Hallie Sanchez (left) and Gabby Lang (right) teamed up for trivia night at Back Mountain Brewing Company in Dallas. The tech genius and entertainment writer combined their skills and got to know each other better.
Back Mountain Brewing Company, located in the Twin Stacks in Dallas, features NEPA-made brews and a trivia night every Thursday!
Back Mountain Brewing Company is a picturesque brewery with beautiful architecture, great beers, planned entertainment, and often food trucks outside!
Stevens and Lang teamed up as “The Weekender Warriors” and competed for the trivia prize!
Recent Penn State Information Sciences Graduate Hallie Sanchez and Weekender Entertainment Writer Gabrielle Lang competed as a team at Back Mountain Brewing Company’s Thursday Trivia Night. We got to know each other over locally-made brews and wine, while exchanging stories about post-college job hunting and how pop culture meets technology.
“Although it was supposed to be a beautiful, clear, sunny day, the skies were once again clouded with some Canadian wildfire smoke,” wrote Hallie Sanchez, setting the stage for our evening out in Dallas. “Despite the smoggy sky, I was looking forward to winding down and answering some crazy trivia questions after a long day of working at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre summer camp.”
Back Mountain Brewing Company opened just a couple years ago in the Twin Stacks Center. 2Wayz One Passion food truck parked outside during our trivia game, serving tacos, nachos, and other Mexican cuisine that could be brought inside. The establishment is, Hallie and I agreed, very “Instagrammable.”
“I was surprised to see how hidden the brewery was. It’s one of those places that you don’t know are there until you are driving into the parking lot,” wrote Sanchez. “We went inside and were mesmerized by the brewery’s antique, industrial interior that was reminiscent of an old factory.”
I ordered the Cream Ale before the game started, which was a nice, light beer that could be described as nearly a pilsner. Hallie had the Honey Hole Winery’s summery sweet Pink Moscato, which is also available on the drink menu.
“The atmosphere at Back Mountain Brewing felt very relaxed and welcoming. It was busy for a Thursday evening, and I soon realized that most of the people there were frequent participants of the brewery’s trivia nights. There were many passionate, competitive participants, some even getting up to whisper in their partners’ ears,” wrote Sanchez.
Despite our intimidation from the seriousness of the other teams, we selected a booth with a great view of the brewery’s architecture and joined the game as “The Weekender Warriors.”
Hallie Sanchez graduated in spring from Penn State Wilkes-Barre with a bachelor’s degree in information sciences and is currently hunting for her first post-college job, aiming for a position in developing programming and databases.
“As we played, we spoke about ourselves and what’s going on in our lives. I learned that Gabrielle majored in creative writing, and she told me about some of her previous jobs, such as working on a dating app, before finally landing a job more within her degree of study at The Weekender,” wrote Sanchez.
I remember being in the strange position where Hallie is right now! You’re fresh out of college and supposed to get your first “big girl job.” For the first time ever, there are no classes starting in fall and it feels like the first summer of the rest of your life. There’s a lot of pressure on graduates!
I graduated nine years ago from Susquehanna University, and honestly – it took me a few months and a ton of interviews before I landed my first gig in my field. I bartended until I found a social media role working remotely (before remote work was even cool). After that, I managed a podcast hosting service, directed marketing for a real estate company, and experienced all sorts of jobs. Writing was what I originally set out to do and I got there, but I also had so many constructive adjacent experiences that I never would have expected.
“That conversation helped me feel a bit more at ease as a recent graduate currently dealing with the struggles of job searching and adapting to a post-college life,” wrote Sanchez.
“The theme of the first round was hybrids. We answered questions like what the name of the famous blend of a croissant and a donut is (it’s a cronut). We managed to do decently, getting around half of the answers correct. The following round was focused on car models — a bit out of our expertise. During this round we only managed around three correct answers, but we at least we got the bonus question right which saved us from scoring terribly!” explained Sanchez.
As we filled in answers, we discovered there was lot of overlap in our knowledge; not just during the trivia game but also between our education, interests, and experiences. We both play Nintendo Switch, both are pumped for the Barbie movie, and we were both “emo kids” as teens. Ironically, these are all interests where technology and entertainment collide.
“At first glance, it may seem like the IT world and the arts have nothing to do with each other, but having this conversation made us realize the ways in which our fields are very connected,” said Sanchez.
Although we’re in two completely different industries, there are countless ways in which these realms intersect. Technology plays an increasingly larger role in the media. When the world’s top two geniuses are planning a fist fight in the coliseum …it’s hard NOT to see how they go together. Creatives often work directly with developers to create accurate, high-level content. You can’t have a news site like The Weekender without a tech genius like Hallie Sanchez. The media needs technology, and technology needs the media.
“We also spoke about information sciences and how it’s integrated in Gabrielle’s world of writing, music, and entertainment. One topic we spoke about was how the rising use of AI will affect those who work in creative industries where a computer machine could potentially replace them if the technology were to become highly advanced,” wrote Sanchez.
It’s always a fear that artificial intelligence will ruin the arts. Will it be able to compete with original human thought? In many ways, computers can only do what we tell them to do so I want to believe that the technologist is still the artist. Can a computer bond over drinks, share their life experiences, and then report the tale with emotion? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
From fashion to families, from summer jobs to what we do for fun, there were endless topics for us to unpack on together. However, as far as the trivia rankings are concerned, The Weekender Warriors did not do so hot. There was a lot of knowledge about the 70s and 80s that neither of us possessed, and when it came to that car emblem round, forget it! Hallie and I sadly did not win our first trivia at-bat, but we certainly made the most of our time together.
The light-hearted setting allowed us to laugh, open up, and be ourselves. I hope I gave Sanchez the advice I would have liked to have heard fresh out of college and ready to take on the world. There’s just so much out there — whatever happens next, whenever it happens, will be the right thing.
“Overall, I had an amazing time with Gabrielle at the brewery. I got to drink some good wine and play a fun game with many other eager participants. I also discovered a potential new place to bring my friends to where we can also do some trivia (although I think I’ll bring them for the Marvel themed trivia rather than the cars one),” said Sanchez. “Most importantly, I had a great time conversing with Gabrielle and getting to know about her experiences!”
We both took away something important from Trivia Thursday at Back Mountain Brewing, and not just more knowledge about Bon Jovi songs and the Hyundai emblem. Hallie Sanchez and I are nine years apart in age with one of us in the arts and one of us in the sciences, but we made an excellent team! The most unlikely pairing always do!
