occasional Bar Mitzvah, but liquor isn’t an important part of their lives.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

Today, I don’t drink at all. That’s the answer I’ve had every day for the past nine years and I hope that tomorrow I’ll have the same one. I tried to avoid the fact for a long time, but when I drink, I’m that alcoholic girl who you really wish would stop crying and get off your couch already because the party ended two hours ago.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever had one drink in my life. Who wants one drink? What fun is that? I want twelve drinks or none at all. So for today, I’m afraid that it’s going to have to be none at all. I miss drinking all the time, but I think that I miss the glamorous drinking I imagined myself doing, not the pathetic drinking I was actually doing.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

There were so many great times. When I think of my best times drinking, I mostly conjure scenes from was when I was seventeen or eighteen years old and I had first moved to New York. I was finally living on my own and being a grown-up felt so delicious to me for a heartbeat, before I started to feel the consequences of some of my more reckless choices.

When I was doing theater downtown, I remember drinking post-rehearsal margaritas at El Sombrero restaurant on Ludlow Street and thinking that I was exactly where I wanted to be; that I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I was so full of hope and so in love with the city, that when a giant rat fell down out of the rafters and landed belly-up in our salsa, I just thought- How charming! How New York!

What about the worst time?

That’s easy. The worst time was the period of months I spent living in a motel at the end of my drinking, during which the days and nights bled together. My only companion was a hustler I let steal from me because he’d go score our drugs. I was constantly drinking Jack out of the bottle to soften the crash from the crack I was smoking. That was my worst time drinking and my worst time period. I hope my life never has to get that bad again.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

Every Tom Waits song ever written. 

How has alcoholism affected your life?

Alcoholism has been both my downfall and my redemption. If not for my alcoholism, I don’t think I would have been forced to figure out how to make more loving choices toward myself. Alcoholism has humbled me and has taught me compassion, both for myself and for others. It’s been the central struggle of my life and as a result has been the source of countless opportunities for growth.

(c)Soo-Jeong Kang

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Kim Severson has been a staff writer for the New York Times since 2004. Previously, she spent six years writing about cooking and the culture of food for the San Francisco Chronicle. Before that, she had a seven-year stint as an editor and reporter at The Anchorage Daily News in Alaska. She has also covered crime, education, social services and government for daily newspapers on the West Coast.

Ms. Severson has won several regional and national awards for news and feature writing, including the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for her work on childhood obesity in 2002 and four James Beard awards for food writing.

Her memoir, “Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life,” was published by Riverhead in April 2010. She has also written “The New Alaska Cookbook” and “The Trans Fat Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet.”

She’s a Midwesterner by birth. And although she’s extremely fond of the West Coast, she is learning to love the East.  She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and her daughter.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Kim Severson: I don’t know exactly, because I am sure I had sips of beer before this, but I remember sneaking brown liquor from my dad’s liquor cabinet and taking it to school in a Tupperware container when I was in the eighth grade. We used slushies from the vending machine as a mixer.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My family likes to drink. My dad is a martini man, and there was always wine for special dinners. We had beer in the downstairs fridge, and my parents used to host some momentous cocktail parties. I am the outlier. The one who went so far I had to stop.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I do what I need to do to make sure I don’t drink, which mostly involves a spiritual life and talking to other alcoholics. Oh, and ice cream.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

Well, I’ve been sober 12 years so I guess that about covers it.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

photo courtesy of Riverhead Books

The good times were plentiful. I remember a great camping trip my senior year in the Smoky Mountains with a case of Miller Lite, and magic dinners with wines so rare you couldn’t buy them if you wanted to. People always look so good over wine like that.

What about the worst time?

Drinking made me want to kill myself.

Has drinking ever affected-either negatively or positively-a relationship of yours?

I think so many relationships get started in the two-drink glow. I used to love the intimacy that came from splitting a bottle of wine with someone. But then I usually ended up taking that person hostage later, emotionally at least. Drunk people say a lot of things they shouldn’t, and they aren’t really sure what they feel.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

We’re half Italian, and I think that had an influence. Of course, my dad’s Norwegian and, don’t kid yourself–the Norwegians can drink. But I grew up around kids who drank, and getting drunk was a rite of passage. And my family had a good appreciation of cocktail hour and of wine. As I got more into food and cooking, I got deeper into wine. When you hang out with good cooks and good eaters, it’s hard not to fall in love with wine.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

They say one drink is too many and a million aren’t enough. I guess I just can’t predict what will happen once I start drinking. It changes my mood and my outlook and my productivity. But mostly, is sucks on my soul.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

Well, getting sober was about the best thing that happened to me. It completely changed me. So I would say that despite the crap I had to go through before I got sober, alcoholism has made me a much stronger, more open and grateful person.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

A sassy ginger and mint drink with some fresh seltzer. I’d like to be refreshing and a little startling, but not out of control.

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Marile Borden is the founder and editor of Momicillin Publishing, LLC, publishers of momicillin.com and momswhoneedwine.com, both launched in 2009. Marile created Moms Who Need Wine as a Social Media avenue for like-minded Moms to come together and share stories, revel in their imperfections, and find solace in the fact that they are not going it alone. She was inspired to start Moms Who Need Wine by the hundreds of “real” moms that she knows, both in her inner and extended circles, and in the blogosphere.  Moms come to her sites to find laughter, advice, sympathy, compassion, friendship and validation. Most of these women share a love of wine—but more importantly, they share the fact that day by day, hour by hour, they are striving to succeed at one of the toughest jobs in the world. The more moms “tell it like it is,” the less we all feel alone.

