Archive for February, 2010

Saturday was, of course, State Patty’s Day. I didn’t expect to see someone worthy of Natty Nittany status, but then I ran into John outside of Sharkies Bar and Thrifty Bottle Shop on Hetzel Street. The fashion photography gods had given me a State Patty’s Day blessing.


Though I did not have my good camera with me, you shouldn’t need too sharp of an image to see why I had to snap Jon’s picture. John did State Patty’s in a big way and I respect him for that.


It’s not only that he’s got the green going on, and that he did it in a way much more fashionable than the typical t-shirt, but that his jacket was actually a decent fit! Too often I see people with blazers two sizes too big for them and poorly tailored suit jackets (or worse– not tailored at all!).


Oh, and a little side note courtesy of John’s female accompaniment. When I told them who I was and asked to take John’s picture, the girl enthusiastically informed that John’s clothes were indeed, “all high end stuff!”

TONIGHT! There will be a special presentation presented by the PSU chapter of the NAACP. “Keep ‘em Flying: Honoring the Tuskegee Airmen” is a celebration of the first black airmen. Tuskegee airmen themselves will be telling some really incredible stories about their experiences.


These men had to overcome unbelievable discrimination and racism in America and in the army, but they still flew with distinction. Tonight’s function will also feature performances by Essence of Joy, Spoken Word and Poetry, and the Delta Theta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. along with a catered dinner, photo opportunities, and live music.


The event takes place at 4pm TONIGHT in Alumni Hall in the HUB. Tickets are $8.00 for students and $15.00 for the general admission, which is a pretty great deal to be able to see such illustrious, brave men talk.

As you may know, the 36th annual Movin' On is happening on April 17. As you may not know, the musical festival has a rich history starting in the yonder year of 1974. Back in the day, the East Halls Residence Association held a primordial Movin' On at the fields by Beaver Stadium, where students jammed to area bands and watched W.C. Fields and Marx Brothers movies. The event was then called "Good Feelings '74," a name which I definitely dig. In 1975, the event's organizers joined the Association of Residence Hall Students (ARHS) and tremendously expanded the festival. Each day of the week, a different group of dorms presented a day of activities, collectively known as "Penn State's Greatest Week of Entertainment." The week culminated in the epic day-long Movin' On concert (for the record, the phrase "Movin' On" acknowledges the seniors who are "movin' on" after graduation). Eventually the week-long event evolved into a two-day audio extravaganza. The organizers extended Movin' On to a two-day concert in 1976. A local radio station played a live broadcast of the acts, and Movin' On raised money for the Volunteer Service Center for the second year in a row. Orleans played in '77; Gregg Allman played in '78. Again, Movin' On outlives The Spill Canvas and The White Tie Affair. Check out the Facebook event, and get ready to "move on" this April.

Valley of Shadows, the local Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) group, is not responsible for the sudden apparition of feral cats in the area. Though they do don the guises of werewolves, changelings, and other paranormal beings, we must be mistaking them for the "real" creatures who dropped the feline plague upon us. LARP is actually somewhat similar to Dungeons and Dragons, where each player creates a character that interacts with all the other characters created by the other players. It's not a free-for-all, either; Valley of Shadows, and the characters that make it up, actually participates in a series of established games with set rules, which are all part of the larger World of Darkness universe where all the games are set. Find out more details about State College's LARPing community after the jump.

The now infamous State Patty's day is upon us, and people are flooding the stores downtown that did not agree to pull all State Patty's merchandise. This has nothing to do with fashion, but in my opinion, long live State Patty's Day and let college kids have their fun! your parade? Of course not. No one gave you trouble about sneaking into Beaver Stadium after the National Championship and carrying a goal post across College Ave.! But I'm really here to talk about State Patty's Day fashion. The holiday has a lot to do with what people are wearing. Shops downtown have a bunch of different types of clothing with a few standard phrases, like the classic "Kiss Me I'm Drunk." My advice is to go all out! Wear the best of the best printed tees from People's Nation and get to McLanahan's before it's too late to get your green shotglass necklace. The more green this Saturday, the better. Rock your green to show your passion for our famous Saturday in late February/early March. From socks to hats, wear that green. Last year I wore the traditional green PSU shirt, but I'm hoping people to get more creative this year. My choice this year was a shirt from the Phyrst that's on display at Ernie's Steaks (If you have green slacks, please wear them. The goal is to stand out. But not too much because of the increased police enforcement). Long live State Patty's and going overboard with green.

