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Everyone is an ambassador for their native country
by Makito Yurita
Before studying in the United States, inter
national students usually receive information
about American characteristics and culture
so that they will - be better prepared for life in
an American university. In addition, they
attend special orientation programs that help
them understand what is going on and how
differently things work in America compared
to their own countries. These orientation pro
grams are designed to help international stu
dents become more familiar and comfortable
with a new culture and way of life.
Unfortunately though, there are very few
orientation programs that help American stu
dents understand, or become more familiar
with, how to deal with incoming international
students. This means that an American stu
dent may not be prepared to find unfamiliar
accents and customs in his or her roommates
or classmates. Though they are curious and
interested in their international schoolmates,
American students may often feel hesitant or
unsure about how to communicate or befriend
those from other countries.
Do or die: the seven habits of highly effective corpses
by Crispin Sartwell
For over three weeks, I've worked with all
kinds of people: incredibly successful cor
porate executives, entrepreneurs, movie stars,
sports heroes, politicians, even squirrels.
What do all of these incredibly successful
people have in common? Just two things:
they are highly effective. And their lives are
meaningless because they're going to end up
dead. Using my studies of these future
corpses, as well as my vast personal creativ
ity and greed, I have been able to develop
the following guide for post-life success.
(1) Be Proactive—Sure, you're a corpse.
But that does not mean that you cannot con
trol your environment. That is what
We are all prisoners of freedom at PSH
by Dr. John Bruhn
For the Cap Times
The older I get the
more confused I become
about the pardox of liv
ing in a society that
prides itself collectively
in advocating so many
individual freedoms, while simultaneosly
preventing individuals from being them
selves. The more experience I have in uni
versities and colleges, institutions whose ide
als advocate tolerance, understanding and
sensitivity, the more I become embarrassed
by how inhumane citizens of higher educa
tion can be.
No one ever said everyone would live to
gether in peace in a world of increasing di
versity, but there is a general expectation that
individuals can be themselves, at least in
democratic societies. Diversity does not ask
much only that we recognize that we are
all unique persons. We each have a right to
live our lives in peace and to realize ourselves
Since coming to Penn State Harrisburg, I
have heard many questions from American
voices wondering how to approach or deal
with international students, especially if it is
the first time in their lives to meet "interna
tional bodies." Therefore, this is an oppor
tune time to address some of those questions
and curiosities to accelerate the cultural en
richment of Capital College.
Q: I want to ask my classmate about his
home country, but I am worried that I'll ask
questions he has probably heard many times
before, or worse yet—something foolish. Do
silly or redundantly asked questions bother
international students?
A: No. Of course there are individual dif
ferences, but most international students are
more than willing to share their viewpoints
or cultural heritage with others. Remember
that international students are little ambassa
dors of their countries. All international stu
dents want to learn from America, and share
their country with America as well.
Q: I worry about talking with international
students. What if I say or do something that
proactiveness is. Stop simply allowing things
to happen and take charge! You know, our
environment doesn't control us; we control
our environment. Our basic nature is to act,
not to be acted upon. Resolve today that you
will not just lay there decomposing, but that
you will take charge of your own decompo
sition. You are free to choose! You can cre
ate an effective presentation.
(2) Begin With the End in Mind—For a
corpse, it's always already the end. Develop
a personal mission statement. It should
emerge from your paradigms, your maps,
your vision, your values and stuff. Start with
your general goals: perhaps you want to re
main dead, for example, or perhaps you want
and our potential, experiencing the opportu
nities and problems that accompany life. Di
versity does not force anyone to be some
thing or do something that they don't want
to. It merely means that we each should treat
others how we would like to be treated, and
with the respect we deserve.
When an individual makes a move to
overtly or covertly make someone else less
human or less dignified than themself, he or
she has degraded his or her own self. When
a person, by the dark of night, or during a
private, secret moment, defaces a poster,
writes inflammatory slogans in restrooms or
halls or puts down another person because
of who they are, they have put down them
selves. While we may never know who such
degenerates are, the fact remains that they
must live with who they are. Yet, if we know
anyone responsible for such deeds we are
equally culpable when we remain silent.
I have repeatedly been an advocate for pro
fessionalism, diversity and civility during my
three years at Penn State Harrisburg. As the
is inappropriate or offensive to them?
