The Rhetoric of Grief

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Joe Paterno's Memorial service just a few hours ago. I found this to be such an incredible event. If anything could help the Penn State community attempt to return to some sort of normalcy after the tumultuous last few months, it would be this final sendoff to the man we all held near and dear to our hearts.

Photo by Shawn Inglima for www.onwardstate.com

If the memorial taught me anything, it was to look at Joe Paterno as not simply a great coach, philanthropist, or even human being. It taught me to look at him, and all other great people I aspire to be like, in relation to their families. For these men and women are more than only that to the families that helped make them who they are. To these families they are parents, children, siblings, and loved ones. They see sides of these people we never get to see, know secrets about these people we never know, and deal with these people at their absolute worsts. If anyone deserves to be cherished and applauded for Joe Paterno and all the good he has done, I truly believe the family's role in his accomplishments must be acknowledged. They say behind every great man lies an even greater woman, I believe that behind every great person lies an even greater family.

As we move forward from all these events, I am not naive enough to believe that things will be the same. We cannot forget about the tragedy that occurred here, and we must face the shame that accompanies it every day. There will never be another Joe Paterno, and I would have it no other way. The best we can do is remember the good times with a smile, make a vow to never allow anything like those heinous acts to happen again, and look forward to our future. And, in the words of Jay Paterno, I would like to tell Joe that, "You won. You did all that you can do, you've done enough. We all love you. You can go home now." Let's let Joe go home, the family grieve in peace, and Happy Valley return into the quiet, loving place that made it so special in the first place.

Taxidermist Humor

We watched this video in one of my THON Committee meetings. When I first saw I thought it was the funniest thing ever, and I still do.



I had to check the website just to make sure this commercial for Ojai Valley Taxidermy was real, and it apparently is a legitimate Taxidermy company. I tried to think of why this commercial is funny. Is it because of the ridiculous situations these animals are put in (my favorite being the bear in the bed)? Is it because of Chuck Testa's catchphrase of "Nope?" Is it Chuck Testa himself, ultimately proving that taxidermists are the funniest profession? Or is it simply that our culture thinks stuffed animals are funny by themselves? I like to think it's a combination of all of these factors.

The next question is, while this commercial may be comical, does it accomplish its goal? That is, after watching the ad, am I more likely to pay for the services offered by Ojai Valley Taxidermy? It's said at the end of the ad that "Chuck Testa does not taxidermize pets," so that must hurt the business somewhat. I am not privy to the hunting culture and what they think of this video. My guess is that most serious hunters have a personal taxidermist, like most people have a particular barber/hair dresser, so I find it somewhat unlikely that many animals were stuffed as a result of this video. This is all depending on if the goal was to help the taxidermy aspect of the business. If the goal was to simply go viral and have more traffic on the website, I would say with over 10 million views, that was easily successful. I truly do not know much about the taxidermy business, but I would assume that isn't the best profession during this economic downturn. That could be another goal. If the Ojai Valley Taxidermy industry was hit hard by the recession, the ad could have been made in the hopes of going viral. The website sells clothing including the "Nope" that made Chuck Testa famous, so that's obviously a possibility.

To me, the video is successful if only for making millions of people laugh around the world. It's nice to be able to step out of the stress of everyday life, watch a completely ridiculous ad, and relax, even if only for a minute. Thank you Chuck Testa, men like you make this world a better place.