Editorial Opinion
The Ferguson Township Super
visors, like all government officials,
must keep two major responsibilities
in mind when formulating " decisions.
They must (1.) satisfy their elec
torate and (2.) work towards the
betterment of the community. On the
hotly-controversial Ferguson Mall
issue, fulfillment of these respon
sibilities by the supervisors seems
quite questionable.
Despite strong opposition from
citizen's groups, the township
supervisors have clearly leaned in
favor of the proposed $lO-12' million
shopping mall, which will house three
department stores and about 85 small
shops. Thus, they have not followed
the wishes of their constituents.
However, this does not necessarily
mean the supervisors should reject
the mall plan. The voters do not
always know what is best for the
community. But with .all the com-
Be defensive, or take it with humor and humanity
A learned man came to rnP once.
Ile said, "I know the way —some."
And I was overjoyed at this.
Together we hastened.
Soon, too soon, were we
Where my eyes were useless,
And I knew not the ways of my feet.
I clung to the hand of my friend; •
But at last he cried, "I am lost.",
The main lesson I learned at Penn State had
been taught to me many times before I begian my
Freshman year here, but it took this institution
of higher learning to beat it into me so I'd never
forget it.
On a cold spring morning, about 15 or so years
ago, a kid I'd just met in my neighborhood gave
me my first exposure to this rule of thuirib for
life. We were at the local playground, *ling
around on the see-saw, each of us standing* on
either end of the thing, going up and down by
walking up and back on the plank. slig tly
dangerous, but when you're young and carebbss
Anyway, when I-was at the top, the kid stegied
off. Just a few stitches in my chin was all that
resulted, but I should have gotten more than
that.
Responsibilities to the area and its residents who would shoulder future burdens must be answered in, mall question
Cleaning out the notebook
'cause I'm going home
2) Dorm rooms .tend to ignite n s ight-,„ overdosed on ,leascrone, , a drug
mares. Once in East Halls I dreamt:lpy sometimes known a school spirit, T& A,
:waffle ceiling was dripping maple sytturplittirriin E,4 1%,E -P. This blue and
on me. I wonder what Freud would think white capsule is extremely dangerous. It
of that? increases the bust, decreases the waist,
tans one's anatomy, and brightens the
•;, - .4 teeth. It causes strange convulsions
_tZt
• 't (sometimes with porn poms) and v
primeval screaming.
-. 4 4 1 One side effect is a strange impotence
toward those earning less than $50,000 a
!l year. .Entire sororities have overdosed
on this drug.
5) Penn State graduate students
returning to India have been put in
charge of that country's housing shor
tage. Borrowing from their education,
they have nationalized all housing and
will make everyone wait in line for a
housing contract. The line formed
yesterday and already has backed into
Pakistan.
6) Headline from 1989 The Penn
sylvania State University increased
tuition for the 22nd straight year. Both
remaining students refused to pay.
7) In short, students come and
students go but P.S.U. always will mean
the same thing Portable Sanitation
Unit.
My latest nightmare involved the
University administration acting out
The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Hal Shaffer and Vicki Sandoe played
Brad and Janet two normal, healthy
kids (virgins) who get a flat in a rain
storm and follow a light they see in a
castle, Old Main. "Dammit Janet," says
Brad, "We must be lost in time and
space."
Eddie, played by Eddy Eddy, spins
about on a campus police scooter only to
get shot by a campus policeman and
reduced to a tender subject. Suddenly
John Oswald in drag marches into a USG
meeting singing "Sweet Transvestite."
The shock of that sight wakened me.
I couldn't return to sleep as my mind
spun in a rose tinted world of
superheroes, wild and untamed things,
floor shows and double feature science
fiction. Even smiling made my face
hurt. I kept pondering "Whatever
happened to Fay Wray?" and "Don't
dream it, be it."
3) Letters of Protest I Never Sent:
Dear Campus Mail, please hold all in
surance promotions, I'm betting I'll live.