Marile also runs a successful marketing communications firm that has serviced a variety of clients up and down the East Coast for the last 9.5 years. When she’s not busy chasing down writers, clients, deadlines, sponsors and new opportunities, she’s chasing down son Jack, age 6, and daughter Lia, age 3.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Marile Borden: My first drink was a Bartles and Jaymes Wine Cooler (does that even count?) my junior year in high school — which makes me, what, about 17?

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My parents (now in their mid-80s) have their “cocktail hour” every day at 5:00. It’s one glass of wine, or one gin and tonic. I’ve never seen them drink more than that. But I also grew up with my older, college-aged brothers having keg parties in our backyard. I learned how to pour a beer from the tap at age 10. Of course the brothers all turned into respectable, hard-working men and dedicated fathers, who enjoy a frosty one now and then. And though I could pour a beer at an early age, I never much liked the taste of it, so no harm done.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I try not to approach it in my “every day” life. But a few drinks sure are nice on the weekends. Especially with friends.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

My husband and I will have a glass of wine or a beer (or two) in front of the kids. It’s just “one of those drinks that has stuff in it that kids can’t have.” I want my kids to see us enjoy alcohol responsibly.

What’s your drink of choice?

Why wine, of course.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

Okay, I know I should talk about sipping wine poolside at a Vineyard in Tuscany, or something romantic like that. But the fact is, Spring Break my senior year in college (16 years ago!) in Cancun, Mexico (how cliché) still ranks up there as one of the best weeks in my life. There was a lot of tequila involved.

What about the worst time?

If I could remember it, I’d tell you.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

I was raised Irish Catholic. Need I say more? We’re prudish about a lot of things, but drinking isn’t one of them.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

I’m a huge Jimmy Buffett fan. In fact, I may have to change my answer above about the best time I ever had drinking. It may have been a Buffett concert one hot August day with a bunch of friends, a parking lot, a grill, a blender and, well, you know the rest. “Wasting away again in…”

What do you like most about drinking?

Sharing it with friends.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

Well, I know I don’t want to come out of a keg. I don’t want to come back up the next morning. And I don’t really want to spend much time in skanky bars. So maybe something frozen and fruity? Maybe a Pina Colada? Yes, sip me on an oceanside deck. Perfect.

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Deborah Siegel is the co-founder of She Writes, an online forum for women writers, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary today. She is the author of Sisterhood, Interrupted: From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild, co-editor of the literary anthology Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo, founder of the blog Girl w/Pen, and co-founder of the webjournal The Scholar & Feminist Online. Her writings on women, feminism, contemporary families, sex, and popular culture have appeared in such venues as The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, More, Psychology Today, and The Mothers Movement Online. Deborah has lead myriad workshops and consulted with individuals, organizations, and companies seeking to expand their public platform through books, new media, and blogs.  She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, graphic designer Marco Acevedo, and their twins, Anya and Teo.

When I’m stressed from work, I use the phrase “I need a drink!” more often than I actually do.  Most times, chocolate or chai substitutes just fine.  I’m slightly addicted.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

Definitely: high school and college.  In high school, my best friends, the Lane sisters, taught me to swig beer.  In college, I downed shots at parties.  Funny, because as a grown up (or whatever it is that I am now), I like neither shots nor beer.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

Red wine, preferably Syrah or Shiraz, because I love the quick buzz (it only takes a glass) and it’s good with chocolate.  I was recently introduced to St. Germaine which, mixed with white wine, is a tasty summery treat and my current sweet of choice.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

Hmm…something involving my friend Sam and his friend Laura.  But the details, I cannot disclose.

What about the worst time?

More like times with an “s”.  High school and college parties.  They weren’t really my thing, and I drank to fit in.  There.  I said it.  I was a nonconforming conformist.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

After my divorce, I drank myself silly on the first real date with the man that would become my second husband.  I hadn’t been drunk like that since college, and I actually threw up.  He stayed overnight (on the couch) and I was really touched that in the morning, he was there.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

See Manischevitz, above.  Honestly, I love ritual/ceremonial wine drinking.  That we’re commanded, as Jews, to embrace and give thanks for the fruit of the vine is beautiful to me.  And that religion makes room for joy—indeed, in the case of the Passover Seder, mandates it—is a big plus.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall?  Just kidding.  I don’t think I do.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

I drink, primarily, to celebrate.  This week marks the 1-year anniversary of the company I’ve co-founded, She Writes.  We’re holding meetups in 17 cities across the land.  I’ll be raising a glass here in NYC.

