Jessica Dorman Joins
American Studies Faculty
It is not too often you run
into a leprechaun or elf in the
fall of the year, but as I sat
across the table from Dr. Jessica
Dorman I couldn't stop myself
from thinking that I was in the
presence of just such a sprite.
Her blue eyes twinkle life
and mischief, and her burnished
copper-brown hair, cut in sim
ple curves, frames her fair and
freckled face.
Only minutes into conversa
tion and I knew I had been lured
by the "will-o'-the-wisp," for
this spritely young woman has
both feet firmly planted on the
ground, in more ways than one.
Dorman, 33, recently joined
the American Studies faculty to
begin teaching this fall.
Currently, the courses offered
under her tutelage are American
Renaissance, American Ideas,
and City and Country.
She also teaches a graduate
course entitled Pivotal Books.
They were "popular books at a
moment in time" (i.e., “The
Power of Sympathy,” by
William Hill Brown) that affect
ed our ideas and are recognized
as classics, "the best, master
pieces," she offers.
Dorman did both her under
graduate and graduate studies at
Harvard and received her Ph.D.
in American Studies in 1996.
Her undergraduate major was
History and Literature.
She decided on American
Studies because she was "inter
ested in an interdisciplinary
field." She has a love for pop
ular culture as well as sports
and can combine these topics.
"It's exciting," she explains,
“[lt] lets me work with materi
als that you can pick up outside
of a library."
She was an active participant
with the Harvard Crimson daily
newspaper and entertained the
idea of going into journalism.
She says she "fell into the news
paper scene" through friends.
She enjoys sports and started
covering the stories which led
to her position as the first
woman to serve as sports editor,
and eventually the president of
the paper.
You get the sense that jour
nalism is still in her blood by
the frequency in which she slips
By Deb Hoff
Capital Times Staff Writer
into the interviewer mode with
her own set of questions. This
is easily understood once you
know that in 1988-'B9 she also
worked for syndicated colum
nist Karen Feld in Wasington,
D.C. That was a "fun job run
ning around D.C.," she enthus
es, "part of me still loves jour
nalism."
It is quite obvious Dorman is
close to her family as she talks
of her heritage. She comes
from a lineage of Irish-Catholic
and Jewish mix. Both her par
ents were raised Jewish and she
names Austria, Turkey and
Lithuania as regions of descent.
She was bom August 20 was
and raised in Conneticut. She
also lived in Boston during her
college years, as well as
Indiana, the District of
Columbia, and Massachusetts
for short periods. Her parents
currently live in Maine.
She proudly boasts that her
only sibling, a younger brother,
is a rock musician "living as a
starving artist in New York."
"He's very good. He has a
couple of CDs out," she adds.
Dorman is not married and
has made her place of residence
in the Harrisburg area at the
Simon Cameron School, which
was an elementary school reno
vated into apartments.
You have the "feel of being in
the city" without actually hav
ing to be there, she remarks. In
talking about the area, Dorman
muses, "it's beautiful." She
loves hiking and observes that
the countryside couldn't be bet
ter for "getting up into the
mountains."
She plays baseball and soc
cer, and has already joined a
women's soccer league here in
Harrisburg. She loves playing
sports and is a big Boston Red
Sox fan. She also enjoys hiking
and reading.
Dorman is in the process of
getting her book ready for the
Stanford University Press enti
tled "Deliver Me From This
Muckrake: The Art and Craft of
Reform Journalism,” which is
about "muckraking and reform
journalism at the turn of the
century during the progressive
Dorman wanted to study how
Photo by Matthew McKeown
Dr. Jessica Dorman
journalists told stories during
that time frame and uses Ida
Tarbell from Pennsylvania as an
example.
Dorman will be speaking
about Ida Tarbell at the Hershey
Museum, Oct. 25 at 1:00 p.m.
The talk is open to the public
and anyone interested in jour
nalism.
If you get the chance to meet
Dorman, do so. I would be
willing to bet you will come
away from the meeting feel
ing... well, lucky!
The Skinny on Diet Supplements
By Brad Clements
Capita) Times Staff Writer
The word thermogenesis is
defined as the production of heat,
especially in an animal body by
physiological processes.
