I FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010
Till. D. 11.1
Collegian
Elizabeth Murphy
Editor in Chief
Kelsey Thompson
Business Manager
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Webster's needs sound location
When Webster's Book
store Café packs up its
books, shuts off the coffee
brewer and closes its
doors, the State College
community will be losing
a great small business
and local hangout.
When Webster's
announced its closing two
weeks ago, there was a
surge of support and love
from the community, com
plete with Facebook
groups and Webster's cus
tomer meetings.
But this small business
is going to need more
than just support from the
community if it is going to
open up and thrive at a
new location. After finan
cial issues will force the
128 S. Allen St. location to
shut down at the end of
July, Webster's needs to
pull together and create a
v --
I \ (o `y -.\klt•(
C_O r t A V
OST-s
Redden not held back by wheelchair
By Matt Fortuna
MAGGIE Redden doesn't
feel sorry for herself,
doesn't ask, "Why
me?" and does
n't let her dis
ability hold her
back.
Confined to a
wheelchair for
most of her life,
Redden doesn't
know anything
else.
• 1
itt4tr,
MY OPINION
The 2007
Penn State
graduate was adopted at age 2
after having contracted polio at
1, and she's been running ever
since.
Not from the hand• she was
dealt, but toward her goals.
"I always tell people, 'Maybe
at first you'll see my wheel
chair,"' Redden said, " 'but once
you get to know me and talk to
me, you'll quickly forget about
it.' "
Instead, they will see all she
has done in 25 years, and that is
going to be the hard part to for
get.
"When I was in preschool, one
of the staff people there suggest
ed I tried out wheelchair racing
because I had a lot of energy,"
she said.
Redden has been competing
in the Junior National
Wheelchair Championships ever
since, from her high school Holy
Family Academy in New Jersey,
where she made the Junior
new financial model that
will help keep the new
location, wherever it may
be, afloat.
First, this small busi
ness should take advan
tage of all the help, finan
cial and otherwise, the
State College community
has offered this past
week
The Downtown State
College Improvement Dis
trict, which promotes local
businesses and activities
in State College, has •
offered to help Webster's
search for a new location
that will fit its financial
limits.
The new location should
be within reasonable
walking distance of cam
pus so students can con
tinue to enjoy all the
things they love about
Webster's atmosphere.
"I always tell people, 'Maybe at first you'll see
my wheelchair, but once you get to know me
and talk to me, you'll quickly forget about it."'
Maggie Redden
U.S. Paralympics track team member
National team that went to
Australia, to Penn State, where
she took part in the Ability
Athletics program.
In between, Redden was an
Olympic torchbearer and a Miss
New Jersey finalist. She won
two silver medals in the 2007
Parapan American Games in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
But none of that compared to
the thrill Redden felt when tak
ing a certain phone call in June
2008. The voice on the other end
told her she qualified for the
United States Beijing
Paralympics track team.
"That was absolutely amaz
ing," Redden said. "Ever since I
was about 14, like in high school,
I knew that was something I
wanted to achieve. So at the tri
als that year, about two years
prior to that, I was training real
ly hard. And when I actually got
the call, I didn't believe it at
first."
Redden recently came across
a contest NlkeWomen.com was
holding to become its next field
reporter. Her entry, a 1,000-word
blog post, was chosen among
the top 100. From there, she
filmed a two-minute video that
netted her in the top 30.
"I was really excited," Redden
Downtown State College
is a bustling area that can
yield great profits if the
store picks the right loca
tion.
Finally, the store should
put more focus on the
café part, selling coffee,
tea and munchies. The
café would create more
revenue than the book
side of business. Though
many people enjoy brows
ing the old novels and
lounging in the tattered
armchairs, it doesn't pro
duce much revenue.
With the help of the
Improvement District and
the continued emotional
backing of the community,
hopefully Webster's can
find a space to call home,
a place that the communi
ty can continue to enjoy,
one latte and novel at a
time.
r . .nollttoon,,.corn
II Nia
us - 1 7
P----
said, despite not being one of the
five finalists Nike named three
weeks ago. "It's Nike, so I'm
sure there were thousands of
entries, so making the top 30
was a real accomplishment. I
was happy. To win would have
been nice that was the goal
but I'm proud."
This is, after all, a former
THON moraler.
You know, the ones who sup
port the struggling dancers
every February, urging them to
keep up through the grind of 46
straight hours of activity.
Redden says there's too much
to experience for her to hold
back. She says she's found a
way to do everything she's want
ed, and she feels it's all been
worth it.
"I don't really think of myself
as an inspiration," Redden said.