Photo by Sarah Shatz

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Amanda Hesser is a co-founder of the cooking site food52.com. Hesser was part of the team that created the Twitter Vote Report for the 2008 Presidential Election and was also a founder of Plodt.com, a Twitter app. She has been a food columnist and editor at the New York Times for more than a decade, and currently writes “Recipe Redux” for the Sunday Magazine. Hesser has written two award-winning books — The Cook and the Gardener and Cooking for Mr. Latte — and edited the recently published collection of food essays, Eat, Memory. Her next book, The Essential New York Times Cookbook, a compilation of recipes from the New York Times going back to the 1850’s, will be out this October. Hesser also had the world’s shortest acting career, playing herself in the movie “Julie & Julia” for approximately 30 seconds. She is the proud owner of a certificate from the Boston Bartenders School.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Probably 6 or 7 — a stolen sip of my father’s beer. Likely Budweiser.

How do you approach alcohol in your everyday life?

I think of alcohol like food — as a spectrum of flavors and aromas. So I choose drinks based on the flavors I’m looking to satisfy. I don’t drink for the alcohol itself — alcohol is heavy and can easily get in the way of a meal, so although I love wine and beer, I tend not to drink much of either while I’m eating. I prefer drinking something before or after a meal, when the drink can get my full attention.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

I have 3-year-old twins. They can identify a beer bottle, but that’s about it so far. I plan to take the French approach and treat alcohol as a regular part of our lives, and just one of the pleasures of the table. We drink alcohol moderately, and almost always around a meal. I’d like our children to understand what makes one wine/beer/spirit better than another, and to see alcohol as an interesting topic rather than something forbidden.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

Um, college. Does that count?

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

I love the world of digestifs — that searing warmth and intense clarity. And I like things I can sip.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

After picking grapes during the harvest at a small winery in Beaujolais. At the end of days of back-breaking work, the coarse local wine they served to us at dinner could not have tasted better. Also, when you’re handling the delicate grapes and then you taste what they’ve been turned into, the wine seems like a miracle.

What about the worst time?

Don’t all those stories end the same way?

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

I actually stopped reading The Sun Also Rises because the amount of drinking bothered me. Lucky Jim isn’t about drinking but there’s plenty of hilarity that results from a few too many cocktails. At one point Jim wakes up with a hangover and describes his mouth as feeling like some small creature had used it as its latrine and then as its mausoleum.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

Prosecco — because you’re brought out for both special occasions and casual get-togethers. You’re associated with happy, celebratory times, without the excess and elitism of Champagne.

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Jennifer Egan is the author of The Invisible Circus, a novel which became a feature film starting Cameron Diaz in 2001, Look at Me, a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction in 2001, Emerald City and Other Stories and, most recently, the The Keep, which was a national bestseller. Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harpers, Granta, McSweeney’s and other magazines. Her new book, A Visit From the Goon Squad, was published this month.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

I had my first drink when I was 11 years old.  Our babysitter, who was only a few years older than I, made “gin and tonics on the rocks” for myself and my friend, who was sleeping over.  The drink consisted of warm gin, straight up, poured into a tall glass.  I’ve never been able to drink gin since, unless it’s a gin and tonic.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My father was an alcoholic who gave up drinking after an intervention when he was in his forties.  He never touched alcohol again, and it was fantastic to see how much happier and healthier he became after that.  He and my mother had divorced when I was two, and my stepfather loved food and wine, and did not have a drinking problem. So I’ve experienced alcohol both ways–as a threat, and as a pleasure.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I’m lucky that I didn’t inherit the alcoholism gene from my father.  If I had, I’m sure my life would have unfolded very differently, because in my unhappy teen years, and my uncertain twenties I drank pretty heavily to elude anxiety and (especially) to make myself feel more social.  I love to drink, but I find that I drink much less now that I’m in my forties; more than a single glass of wine leaves a strong print on the next day.  I’m vividly aware that time is short, and less willing to pay for a night of drinking.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

My kids are seven and nine years old.  My husband and I drink wine in front of them now and then, in a low-key way.  The older one has picked up a swaggering attitude toward alcohol from somewhere–maybe school, or his friends.  I’m extremely wary of it, given my family history.  I’ve told them both that there is alcoholism in our family, that there’s nothing funny about drinking, and they may have inherited a gene that will make it hard for them to drink in a controlled way.  I will get more serious about those warnings as they approach the teenage years.  They’re very responsible and conscientious, and I have confidence that, if they’ve inherited the gene, they will react responsibly.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

As a teenager I drank a lot.  I was uncomfortable with myself and with the world, and alcohol made me feel more outgoing and confident.  When I look back on that drinking, I cringe.  I drove so drunk that I couldn’t remember the ride home.  I’m awed by my good luck at having survived those years.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

Probably wine.  Good wine with a good meal–there’s nothing like it.  I also like martinis–their cold, medicinal quality–but I drink them much less often than I used to, because I feel them the next day.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

My father was Irish-American, from Chicago.  Though drinking became a major problem for him, and almost derailed his life, I do feel a cultural pull toward drinking, because of my background.  In a strange way, it feels like home.  When I was writing a story for the NY Times magazine that involved a girl who lived on the South Side of Chicago, I ended up there during the South Side’s Saint Patrick’s Day parade.  People were stumbling drunk, literally falling down, wearing beakers of beer around their necks, and a part of me had this comforting sense of having returned to a place where I deeply belonged.

What do you like most about drinking?