So here at Dear Ol' State, THON seemed like such a long time ago. Only one week ago we were preparing to dance for the kids. This isn't stopping the world (and Glenn Thompson) from catching on to the greatness that is THON, though! Read on for some more THON love.

Whether it’s on the wrestling mat, the volleyball court, or behind an épée (Brush up on your fencing lingo, we’re defending national champs), Penn State is no stranger to “Top Ten” rankings. Not to be left in the dark, Penn State’s neighbor to the south, State College, cared to join in on the fun. Recently, State College placed eighth in Kiplinger’s “Ten Cities With Rising Home Values.” State College landed itself on the list by boasting some impressive numbers. Over the course of one year, the average $200,000 house in Happy Valley would gain 4.7% in home value - remarkable compared to the average of 18% drop everywhere else in the country. So why are houses in State College of all places gaining value? Read on to find out!

At President’s Council on Tuesday evening, Chapter Presidents unanimously voted to approve the new IFC CORE Program: Commitment to Outreach and Responsible Education. The overall mission of this program is to bring fraternities back to the values upon which its Chapters were founded. Here’s how it works:


Chapters will be divided into three divisions based on their total number of members. The purpose of this division is to level the playing field for what I’m about to explain next. Chapters will compete within their divisions for points to be accumulated throughout the semester, and at the end, each division will have one winner.


The points are based off of three major categories – Community Service, Philanthropy, and Educational Programming. For more details on how chapters can receive points, read the full story.

Day in and day out, my inbox gets flooded with hate mail. "You suck, Mark" they all tend to start. "We don't care about this crap you write about! I don't need to know Jared Odrick's pro potential. WHAT. ABOUT. THE PANTS." And now, for the (fictional) people who are just dying to know about football pants, the Penn Stater has provided. In two videos you'll find after the jump, they interviewed Facilities Coordinator Kirk Diehl about how they get those football pants so clean.

Quick! Stop pouring lighter fluid on that #14 jersey! Anthony Morelli is at the NFL Scouting Combine to work out for pro scouts, hoping to jump-start his football career. He was last employed by the Arizona Cardinals, who cut him after signing him as an undrafted free agent in 2008.

"I've gotten bigger, faster, stronger," Morelli told The Associated Press. "I think the chances are pretty good, I just need to get in front of some people."

That's all well and good, but remember that the common knock of Morelli was his decision-making. I recall hearing "Morelli has all the tools, he just needs the right quarterbacks coach to teach him" so much that it would appear in my dreams. Now perhaps it was a lack of elite athleticism that kept him from playing, but I'm willing to bet that if that was an issue, it was one of multiple. Either way, good luck to the quarterback that was so embattled at Penn State that he was sent death threats. As long as he stays far, far away from my team of choice, I hope he finds a roster spot. If this doesn't work out, he's going Uncle Rico on all of us.

Tonight’s meeting topic that got the UPUA all hot and bothered was Policy 17, which allocated money for this year’s Spring Festival.


As we all know, last year’s spring festival, Wallypalooza, featured-as President Gavin Keirans so eloquently put it – “one-hit-wonder suspect artist” Asher Roth, whose career has since skyrocketed straight into a ceiling fan. So this year they want to do something better. In very first-stage budgetary discussions, the UPUA has recommended to allocate $19,931.86 towards the Spring Festival 2010 account.


But tensions arose when Director of Legal Affairs Matt Lachman spoke up on behalf of his organization on the $2,000 allocated from the Legal Affairs’ budget. And so it went into debate. And, then of course, another debate. Read on for more details from the riveting meeting.

It is very likely that, this weekend, the so-called snow hurricane won't be the only thing to disappoint State College. We reported yesterday that a hurricane-type snow storm would be hitting the northeast late this week. Though it will be most likely affecting State College, the snowfall will be much less than we had previously been told. Is the same general relationship true for State Patty's Day too? Read the full post for more.

Coming on the heels of Dean David Wormley’s letter to College of Engineering students and Dean Christian Brady’s blog post to Schreyer Scholars, Dr. Eric White, Executive Director of DUS, recently sent an email out to his young charges echoing their sentiments.


White basically said that students do many good things, like THON, but also some things that don’t make them look so good, State Patty’s being one of them.


Read on for the full email.

