The Daily Collegian
Penn State proud
'Take A Stand' rally a success;
must be used as
They said it couldn't be done.
But in less than one week, a
handful of student groups orga
nized the "Take A Stand" rally
against racism and pulled it off so
successfully that it was covered
around the state. The rally
proved, finally, that the students,
faculty and staff of Penn State do
care and will take a stand when
they need to.
But the real measure of the suc
cess or failure of the rally Friday
is not the 2,000 people who
showed their support. As one of
the speakers said, "talk minus
action equals zero."
The rally is not the culmination
of the efforts to end racism at the
University, it is the first step.
Now it's up to the students to take
the second step.
The groups that can coordinate
the second step are already here
they are the groups that orga
nized and supported the rally.
They must now use their new
found power and respect to con-
datig Collegian
Monday, Nov. 13, 1995
©1995 Collegian Inc.
Editor in Chief
Courtney Cairns
Business Manager
Randy Abrams
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mined by its Board of Opinion, with the editor
holding final responsibility. Opinions
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Collecting li
Let's talk about obsession. My
roommate likes to collect
tapes. To say that he likes to
collect tapes, actually might be an
understatement. He loves to collect
tapes. I think I've caught him a few
times gazing with religious lust at
the rectangular wood cassette case
that is mounted like a shrine at the
center of the wall in our room. It's
quite possible that he was praying,
but I better not speculate.
But still, these are not just tapes
he likes to collect. In fact, he buys
them blank and later records on
them. He doesn't buy new albums,
though. No, he much rather prefers
tapes with poor sound quality,
blank, non colored labels, and a
wicked hissing capable of driving
any man insane. (sane man = me!)
His tapes contain "live-in-concert"
recordings, but most people prefer
the term "bootleg." The great thing
about them is, They're FREE! This
is quite advantageous for my room
mate, because like most college
students, he doesn't have a lot of
money. So how do they get these
tapes, you ask? They trade.
It's very cool to watch him in
action. If by chance he ever hap-
a stepping stone
tinue leading students against
racism and other problems in the
area.
But if joining an organization is
not your style, learning about
other cultures is another way to
take the second step.
The activities taking place as
part of Hispanic Heritage Month
offer an opportunity to do that.
The upcoming Kwanzaa activities
and Black History Month in Feb
ruary can also provide insight
into other cultures.
Too often our age group is
defined by one word: "apathetic."
As several speakers said on Fri
day, the rally is one of the first
times in more than 20 years that
students have joined together to
fight for a common cause, and
they had never felt more proud of
the University.
If the rally is used as a stepping
stone to further action, perhaps
there will be some more reasons
to be Penn State proud.
Arts Editor
Melanie Cox
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property of Collegian Inc.
ke crazy leads to some abnormal
pens to meet a fellow tape-collec
tor, he goes crazy that week.
Our room becomes submerged in
a bizarre arrangement of empty
tape cases, unlabeled cassettes,
and labels with what I noticed to
usually have only slightly altered
song lists when carefully compared
from tape to tape. He definitely has
some sort of psychological prob
lem.
This animal that I refer to as
phishus flakyus, exhibits what
seems to be an extremely intricate
system of behavior. There are
other similar species that I have
also observed in the very local
habitat of State College, Pa.
Best wishes, good luck
This is in response to Kevin Gorman's,
Nov. 9 column concerning his father.
This is by far the most touching, moving
article that I have read in quite some time.
I've known Kevin (through a mutual
friend) for about two years, which makes
this story a little more personal.
I've always known him as a strong indi
vidual, but the situation that he's been
placed in far exceeds the word "strong."
There is no way to describe what he must
be feeling.
I thought that I knew what this disease
was like, for my grandfather is currently
suffering from it. Kevin's father's situa
tion is ten-fold in comparison to my grand
father. I never really knew how powerful
diabetes could be, but more importantly,
how strong any son could be in the wake of
such a tragedy.
A story like this really opens your eyes.
