September 30, 1998
- LIONS EYE - Page 5
Teacher of the Month: Editorial:
Dr. Young, History Professor Tailgating As an Art Form
By Lori Craddock
Lions eye Staff Writer
“You need to know who you
are before you can teach someone.”
These are the words of Dr. Ralph
Young, a history professor whose life
experiences attest to the truth of his
statement. He was born in Long Is-
land and by the time he was three,
knew he wanted to be involved with
school.
Like many of us, he struggled
his first year in college. As a fresh-
man, he was placed on academic pro-
bation. This should be reassuring to
anyone who attends here, that low
grades don’t always mean automatic
failure. As school wore on for Dr..
Young, his grades and way of think-
ing prospered. He went on to get his
Bachelors in History and a minor in
Political science.
After college, Dr. Young’s
life truly began and he found him-
self using Socrates’ famed saying
“Know Thyself.” He grew his hair
long(deliberately affiliating himself
with the counterculture) and joined
the Peace Corps where he stayed in
Hawaii and Malaysia. Next, he trav-
elled Europe with a German woman,
saw Janis Joplin in England, Pink
Floyd, hitchhiked, and stayed in a log
cabin at one time. He spent the first
half of the seventies in England and
the second half in Germany, all quali-
fying him for his future profession
and contributing to a solid, wordly
identity that makes him the superla-
tive teacher that he is.
Professor Young went on to
get his masters in History and his
PHD in U.S., at Michigan State. He
excelled in British History with a
dissertation concerning Puritanism,
a subject he could render well, after
seeing the contrast in cultures and
found in all the countries he has vis-
ited.
A highlight of his life was
“Im gonna live, live, live until | die.”
when he had the honor of picking
Alan Ginsberg (famed Beat Poet), up
from the airport and showed him the
sights in Philadelphia. On the way
back from the airport, Ginsberg be-
gan to play the bongos and recite
poetry to alleviate the boredom of
being stuck in traffic. Allen Ginsberg
later wrote letters to Dr. Young in-
cluding bits of his newest poetry
which was truly an honor.
Multi-talented, Professor
young plays the guitar and fiddle.
Some of his pastimes include soft-
ball, squash, floor hockey, scuba
diving(he can teach it), meditation,
and writing. This writing is a pas-
sion that has blossomed in all areas
of literature, which he hopes to pub-
lish. One of the things he does well
is share, in all its connotations, and
that, he states, is what teaching is all
about. :
~ Throughout his life, Dr.
Young has seen and experienced,
first-hand, various historical and mo-
mentous events. He has left his mark
in life and continues through his in- -
fluence on students. The good part
about his teaching is that he involves
his students and leaves them with a
sense of how it truly was to live each
moment in time. If any reader is
scheduling History for this coming
semester, be certain to make sure Dr.
Young is the teacher. This teacher
will not only help a student develop
their mind, but will also be a mentor
in the ways of life.
The words best to describe
this teacher’s thinking would have to
be that his own: “The here and now
is just as important as the past, so live
each moment to the fullest, voice
your opinions, and stand up for what
you think is right. Also, never think
you’ve reached a point where you
cannot learn more. Each new period
in your life brings new experiences
and ways of thinking.”
Photo by Lori Craddock
By Rob Coyle
Editor-in-Chief
The day was too hot for football. It topped off at 94 degrees, and I
being an idiot didn’t pack any shorts because of the cooler week that had
preceded this game. So I sat there in my little pool of sweat and waited for
the gates to open to Beaver Stadium.
Sitting there against the gum-stained pillar of concrete that manages
to support roughly 94,000 fans six or seven times a season, I watched the
hordes and hordes of people mix and mingle in the maze of cars that seemed
to stretch on for miles.
Tailgating is to college football as Clinton is to college-aged girls — they just
go hand in hand. And just as no intern is the same, no tailgate party is the
same as well. | .
Some are as simple as a family, a car, and a cooler of lunchmeat and
cold drinks. My family and I have come up every year for the past five years
or so,-and that is usually the extent of our fun. We always make plans to
bring tables or gas grills, but we never do. We end up sitting on, in, and
around our car eating sandwiches. And it’s fun in its own way. This is how
most people tailgate.
But as you wander around the grassy parking lots, you realize that
some families go all out in their tailgating experience. Open trucks turn into
card tables, cold sandwiches turn into hamburgers and bratwurst, and cold
drinks are still cold drinks. These families also always attract more folks,
and next thing you know you are in line next to somebody’s cousin Elmo
whose bragging about his life long dream to marry a Burger King checkout
girl (true story). How can you possibly top that?
But even cousin Elmo can’t top the people in the Winnebago lots.
What once was a card table is now a buffet line, those cold sandwiches have
been replaced by steak filets, roasted turkey, and grandmother’s own potato
salad and the wine list is superb. People sit on lawn chairs and laugh as the
rest of us curse at our portable gas grill that couldn’t cook lunchmeat all the
way through, as they nibble on their veal cutlet.
But tailgating is not about class; it’s about fun. It’s about seeing Uncle
Jed finish off a six pack at 10 a.m., and then watching our beloved Nittany
Lions end Bowling Green’s chance for an upset with the first offensive play
from scrimmage. It’s about waiting two hours for the bathroom, and it’s
about watching Joe Pa win 300 more. It’s about watching the student section
starting the wave time after time only to have it die somewhere in section
NV, and its about watching the drum major do. his flips.
But most of all, tailgating is about people, from all walks of life,
creeds, colors, and religions, uniting for at least one day in harmony, and
forgetting about their jobs, problems, and beer limits, and simply enjoying
themselves in the hot, Happy Valley sun.
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