Courtney Straub & Justin Curry, News Editor
by Heather Peterson.
Question of the Week staff writer
"Probably 20 hours."
Karl Bierly
MET, 05
Students enter
the Lion's Den
by Jessica Allegretto
staff writer
The bleachers are filled with eager
fans clad in blue and white T-shirts wav
ing colorful posters and chanting sing
song cheers. The ball drops through the
hoop and the crowd goes wild....
Maybe in a movie, maybe at another
school, but scenes like this rarely occur
here at Penn State Behrend.
Perhaps because of a lack of free time,
or maybe a simple lack of interest, stu
dent involvement at Behrend sporting
events is nearly non existent.
If you failed to notice the persistent e
mails, mailbox supplements, handouts
and giant banners, the athletic depart
ment is doing everything it can to boost
student attendance at games. Nearly
every home game features some sort of
promotional g,ive-away, including free
magnets, pour pours, Max and Erma's
gift certificates, $lOO in Circuit City
money, pizza and a DVD player.
The Erie Otters and Seawolves are
both scheduled to attend games later this
season, yet student turnout continues to
be low.
"Our teams are very competitive," said
at a recent women's basketball game
Reid has creative fiction
published, comments on
by B.J. Shields
staff writer
Nicole Louise Reid, a lecturer in the
Creative Writing Program at Behrend,
recently released her debut novel, "In the
Breeze of Passing Things." The 273
page hardback is currently being distrib
uted to major bookstore chains and in
dependent booksellers. It is available for
$22 at the Erie Book Store and the
Behrend campus bookstore.
"I won't know how many copies have
been sold until April when I receive my
first publishers report," said Reid. "On
Amazon.com, though, it is moving up
in the sales rankings."
Reid began working on the novel
.4:* , 5," , "'•:1 , ?.
"Probably eight or nine."
Danni Payer
DUS, 01
Stacy Pondo. "The men are 5-0 and the
women are 4-3, but there's still a lack of
people coming out to the games."
In an attempt to combat this problem
and attract more student participation at
campus sporting events, the athletic de
partment, along with the Behrend soft
ball team, has formed a group known as
the Lion's Den. Those who have elected
to join the organization function basi
cally as a spirit squad.
Stacy Pondo explained, "They're there
to create spirit. ... we want people to be
involved whether they're athletes or
not."
"It's a really great way to show your
school spirit," softball player and Lion's
Den member Stephanie Covert said
about the program. "Our school really
lacks school spirit."
The Lion's Den consists of 25 core.
Members, as well as several other stu-:
dents who have joined since the estab
lishment of the group earlier this year.
Participants wear matching T-shirts to
the men's and women's basketball
games, cheer on the Lions and even at
about a year and a half ago, after a col
lege professor recommended she de
velop a novel based on one of her short
stories.
"She told me people aren't interested
in buying collections of stories, and that
I should pick one whose characters in
terested me enough to work into a full
length book," said Reid.
Reid selected a work titled "Moving,"
one out of a number of her shorter works
of fiction. That story appears in the first
chapter of her book, which introduces
two young girls and their mother as they
pack their belongings to move to Ten
nessee, away from their mentally de
ranged and absent father, Jameson.
The finished novel is published by
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Friday, December 12, 2003
"20 hours."
Paige Payer
Thanks
awards
by Courtney Straub
news editor
Last Thursday the Thanks a Latte
Service Awards were held in Bruno's.
Student organizations were recognized for
doing community
service projects.
"I think students
are always happy to
be recognized for
doing something out
of the ordinary," said
Shrout,
lor oo ator of
Community Service
and The Smith
Chapel.
Many students
anxiously awaited to
see if their club or
organization had
won an award.
"Five of the six
award-winning
groups had a
representative
present to accept the
awards," said Shrout.
To receive an
award, clubs and
organizations must
fill out community
service forms and
turn them into
Shrout. Their
projects can include
many different
activities.
These awards give
students something
to feel proud about.
Numerous clubs and
organizations give
back to the
MacAdam/Cage, though several chap
ters have appeared in altered form in
other publications.
"In the Breeze of Passing Things" has
so far elicited positive reviews.
Publisher's Weekly called the book
"evocative" and "a richly imagined de
but." Bestselling author Catherine Ryan
Hyde ("Pay it Forward" and "Electric
God") called it "a rare find" and called
Reid "an author worth following." An
other review published by Library Jour
nal hails the book as an "eloquently
drawn first novel."
The narrator of "In the Breeze of Pass
ing Things" is Iva Giles, a 10 year-old
girl who is being constantly moved
around by her mother, Lilly. Her 6 year
DUS, 01
Smith Chapel Coordinator of Community Service Kelly Shrout presents Lauren Piera of
Alphi Phi Omega with an award at the Thanks a Latte awards program.
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z ::
"Two or three days ahead of
time."
Sean Moskes
ME, 03
community, and these awards are a way
for them to feel appreciated.
"It's very nice that Behrend supports
community service," said Lauren Piera,
PLSC 07, who accepted an award on
behalf of Alpha Phi Omega.
Along with handing out awards,
old sister, Mally accompanies them with
each move that takes Iva further from
her father and far beyond normalcy.
What she longs for is the "perfect
completion" of her distant memories, to
find her father who she believes will be
the one who truly loves her. In the end,
she instead fmds that being loved is be
ing the one who does the leaving.
"Most of my writing explores themes
of loss and absence," said Reid. "I care
a great deal about rhythm, lyrical flow
and voice of character."
Aside from teaching several Creative
Writing classes at Behrend, Reid is cur
rently working on her second novel for
future publication.
"It's a traditional non closure novel
a Latte
groups
Bruno's Coffee Shop gave out free coffee
during the ceremony.
"Judging by the lines at the coffee shop,
I would say we had a really good turnout,"
said Ken Miller, Director of Student
Affairs.
style
though I'm not yet certain where it is
going," said Reid. "Possibly someplace
of sadness, where a queen has lost her
blue flowerpot hat."
In addition to her recently released
novel, Reid has had works of poetry,
prose and short fiction published by The
Southern Review, Meridian, Quarterly
West, Black Warrior Review and Crab
Orchard Review. She is the winner of the
2001 Willamette Award in Fiction, and
has received awards from the Pirate's
Alley William Faulkner Short Story
Competition and the F. Scott Fitzgerald
Literary Society. She completed her
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
at George Mason University.
The Behrend Beacon
"Around 17 to 20 hours."
Loriel Herist
DLIS, 01
novel
Page