Columns
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Announcing the Million Alte Kaker March
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The term anticipatory obedience is popping up a lot these days to describe educators, politicians and bazillionaires who are crawling on their bellies like reptiles before anyone is forcing them to do so. As Timothy Snyder writes in “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” people will preemptively do what they think the authorities…
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The Ghosts of Spring Break Road Trips Past
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Author’s Note: The names in this column have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent and the outright guilty. This column may or may not be a true story. Thankfully no cell phone cameras existed at the time… Let’s start with three friends, we’ll call them Jim, Dan and Eric. They were all students at Penn…
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March Madness Indeed
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There is big news in Happy Valley sports these days and, no, I’m not talking about the new Beaver Stadium field naming rights. I’ll save that for another day. I’m also not just talking about the continued dominance of the No. 1 ranked Penn State wrestling program under head coach Cael Sanderson and his staff.…
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‘Paranoia Strikes Deep in the Heartland’
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Among the many Valentines I received on Feb. 14 was one that appeared to be from Penn State Human Resources informing me that I needed “to complete a new I-9.” Googling, I learned that I-9 is a proposed interstate highway connecting Bakersfield to Stockton in California’s Central Valley. Hmm. I’ve driven from Bakersfield to Stockton…
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On Second Thought, Back to Home Viewing
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The 97th Academy Awards were on television on Sunday night. The Oscars, as many of us refer to the show, honors movies that were released the previous year. Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor (technically “Actress/Actor in a Leading Role” are the official category names) are just a few of the many awards that were…
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Amid a Time of Tumult, a Challenge to the Party in Power
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At a tumultuous time in our history, with the long-held norms and expectations of the federal government being dissected, it is a time to have a frank discussion. One side that has professed a steadfast commitment to a strict interpretation of the Constitution seems content to ignore that commitment with each day. But we must…
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Coach Paterno Changed My Life
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“What is a coach? We are teachers. Educators. We have the same obligations as all teachers, except we probably have more influence than anybody but their families. And, in a lot of cases, more than their families.” – Coach Joe Paterno For those of you that know me, or have occasionally read one of my…
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Can Another Nickal Enhance Happy Valley’s Wrestling Prominence?
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With last June’s hiring of Jason Nickal as head wrestling coach, it seemed to me that State College Area High School had staked a claim to future mat transcendence. Sure, I know it’s dangerous to predict the future even with a stalwart leader like Nickal. There’s a reason why Wall Street firms monotonously say, “Past…
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D-E-I is D-E-D
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Dear National Science Foundation, I am in the midst of preparing an NSF grant application and, as I am sure you can appreciate, I want to make sure that my proposal does not run afoul of new evaluation criteria inspired by our 47th and hopefully last president (long may he live before passing the royal…
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NCAA Should Live Up to Its Mission and Increase Athletic Opportunities
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Here’s what I’m sure is a news flash to you: Happy Valley is a sports-oriented town. We are home to the second-largest stadium in the country by capacity. And the third-largest indoor arena in the state by capacity, behind those in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. All while State College is only the 24th-largest “city” in Pennsylvania,…