b R AAgbarreo
Danner
In a time long since
gone in the vast Scholar's
Kingdom of Nittany, there
existed a small, isolated
mountain citadel in the
province of Filberton.
This citadel, aptly called
the Filberton Commanderie,
was dedicated to the high
er advancements of the art
and sciences. Because of
Filberton's location on
Nittany's northeastern
frontier fringes, a small
standing militia was also
constantly maintaned among
the scholars, as several
barbarian hordes often
made deadly attacks on
the frontiers of the
scholar's Kingdom of Nitt—
This military guard was
stationed off the grounds
of the Commanderie in Fil
berton Village, which was
located about three league
away from the Commanderie.
It was the duty of this
small guard to protect the
Commanderie and the people
of the village from the
barbarian hordes, who val
ued Filberton highly for
its strategic location in
the surrounding mountains.
Being under the rule of
the Scholar's Kingdom of
Nittany, the military
guard was also required
to study the arts and
sciences at the
Commanderie with the
scholars, which they
readily did in their
spare time between
barbarian attacks.
Several years soon pass
ed and the scholars saw a
growing problem developing
between them and the mil
itia. The problem was one
of a lack of communication
between the scholars and
the guards, as both parties
were quickly becoming more
and more unaware of what
the other was doing. In a
grand effort to heal the
festering wound, a council
of both parties was held to
find a satisfactory com
promise. A compromise was
quickly reached; as both
parties decided to create
a monthly report of the past
month's occurrences, which
would then be mass produced
and distributed to all the
members of the Filberton
Commanderie--scholars and
military guard alike.
The task of creating the
written report fell under
the jurisdiction of the
Commanderie's School of
Letters, who organized a
just group of scholars and
military for the sole
creation of the report,
which wentqby the name of
The Rose. The Rose was
selected as a title be
cause it mirrored the pur
pose of the Filberton
Commanderie, which was to
be an isolated source of
the beauty of knowledge
in the wild, barbarian
frontiers of the Scholar's
Kingdom of Nittany.
After many years of growth
and development, The Rose
prospered from the contin
ually healthy support of
the Teaching Masters and
the total populace of the
Commanderie. Among its
featured contents were
postings of the barbarian
attacks, upcoming events
at the Commanderie, and
capsules of news reguarding
miscellaneous occurrences
in Filberton Province and
the other provinces of the
Scholar's Kingdom of Nittany.
All went well, and it seemed
as if The Rose would never
die, especially from the
enormous success and accla
mation that it had merited.
After many years of suc
cess, The Rose suddenly and
tragically lost its former
luster. Its decline began
when the students lost in
terest in The Rose. Con-
sequently because of the
students increasing disfavor
of The Rose the Teachin:
Masters lost interest as
well, and soon even The
Rose's own special staff
broke apart, leaving its
publication in the hands of
a small few who remained
dedicated to its cause.
This was indeed The Rose's
darkest hour, but still
The Rose remained, for
better or for worse.
At times, the Teaching
Masters failed to fund the
cause, and the ragged, but
fiercely loyal staff was
forced to distribute hand—
copied copies of The Rose
to the students; this
seemed better than nothing.
Soon the old communication
problem between the students
by Michele
Carlin
ertattrb The dictionary defin
es confidence as "full of
and the militia returned,
and the wound festered once
again. The students and
military; however, no
longer cared, and became
deeply engrossed in trivial
activities they called
"other things." At any
rate, The Rose was severly
ignored.
One day, the helpless
staff became informed of a
massive, all-out barbarian
attack upon the Filberton
Commanderie and Filberton
Village. The staff quickly
acted to get this grim news
out amongst the scholars,
and most importantly, the
militia, which was the
only hope for all the
people caught in the way of
the advancing barbarian
hordes. Unfortunately,
The Rose's coffers were
empty, and The Rose could
no longer afford to go any
deeper into debt. Never
theless, the dauntless
staff persevered to get
The Rose out to inform the
people of the impending
apolyptic danger. Mirac
ulously, the staff managed
to get enough copies made
to inform the people of the
danger. But to the dismay
of the staff, the students
and military blatantly ig
nored The Rose and the
streets of the Commanderie
were littered with the fresh
copies of the emergency
issue.
With the dawn of the next
day came the terrible bar
barian masses, who first
captured the scholars at
the Commanderie and then
the people of the village.
The military guards were
easily captured in the
midst of sleep. They had
taken no preparatory de
fense action to stem the
attack.
By the day's end, all of
Filberton was ransacked and
set aflame. The people of
the province were herded
onto the grounds of the
destroyed Commanderie,
and, with no show of mercy,
were brutally massacred by
the barbarian maurauders.
Late that night, the flam
ing bodies of Teaching
Masters, scholars, military
guards and villagers lit
up the dark, moonless
night.
So having con-
trust,
fidence in yourself means
you have faith in your
abilities-- such as in pas-
sing a quiz, believing
that you will be the best
that you can be through-
out your college career.
Confidence develops from
your inner-self as well
as the feedback you recieve
from fellow peers and ad-
ults within your own comm-
unity.
As incoming fresh-
men we are beginning to re-
alize "who we are", how-
ever, we must deal with the
opinions of others and how
they think we should be.
As young adults we recie-
ye bits of feedback that
will eventually form our
identities. However, it
is our responsibility to
realize our talents and to
search for our dreams,
despite what others might
As we get older, the
tasks we are faced with
will become more compli-
cated, and the risks will
Seem much greater.
took each of us a long-
er time to learn to read
than it did to learn to
walk. Now we must behave
in the same manner-- how-
ever, we no longer have
parents to encourage to
achieve that terrific
grade or to pressure us
to succeed. The power
is in our own hands.
Tomorrow is ours, and su-
con't on p. 6