It makes you realize how trivial things like
sports are, or the fact that you are fighting
with your girlfriend. This is reality . . . this
is life . . . this could be me, possibly sooner
than I could ever expect.
I commend Kevin, and every other son
and daughter, brother and sister, mother
and father and spouse, who may be experi
encing this. I think that I speak for the
entire University when I say: Best wishes
Mr. Gorman, and good luck.
Dropped the ball
Of all the rationales the Collegian has
given as to why student turn out was so
low and why students' candidate Mike Bur
cik lost there is one you missed. I would
like to present it to you now a shameful
lack of publicity by our own student news
paper.
Mike Burcik was a legitimate student
candidate, but the student newspaper bare
ly took notice. You 1/4 inch endorsement of
candidate Burcik buried in the bowels of
the paper on Election Day was far too lit
tle, far too late. I hear you right now
screaming "journalistic integrity" and try
ing to raise the spirit of Edward R. Mur
row.
I do not suggest that Mike Burcik should
I recently petitioned the Centre
County Wildlife Cataloguing Soci
ety to give recognition status to
gratefuldeadus collectivis as the
legitimate genetic variation of the
human species. It is interesting to
note that the majority of the popu
lation are actually hybrids that eas
ily take on numerous characteris
tics of both species. In addition to
this, one must realize (of course
this is still in its theoretical infan
cy) that the phishus flakyus most
probably evolved from the grate
fuldeadus collectivis. Oddly
enough, members of both species
vehemently and sometimes bitterly
deny any such connection. I'm not
implying that some kind of evolu
tionary conspiracy is taking place,
but the whole scene smells kind of
phishy uh, I mean fishy.
They are mainly known as gath
ering animals. They gather and
then they store. And then they go
out an gather some more. Than
they buy shelves to sort and divide
what they gather. And then they
listen to their tapes. Over and over
and over. Then they buy stock in
Maxell, Inc. Very high quality
tapes, I've heard.
...I DON'T %Now WHO I AM
OR WHAT I BELIEVE... riv.
CONFUSED AND DIRECTIONLESS..
I NEED HELP!
• •
k\
Inaoc. in
Adam N. Hornyak
junior -telecommunications
"In addition to this, one must realize (of course this is
still in its theoretical infancy) that the phishus flakyus
most probably evolved from the gratefuldeadus
collectivis."
But I am for some reason pleas
antly baffled by the state of mind
involved with this group. For some
reason or other, the ability of peo
ple to remember the most obscure
details of concerts they've never
attended truly fascinates me.
I have actually witnessed a few
of their informal gatherings where
groups of them listen to their
tapes. They function within an
extremely sophisticated barter sys
tem, and where there's sophisticat
ed bartering going on, you are
bound to hear sophisticated barter
ing terminology being spoken.
Strange lingo like "sick jam,"
"heavy groove" and "gamehenge"
are exchanged at a rate of what I
would describe as mellow turbo.
There's even a little bit of occult
mystery at work here. I have heard
numerous references made to a
9, g ,/, -.,w..1.
have had an outpouring of false admiration
from the Collegian. However, an impres
sive amount of effort went into get-out-the
vote drives and increasing awareness of
Burcik's candidacy done by student
groups. But when the student newspaper
had the opportunity to report these efforts
back to the general student population the
paper balked.
Wake up Collegian, you go to this Uni
versity too! While we all appreciate the
service you are trying to provide, giving
students unbiased and objective reports at
no charge, you had that opportunity on
Nov. 7, and you dropped the ball.
Unsurprising turnout
I am not surprised at all by the low voter
turnout here at Penn State.
1. Monday's Collegian predicted that
there would be a low turnout, which makes
me wonder what would happen if they
would predict a high turnout.
2. I've only used the HUB a half-dozen
times this semester. The place I frequent
other than my classrooms is Waring Com
mons. Why couldn't the poll booths have
been in each of the Commons?
3. Other than freshman who are voting
for the first time and State College resi
dents, most Pennsylvanians should be reg
istered to vote in their hometown or voting
ward, not here. How many students used
an absentee ballot?
