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	Looking for love beyond the bars
	Orgs connect professionals, communities

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Then, salvation.

James, my former roommate’s best friend from home and a guy I’ve hung out with on several occasions, sauntered into the bar. These were his people. A bona fide Capitol staffer, James would know everyone at the mixer. I had to work fast to prevent him from blowing my cover.

“Hey Long, what are you doing here?” he questioned in a puzzled tone.

“Hi James! I’m, ah, here for the mixer. A friend of mine told me I should check it out,” I replied, omitting the fact that my journalist’s hat was on and I was watching his every move.

With that, James proceeded to introduce me to just about everyone in the bar. We struck up conversations ranging from pit bulls to feral cats and every recently vetoed bill in between. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun. And the Miller Lite taps were at the ridiculously low happy hour price of $1.

As we chatted, I queried James about his experiences as a single young professional, especially as they related to events like these geared toward introducing like-minded members. When I asked him how the attendance usually was at a regular, monthly event like this, James said, “Not as low as this. But I guess it depends on how many people want chicken wings after work!”

A fitting and sagely simplistic answer. Today’s young professionals are primarily focused on their careers. Dating and attending scheduled events like this can easily take a back seat to work, bills, eating and sleeping. James said besides the monthly mixer, a night out at the bar each week and participation in a volleyball league, he doesn’t have much time to donate to finding Ms. Right.

We continued to drink and carry on, and I met a few more soldiers on the battlefield of romance. Though the night was certainly enjoyable, I silently agreed with myself that it would have been a ton of fun to try the “I’m a freelance journalist, what’s your sign?”-line on an unsuspecting young professional just once.

Back To The Future
Through all this, however, I actually accomplished what I originally set out to do: develop an understanding of the realities of dating for the young Wisconsin professional. It’s certainly not easy. Work, responsibilities and life in general do not help in pursuit of true romance, providing nothing but roadblocks on the highway of love.

Especially since that highway is driven by—what else—money. Besides cruising bars and other singles hotspots, the frugal dater is out of luck with a majority of the non-traditional methods of securing a date. Potentially costing hundreds, even thousands, of dollars, the new school of post-collegiate dating is not for the tight-purse or iron-wallet.

When it comes to dating, some people will invariably ask, “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?” After looking into the problem further, I’m inclined to reply with a question of my own: Can you really put a price on love?

At the risk of sounding too bleak about a reality that will become my own in a matter of months, I suppose the one positive aspect for Wisconsin’s young professionals, when it comes to dating, is that everyone is in the same boat, working hard to secure happiness, affection and bliss.

If no one minds, I think I’ll delay my near-future in post-collegiate dating and return to the world of dive bars, Greek crush parties and that good, old-fashioned college social life.

Well, at least for another semester.

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curb magazine 2005: balance for wisconsin's young professionals