Novmber 12, 2007
Alcohol: a danger is disguise
Continued from page 1
each year.
John Fry, a Penn State Harrisburg
junior, drinks socially with his
friends on the weekends and spends
about $lOO on his liquor, which
A nice froathy beer is acceptable for those over the legal drinking age, but when
consumed in abundance can lead to serious health problems
includes Crown Royal, Remmy
Martin XO, Corona and Heinikin.
Whether you're drinking socially
or have an abuse or addiction
towards alcohol, you simply enjoy
the moment or focus on satisfying
your need for alcohol. But drinking
SGA President acquitted
Continued from page 1
Blackmon. "Senator Holler has
been focused on Marques' actions
while the Senate falls apart." While
this had nothing to do with the guilt
or innocence of Stewart's alleged
violations, Blackmon took the
opportunity to single out Holler as
the sole reason for problems within
the SGA Senate.
Another senator even used one of
her two allowed comments to bring
up a conspiracy theory of outside
the SGA student involvement to
bring down President Stewart. In a
very animated speech to
all present this senator felt that it
was necessary for her colleagues
within the Senate to consider this
theory, which was based solely on
speculative coincidence with no
evidence at all.
Through the foray of the hearing
some comments did make it through
that had actual application to the
charges presented. Senator Martin
Santalucia reminded the Senate
they were there to weigh whether or
not the constitution itself had been
violated and not to pass judgment
on the moral character of Stewart.
Another senator asked Stewart
directly if he knew he was in
violation when he typed up the
list. "I acted as a secretary. No,"
said Stewart. Still yet, a senator
asked Holler if this could have been
handled personally.
"Possibly," said Holler, "it
could have been better to do it
individually."
Despite these attempts by senators
to keep the questions focused
on the charges at hand it boiled
Hoffman: Beyond the classroom
Continued from page 1
another historian at Virginia Tech,
and they came up with a proposal
for a course on contemporary world
history. The course was accepted at
Virgina Tech.
"1 always had to scramble to learn
more and that's still true," she said.
Upon coming to Penn State
Harrisburg in 1985 this new course
was one she was asked to teach.
Contemporary World History is
now a core requirement at Penn
State Berks for history majors.
Hoffman teaches many other
courses here at PSH; European
History, WWII, Holocaust and
Genocide, Vietnam History,
Historical Writing, History of
Fascism and Nazism, and Creative
Expressions in the Humanities.
"I read for three years before 1
was comfortable teaching it," she
said about her Vietnam course.
From the first time she offered
the course, the classes filled.
Hoffman said she still does not
know everything about Vietnam
history and she learns a lot from
students who have Vietnamese
backgrounds. Students often go to
her after classes to discuss the topic
with her.
"I love teaching and I love learning
THE CAPITAL TIMES
excessively can cause many life
threatening cases. To name a
few, heavy drinking can increase
the risk of certain cancers in
the liver, esophagus, throat and larynx
especially. It can also cause immune
system problems, brain damage and
harm the fetus during pregnancy. In
our second issue, we talked about
drinking under the influence in which
consumption of alcohol can increase
the chances of death from automobile
crashes.
There are so many opportunities
down to a question of whether
or not "the charges outweigh the
actions of the President and
his diversifying of the Senate,"
according to one senator.
While the Senate debated
exactly how to go about voting
on the charges faculty member
and advisor to the SGA Donna
Howard interjected, taking control
of what should have been an
entirely student governed affair.
Howard felt that all three charges
should be voted upon at once and the
senators should consider whether or
not the charges warrant a removal
from office. A stark contrast to the
directive set out at the beginning of
the meeting by Chief Justice Fogle
that the senators were to determine
whether or not Stewart was guilty of
the charges brought forth.
In the aftermath
"This is a petty waste of time,"
said Senator Ernst Jean Jaques at
the hearing. A sentiment echoed by
many students in attendance and
within the SGA itself.
"A lot of senators felt it was an
embarrassment," said Stewart.
The SGA now faces an uphill battle
to regain the confidence of a student
body that has grown disillusioned
with the
SGA's ability to represent them. A
week and a half before the hearing
a student voiced her displeasure at
how long it was taking the court
to process her club's constitution
because the impeachment had taken
priority over everything within the
court.
- Court business hadto unfortunately
be diverted to the impeachment,"
I love that I'm at a place where I'm
not teaching the same one or two
courses over and over again. I like
more of a variety." she said. She
also points out, however, that she is
not a fan of grading.
She is a very active participant in
activities on campus. Right now she
is the coordinator of interdisciplinary
humanities, schedules most of
the general education courses
for the school of humanities, is a chair
on the physical plant committee,
serves on search committees that
look for new professors within the
school of humanities.
Outside of PHS she has served
as Chief Faculty Consultant
for the Advanced Placement
European History Program of the
College Board. She does research
on Holocaust and genocide,
photography and film on mass
murder and genocide, and ways of
improving the teaching of history.
Hoffman has also has published
essays on the history of
psychoanalysis and its application
to historical interpretation,
historyography, and history and
humanities pedagogy.
Hoffman is also affiliated with the
American Historical Association,
the Association for Integrative
Studies, Cheiron, Forum for History
and different ways to get
treatment for alcohol abuse.
There is detoxification which
is safely getting alcohol out
of your system, taking doctor
prescribed medications as well as
group counseling like Alcohol
Anonymous (AA).
