/T>Ctl XrXPWC CAPITAL TIMES
/ i OX!. November 4, 1991
PSH student drawn toward dreams
Elin Marcel
Capital Times Staff
Craig Smith is not the editor of the
Capital Times, but if you look on the
editorial page, you'll see his handiwork.
For the past three semesters, the senior
communications major has designed
editorial cartoons for the Capital Times.
Relaxing in his cozy attic studio, the
36-year-old New Cumberland resident
reflected on his education at Penn State
Harrisburg.
"In a way, school is my hobby,”
Smith said. "I look at it as an institution,
as well as making blanket assumptions
about its benefits."
Smith said there are other things at
PSH that are more important than a
degree.
"The degree doesn’t mean squat to me,"
Smith said. "The experience of meeting
students and professors has been very
enlightening."
However, Smith added, "It [the degree]
will be important in certain contexts."
These "certain contexts" have already
appeared in Smith's life. Smith has been
asked to teach a computer graphics class at
Harrisburg Area Community College after
his December graduation.
Smith doesn’t know what his job
future will be when he leaves Penn State
Harrisburg.
"If I have to work on roads, that's all
right," Smith said.
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Smith is no stranger to the workplace,
as he recently left IBM after ten years, and
is currently unemployed.
"It's a little scary because we have
three kids, a house, and two cars," Smith
said. "I'm leaving behind a kind of reliable
Profile
employment that perhaps allowed us to do
things over the past 10 years."
Smith began his IBM career in the
warehouse, ending up in an office, where
he worked with programmers and user
groups for system changes, and helped
design systems.
"Over time, I moved up into more
responsible positions," Smith said. "I
found myself at a desk with headphones
on, staring at a computer terminal all
day," Smith said, chuckling ruefully.
Smith said that during this time, IBM
started losing dominance, as things
changed in the computer industry.
"They had always been a people
oriented company, and their internal
culture became more and more by
numbers," Smith said. "People were
becoming numbers."
Smith took a leave of absence from
IBM in August 1989, to resume his
college career, which he began at
Kutztown University as a fine arts major.
He said that during his leave of
absense, IBM changed even more.
"I realized that some people I had
worked with had become silly and stupid,"
Smith said.
In September 1991, Smith accepted
IBM's offer of voluntary separation.
Smith, his wife Sue, and their three
children live in New Cumberland, in a
house Smith calls "recycled." Smith's
kitchen, which he built himself, is proof
of his love of carpentry.
"If you're doing something you really
Tha Biggaat Pit chan Glanda and Pdolph find
themselves together before the bottomless pit of
incorrect policy... "Is life in a bubble," they
wonder, "at all similiar to a psychotically hate
ful, self-righteous need for total control?" P
few pitchers won’t help figure. Just fun trying.
enjoy, it’s easy," Smith said. "I try to
emphasize that with my children. What I
really love, I discovered as a kid."
Smith laughed as he described his early
interest in art. "It would be too easy to say
it came naturally," Smith said. " As
family stories go, as soon as I could hold
a crayon, I took to it"
Smith said he did things differently
when he attended Kutztown University.
See Smith, page 10