—Steph6n Crane
The mauling of Ferguson Township
plexities surrounding the Ferguson
Mall, it seems no one including the
supervisors can conclusively argue
that the mall would be' for the bet
terment of the community. This is
where the supervisors have fallen
short on the second responsibility of
their office.
After months of township meetings
and media interviews, it is still un
proyen that the economic benefits
and consumer convenience created
by such a mall would outweigh the
developmental, environmental and
economic drawbacks.
The site for the proposed mall is
probably the biggest question mark
•of the entire controversy. Although
the site along Route 322 (North
Atherton Street) near Laurel Glen
apartments might be convenient for
town and student shoppers, mere
convenience must not be given
priority over much, more serious
considerations. These include traffic
Writers draw curtain on Collegian careers
Glasswork was a burden
on long and winding road
Rather than boring my audience with
trite expression of cliche farewells, I felt
I'd spring clean my notebook of some
columns that never were:
1) Since this is my last performance
from Carnegie Hall (actually Carnegie
Building), I should like to object to the
University practice of naming and
renaming buildings after dead notables
and live bores.
I'm one of those advanced term relics
who still refers to Eisenhower
Auditorium as University Auditorium. I
propose creative naming like Art's
Building for Arts Building, Edifice Rex
for the Liberal Arts Tower, Ben for
Willard, Veronica Lake at Stone Valley,
and official recognition of Mary
"Beaver" White.
I should have learned what a dangerous thing
it is to trust someone you don't know.
Between that early time in your life and
college, you're bound to get burned it's a fact
of life. I got burned no worse than anyone else,
and no more often than anyone else, but unlike
some, I had failed to learn my lesson before I
entered Penn State.
.. D . 1
R
~ .~e'~i.r ~► ~illl
I was again taught that lesson my first term
here. I was given a student adviser who didn't
know what he was doing any more than I did, and
I can say with some certainty that my first two
terms were wasted taking courses this asshole
told me were what I should be getting out of the
way my first year. But heck, he spoke with such
a soft, concerned voice, I couldn't believe he was
leading me astray.
At any rate, I quickly learned, mainly through
my work on the Collegian but also from just
being a student you can't trust people more
simply because they hold a more responsible
snarl-ups and the safety of school
children attending the nearby Radio
Park Elementary School.
Other problems with the site stem
from the blueprint's 37 1 / 2 -acre
parking lot, which could be plagued
by sinkholes. Although a represen
tative for the mall developers, the
Oxford Development Co., ' claims
water runoff from the parking site
would be the purest water produced
from any of the site alternatives, that
conclusion seems shaky because of
all the spilled oil and car exhaust soot,
that would stain the lot.
Another negative result of the
expansive commercial drawing card
would be the need for additional
police services, an expense which
would most likely be borne by the
taxpayers rather than the mall in
vestors.
Economic mysteries over , the
necessity and stability of such an
4) I have obtained secret information
on a new drug that can make you a man,
a potent anabolic steroid called
Paternozone. It miraculously increases
size, speed, strength and grades on
English papers.
This drug, however, is not without its
side effects. One feels an incredible urge
to shorten your pantlegs, wear white
socks and qiiote Robert Browing.
Additionally, Pa ternozone never
should be used without endzone, a drug
designed to make sure a team does not
come up inches short of the goal line.
Penn State cheerleaders have reliably
reported that our halfbacks often come
up inches short and consequently never
score.
Female cheerleaders, of course, are
My experiences here at Penn State are
too varied and personal to make a good
column. I know I've grown, but wish I
could gain a little physical height. I know
I've learned, most of it outside the
classroom. I hope I've stimulated some
thinking and brightened some days.
Maybe hindsight on my Penn State years
will be 20-20. As for now, I see blue skies
through the tears in my eyes and I
realize I'm going home.