Earlier tonight, the State Theatre hosted the North Mississippi Allstars with special guests City Champs. I was absolutely one of the youngest people there, and a man dressed as a leprechaun sat in front of me. It was an interesting environment to be in. City Champs put me to sleep for the first three songs (literally). The soul-jazz + the lack of vocals = nap time for Melanie. They did, however, manage to wake me up with a funky-jazz song, where their organ player impressed me greatly. Three people gave them a standing ovation, and I believe they earned it. The North Mississippi Allstars had vocals, so that was a plus. They were a more blues-infused rock group - different than what I listen to on a daily basis, but their music was pretty soothing (fortunately, they did not put me back to sleep). Overall? It was the best jazz/blues concert I've ever attended. Did I mention it was the only concert of the sort I've been to?

Penn State graduate Allison Baver just won the Bronze medal in the 3000m Short Track Relay in Vancouver. The medal was awarded after a controversial disqualification of the winning Korean team. The Americans were in a distant fourth, but after it was determined the Koreans made illegal contact with the Chinese team, the Americans were bumped up to a third place finish.


Congrats Allison!  Maybe you’ll be Grand Marshall of next year’s Homecoming celebration?

At least that’s the message I got from Dean Brady’s recent blog post. In a similar move to Dean Wormley, Dean Christian Brady of the Schreyer Honors College is urging students to be responsible this weekend. In a post on the SHC website, while not explicitly asking students not to participate, he says:

I do not want to be infantilizing by stating the obvious: you are all adults (even if many of you are not yet of the legal drinking age) and you are free to make your own decisions regarding how you spend your weekends. It is certainly my hope that whatever your activities you remain safe and would bring no disrepute to yourself or to our institution.

As UPUA quoted in their advertisement in the Collegian today, “may no act of our’s bring shame.” I think this is a good thing to keep in mind this weekend.

As a part of a panel of leaders made up of Pennsylvania’s state institutions, including Temple and Pitt, Pres. Graham Spanier traveled to Harrisburg yesterday to answer questions regarding Penn State’s funding needs.


Spanier and the panel met before the state House Appropriations Committee in what is considered the second step (the first being Gov. Rendell’s recent budget announcement) in the annual appropriations process.


Pres. Spanier had plans to inform the legislature about the funding needs of the university, as well as the educational opportunities made available to students because of said funding, according to Annemarie Mountz, Assistant Director of Public Information at Penn State.


Read on for some of the ‘educational opportunities’.

It keeps happening. Just when you think the government's $700 billion stimulus package can't have any more delicious benefits left to give us, it surprises us with more chocolatey goodness! It's the gift that keeps on giving! It was announced a few days ago that KINBER (the Keystone Initiative for Network-Based Education and Research. Wow) has been awarded $99 million from the American Recovery and Revitalization Act to create a statewide, super-fantastic broadband network. Read on to learn how the Stimulus package is being used...

I passed Tolani on my way to class last week and couldn’t help but notice that not only did he look fly, but also that his swagger matched his ensemble. I was just telling one of my friends the other day that I love outfits that are “Murdered out”, a.k.a all black with a subtle touch of color or design somewhere. From the Chuck T’s to his black framed glasses, Tolani’s got this look down. I really dug his shirt though too. It matched perfectly and I really like the Burberry-esque black, red, and grey plaid. I’m a huge fan of ALL one color and then adding a hint of another, especially when the dominant color is black.

For those of you students looking to get your hands on some federal dollars (which should really be everyone), you have less than a week about a month and a half to get your FAFSA in!


And word is that some of the agony of filling out these forms will be removed by so-called “skip logic,” which should keep you from writing the same old personal information in year after year. But, according to the average filler-out-er, it’ll still have the potential to be a less than pleasant process.

“It’s a little easier this year, but it’s still daunting,” says Fuentes-Michel, who recently helped her 17-year-old daughter fill out the form.

Ah, reform.


Regardless, money is money. And for your best shot at it, get your FAFSA in by March 2 April 15. And by that I mean hit up the ‘rents by aforementioned date.


(Personal note: Thanks mommy!)

Well, good for the Collegian!


Sending a reporter to the tournament is a much smarter decision than that time the paper sent staff to New York Fashion Week… ’cause frankly, I don’t give a shit what Collegian staff people think about cutting edge couture.

It’s official – hope you’ve been working on your blowouts and spray tans.


