The Network

Outside of the Absinthe House on Walnut Street last evening around 6, there was an odd scene. Under the marquee that advertised the bar's delights for the night, stood a person in a polar bear suit. It was a strange spectacle, like the opening scene from a TV show, or a photographed oddity that plagues the internet. Passersby flocked to the bear, feeling the faux-fur, taking pictures, hugging the person like a life-size stuffed-animal, and perhaps hinting at a latent “furry” or “plushy” fetish population in the city of Boulder. But most that saw the bear wondered: “Why is there a person dressed up as a polar bear standing stoically outside of this bar?” Since it wasn't Halloween, nor any other holiday, the bear's presence clearly pointed to advertising. But what was Absinthe House advertising? What strange and bear-related activities were occurring through those doors? What did the bear represent? What was it doing there?

The answer is Boulder 2140. The group, meant to bring together young professionals between the ages of 21 and 40 (hence the name) for networking purposes, was having its monthly mixer at Absinthe House. The polar bear standing outside was indeed part of a micro-advertising campaign, but not for Boulder 2140 directly. The bear and the fliers inside of Absinthe House invited volunteers to a series of “Polar Plunges” (supported by 2140) in February which will benefit the Special Olympics of Colorado. A “polar plunge,” also called polar bear swim, is when people of dubious sanity and sobriety run into freezing cold water in the middle of winter. Sometimes this is done for the pure exhilaration of the act: to “get the blood pumping.” Other times, such as the events this February, it is done for a cause. That is part of the point of Boulder 2140; as the group's Facebook page states: “The groups mission is to establish a community of young professionals dedicated to building and fostering relationships through professional development, philanthropic involvement, and cultural and social opportunities.” In fact, the group's happy hour meeting last night—at 5 bucks a head—also benefited the Special Olympics, raising over $400.

The group, it's mixers, and events, is catching on in the city. Inside the bar a mass of young people—between 40-60 in number—dressed in business attire, name-tagged, and holding drinks, all chatted with each other, their various voices becoming jumbled with the music from the DJ table. Names were traded, professions described, and business cards ventured from person to person like vocational pollen. At a table by the bar stood a giant Jenga game, the wooden blocks of the stack made from 2-by-4s. The adventurous played the game, pulling out pieces here and there and placing them carefully. Everyone in the room knew, however, that the tower, like Babel, was destined to fall. Indeed, at the close of the night, as an expert and diligent woman repeatedly pulled out blocks from impossible areas and placed them on the top in ever more risky positions, the tower finally fell, making a great clacking noise. Everyone who had consciously avoided the table for fear of knocking over the column, now laughed and rejoiced in its collapse, their anxiety lifted and the threat of embarrassment gone.

In general, to all in attendance and those who organized the mixer, it had been a success. There was a big turnout, a decent pile of money raised, and people seemed to have genuinely had fun. Indeed, Boulder 2140 and groups like it, seem to be growing and becoming popular, particularly since the financial collapse of 2008. All one has to do to see evidence of this trend is search “Young Professionals” and look at the founding dates of the groups that pop up. The YPNG of Orange County, the Muncie Young Professionals, Young Professionals of Chicago, the Barrie Young Professionals, IMPACT of Chautauqua County, and the list goes on. This trend seems to be, in fact, a throwback.

In an age of increased social networking via Facebook, Twitter, and other online social networks, real live networking seems to be old-fashioned. Indeed, for the young emerging into the working world and just getting into the game of hand-to-hand networking, these meetings are like a Facebook or Linkedin incarnate. But these groups have always existed in one form or another. Groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and other support groups—described with exacting detail in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk—have been around for decades. Political parties for centuries. Other groups, such as the Free Masons, for lord knows how long. And religions, since time immemorial. All of these groups have three things in common: support, belief, and communion.

The group gathered last night for Boulder 2140 hardly thought of themselves as partaking in a religious or occult meeting. But, in a way, they were. Those gathered last night at Absinthe House were a fraternity of people with common backgrounds, meeting over common beliefs, in the hope of supporting each other. No, there was no general dogma preached or any obvious rituals to be observed, but all the same, there was little difference between Boulder 2140's happy hour mixer and the gathering of people on church steps after a raucous service. What the rise of such networking groups like Boulder 2140 says about our culture, seems to be important.

One thing is obvious; these groups have an economic point. People need jobs badly in this economy, even the educated and experienced—the “professionals”—and getting them is a matter of making yourself known to the world. Another thing that these groups may be saying is that the internet generation is no longer content to sit at a computer for its social interactions. Yet, on the flip-side of this, there's the fact that their daily lives may be bereft of an ample amount of direct social interaction so they must supplement with such meetings. Perhaps businesses and employers—historically anti-social entities—have pushed too far into the digital world and now the very children of the internet are pushing back into the real world.

But all of this is pure conjecture. Meetings of people off the internet for any purpose are natural to humanity. It is in our genes to group together. Perhaps the only thing that can truly be deduced from the rise of Boulder 2140 and groups like it, is what lies at the heart of these groups. What are people grouping around? Essentially, it seems to be youth and business. Beauty and money—ancient things people have always been grouping around, with or without a polar bear advertising it.