We Are... Family

Although there are various aspects of each article and movie that I agree with, the one particular article called Notes from Inside a Burst Bubble: On the ground in State College, PA by David Housely, shared a lot of similar ideas I had about the resent Penn State scandal.  Things like keeping with the Penn State family and continuing to make a change.  Here I will share some of these similar ideas, but in my own words.

While watching, reading, listening and talking to others, there is one thought that I stick to; all the people who were involved or kept quiet about the sexual abuse at Penn State are guilty of letting our school down.

Football is not my life, even if it was, it is most definitely not a reason to ignore something as serious as sexual abuse.  I know, people tell me that I could never understand the situation unless I was in the shoes of someone like JoePa, but I still find it as no excuse. How could one human being ignore the mistreatment of another, especially a child?  Maybe its just me, but all this does not sound right, no matter what excuse any person could come up with.  

Here at Penn State we are known as a family.  From what had happened, it did not seem like one the past couple of weeks. A family is supposed to be supportive and help each other. Isn’t it a responsibility to take care of your family members and protect them from harm too? 

I feel like those in authority, lost what Penn State really is about, not the football but rater the family aspect.  Like the little boy Ben from the Barrelhouse Bubble article he knew Penn State even at a young age.  This is a University where many people grew up, studied, or more importantly a special place they call home… a person does not need to be here a long time to feel apart of Penn State.  Unfortunately in this family, not only did the sports coach and president disappoint us, so did we, the students.  Some were very angry and knew of no other way than to riot.  From that, Penn State grew even more apart. We, the students, had also hurt the family too.

Everyone who talks about the scandal including myself, other students and writers are all confused about who we are as Penn State, and how this University was hurt by the disguising selfishness of one person. It is hard for me too, to understand but I also believe that with the start of the candle lit vigil everyone came together and became what I believe we were, broke from, but now still are, a family. Like Dave had mentioned from the Penn State alma mature, “may no acts of ours bring shame.” Penn State did have leaders we thought we could trust, but instead they brought shame and disappointed to the school. Paterno and our President, Spanier were removed from their positions but from this, I believe Penn State will try its best to not bring shame anymore, and hopefully become a more aware and stronger University.

Penn State Musical Experience!

Kiss Me Kate was my first performance at Penn State but not the first musical I had ever seen.  Like most other high school students, I attended the typical high school play every year. I always had friends who loved acting, and each fall I enjoyed watching every musical and play they were in. Unlike the high school shows I had seen, this performance was very professional.   It surprised me how well each person was able to not only act but sing and dance as well! For a college performance, it was even better than I had expected it to be. The costumes were very elaborate, and the set was very detailed. As I read the program I realized that every one in the show was a theatre or acting major of some sort.  I did not even know that we had a major for that! It was neat to read about each actor and the shows that they performed in while studying their major. 

I really enjoyed the genre of the show and while watching the performance, I laughed a lot. I felt like the genre was under the category of humor and romance, mostly humor though. I thought the jokes were great and not too crummy at all. The dancing and effects entertained me as well. I would most defiantly include this musical on my list of favorites, along with Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, and Phantom of the Opera. All these musicals are very different from Kiss Me Kate, and I think they are hard to compare with each other. But, if someone were to take me to this musical without knowing, I would have guessed it was equivalent to something from Broadway. After watching Kiss me Kate I will be on the look out for more musicals throughout the year. I’m looking forward to seeing other great performances!

I had never read Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, but I had heard about it in one of my English classes in high school. Even though I do not know what it is about, I think I could make a good guess about the plot. The time period was obviously different for Shakespeare, but I know that the story is a play within a play… or at least something like that.

My favorite part of the experience was watching the parts when there was a lot of dancing. At the beginning I did not expect the guys to know ballet as well as they did! I was amazed at how coordinated and well synchronized the dancers were. It was obvious that they spent a lot of time not only learning the choreography but also memorizing songs and words while dancing! I think that the actors here at Penn State are very talented. I only wish there more students watching the show than elderly people… everyone else is missing out!