This is the basic idea behind the
ever-famous diet supplements.
What has become the biggest
seller in the supplement industry,
diet formulas are being used as
energy boosters, appetite suppres
sants and metabolic enhancers.
I’ll get to that metabolic thing
in a minute. Women and men both
take it to help them shed those
unwanted pounds and get that
lean, ripped look.
Being an employee of a certain
vitamin and supplement chain,
I’ve had the opportunity to see
many people come in looking for
that “miracle pill”.
You know, the one that they can
take and magically lose weight
without considering a proper diet
and exercise plan. If you happen
to be one of these people, you
should keep your money in your
wallet and spend it on a Big Mac.
Parking Fees Justified
Paying $4O per semester to
park on campus may seem like a
lot of money, but Director of
Safety and Police Services Kevin
J. Stoehr wants to remind students
that the money is going toward
additional beneficial services as
well as parking fees.
The parking fee pays for the
parking lot’s lights, snow removal
and police escort services.
Stoehr also said the fee is going
toward the development of traffic
lights on Route 230 at the main
entrance of the campus.
“Anyone who has ever pulled
out there knows that it’s not easy,”
Stoehr said. He went on to say that
even though Penn State
Harrisburg would not be entirely
responsible for the full $85,000 it
will cost to install the new lights,
he didn’t know if the lights could
be put in without the parking fees.
Despite this new project,
Stoehr said that parking fees have
remained the same since he took
his position two years ago.
He said he realizes that some
students may be bothered by the
$4O fee that accompanies the
headaches of tuition and books
The whole idea of a metabolic
enhancer is that it does just that,
boosts your metabolism.
This, in turn, allows your body
to produce more heat, leading to
the burning of more calories.
Most of the diet supplements in
stores today contain a combination
of a few vitamins and herbs.
Chromium picolinate is one.
This is said to be the most efficient
form of chromium. It has many
functions including assisting in fat
loss.
Guama, a natural herbal form
of caffeine, and ma huang, a natur
al herbal form of ephedrine, are
usually found in these diet supple
ments.
Taken together, they both act as
a metabolic enhancer and appetite
suppressant.
L-camitine, an amino acid
responsible for helping to trans
port long-chain fatty acids, using
them as energy, is another com
monly found ingredient in these
products.
You might want to look for
potassium in a weight loss formu
la as well. This is a mineral that
By Tabitha Goodling
Capita) Times Staff Writer
each semester, but their surprised
reactions may be because many
students never had to pay a fee
before.
Staff assistants who handle the
actual distribution of the parking
permits say they rarely hear stu
dents complain.
Barb Clark, Staff Assistant,
says, “Occasionally someone will
say ‘why do we have to pay
here?”’
Students who try to avoid pay
ing the fee are faced with a $l5
fine each day their car is parked
illegally on campus. Clark says
that those students who procrasti
nate on obtaining their parking
permits are allowed a grace period.
No fines are issued on the first
week of classes. Students also
have the option to park on the
township streets without police
protection.
Stoehr says that students are
better off parking in a lot where
there is police protection, which
provides a sense of crime preven
tion. “It’s a benefit to campuses to
have vehicles registered. There are
very few thefts and we know what
vehicles are here.”
helps to restore and balance elec
trolyte levels, something that is
very important when dieting.
Some of the leading sellers of
these thermogenic formulas are
Diet Fuel by Twinlab, Metacuts by
Metaform, Metabolift by Twinlab,
and Xenadrine.
There are a handful of others
with similar ingredients as well, so
the best thing to do would be to go
in and do some price and ingredi
ent comparisons.
One can typically get these diet
supplements in 30 to 180 counts,
ranging from $l2 to $4O.
My personal assessment on diet
supplements is that they can be
beneficial if, and only if, an indi
vidual has a quality diet and exer
cise plan.
After all diet and exercise is
really how the fat comes off and
tone comes in.
As with any supplement pro
gram you should consult your
physician first. If you suffer from
any conditions such as diabetes or
heart and thyroid problems, it’s
not recommended taking a ther
mogenic supplement.