"I just go about my daily busi
ness. It's nice to do stuff that
people will look up to, because
there have been people I looked
up to. It's nice, but I don't think
about it."
The rest of us sure do.
Matt Fortuna is a senior majoring in
journalism and is the Collegian's Friday
columnist. His e-mail address is
mjfs2l7@psu.edu.
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Webster's community help
unfair to other defunct stores
Why does Webster's, a used-book and
free-trade coffee store get to be bailed out?
City Lights Records and Mike's Video, a
used record store and a used video store,
respectively, are staples of a town like
Happy Valley. Correction: were staples. So,
what happened to these once-proud - mom
and pop" stores? Well, the millennium hap
pened. However unfortunate things may
be, the fact of the matter is that people
principally students simply don't rent
videos or buy used vinyl records in State
College as much as they used to, and they
haven't for a while. It's a pain for me per
sonally to see any family-owned business
go bottom-up, especially a used-book store.
But what I find even more jarring are those
who wish to help keep the avarice of one
woman afloat. It's sad when a person can't
pay rent. When they can't pay rent for mul
tiple locations, that's just stupid.
Michael Vincent
senior-French linguistics and visual journalism
South African vuvuzela equal
to Penn State "We Are" cry
In regards to the July 13th letter
"Column advocating vuvuzelas disrespect
ful towards others," while I must admit that
I'm not the biggest fan of vuvuzelas, the
accusation it is just a "huckster's variation
on a New Year's noisemaker" is woefully
ignorant. It is especially so because you
don't provide any evidence for your own
argument. It's easy to play the ad-hominem
card when you can't do your own research.
Because a simple Google search on "FIFA
president vuvuzela" will net you multiple
sources confirming that the vuvuzela is
indeed a symbol of South African heritage.
You know, FIFA, the organization that runs
international soccer. And direct from FIFA
President Sepp Blatter: "I have always said
that Africa has a different rhythm, a differ
ent sound. I don't see banning the music
traditions of fans in their own country"
That's right, vuvuzelas are to South Africa
as singing is to European soccer as chants
are to American football. Banning vuvuze
las is akin to banning the "We Are" chant at
PSU football games.
Andrew Palski
sophomore-aerospace engineering
Penn State within its rights
to take unregistered bicycles
I can understand that some people may
feel like they haven't been given enough
notice before having their bikes confiscat
ed, but I remember hearing the same
whines from freshmen being caught off
guard by a due date not bolded on the syl
labus or pounded into their beads by the
professor. Get over it. The professors on
campus baby the students enough, now you
want police services to do it. too? Just
because there hasn't been a 'bike round-up'
in a couple of years doesn't give you the
right to not register your bike. You should
be thrilled the bikes that have been rotting
away on the racks are being removed. I
was displeased to find the registration web
site down, but I just rode my bike up to
police services and had it fixed in 15 min
utes. For students not at Penn State for the
summer, the website wouldn't have helped
you anyway because you would still need to
put the sticker on your bike. Go reclaim it
at the beginning of fall semester and hit the
road. Here's to new beginnings, easier
access to bike racks and lets go cut off
another dilapidated bike.
Derek Stugelmeyer
senior-security and risk analysis
Wanted: Web Intern
The Collegian is seeking a web intern for
the fall semester to join its award-winning
web team. This position offers a merit
based $l,OOO scholarship per semester.
We are diving into several new web ini
tiatives this fall including a brand new
website, and are looking for applicants
with a working knowledge of HTML, CSS
and proficiency in at least one of the fol
lowing: Javascript, Flash, PHF,' Perl,
ASPnet, or C#. We are also looking into
mobile applications, as well, so a knowl
edge of or interest in learning about
mobile development is encouraged but not
required.
You will be working with the Web Editor,
who also has a knowledge of these tech
nologies. This position requires a flexible
but steady time commitment. Your respon
sibilities will vary based on your skills, but
could include designing pages and/or
interactive pieces for our site, writing
scripts to parse and reformat old stories or
communicate with public APIs (Twitter,
Tumblr, etc), or designing back-end man
agement systems, among other things.
To apply, send a resume and cover letter
to Editor in Chief Elizabeth Murphy at
edltorinchief@psucollegian.com.
Small World
When I think about all the places I've
called "home" the last few years, I won
der why people don't think I'm bipolar.
State College has obviously become my
current home, more so than where I
grew up. That's where my friends are,
where I go to school and work and where
I've had my greatest successes and fail
ures.
Read more from the study abroad blog Small
World and the rest of The Daily Collegian's
blogs at psucollegian.com/blogs.