I love the slight loss of bearings, the blurring of context.  I like that only when I’m with people, though. I never drink alone; I’d rather read, and drinking makes me sleepy.  But when I’m with a group at night, I always enjoy myself more if I have a drink.  Otherwise there’s a part of me that wants to go home and read instead.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

Basically I drink when I feel like it. And because I’m lucky enough *not* to be an alcoholic, I don’t tend to crave drinking at unhealthy times.  If I’ve drunk wine one night, I tend not to want it the next.  And as I said, I don’t have the impulse to drink alone.  So it’s not a charged thing in my life, thank God.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

I think it affected my relationship with my father enormously.  We might have been closer if he hadn’t been an alcoholic.  He did have a number of sober years before he died (in an accident) but by then I was an adult, and it was late in the game for us to build the groundwork for a close relationship, much as I think we both wanted to.

Photo sources

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Abby Ellin is a frequent contributor to the New York Times (and former columnist), and the author of “Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs in on Living Large, Losing Weight and How Parents Can (and Can’t) Help.” Her work has been published in Time, Newsweek, Spy (RIP), Salon, the Daily Beast, The Village Voice, Redbook, More, Glamour, Marie Claire, Self, and Psychology Today, among others. Her greatest achievement, however, is naming Karamel Sutra ice cream for Ben and Jerry’s (see “Ben & Jerry & Me,” NY Times, 7/24/02).

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

About 14: Vodka and pink lemonade. I invited some friends over and we boozed it up in my parents sukkah. Talk about sacriliegious.

How do you approach alcohol in your everyday life?

It doesn’t play much of a role, really. I rarely drink.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

White wine. I really like a cold white wine and chicken salad at lunch. Reminds me of Hemingway and Paris.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

September, 1988: Ithaca, NY. Diet Coke and Captain’s Morgan Spiced Rum. I’d just returned to school from a year abroad and my friends and I went out for a welcome home celebration. I lapped up drink after drink, and spent the remainder of the night vomitting up said concoction. But I met my then-boyfriend that same evening, which was good.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

I often get sick from drinking too much. That is not especially alluring.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

Yes–I abhor Manischewitz!

What do you like most about drinking?

I’m a happy drunk–no angry tendencies come out. I suppose I’m way too in touch with them in my normal state! Also, acohol makes me feel capable of accomplishing anything. I laugh a lot. And though I’m not an especially inhibited person in general, I like the extra sense of freedom I get from a nice buzz.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

I don’t like being hungover. And I’d rather spend the calories on jellybeans.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

No, I’m Jewish. We have issues with food, not booze!

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

Tequila, because it’s the drink of choice for frat boys in Cancun. How nice it would be if my entire raison d’etre was to get drunk and score babes! Or maybe cognac, because it feels like a rich guy drink. Would be interesting to be inside the skin of someone with money and power.

Photo Source

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Abby Sher is a writer, performer, and is trying to get over her fear of tire swings. Her memoir, Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl who Couldn’t Stop Praying was published by Scribner in October, 2009. Oprah put it on her faves list and so did the Chicago Tribune. Abby also wrote a young adult novel, Kissing Snowflakes, which is about first kisses and stepmoms. Abby’s words have appeared in Modern Love: Tales of Love and Obsession, Behind the Bedroom Door, The New York Times, The L.A. Times, Self, Jane, Elle, Elle UK, Marie Claire, HeeB, and Redbook.

She’s the voice for lots of things like frozen pizza, colon cleansers, and Elly the Talking Elephant. She also toured, wrote and performed for The Second City and ImprovOlympic.

Currently, Abby is working on her newest novel and creating a pen pal program for people of all ages looking to connect about things that are too hard to say. Abby performs at various theaters in New York, and teaches writing and yoga.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

I remember my dad giving me a taste of his beer when I was on his lap after a long, wonderfully hot day at the beach. I thought I was doing something illegal and giggled and told everyone in the room over and over again. I’m sure I drank wine spritzers with my parents at Shabbos dinner, too.

How do you approach alcohol in your everyday life?

I am sober now. I went to my first AA meeting on January 8, 2008 and I haven’t touched a drink since then. I don’t go to meetings regularly, but I love knowing I have that network to come back to. And I don’t follow all the rules…like I’ve eaten things cooked with wine and a chocolate with liqueur inside.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

Definitely. Drinking became obsessive for me, especially when I was performing every night and I couldn’t wait to have my tumbler of ice cold pinot grigio after or even during the show. Then I met my husband and I was so scared of liking him and being vulnerable that I drank myself silly in front of him. Even on our honeymoon, I was tipsy by noon.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

Drinking for me was often a way of staving off fear or hunger. I was anorexic but I would let myself drink instead of eat. So even imagining that first sip of wine now still makes me yearn for it a little.

What about the worst time?

I hated hated getting nauseous or dizzy. So I think the worst time I had was the few nights when my husband had to put me to bed with one foot on the floor to keep the world from spinning. Great reminder that drinking was not worth those moments.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

I was manipulative when I drank. I didn’t listen to conversations. I was too busy sussing out where the bottle was and how much was left. I was a greedy drinker.

What did you like most about drinking?

