Dear State Patty’s Day: GO AWAY!
I’ll be frank – I hate State Patty’s Day. I feel as though it’s an unnecessary excuse to partake in destructive decisions. That does not, however, mean that I am opposed to the actual Saint Patrick’s Day, which as a person of Irish decent, I am required to celebrate. State Patty’s Day was created four years ago when Saint Patrick’s Day fell during spring break, which, I will admit, created an issue. However, since 2007, the holiday has safely fallen after Spring Break, allowing for us to dress in green, line up at bars for poor quality alcohol with green food dye in it, and pretend to actually like gingers. Personally, I think that one of those days is enough, and the Town of State College will agree with me.
The Centre Daily Times published this editorial calling the holiday a “drunk-fest” and an unnecessary burden on the State College emergency services. Last year there were “79 summary criminal arrests, 14 DUI arrests, 21 alcohol overdoses, 31 loud-noise citations and several cases of vandalism… At times, local ambulances were so busy transporting drunks that no medical personnel were available for an actual emergency in the Centre Region.” This is simply unacceptable. The weekend produced “311 calls to State College police, more than the volume of the previous year’s homecoming or night football weekend.” (author’s emphasis)
The CDT and I are not the only ones calling for the death of this holiday. Linebacker-U, a prominent Penn State sports blog, wrote in a post on January 16th telling students that “the only thing you’re doing by continuing to prop up this fake, two-bit, holiday whose original purpose has been completely distorted, is creating an unnecessary burden on local law enforcement and taxpayers.” There is also a Facebook group that has been created called “End the ‘State Patty’s Day’ Tradition,” which, as of press time, had over 700 members. This obviously pales in comparison to the “official” State Patty’s Day Facebook group (with over 8,000 members), but it does go to show that I’m not the only one who thinks this “holiday” is horrifically stupid.
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Three Words: For the Glory
When I sat back one night in January thinking about my time at Penn State, I tried to come up with a single word that would adequately describe my experiences here. As I attempted to determine what that magic word might be, my mind began to grasp the absurdity of that challenge. How could I possibly distill four years of my life, countless friendships, and untold numbers of memories, down to a single word? An impossible task to be sure. So instead, I took the easier road and went with three words: For the Glory.