I’m in the French program, French wine symbolizes the romance of being a french student: its history, cheap student bars on the left bank. It also speaks to Roland Barthes’ “Mythologies” in which he speaks about how an imaginary exists around red wine which is both seductive and fabricated to sell, to reinforce the institution of ‘French-ness’ and to deceive. Wine is a living symbol. It is the color of “life giving blood,” it gives vitality, but it can also bring sleep. A good family red table wine thumbs its nose at snobbery. The mere act of drinking wine is decorative. Drunkenness is not the aim. It’s to be discussed, reversed, and has a mythology that connects to history. Roland Barthes is like a friendly uncle to me, imagined at least - I think of him when I drink red wine.