The release of my shoulders, my skin, my brain. This is what I miss most.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

I choose not to drink because I know I can’t stop at one. I always want to press my edge and see if I can feel a little lighter, or starve myself a little longer. I hope one day, maybe when I’m a grey-haired hippie with wind chimes and homemade pottery, to drink one glass of wine and just delight in it.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

It makes me sad that I can’t enjoy this treat with friends.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

A cool glass of dry white wine. Mmmm.

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Pamela Redmond Satran is the author of the New York Times bestselling humor book, How Not to Act Old, based on her blog of the same name.  She is also the author of five novels, including Younger and The Man I Should Have Married, and the coauthor of ten baby name books that she’s developed into the website nameberry.com.  Her latest project is an online serialized novel called Ho Springs, at hosprings.com.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

I was probably about 12 and it was in the basement of my Aunt Jeanne’s house, where my cousins, who were much wilder and less supervised (and had lots more fun) than me introduced me to rum and coke.  Or maybe rye and coke.  The excitement of sneaking the drink is what I remember, certainly not getting drunk.  I was too much of a good girl for that.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My parents both grew up in Depression-era New York, and their Irish-American families, like many families at that time, had been scarred by alcoholism.  My mother’s father left the family and died when she was a child.  So both my parents were near-teetotalers and not much drinking went on in my house growing up.

Then I married someone from Wisconsin whose family really enjoyed drinking – big cocktail culture – and that became a regular part of my life in a way it never was when I was a kid.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

We have drinks or wine or beer in the evening at home or out with friends three or four nights a week.  We’re also big party-givers and have been known to throw martini parties for 100 or have friends over for Friday night margaritas.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank or more less?

I went on a big diet a few years ago where I had to cut out alcohol along with sugar, wheat, and dairy.  Not surprisingly, I lost a lot of weight over the four months I did the diet, but at the end of the period, the thing I wanted most was a martini – not even my usual drink.  I remember the deliciousness of that martini vividly.  And I think I was drunk for two days.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

I like strong but flavorful drinks.  I love sidecars, and love the version made by Lupa restaurant in Manhattan, lighter and more lemony.  This winter I was heavily into Christine Sismondo’s Northern Bramble: 3 parts gin, 2 parts fresh lemon juice, 1 part maple syrup, with blackberry liqueur drizzled over the top.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

I’m too old and I’ve been drinking too long to have any one best, but one great time that rises quickly to mind was an evening during the Christmas holidays when it was snowing and I invited, on the spur of the moment, some neighbors I like who also like to drink.  They were all (there were three other couples) heading other places for dinner, and my grownup kids were visiting, so everyone blew in, grabbed a cocktail, and jumped right into the conversation – it was very quickly the best kind of animated drinking party.  And then they were gone, before anybody could drink too much or do or say anything they’d regret in the morning.

What about the worst time?

I don’t know if “worst” is quite the word for this, but a few years ago, we had friends over for dinner and I had a lot to drink.  The evening was a lot of fun, actually, and my perception was that I was acting kind of silly, kind of outrageous.  But the next morning, I woke up and thought, with alarm, that I had completely forgotten to serve dessert – a dessert I’d spent a lot of time preparing.  Oh no, I thought: I drank so much I forgot dessert and left the house a mess and just went to bed.

And then I went downstairs to find the house perfectly clean and the dessert gone.  So I had served dessert.  And I had said goodbye to my guests and cleaned the whole house.  And I couldn’t remember any of it, which was pretty terrifying.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

My brother was an alcoholic, and other friends and family members that I was close to, I’ve lost through alcoholism.

I fear alcoholism and think it wrecks a lot of lives and families, but I don’t believe that drinking or not drinking at home either creates alcoholics or prevents alcoholism. But I do warn my kids that it’s in their genes on both sides of their families so they should beware drinking too much too consistently.

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Lesley Arfin is the author of Dear Diary, based on a column she wrote for Vice magazine, where she interned after graduating from Hampshire College. MTV currently owns the rights to the book and is working on developing it into a scripted series. Lesley was Editor-In-Chief of Misbehave magazine. She has freelanced for a number of publications, including Jezebel.com, Jane, Nylon, iD, America, Purple, Paper, Jalouse, and she is currently the New York contributor to  the Australian fashion magazine, Russh. She writes an advice column for streetcarnage.com titled “Ask Barf.”

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Lesley Arfin: My first drink without my parents watching was a bottle of whiskey that I chugged in the woods with a bunch of boys in the dead of winter. I was 12 and a half.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

Jews aren’t real big drinkers. They drink wine at dinner I guess but it’s not a big deal and no one is ever drunk. I doubt there’s ever beer or hard alcohol at my mom’s house.

How do you approach alcohol in your everyday life?

I have been sober for almost 8 years now so it’s not a part of my life really.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

When I drank, I really loved whiskey. I loved whiskey and Coke; put whiskey in coffee, whatever. Beer made me tired and full, vodka tasted like rubbing alcohol, and wine made me talk to walls. Now my drink of choice–if I’m really going for a mocktail–is ginger ale with a splash of bitters and lemon. Usually I’m lazy about it and just get ice water or a Diet Coke. I’ll drink an O’Doul’s, too.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

I remember this one day in college, towards the end of the year. It was really nice out, and we were just sitting around being bored. It was maybe 2 pm and we thought, “Let’s get a keg!” This was something we never did because I was an art student, and “kegs” were only for parties and considered a bit pedestrian, maybe. We drank cheap whiskey and PBR and everything, but kegs of beer were not the norm. So anyway, we got this keg in the afternoon and we funneled and I’m sure someone did a keg stand or something, all of these college-like things that we had always been too arty or cool for or whatever. As we kept drinking, more and more people showed up and joined the fun. I just remember laughing so hard that day, so many people were doing funny things, it was one of those days that a million private jokes happen like, in a row, and everyone is just being awesome. No drama, no hysterics, no throwing bikes into windows. Just a real good drunk day.

