Paige Miles, Editorial Page Editor
The Behrend Beacon
I’uhli'.h, il ii rrklv h\ the s lii.Jenl s of I’cnn Slate i.rie. Ihe Hehretiil ( allege
News Editor
Erin McCarty
Assistant News Editor
Jen Henderson
Sports Editor
Scott Soltis
Assistant Sports Editor
Lauren Packer
Editorial Page Editor
Pa ig e M i,es Beacon
Features Editor
Karl Benacci
"A newspaper by the
Staff Photographers sludents f° r the students ”
Jeff Hankey
Heather Myers
The Beacon is published
weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie,
the Behrend College;
First Floor, The J. Elmer
Reed Union Building, Station
Road, Erie, PA 16563
The Beacon can be reached by
calling (814) 898-6488 or
(814) 898-6019 (FAX).
ISSN 1071-9288.
The real world starts...
RIGHT NOW
It is from my own experiences that I know how much the
members of your average college community (let’s say, for in
stance, Behrend) love to define things. They love to classify
problems, pick out key words to define, answer questions and
constantly pick at their surroundings for new information to
help them better understand what, they may or may
not already know.
Now let’s think for a minute about the kind of
world that surrounds the average membe r
college community. Reality-based TV sf
fellow students preparing themselves for
“real world,” and real lessons being
taught in the classroom are just a few
things that come to mind. One word
sticks out of that list more than any other
- the word “real.”
If you were to ask 100 people to de
fine that word, you would probably get
100 different responses. In using the
above list to define the word “real,” I
can only tell you this. Reality-based
TV is anything but reality, the real lessons taught in the class
room are for the real world, but the real world isn’t some far off
and distant place that we hope to enter someday. The real world
is now. Reality is all around you - it’s all real.
Reality began the day that you were bom and lasts for as
long as you want it to. It won't start when you graduate from
college or when you get your first “out of college” job, or when
you finish paying off school loans - it’s right now.
With this in mind, let’s look at college life through “real world”
eyes. You have a large 9am meeting tomorrow, where your boss
George Bush is
‘American Idol'
With war looming on the horizon like
a black storm cloud, there is one
thought on the country’s mr
will be the next American I<
This is not to say that Ami
stupid. Well, yes it is. Let
War is depressing and pol
are downright confusin’. W
would anyone want to woi
about that when we can lai
at people screeching like dy
cats on “American Idol?”
This war is interest
because the American pu!
has the luxury of not tak. _
interest. Look at World War 11. Kevin Fallon
The country made huge ——
sacrifices both at home and
abroad. During the Vietnam years,
thousands marched in protest. But this
current war, many can just change the
channel to “Joe Millionaire.”
And for those of us who care about
the conflict, we don’t know whom to
believe. Personally, I don’t know what
President Bush is thinking, and I sure
as hell don’t trust Saddam Hussein.
The rhetoric coming from the Bush
Editor-in-Chief
Kevin Fallon
Managing Editors
Rebecca Weindorf
Robert Wynne
Professional Publication Mgr.
Dave Richards
Advisor
Cathy Roan
The Beacon encourages
letters to the editor. Letters
should include the address,
phone number, semester
standing, and major of the
writer. Writers can mail letters
to behrcoll2@aol.com. Letters
must be received no later than
5 p.m. Monday for inclusion in
The best project that solves the problem in the most complete
way will earn its creators a pay raise and a chance to move up
in the company within the next few weeks. The worst prob
lem solving ideas will earn their creators nothing the first time,
iut future and more frequent bad ideas will only lead to an
ill-expense paid trip to the unemployment office.
I just described the average college class, but in “real
world lingo.” Imagine if you treated every project and as
signment that you received in your cases as though it would
be rewarded with a pay raise and future advancement,
instead of just a letter grade and the freedom to
take the next level class and move up to the next
Just a little side note semester standing.
Christine Kleck But when you think about it, in reality, ex-
hibitors of quality work always receive a raise
and a chance for advancement, whether its pay
related, education-related, grade-related, or corporate-based. The
"real world” always appreciates a real effort and a real job, well
done.
administration has been vague up to
this point. In his State of the Union
address, Bush addressed
he possible war, but did
ot provide concrete
that usually support us do not have our
backs on this one?
If Bush thinks war is the best solution
to the Iraq crisis, he needs to do a better
job to convince the public. After all,
he does have Simon from “American
Idol” to compete with.