Mark Harmon is a 12th-term broad
cast journalism major.
position. Top administrators will mislead you as
much as Undergraduate Student Government
leaders as much as your professors as much as
the local teamster officials, etc.
Of course this is a stereotype, but a useful one
especially to a journalist. Having this attitude
emphasizes what should be among a journalist's,
and maybe even among Joe Student's "modern
ten commandments of living." You could best
summarize this attitude with the following
saying: If your mother says she loves you, check
it out.
Sound cynical? Sure. Today you can't trust
anybody or anything. You can't trust the
television to bring up your kid (unless you want
him or her to wind up with the intelligence of a
soap opera, the depth of Charlie's Angels, and a
vocabulary of cliches).
Why should you be trusting when deception is
the name of today's game? People tell out and
out lies in the interest of our new god, "Hype."
Liza Minelli probably doesn't even drink Puerto
Rican Rum, Granada's don't look like Mercedes,
McDonald's may or may not be your kind of
place and Charmin isn't squeezably soft (no
more than a dead racoon). Politicians' cam
paigns are based on hype, issues are submerged
in hype, nothing is what it seems.
People immersed in it are apt to say,"come on,
it's fun, just ignore it." These are the people who
Only a small hill is left to climb until I
reach the end of the road.
The journey began four years ago
when I decided to attend Penn State. I
don't really remember what the reasons
were behind this decision. Now that the
end is in sight, I glance back over my
shoulder and wonder if I made the right
choice.
I have spent the last four years acting
as a passive recipient in the learning
process. My curiosity and enthusiasm
have been stifled, because I, have not'
been given the freedom to pursue my
education.
. The last four years a professor has
stood in front of a class and told methat I
would have to learn a given amount of
material by a certain date. This teacher
emphasized only the memorization of
factual material; factual material that I
have learned and long since forgotten. I
have been rewarded for this ability to
regurgitate factual information on a test
paper with a grade; a grade which no
longer conveys meaning.
Somewhere along the line I must have
been misled. I thought a college
education was suppose to encourage you
to want to learn, to think, to reason, to
ask why.
Despite these objections, I have
remained and somehow survived. I
realized that if I chose not to conform
then I wouldn't be presented with that
piece of paper. A piece of paper that
would enable me to enter the teaching
field where my criticisms could be used
to constructively improve the
educational system.
This is not to say that there haven't
been any detours along the road to
conformity. During the course of a
college education the student will
usually have one instructor who will
leave them with a lasting impression. I
found that instructor in Ed Walsh in an
introductory sociology class. Ed Walsh
opened my eyes and I began to look at
the world around me in a different
perspective.
enormous shopping complex have
also not been satisfactorily answered.
Experiences with malls elsewhere
clearly indicate that construction of
the mall might be bad news for State
College businessmen. In Greensburg,
Pa., for example, competition from
two nearby malls caused the
downtown business district there to
wither away. Who is to say the same
thing might not happen to State
College?
It is also questionable whether the
Centre Region has the breed of
consumer that would keep the mall
from becoming a $l2 million white
elephant. After all, the bulk of con
sumers in the area are students, most
of whom do not have the spending
money to make large purchases for
living room sets or color televisions,
which would keep the three large
department stores slated for the
proposed mall operating sue-
The chance to write for this paper
provided me with the opportunity to
share my opinion and this perspective
with others. This experience has proven
to be the most beneficial part of my
education.
At an institution of this size it is dif
ficult for me to imagine what impact I
might have had. If I have been able to
reach at least a few people then all the
work has been worthwhile.
The last thing I ever thought that I
would be doing when I arrived at this
school was to write for The Daily
Collegian. In'high school I spent all my
time on the athletic field and I' often
Wondered what was wrong with those
people who spent their time writing for
the school paper or practicing for the
school play. H. was my. objective to
continue my athletic career
,on the •in
tercollegiate athletic field, but it never
workpd out the way I had hoped.