4. Weather is not an excuse. Veterans
fought to protect our right to vote in
weather much worse than Tuesday's. My
home state of Maine had over 40 percent
of registered voters turn out.
Where were you?
Saturday, Nov. 11, I was on the steps of
Old Main in honor of the veterans who
have served our country. As I looked
around at the small crowd of people who
had assembled, I remembered the enor
mous group of students, faculty, and
administrators who had assembled for the
rally on Friday.
This rally took place in response to
Adam Black
freshman-liberal arts
Tom Wolford
senior-geography
sort of higher status of the species
called Trey, "Fishman" or even one
referred to as "Jerry." My limited
observation has led me to deduce
that this Jerry identity seems to
carry a lot of weight within this
informal community. There seems
to be a subtle authoritarian struc
ture through which standards are
maintained.
I figured, if you want to under
stand the phishus flakyus and
gratefuldeadus collectivis, then you
go to the head dude. I decided to
seek out and discover the mythical
nature of this Jerry identity.
Unfortunately upon requesting
meeting with him, I was only
laughed at. Later though, I
received some cold stares and one
guy tried to hit me.
A unique aspect of the hierarchi
cal figures within the species is
Monday, Nov. 13, 1995
swastikas being placed around campus
along with other forms of intimidation and
intolerance. I was at this rally because I
abhor these acts. However, I am also
aware that this is the 50th anniversary of
World War 11. The very symbol that gener
ated so much outrage in so many could
easily be part of our flag were it not for
the soldiers who served. I am sure all of
you know at least one veteran, a fellow stu
dent, friend, brother, sister, parent or
maybe it is you who is a veteran. Veterans
are soldiers, the men and women who
served, fought and often died for the very
ideals you rallied for. These men and
women are the ones who have made it pos
sible for you to demand tolerance. They
fought and continue to fight for your free
doms.
Saturday morning there were no classes
to walk out of, no chemistry lectures to
miss, the mail didn't come and the banks
were closed. I can't believe that all of you
were too busy to attend. Did you not recog
nize the parallel between the rally and the
Veterans Day ceremony? One for peace,
the other honoring those who died for it.
ROTC, you are our future leaders.
Couldn't you take the time to honor those
who have gone before you? President
Spanier, I saw you and heard you speak at
the rally. USG? Student body president?
Do you know that there are approximately
2,000 veterans on campus? Do you know
that WWII veterans made up 75 percent of
the population after the war and are large
ly responsible for the expansion of this
University? The veteran population is the
most diverse population on this campus.
Have you forgotten? Have all of you?
Perhaps future ceremonies should take
place at the mall. At least we would have a
crowd of shoppers taking advantage of
"Veteran's Day Sales." I do acknowledge
that the economic power of the United
States has enhanced its abilities in
wartime. Commercialism and the finances
it generates have given us the privilege of
supplies, superior training and the most
technologically advance equipment. How
ever, on Veterans Day, who should we
honor? Those who have bought or those
who have served? All of us lead busy lives
and tend to get wrapped up in our own
secure little world, still I must ask ..
WHERE WERE YOU?
species
that they are not expected to col
lect tapes.
Upon doing a little investigation,
I was informed that they were
responsible for the actual produc
tion of the tapes, thus alleviating
their duty to collect tapes, instead
substituting it with the obligation
of playing instruments and hiding
any blatant evidence of their drug
use.
To all those who have never had
the good luck to observe these
squirrel-like creatures at work, I
suggest asking around. One of your
good friends might be a rare pedi
gree of either of these fascinating
species. I highly recommend that
you go out on the weekends and
observe these fascinating crea
tures do their thing. But all kidding
aside, I wouldn't suggest living
with one.
Disclaimer: This column was
conceived prior to the passing of a
Jerry Garcia (a.k.a. "the head
dude"). No comments made here
were intended to offend.
Rustam Kasad is a junior majoring
in English and a Collegian colum
nist.
Billie Cartwright
member-PSUVO