What about the worst time?

I was in the Bahamas, my senior year of high school. We all went there for like a “senior trip.” I really liked this guy and we had hooked up one night, just kissed. I was really happy about it. I didn’t have sex with him because I think I was just kind of afraid, but the next night I was like, “tonight I am definitely gonna do it.” I guess he wasn’t really paying attention to me and it made me feel bad, so I kept drinking and drinking and I was only 18 and didn’t know about mixing different kinds of booze, like “beer before liquor, never get sicker,” or maybe like “don’t fucking drink red wine and then tequila and then smoke pot,” or maybe even “don’t ever drink Jaegermeister, ever.” Needless to say, I did not have sex with Jason Miller that night, or any night, ever again, for the rest of my life. I prefer blacking out to puking. However, that night, I managed to do both.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

There’s a song by The Magnetic Fields called “Love Is Like A Bottle Of Gin” and the lyrics are perfect. I also love the book by Augusten Burroughs, Dry. A lot of people have written books about drinking but his is my favorite. I love that book so much. My favorite movie about drinking is probably “When A Man Loves A Woman.” I just realized that everything I’ve listed here are all kind of bummers about drinking. Like they’re all about alcoholism. Sorry? I mean, I like “The Hangover,” too. “Superbad” is all about drinking, too! Yeah, “Superbad” is my favorite movie ever!

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

To be honest if I had the choice, I would still drink. The problem with me is that booze turns me into such a freak show, it actually costs me my ability to choose. Well, I guess I do have a choice technically but it’s not “drink or don’t drink” it’s like “live or die.” When I drink, a switch goes off in my brain that is like “keep going at all costs and don’t stop,” and really that train leads to drugs rather than just more drinks, because I prefer drugs to drinking. I’ve tried to control it so many times and I just can’t. It’s hard to explain unless you have it yourself. Trying to control it turned out to be a much bigger pain in the ass and way more taxing on my psyche than anything else, so I just dropped it all together. Not drinking has been working out pretty well for me. It’s better, actually. If it wasn’t better I wouldn’t do it.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

Sloe Gin Fizz because it sounds cool, or Long Island Iced Tea because that just makes sense.

Photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Melissa Febos is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, Whip Smart (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press), which Kirkus Reviews said, “Expertly captures grace within depravity.” She has been featured on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross and on the cover of the NY Post, among many other national publications.  Her writing has been published in Hunger Mountain, The Southeast Review, Redivider, The Rambler, Storyscape Journal, The Huffington Post, The New York Times online, Bitch Magazine, and on The Nervous Breakdown, where she regularly blogs.  She co-curates and hosts the Mixer Reading and Music Series at Cake Shop, teaches at SUNY Purchase College, The Gotham Writers’ Workshop, and NYU, and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.  This summer, she will be a McDowell Colony fellow. She lives in Brooklyn.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Melissa Febos: I was eleven, and I remember only that it was a dusty bottle stolen from my parents’ cabinet. And how sick I got.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

In an entirely healthy way; my mother rarely drinks at all, my father has an occasional beer, but we rarely had any in our house. My dad grew up in an alcoholic household, and I was always warned of the dangers of drinking, and that alcoholism appeared on both sides of the family.

How do you approach alcohol in your everyday life?

I haven’t had a drink in over six years; it’s pretty absent from my life, actually. I’m not bothered in the least when other people drink (except perhaps that it gets a little boring being the only sober person at a party, so I don’t often linger in those scenarios).

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

Ha! I mean, yes. I drank a lot between the ages of eleven and twenty-two. In addition to myriad other mind and mood-altering substances.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

Diet Coke. But when I drank alcohol–gin & tonics.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

I may not remember the best time I ever had drinking, as a result of the quantities I was in the habit of ingesting, but I do remember the invincible feeling it lent me when I was very young, the way it seemed to make the world a suddenly larger place, a place I was more comfortable occupying. And, of course, the usual hijinks; the young, messy love it accelerated.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

Well, I think that drinking induces a quick sort of intimacy, that is fun and a kind of short-cut, but ultimately less authentic than sober interaction. I’ve had a lot of fun, and a lot of friendships that might not have happened without alcohol, but none of them lasting. The relationships that I’ve cultivated while sober have always run deeper and more lasting.  I’m also a better person sober–a more mindful friend, daughter, sister, lover. I don’t behave in ways that contradict what I believe in, or how I feel about the people in my life, and that often happened when I drank.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

As a kid, I read obsessively, and I particularly fetishized books about drinking, and drug addiction. Really, any kind of dark, seedy underworld.  Many of my early idols were whopping alcoholics, or at least sang and wrote about booze as if they were. Tom Waits, Hemingway, William Burroughs…I could go on for days.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

Well, in the beginning, I stopped drinking because I was going to die. Not necessarily of drinking, but I was addicted to other substances, and it was impossible to isolate one from the other. If I drank, I knew I’d end up looking for the high I really wanted.