Alcohol abuse or being an
alcoholic isn't something horribly
bad, but something long-term you
should be concerned about like
your heath, social relationships,
college education, future plans
and dreams. Of today's first-year
college students, 159,000 will drop
out of school next year for alcohol
or other drug-related reasons.
One night of heavy drinking can
impair your ability to think abstractly
for up to 30 days. Drinking socially
is not a problem unless you make it
a problem, but with the dangerous
effects of alcohol, knowing your
limit and being responsible can help
extremely in your life mentally,
physically and emotionally. It also
can prevent your chances of abusing
alcohol as well as having an addiction
and dependence. Remember, there
are many ways to get treated,
but most of all, your family and
friends are always there to help and
look after you.
said Fogle, "Something had to be
sacrificed, and, unfortunately, it was
club constitutions." Even though
there was a change in focus every
constitution that was presented to
the Student Court was reviewed
within the three week window
required by the SGA constitution.
Despite this students still feel
bitter about so much business being
diverted to an impeachment that was
kept so secretive. Fogle felt that c
onfidentiality needed to
be maintained to keep
fairness within the hearing so a
blanket policy of confidentiality
was adopted.
Counter to the emotional disparity
shown in the hearing one thing
Holler and Stewart agreed upon was
that reforms needed to take place to
streamline efficiency and
clarify the constitution. Stewart
mentioned that perhaps an Ad Hoc
committee, to be approved by
the Senate, could review the
current constitution over the
winter recess and bring suggestions
back at the beginning of the Spring
semester
Holler had the
same state of mind but pointed out
that the Senate would operate much
more efficiently "if senators would
attend their Senate meetings."
President Stewart felt it was time
"for the SGA to clear the air," he
said. "The impeachment was an eye
opening experience."
Only a handful of regular
SGA meetings remain this
semester. Soon to be held is the
Town Hall meeting where students
will have an immediate and direct
opportunity to address their SGA.
Senator
of Human Science, and Baltimore-
Washington Area German History
Seminar.
Among all this she was also given
PHS's first academic advising
award
But the thing that would bring her
the most happiness is seeing her
daughter, who is now in college,
launch into a career that she really
enjoys.
"I could do other things for
myself, but that would be the most
meaningful in the near future," she
said.
Her daughter, whom she adopted
from India, will be accompanying
her on an academic trip. Hoffman
is leading a study tour to India
for two weeks over winter break.
Along with the two of
them are students from four
different Penn State campuses and
other faculty. She says it won't be
a vacation and they will be on the
go a lot, but she has never been
to India before. Considering one
of her favorite foods is
Indian lamb curry it should be an
enjoyable trip.
Though she likes to read and her
gardening is therapeutic, Hoffman
loves traveling in Germany. Upon
retirement, traveling often is what
she plans on doing.
Jordan gives students a look at the paranormal
Continued from page 1
peace memorial for dead soldiers
in the local park where people
claim to have had interactions
with dead soldiers, unknowing
of their inexistence. During Peter
Jordan's visit
to Gettysburg,
a friend thought
she saw a girl
in a dress by
the memorial
carrying water
to soldiers
and waving
goodbye.
Several months
later, a memorial
was built for
a girl who
actually used to
do this.
Peter Jordan's
most shocking
tales were of
those in the
most uncommon
places. He says
areas like the
Amityville
House, which
get the most
attention,
actually have
very few ghosts
and ghostly
encounters.
An example
used by Jordan is
a house in New
Jersey where a
couple moved in
only to find a particular room to be
extremely cold and frightening. The
couple's baby cried every time it
was placed in the room and strange
things such as increasing smells of
cigarette smoke filled the air. An
extremely frightening occurrence
was the wife's entrance into the
room welcomed by cold, wet hands
around her neck tightening her
throat. Once, the woman looked in
the mirror and saw actual wet marks
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and fingerprints around her throat.
The couple then called the local
priest from the Catholic Church, who
blessed the room and told the couple
to lock it up. Jordan's investigation
began with his meeting with that
priest, who said he's had several
requests to bless houses in the area
because of ghost haunting. Jordan
explained it's very common to have
an entire neighborhood haunting.
If the wife's situation didn't
make everyone's hair stand up, the
electrostatic charge in the room sure
did. Jordan's hair stood up every
time he entered the room which
measured 10 degrees less than
every other room in the house. The
interesting thing was that electric
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charge also led to a fully charged
camera becoming uncharged upon
entrance into the room.
The story ended with a creepy
looking house in the backyard, where
an elderly woman possessed Betsy,
a psychic medium accompanying
Jordan, right before his
eyes and told him to get
out of her house. In a
scary, deep, trance-like
voice, she explained to
him that a love triangle
went on in the house and
there was a baby involved,
which explained the
triangle made of tissues
on the couple's bed. When
Betsy returned from this
state, she had no memory
of the event, and Jordan's
flashlight, which went
dead during the woman's
speech, came back on.
Among these chilling
events, Jordan's successful
presentation included
ectoplasmic occurrences
with ghosts in the air,
documented hospital
recollections of people's
ectoplasmic bodies being
told it wasn't their time
yet, and being thrown
back onto themselves.
Peter Jordan didn't
just leave the students
and staff in the room in
shock. He even grabbed
worldwide attention in
The New York Times
and TV show "Unsolved
Mysteries," in which he
investigated cases of possessed
humans who gained the ability to
make rooms rain.
Peter Jordan definitely did a
great job with his presentation and
gave the audience a little more
insight as to what's media and
what's real. His pictures proved his
statements and several audience
members were actually able to
recollect similar events that had
occurred to them.