Where one road ended another path
began. I moved into the' coaching ranks
and assisted with the State College High
School baseball program for three
years. The experience will not be easily
forgotten.
A scene from the movie "The
Graduate" exemplifies my feelings and
reflections over the last four years.
Dustin Hoffman, who plays Ben,
graduates from college and returns
home to adopt the life style of a bum
while he contemplates what to do with
his life. Ben's father approaches him one
day while he lays in the pool and asks,
"Do you mind telling me what those four
years of college were for? What was the
purpose of all that hard work?" Ben
looks up and replies, "You got me."
My experiences indicate to me that the
value of a college education cannot be
found in the meaningless hours spent in
the classroom. A college education only
appears worthwhile when one reflects on
the teaching of one instructor or on the
memories of a single experience.
Now that I have been given my ticket,
I must wait in the line of employment.
Just the other day I shared my
philosophy of education during an in
terview for a teaching position. The
employer looked at me and asked if I
was a radical. It was a question that
awakened me to the fact that there was
no longer any need to glance back. I had
only just begun the journey down the
long and winding road.
Mark Jackson is a 12th-term secon
dary education major.
love the Brady Bunch, honeymoon at Six Flags
over Hackensack, read ads before news stories
and TV guide before Time Magazine.
I never really feared hype until the guy I
thought would have been immune to it, columnist
Art Buchwald, said he thought it was society's
major problem. If he can't rationalize it, take it
with a grain of salt, see it in a humorous light,
nobody can.
I'd like to say at this point that the only in
stitution you can trust completely on this campus
is the Collegian. But, Pete Barnes forgive me, I
can't. I will say, though, that while we are no
more honest or righteous than any group, we will
give you the fairest shake on campus. We will
because it's our business to be fair. USG spends
our money on programs (generally very wor
thwhile ones) and the Collegia'n prints what the
people who run it know as the truth.
In addition, if you don't think you've gotten a
fair shake, you've got as much of an opportunity
as our reporters to get something published
write a letter.
What do you do if you can't trust any person or
institution? You can become defensive and
suspicious as hell, but obviously this isn't con
ducive to a very happy existence.
Anyway, you can become as defensive as hell,
or you can deal with all that is misleading and
deceiving with a mixture of humor and
cessfully. Those department :
stores .
which would comprise the financial
and commerical foundation of the ••
development, have remained '
anonymous and have not made public ' '
their support of the area market, . ,
possibly because they do not , want to
incur bad publicity by getting -.
wrapped up in ' a small-town -con
troversy.
.:
' -
Although The Daily Collegian has : '
previously come out in favor of the '"
concept of a mall, it seems in real
terms, at least, the Oxfcird plan is not :
satisfactory for the area and its
residents.
While . certain individuals and • .
enterprises who favor the mall might,•••
profit quickly and largely from its
approval and subsequent con-'
struction, it seems the possible future ,
burdens of such a mall would fall onto--
the shoulders of those who cried out' •
against it in the first place.
humanity. I'm happy to say that this is another.
lessork Penn State taught me which was easy to
learn. . .
Specifically, two professors of life, Dr. Jolin
Martellaro and Dr. Martin Smith, whose words
graced this page in the past, taught me that the
human condition is basically out-of-conditioq;
but that, what the hell, we're all bozos on this bus
and you make the best of what you have.
I also learned that the only time to get pissed is
after you've decided it's too important to laugh
off, and too deliberate to forgive on the grounds
that the offending party is just a schmuck dr
doesn't know any better.
Then, when you get pissed, don't pull your
punches.
So much for dealing with life. The one thing:l
wish I could really tell Penn State in my last
column is how to enjoy life. ,But then, Penn State
itself really taught me that trick, and for this and
other reasons, I'll always respect my Alma
Mater. And so . . . ,
.
i thank yOu God fo - ethiS Most amazing
day ; for the leeping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
—e.e. cummiOs
, .
Bob Frick is a soon-to-be-graduate in Mkr
nalism.
Mil