However, at this point, and for many years now, I’ve come to prefer being fully awake for as much of my life as possible. I don’t want to miss anything.

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Star Rockers is a musician, writer, and recovering alcoholic who writes a blog called Running High. She also recently started an online community called the Running High Club, a free social network for recovering addicts who use running as a way to stay sober.

When she isn’t running, Star works as a graphic designer for the Seattle literary magazine Crab Creek Review and performs at various coffee houses and music venues in the Northwest. She lives on an island in the Puget Sound with her husband and son.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Star Rockers: When I was three, my dad was drinking what looked like a Pepsi, but it was just the Pepsi can with beer inside.  I  suppose it was to hide how much he was drinking.  I took a sip thinking it was going to be Pepsi, and he laughed when I spit the beer out.

How did/does your family of origin treat drinking?

There are those who abstain like it’s their religion and those who drink the same way.  And it’s mostly the men who drink and the women who don’t.  Not many happy marriages in my family, as you can probably guess.

How do you approach alcohol in your everyday life?

We are like old lovers who no longer speak.  I see him out occasionally, but I pretend we never met.

If you have kids, how will you or do you handle the subject of drinking?

I have a two-year-old son. In our community, drinking seems to be a rite of passage for high schoolers, just like it was when I was growing up.  So I will probably spend a lot of time calling him on his bullshit and praying he comes out the other side.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or  less?

I got drunk, I got sober, I got drunk, I got sober.  So far, that’s where the story ends.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

Running High: We Run to Get High and Stay Sober

I was raised Catholic, and the relationship between Catholicism and alcohol is complicated.  Growing up, every priest I ever met was an alcoholic.  And we were encouraged to drink wine when we took communion.  It was the blood of Christ, of course, but it tasted a lot like regular old wine.  My father was an usher and he got to stand at the end of the line and drink whatever was left in the cup after everyone had gone ahead.  Even as a child, that seemed to me like a pretty good gig.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

Nouvelle Vague covering the Dead Kennedy’s song “Too Drunk to Fuck”.  How can a song that makes drinking sound so pathetic make me want to reconsider eight years of sobriety?  Who knows.  But it does.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

So maybe the sober me isn’t as cool and rock n’ roll as the drinking me, but at least this person really exists.

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Amy Sohn is the author of the novels Prospect Park West (coming out in paperback on May 4), Run Catch Kiss, and My Old Man.  Amy has been a columnist at New York magazine, the New York Post and England’s Grazia magazine. She also authored two bestselling tie-in books to the hit TV show, Sex and the City:  Kiss and Tell and Sex and the City:  The Movie.

Her initiation into the Manhattan media world was her “Female Trouble” column in New York Press, a dating chronicle that elicited loads of invective from readers and shamed her parents at cocktail parties.  She has also written for Harper’s Bazaar, Playboy, The Nation and The New York Times.She co-created, wrote, and starred in the Oxygen series “Avenue Amy.”  She has written television pilots for ABC, Fox, Lifetime and HBO.  She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Amy Sohn: It must have been Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers, probably eighth grade or ninth. You could buy wine coolers at grocery stores so that was what we did.  I was at a party at a friend’s loft on lower Broadway and someone brought them. There was also three minutes in the closet and I remember Paul Richards saying to me, “I can’t believe I have to kiss Amy Sohn.” But he did.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My husband I drink wine every night.  My daughter (she’s four) knows what wine is and when I jokingly offer her some she scrunches her nose and says no, just like she does when I jokingly offer her coffee.  She understands it’s something that grownups do.  Our hope is to allow her to drink moderately with dinner once she’s in her teens so that alcohol isn’t something she sees as forbidden.

How do you approach alcohol in your everyday life?

I enjoy alcohol as a social lubricant and a way to unwind.  I don’t know enough about wine but would like to learn.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

Red wine, usually Cabernet.  I love all Italian wines too.  I’m interested in some of the vineyards in Oregon and Washington.  I like Owen Roe.

What is the worst time you had, drinking?

A few nights after I first met my husband, I threw myself a twenty-ninth birthday party.  I invited him but he had plans, which turned out to be a great thing.  The New York Times had just published a strawberry margarita recipe involving confectioners sugar so I went out and bought a mixer and spent the party in the kitchen, mixing people strawberry margaritas.  Naturally I wound up tasting more than I should, and after I closed the door on my very last guest, I ran to the bathroom and threw up.  If my husband had come I would have either vomited on him, come onto him or both.  Instead I did what sophisticated women do:  vomit alone.  I have never been that drunk since.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

I love all of Bukowski and I love the way he writes about drinking.  He doesn’t exoticize it or romanticize it.  You get to hear about the health problems, and vomiting and sickness.  But you also get a sense of his love for alcohol, his affection for it.  I have to say, I also like Brad Paisley’s song “Alcohol,” which is written from the point of view of alcohol.  My husband introduced me to the greatest drinking song ever, Jerry Lee Lewis’ “What Made Milwaukee Famous Has Made a Loser Out of Me.”