Arboretum Trip

Before the field trip,I had only heard a few things about the Arboretum. I was not really sure about what to expect, but I was excited to go somewhere different on campus that morning.  The walk there was long. For the first time this semester, I had to walk out further than I had been used to; especially, that early in the morning. Despite the distance, going to the Arboretum was worth it.  When I saw it from a distance, I thought that we were going to be on some sort of tree farm, but really, it was more of a garden.  Fall is my favorite time of the year, I really enjoyed the weather, colors of the plants and pumpkins around me.  It was a nice walk, and we had a lot of places to venture out to, I loved it!

Personally, I would consider the whole garden to be art.  The plants, rocks, and pumpkins were all pieces of nature that were placed by someone.  Even though they were not alive, someone had a vision about what the place would look like... I feel like this garden inspires its art through nature.  It is a place on campus where people can visit any time of the year and admire nature itself.

I honestly will go back several times to see what it looks like during each season.  I feel like a lot of people do not know about places like these on campus, (at least I did not) but I really think they make the campus more than a place for football and school.  Its a nice place to get away from all that. We all get overwhelmed visiting buildings and sitting in class all day. Places like the arboretum could help me to escape from all that, without even having to leave the campus!

PSU Podcast

After listening to the podcast, I felt that it really depicted the truth; I thought it was very straightforward and honest.  I listened to it last night, and after hearing the class and their opinions today, my point of view is very different.  I personally did not get offended from the podcast. It was the plain and simple truth that Penn State is a party school. Although some do not admit that the extreme cases happen often, I personally know of a lot of people who have gone to those extremes several times. How do students here define extreme?  It depends on the person.  Personally, I value things differently and for me, the extreme is obviously different than for those who just don’t care, especially if something’s seem usual. I feel that the pride and sense of family here keeps people from admitting that.

As a Penn State student I was not really surprised about anything said in the podcast, everything sounded like the usual Friday night here.  As a college student in general, I thought that this podcast brought up the problems all Universities face with drinking and partying.  Although brutally honest, I thought that it did create an accurate portrayal. At the beginning of the podcast, the two reporters were discussing everything that was happening right in front of them.  Its not like they looked for the unusual or extreme cases, they were witnessing them just sitting there watching a usual evening pass by.

I believe that the credibility for the people like Spaniard, was truthful.  Despite the problem, he admitted that Penn State could not completely rid alcohol from everything because it would cut money from the alumni and change the Penn State family from what it had always been before. The credibility of the interviewers were also strong. I feel they admitted to partying themselves, yet realized and argued that the issue was important.

The most pathos or emotional appeal I received was the death of Joe Dado. Once again, it was an extreme case, but it is the truth. The idea that people forget what happened in the past, really made me upset.  I feel like his death was something for students to learn from, more than just bringing a buddy with them to drink. I thought the ethos was the strongest with the bartender, Rob, who admitted what Penn State students were really like. He was not trying to cover up their use of alcohol but brought up how even now, people drinking harder.  The intent of this podcast was to show why Penn State was the number one party school that year; I believe that most of the statistics helped the argument. The only information that I did not agree with was the way they made as the number one party school. I do not think it is very accurate to have picked it based off of student votes.  

Issues like the “drunk button” and “frat jackets” portray the kind of ideas or things that are apart of a party school like Penn State.  I believe that this podcast depicts Penn State as another party school in the country, with the specifics that make it Penn State. The foot ball games, the fraternities all-similar to other universities. Despite that, the sense of school pride has made it different from the others. 