Perhaps Bush should take a lesson
from Simon. He should get on TV and
diss Saddam, “American Idol” style. It
SHITORIAL
Advertising Manager
Christine Kleck
Calendar Page Editor
Erinn Hansen
A&E Editor
Daniel Stasiewski
Humor Page Editor
Mike Butala
Associate Editor
Courtney Straub
Distribution Manager
Scott Soltis
that week’s issue
will assign you a problem-solving project, so you better get a
good night’s sleep. Once in your meeting tomorrow, you will
divide into departments under the larger organization to com
plete the project effectively, creatively, and in the allotted amount
of time.
So the next time you are faced with a project and you think to
yourself, “I don’t need this,” “this isn’t going to prepare me for
the real world,” or “this isn’t going to make me any real money”
- it’s all real, and a really good job leads to really great rewards.
The real world is now.
evidence
Call me a cynic, but
I expect my leaders to
provide sound
reasoning before
launching an
unprovoked assault.
Most of the
international
community
agrees. Does
-anyone else find it
odd that countries
Friday, January 31, 2003
life
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Kleck’s column
appears every three weeks.
might not be the smoking gun, but
people would listen when Bush says,
“What’s the story with the mustache?
You are horrendous.”
Hussein would say, “Thank you.”
Then Bush would say, “That is not
supposed to be a compliment. You
are the worst leader in the world.”
Then Hussein would say
something like, “You ain’t my
momma and you don’t pay my bills.”
Colin Powell is set to speak to the
United Nations Security Council next
week to make his case for war. He is
the Paula Abdul and that other guy to
Bush’s Simon. Bush talks all the
noise, but Powell has to be the
rational one and explain why Hussein
can’t go on to the next round.. .1 mean
should be attacked.
Actually, some of those American
Idol contestants are the ones the U.S.
should attack. Maybe we should drop
a bomb on that kid who sang “Like A
Virgin.”
mil?!
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Keep Barrett at Behrend
I do not know how many of you are
interested in the arts, but I wanted to
bring something to everyone’s attention.
Last year, Paula Barrett was hired to re
place the former theater instructor. Her
contract was only for one year, because
as is the practice here at Penn State,
a nation wide search f'
teacher was to take placi
now, the staff at Behrend if
ing different instructors
over the country.
Barrett teaches theate
jors at Gannon, as well
teaching Theater 100,
Honors Theater 100,
and Theater 102 at
Behrend. However, she Maria Barron
is not simply a teacher.
Barrett is the director
of our on campus theater productions.
This means spending several hours a day
at rehearsal with the cast and countless
hours at home developing the play. She
is an amazing woman. She is an instruc
tor, a teacher, and last but definitely not
least, a friend to her students.
Even though there is no doubt in my
mind that the administration will dis
cover that she is the best person for the
job, I do not want to leave any room for
something tragic to happen. It would be
a tragedy for this University to lose
Barrett. She is an insightful, energetic,
and brilliant woman. Barrett was a pro
fessional actress in New York City for
several years before retiring to instruct
a new generation of actors. I know sev
eral people who are seriously consider
ing acting as a career largely due to her
contagious enthusiasm, myself included.
As cliche as it may sound, she makes
learning fun. She is an invaluable asset
to this school.
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my admiration, as well as my pride, of the Behrend
students —all women I believe —who braved not only Saturday’s frigid weather
but worse yet Peach Street traffic and snowmounds to collect donations for
Thon.
There may be Penn State Pride, but I was certainly Behrend Proud when I saw
their efforts. They deserve our thanks and our respect
Yours,
Michael D. Chiteman, Head
Division of Undergraduate Studies
20 Erie Hall
Send all Letters to
the Editor to
Behrcoll2@aol.com
Include your name, major,
and semester standing
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Because Behrend is a small school,
theater is not offered as a major here,
which is unfortunate. Barrett is our the
ater department. She has hands-on ex
perience in the theater; her techniques
are unique and exciting, while she inte
grates skill with imagination. 1 have
e from her than I have
my other classes here
administration to show them how im
portant our beloved teacher is to us, even
though she has only been here for one
year. I hope that you will all sign it and
show your support.
Even if you do not know Barrett, come
and see the on-campus production of
“R.U.R” at the end of February and you
will see how brilliant she is. She has
transformed not only the Studio Theater,
but also the outlook of her students and
the atmosphere of this university.
As the student body we should have
some say in who our instructors are.
Please realize this power and sign the
petition to keep Barrett here at Behrend.
If our voice is loud enough, it will be
impossible for the administration to ig
nore our loyalty to Barrett, and more im
portantly, our loyalty to the arts.
The Behrend Beacon
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now for the reason I
nging this national
r ch for a new teacher to
'our attention. I am go
ing to be passing
around a petition
to keep Barrett
here at Behrend.
Barron’s column
appears every three weeks.
Page
>e pre-
sented to the