Visiting Mars: an out-of-this-world experience
by Melody Sherosky
contributing writer
Recently, a few friends and I were
talking about how dull the semester
was. With a full class load, a way
too-familiar campus, and only the
usual things happening in Erie, we
decided the best idea was to get out
of town as much as possible. This
notion led my friend Cory and me
to Mars, Pennsylvania on a whim,
in search of intelligent life (or at
least some good pie).
For those of you who don't
know, Mars is a town of about 1,600
people, located 20 miles north of
Pittsburgh. If you've driven from
Erie to Pittsburgh before you may
have seen the sign for Mars and
wondered, like I did, if anything
interesting happens in Mars.
Frankly, even if nothing interesting
ever happened there, once we found
out there was a big metal spaceship
there, suitable for photo
opportunities, there was no turning
back.
Before heading South, we looked
for Mars on the net and found only
one relevant website, http://
www.purvisbros.com/mars/
marstop.htm, which included
several non-striking photos of
Grande Avenue and the big metal
spaceship. It also had a section
entitled "Life in Mars" and the town
song, which is terrible. For
example. one verse goes, "We're
citizens of Mars, we don't make
candy bars, we shine among the
stars, because we are from Mars."
The site provided us with little
information.
It was luck, in the form of
Behrend communications student
Studio theatre remains busy
by Karl Benacci
features editor
On Friday, September 14, and
Saturday, September, 15, in the
Behrend Studio Theatre, Dan
Crozier, a theatre faculty member
at Allegheny Collage, starred in the
original one-man performance
piece "Some Parts Missing or
Broken," which is directed by
Robert Levine.
In the play, Crozier explores
human relationships, particularly
those between fathers and sons.
Theatre Professor Tony Elliot,
who is in charge of the Studio
Theatre, stated, "I think the
performance of "Some Parts
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Michelle McKernan, which gave us
something to look forward to in
Mars. Michelle was born and raised
in Mars, PA. Local legend has it, she
says, that the two small aliens in the
Mars postcard above are her sisters.
Among other things, Michelle
told me about the man who held
himself up in his house (she
Missing or Broken" this weekend
went well. The piece is not what
Behrend audiences are used to and
I think it confused some of the
audience, but I am sure that all were
entertained. It is important that this
campus community be exposed to
all kinds of entertainment, and that
we support a wide range of styles
and approaches. I am very pleased
that Dan Crozier, from Allegheny
College, was willing to come to
Behrend and share his talents and
point of view with our campus."
The Studio Theatre has also
chosen its actors and actresses for
the work "Sand Mountain," which
centers on the Tennessee Frontier in
the 1840's. "Sand Mountain"
Friday, September 21, 2001
thinks), in a 1996 police standoff.
Apparently he doused the house
with kerosene and threatened to
blow it up. The police evacuated all
of Grande Avenue except Howard's
restaurant, so that they could eat
there during the standoff. I could
not find any information about this
standoff on the web. Perhaps, like
consists of two plays performed in
one evening, one concerning
Rebecca, a young and attractive
widow, who is courted by four very
different possible mates. The other
play centers around an impoverished
and unmarried mountain couple and
their 14 children, who get a visit
from the Lord and Saint Peter.
The cast of the play had their first
read-through of the play on Monday,
September 17, and is now in staging
rehearsals.
Performance dates for "Sand
Mountain" will run from October 25
to November 4. Tickets for the show
will go on sale on October 15, at the
RUB Desk.
Michelle's sisters, it too is local
legend
Finally, after nearly two hours in
the car with Cory and some
wonderful techno, we found
ourselves looking for Howard's
restaurant on the quaint streets of
Mars. Grande Avenue turned out to
be all of 5 blocks long, and we
DITHERED TWITS
IF THE
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ON OUR PEOPLE IS
A TEST OF OUR
COUNTRY'S RESOLVE
TO DEFEND OURSELVES,
THEN LET'S GO FOR
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drove down it a few times before it
was apparent that we would not find
Howard's without asking. We
parked the car across from the big
metal spaceship and got out.
Cory mentioned it first, but I was
thinking the same thought: Sunday
afternoon in Mars was eerily quiet.
There was not even the noise of
In One Strike And You're Out!
traffic. There were a few people
down the road at the Mars
Foodland, so we decided it would
be our best bet we needed to pick
up some postcards. anyway). After
dallying in the amazing selection
and quantity of baked goods at the
entrance to Foodland, we accosted
a very young stock boy. He
informed us that Howard's had been
sold and was now called SUlle Q's.
He then gave us directions. but
when we got there Suite Q's
closed.
We ended up with the only
available option. Ori/to's
The crust was not had. hut they
were extremely skimpy on the
toppings. Disappointed in the
we decided to read the local news.
The Cranberer Eagle, while we had
some ice cream at Scooper's ice
creamery (which we found quite
accidentally).
The Eagle was amusing, and we
especially enjoyed the vague police
reports: "Someone stole S I J)3 I in
a burglary at the home of Esther
Thomas... The burglary occurred
between June 15 and Aug. IS. - And
the excellent choice of ice creams
at Scooper's was enough to make
up for the had piiia and the
teenagers of Mars who drove by
yelling out the window, "you're all
getting fat r'
We got a beautiful view of life in
Mars. Was it intelligent? Well. tmi,
sure. Was it better than sitting
around in Erie waiting for
something to happen? Definitel.
Oh, and we did get our picture taken
with the hig metal spaceship. I:nti
next time...
Sian Waling
LLY O'KEEFE WWW.MRBIUY.COM
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