The Powers Of Description

For the first time on Tuesday, I went to the Pollock dining hall for lunch.   Out of all of the other dining facilities, this one was the best.  At Pollock, they had lots of fresh foods, clean cooking spaces and a modernized eating areas. As I walked through the lines to get my food, the workers were constantly replacing containers with fresh fruits and cooked meals. Everything seemed very clean, including the pots, ledges and the workers even wore nice looking uniforms!  Everything was very presentable and customer friendly.  As soon as I walked into the dinning hall I was  surrounded by lots of bright colors and modern pieces of art.  The walls were all painted, and the plates were pretty unique as well, they were in the shape of triangles! Unlike the other facilities, the atmosphere in Pollock seemed happier, and more inviting.  Pollock also offered a lot of different places to get food. I did not have to stay in one single line, rather there are several with the same option. Pollock also has places for coffee and crepe lovers, that Im sure can be very nice, especially during the winter months. As a Penn State dining hall, I would rate Pollock  as number one for its great atmosphere and freshness. It’s a place worth checking out. 

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Palmer Museum Trip!

     

Self Portrait as Woman Recovering from Effects of Male Gaze (What’s Underneath) 

                                    Julie Heffernan ~1992 ~ Oil on Canvas                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

In this painting there is a mound of grapes, pears, and a lot of apples. The colors consist of warm reds, oranges, greens, browns and yellows.  When you look at the center of this piece, there are two white washed out targets, one overlapping the other. Looking closer you will notice small scenes embedded, next to, or on individual pieces of fruit. Some of these pictures depict women while others are of scenes with a more symbolic meaning. Just to name a few, there is a picture of a girl eating, a child and her mother, a Chinese woman, a winding road, a targeted deer, and an arguing couple.

Although this painting was made in 1992, it looks like it belongs in the 1700's. If I had not looked at the description paragraph for the painting, I would have assumed that it was at least three hundred years old! It’s interesting how the artist portrays such a distant period, not only with her theme but also in the technique and style she used. Most of her pieces are impressions of 17th century art. In my opinion, she does this to make a social statement about women from that time period till now.  Despite the change in time, women still feel the same frustration.                                   

I believe that the pictures on the fruit depict the negative feelings women build up from the degrading effects of men. In one of the pictures, there is a deer with a target pointed at it. One could say that women feel targeted, or that  men treat them as something to go after. Another picture has a woman sticking her tongue out at a man, probably placed to represent anger or annoyance.

After I looked at the painting and read the title of the piece, I started to make emotional connections to what the artist was trying to say. I felt that the hidden   images represented sadness, loneliness, isolation, anger and depression. I was able to understand these emotions Julie Heffernan was trying to evoke.  I believe that her use of emotion (pathos) was the most powerful aspect of this piece. In reality, I see guys treating girls as targets or like objects. Not all guys are like that, but sometimes they can make a girl very frustrated and upset.

Julie Heffernan is a former professor for Penn State. She studied at the University of California, in Santa Cruz where she received a Bacheolor of Fine Arts. She also studied at the Yale School of Art and Architecture, in Conneticut where she received a Master in Fine Arts. Her work is exhibited all over the world, from places like London to New York City.  Something that I found really neat was that she was published in numerous newspapers like the New York Times! These were only a few of the great achievements she has made. From what I have read about her, she is a very hardworking and successful artist. Most of her work also comes from the style of the 1700's and is very surrealistic. After looking at some of her paintings, I noticed that most were of women.  I believe that this is a part of her style that makes her a well-known artist.

I believe that this painting makes single a claim of truth toward women’s emotions.  The little pictures throughout the painting  depict these emotions in a way that is pretty clear. The artist is trying to say that women build up feelings of frustration, sadness and anger from the negative effects of men.

I really enjoyed my experience at the Palmer Museum of Art. I never would have thought that Penn State even had their own museum!  I do not visit museums often, but I enjoy visiting them whenever I have the chance. I could imagine myself going back, probably with a friend or something.  On my second trip, I would probably spend more time reading a little more about the artist and their work. I really enjoyed this field trip and I hope we have more of them!

Sources for Julie Heffernan: http://www.luxartinstitute.org/Artist-Residency/Julie-Heffernan, http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Self+Portrait+as+Women+Recovering+from+Effects+of+Male+Gaze, http://www.dailyartfixx.com/2010/05/19/julie-heffernan-painting/.