Word on the Street, a new feature for Onward State, will harness the power of the Penn State community by publishing your stories and pictures. If you have something you would like to share, please send it to us at community@onwardstate.com.
David Morar sent in this report about last night’s keynote speech by Charles Bierbauer.
The speech was held for the Penn State Model UN Conference that is being held this weekend. If we had the chance to go, we would have been in the Pantheon of the Gods committee. It’s being chaired by Zeus!
A distinguished alumnus of Penn State, Prof. Charles …

Hello ladies and gents.  It’s time for another Question of the Day on Onward State.  As you may have noticed, our logo has changed to highlight the State Patrick’s Day Holiday here at Penn State.  So what I really want to know is:
Do you spell it State Pattie’s Day or State Patty’s Day?
The banner probably won’t change, but I’m interested in knowing what the general consensus is.  Hit up the comments!

“STATE PATTY’S DAY LIVE BLOG WOOOOOOOOOO!”
Hello to all my loyal bros and babes. I just woke up from last night’s pre-State Patty’s Day escapades, and I’m about to start my participation in the greatest Penn State holiday ever! To show everyone what it’s like, I will be live blogging my experiences. Let’s do this!
4,58…. Bakx homte tikjmne 2 sleep brbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
4:51,, hedujng back form barr niow, mighut take napp
7:44…., Nattyyy was badidea, more pouke bleeeeeh
442222222222: .. m0re Natnny ICEE p;le,sade! ):)
4::37….. Shoukld I sklow down!? Heyll no it’s State Pattysws!~
432::..,  thikjnk ikm dome w/ pujkin, need moree natty plzzzzz
$:25… Just …

The upstairs of the HUB is busy with people waiting for a concert with Forensic Unit and Charles Hamilton.

People in the area around Nittany Apartments report that there are  lots of EMS, Police, and firetrucks around. All the roads around the complex are blocked. There is no smoke, but something must have happened. If you have any information, let us know and we’ll update this post.
Updated: The commotion was caused by an oven fire, the smoke from which set off the sprinklers. This caused the cavalry (read: fire trucks and policemen) to come to the rescue.
Thanks to our reader, Allie, for the information.
[Picture courtesy of @davidmorar]

So, last week the Internet just about exploded when popular consumer advocate blog The Consumerist flagged a change in Facebook’s Terms of Service policy when they deleted what some considered a pretty important clause:

You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

Suddenly, this important privacy safeguard was gone and the Internet community erupted in such an uproar that Facebook eventually replaced the missing clause (and, in fact, …

The revolutionary musical “The Wiz” premiered on Broadway in 1975 as the first adaptation of The Wizard of Oz where all of the characters were portrayed as African Americans.  The Penn State School of Theater put on a dazzling production of it this week, and will continue to do so through the weekend.
We were lucky enough to snag a few tickets this week, and it was easy to see how the Playhouse Theater had sold out already. The play is great on its own, but it was the energy coming from the actors that made the experience so much better; …

Well… just one more fake holiday. Steve already covered the similarity between our State Patty’s Day and the University of Illinois’ Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day. This other Penn State “holiday” has no parallel.
The Collegian ran an article today about Gentle Thursday. This holiday from the 70s was created for more peaceful, less alcohol-related reasons than State Patty’s Day. Tom Benson, a rhetoric professor at Penn State, said:
“Gentle Thursday was a wonderful experience with all sorts of balloons and flags. It was a generalized protest and also a demonstration of the way students in those days cared.” “The idea was to …

What: A two day event being held by the PSU Americanists titled “Critical Environments and Environmental Criticism: A Colloquium on Ecocriticism.” The keynote speaker tonight is Dr. Ursula K. Heise and the keynote speaker tomorrow is Dr. George B. Handle.
When: 6:30 pm tonight and tomorrow
Where: 113 Carnegie Building
Cost: “Your student activity fee at work,” says the poster

Skipping morning classes on Friday is certainly a routine for a lot of Penn Staters that go out on Thursday night and start their weekend pretty early.
Even though I’m an alum and not a student I find myself dragging my hungover carcass out of bed and showing up at the office around noon on Fridays.
I prefer to do mini bar tours on Thursday. Start off at Inferno for some grub and a drink or two, then hit up the Den for a bit and maybe Tony’s or Lulu’s before ending up at my favorite spot Indigo (in the interest of …

Every year, we Penn Staters take pride in our celebration of State Patrick’s Day.  The fact that we chose to celebrate the holiday famous for drinking copious amounts of alcohol on the weekend, instead of March 17 (on a Tuesday this year), is a testament to our awesomeness and respect for our own education.
As it turns out, Penn State students aren’t the only ones to celebrate an alternate St. Patrick’s Day.  At the University of Illinois, the Illini have an “Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day,” which will occur this year on Friday, March 6th.  While decidedly less clever than our name …

“Why Wasn’t Dane Cook’s New Movie Nominated For Any Oscars?”
Sup, Bromosexuals? Chad here again, and this time I’m angry. I’m sure a lot of you saw the Oscars this past Sunday. You may have been asking yourself this past week, “Man, those Oscars were really lame! Why hasn’t Chad of Onward State commented on them?” To be completely honest, I have been just so full of rage this past week due to the travesties at the Oscars that I haven’t been able to form a coherent sentence since Sunday. I’ve also been training myself for State Patty’s Day by drinking …

This is the first of a recurring feature in which Onward State walks you through some of the less understood aspects of Penn State. The first enigma our guide will tackle is how to schedule classes. Hopefully you can use this information in the coming weeks as you begin to plan and schedule for fall semester.
Believe it or not, class registration for next fall begins soon. Does this idea scare you more than the Sham-Wow! guy or those people who wear Snuggies to high-school football games? Well, have no fear, because Onward State’s new “How-To” girl is here to …

Gabe.  Photographed on Allen St.
Gabe isn’t even in college yet – talk about being ahead of the competition.  This State High student has a great casual look here.  The main points of focus: shoes and headphones.  They both have great colour schemes and give a touch of flare to the overall outfit.  They stand loud and proud.  The layering of jackets is a great look, too.  It doubles as both a way to stay warm and to show off Gabe’s fashion “savvy-ness”.  If this bloke sticks around State College for the next few years he’ll be tough to top.  Guys …

Until now, I’ve managed to not get sick while my entire floor is hacking, barfing and otherwise miserable with some kind of ailment.  I feel what seems to be some kind of illness coming on.  So today’s Question of the Day is
What do you do to get better faster when you are sick?
I could sure use the advice.  And no, drinking heavily is not an acceptable answer for this Question of the Day.