A: It is not necessary to worry so much
about doing something wrong. Just use com
mon sense and the Golden Rule: Do to oth
ers what you want done to you. Even if you
mistakenly say or do something inappropri
ate, I believe international students will un
derstand you are sorry, and will most likely
even explain their different customs and cul
ture. Learn from any misunderstandings
caused by cultural differences. Mistakes are
the greatest way for everyone to learn.
Q: Why are international students so quiet?
Why don't they speak up?
A: I believe this does not apply to all inter
national students. Yet, it is true that many
international students tend to be quiet both
in and outside of class. This reticence could
be attributed to personality or cultural ten
dencies. However, their quietness is not al
ways due to shyness or culture since many
of them are very active and outgoing in their
countries. Often they may just lack confi
dence in speaking, or are afraid that their
English irritates native speakers.
nothing at all. Whatever it is you want, you
can't get it until you write it down. This may
be hard for you since you're dead, but maybe
someone could chisel it in stuile for you.
(3) Put First Things First—Prioritize, pri
oritize, prioritize. Don't sweat the small stuff.
Organize. Execute. Be executed. Buy a
whole bunch of books that consist of noth
ing but brainless cliches and incomprehen
sible manglings of our beloved mother
tongue. Start with my books. Now mutter
these cliches and manglings to yourself at all
times. There! Perhaps you are alive in the
technical, medical sense. But in the deepest,
most spiritual sense you're dead.
(4) Think Win/Win—When everyone
primary leader at Penn State Harrisburg I can
only be a voice of reason and try to model
what I preach. Not everyone listens, or cares.
I feel enough people don't care, or by their
silence convey their endorsement of the be
havior of the very small minority.
I don't know why more people don't care.
Even as a student of sociology, it escapes me.
How do we create a healthy environment
when so many remain silent. We become
prisoners to the negative, destructive and
uncaring few.
We have become prisoners of our own free
dom at Penn state Harrisburg! It is time that
each of us speaks up and helps to shape an
environment that we can be proud of, that
we can encourage others to join. Let's be
come socially responsible and accountable
and no longer tolerate the prejudice and in
humanity of the few who make everyone look
bad. Let's free ourselves from prison by our
conviction and when we can, by our action.
Only then can we practice the freedoms we
talk about as being important in our society.
All international students here have met the
language requirements of Penn State. Thus,
please communicate and encourage them to
speak up. Once they do, they will gain con
fidence, and you may be surprised by all of
the new ideas that come rushing out of their
mouths.
I am sure these questions above are just a
small portion of what curious American stu
dents wonder about international ones; there
are dozens of unasked and unanswered ques
tions out there. Remember that the only way
to get a question answered is to ask one first.
Also, keep in mind that not only are interna
tional students representatives of their home
lands, but all American students are repre
sentatives of the U.S. as well.
As we are all ambassadors of our own coun
tries, it is important to share and learn from
one another. We should take advantage of
this global atmosphere at Capital College to
enrich our experiences and cultures. After
all, the best orientation program to learn and
understand people from other countries is
firsthand experience.
wins, everyone is happy. Don't be depen
dent, or independent, but interdependent.
You're dead. Death is not a competition! We
can all be dead together, and eventually we
will be. Death is abundant; there's plenty of
it for everyone.
(5) Seek First to Understand, then to be
Understood—lt's hard for a corpse to be un
derstood. Sure, there are Ouija Boards and
trance channelers, but that went out in the
eighties. Today's highly successful corpse
is receptive and perceptive and a good lis
tener. I noticed that corpses who achieve ex
cellence rarely interrupt. That's the essence
of empathic telecommunications, and that's
why everyone likes to talk to a corpse.
(6) Synergize—No corpse worth cremat
ing fails to synergize. When things reach that
critical mass, it's like a nuclear meltdown.
And when there's a nuclear meltdown, there
are many new corpses. See how everything
builds on everything else? That's what I
mean by synergy. Get rid of your dichoto
mous either/or mentality. This should be pos
sible to execute because your mentality has
been entirely extinguished, if not by death
itself then by reading the stuff I write.
(7) Sharpen that Saw—You can be chopped
up into little pieces and you will feel noth
ing! So donate your organs to medicine.
With this habit, we can all proactively ex
ecute a win/win paradigm shift.
I leave you with this highly effective eu
logy: Remember, the way you see a problem
like death is the problem. Don't let a little
thing like the fact that you are dead affect
your production/production capability bal
ance. Because when there is no production
capability, there is no production. Voila!
Balance. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said at
the funeral of his best friend Henry David
Thoreau: "There's nothing more irritating
than a corpse without a paradigm."