MTV’s Jersey Shore’s Pauly D will be spinning at a Penn State Altoona event on February 27. From 8:00 to 11:00 on Saturday night, get your GTL on with everybody’s favorite juice-head. Tickets will be sold for $20 on Thursday afternoon from 2:00 to 5:00 at the HUB. Leftover tickets can also be purchased at the door.


Will you make the trek out to Altoona now that State Patty’s could be a bust?

Pennsylvania is one of eight states that is considering participating in a program that, beginning in 2011, will allow high school students to enroll directly in community college if they pass a series of exams at the end of their sophomore year. It's intended to address a number of issues. For one, the high dropout rate among college freshmen. For another, the fact that many high school classes (like APs) are supposed to be college-level anyway. And another, since this plan was proposed by the National Center on Education and the Economy, is so that people can enter the workforce earlier. Read the full post for more details on the program.

As I walked around in the near fifty degrees weather this weekend listening to the chirping of birds and watching the mounds of snow shrink away to reveal green grass, I couldn’t help but think, “Could it be? Could spring be around the corner?” Visions of bringing sweaters home for good over spring break and retiring my ugly, but warm, men’s trapper hat danced around in my mind. But alas, those dreams have been shattered. A major snow storm of “historical proportions” is scheduled to hit the North East and Mid-Atlantic this Thursday and Friday. While most of our home towns are just recovering from the last storm, this is said to be the one we’ll all remember. Complete with 74mph winds and blinding snow falling at a rate of an inch per hour, this storm has been deemed a “snow hurricane” rather than a blizzard. Want more details about the severity of this snowstorm? Read the full post!

Our tip box is blowing up with copies of an email sent to College of Engineering students by Dean David Wormley in which he asks them to not participate in State Patty's Day festivities.

We ask that you use your good judgment and demonstrate your leadership by declining to participate in events such as State Patty's Day and encourage your friends to do the same.

The full text is after the jump.

Doesn't seem like the most apartment friendly creature you could find...

Continuing the recent torrent of effort to take away shift focus away from Penn State's #1 Party School Ranking, LateNight Penn State is talking about expanding. They want to have double the amount of programs next year. They cite how the recent Motion City Soundtrack drew a big crowd, and how attendance has fallen off to about 50,000 students per week (vs. about 60,000 in LateNight's prime 8-10 years ago). Putting its money where its mouth is, LateNight is asking for $350,000 more for its budget. Whether this will actually reduce student drinking remains to be seen. Is this a good idea? Read on for some thoughts.

Once again, the State Borough Council and UPUA do not see eye to eye. UPUA is opposing a borough council plan that would turn off the pedestrian lights for the next 6 months as a trial and use us students as guinea pigs. UPUA Chief of Staff Matthew Smith had this to say regarding the turning off of lights.

The lights are valuable to students," he said. "We want to be included in the dialogue on this issue."

He is right. Students should be allowed to bring up their concerns about whether or not the lights are turned out. According to Tom Fountaine (the Borough Manager), crime has actually risen since the installation of lights. Also, council member Theresa Lafer claims that the lights flood into residents' homes and cause students to trespass. According to Lafer:

"The lights are bringing students into the backyards of citizens"

Thankfully, the option to turn all the lights off was overturned. I suppose the danger of students going into the backyard of citizens was overshadowed the the prospect of an increase in assault. Now the borough can get back to working on more important matters - renaming buildings and streets in honor of local and national figures. Do you agree with this? What if we replaced all of the street lights with the Bat Signal?

Following up on earlier research, Onward State has examined the latest NACUBO College Endowment Study and updated our findings. Nothing groundbreaking here. The economy was poor, and in fiscal year 2009, the Big Ten endowments continued their decline from fiscal year 2008. Penn State's endowment lost nearly 21% of its value, which is in fact a middle-of-the-road figure relative to the rest of the Big Ten. Northwestern University experienced the largest decrease in endowment value by percent, almost 25%. Purdue escaped 2009 with less damage to its endowment than any other Big Ten university, suffering only a 16% loss. The news isn't all bad however. The Collegian reported that Penn State, along with many other universities, has experienced an increase in its endowment since the NACUBO numbers were complied. From a low of $1.26 billion, the university's endowment has risen to $1.46 billion, a 16% increase. Onward State recently solicited the other schools in the Big Ten for their endowment figures from the end of calendar year 2009 to see how Penn State stacked up.