What do you like most about drinking?

I like the way it relaxes a social situation and allows people to get to know each other.  There is nothing like sharing a bottle of wine with dinner to get to know people you don’t know very well.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

I drink because it gives me pleasure.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

A whiskey sour with a maraschino cherry.  That’s what I drank during my twenties and though I don’t like the taste now, the drink conjures up a period of my life for which I have great affection.

From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is the author of Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom and Naptime Is the New Happy Hour: And Other Ways Toddlers Turn Your Life Upside Down, which were based on her blog, “Baby on Bored.” On television, she acts as the go-to parenting expert for NBC’s “The Today Show” and has been featured on The Dr. Phil Show. Her third book out July 2009 is It’s Not Me, It’s You: Subjective Recollections of a Terminally Optimistic, Chronically Sarcastic and Occasionally Inebriated Woman.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Stefanie Wilder-Taylor: Like most young, 14-year-old girls, my first drink was of the classy variety: grain alcohol punch out of a random ninth grader’s bathtub. It took two red plastic cups before the room was spinning and one more before I passed out on a pile of coats (not before puking). That same night my best friend at the time ended up spraining her ankle falling down a flight of stairs. Naturally I continued drinking every weekend after that because drinking is so awesome!

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My parents were extremely normal drinkers–irritatingly so. I’ve only seen my mother tipsy one time and that was with me because I talked her into ordering a second “Cape Cod” at dinner out one night. She got giggly and fun yet refrained from ordering five more or making out with any random waiters–that’s more my territory. I will say that if my parents noticed that I drank too much they never once mentioned it. This could be that they don’t like confrontation or that they didn’t want to see it. I don’t think I’ll ever know.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

I am an alcoholic. I quit drinking when my oldest daughter was four and my twins were around 16-months. My eldest used to be afraid of my glass because it was “mama’s juice.” I think she never associated my glass to any altered behavior so I didn’t mention it for a long time after I quit. I have recently explained to her that I have an allergy to alcohol and can’t have it. She associates that with her school friends who can’t eat peanuts. I allow her to believe it’s just like that because, hey, it’s cute. She knows that daddy can have alcohol because he’s not allergic–and plus, daddy never gets drunk and acts like an asshole.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

There have been times where I’ve drank less in my life but when I look back, I was usually doing something else that’s self-destructive–like having an eating disorder. My drinking was of the “get drunk once in awhile” variety but when I got drunk I almost always embarrassed myself. I’ve drank more in my life during most turning points: the beginning of my relationship with my husband, after having my first baby and after having my twins. Each life changing experience seemed to amp up my drinking a bit more until post twins I realized it was out of my control.

What about the worst time?

I don’t know if any drinking experience has ever been what I’d hoped it would be, but there have been some awful times. One that comes to mind is a first date with a guy I’d had a crush on for months. It started out so great, he came to my house to pick me up with flowers! I’d spent hours obsessing over my outfit and I looked amazing. I’d also not eaten anything for about a day and a half so my stomach would look as flat as humanly possible. Of course that didn’t bode well when I started in on the red wine at the restaurant and continued drinking it during a party we went to after dinner.  The evening culminated with me sobbing over my childhood, ex-boyfriend and dead-end job and then puking in his car. I was dumb enough to get excited when he called the next day, but it was only to see how I was feeling. He never called again.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

If my husband reads this he will make fun of me for about a year but…I love the movie “When a Man Loves a Woman.” The Meg Ryan, Andy Garcia movie where she’s an alcoholic who goes to rehab. The reason I love it is because Meg Ryan hadn’t had plastic surgery yet. Kidding. Actually, it’s a great movie because unlike other Hollywood movies about drinking and rehab (that insipid Sandra Bullock movie called “28 Days” or something comes to mind) we see what happens after rehab. Meg Ryan’s character removes the alcohol but is now left chronically irritated and unable to relate to her husband sober. How she deals with that and reconnects with her kids is so realistic and well done. I think it helps that A) it was co-written by Al Franken who has dealt with this problem in his own life, and B) it has a kick ass soundtrack which includes Rikki Lee Jones’ songs.

What did you like most about drinking?

The thing I loved, loved, loved about drinking was the way I felt after a couple of glasses of wine. All the edges were smoothed out, I liked everyone around me just that much more, things seemed more doable. Drinking felt like an audible sigh. If I could’ve figured out a way to capture just that feeling every night, I would never have quit. I just couldn’t walk that line between slightly buzzed and asleep for more than thirty minutes. There was also the slight problem that I never felt like I’d had enough. If buzzed was good, drunk would be better and it never was.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

I choose to not drink because I have a lot to lose. I have a big full life with a lot of responsibilities and a lot of love. Sometimes I feel that by drinking the way I was, I took all these gifts and held them like pieces of paper over an open flame. My feeling is, when I look back I did all kinds of fucked up things when alcohol was involved, so given my history, I’m just a time bomb when it comes to drinking. I am just so lucky that I never lost anything, spoiled any relationships or hurt my children in any way, but I am not willing to wait for that. I haven’t had a drink in over ten months.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

If I could be any drink I think I’d be sake because I feel I go really well with sushi.