The Rhetoric of State Patty's Day

As I'm sure you all know, this weekend is State Patty's Day. State Patty's Day (SPD) is an invented holiday by Penn State students where the only purpose of the day is to drink as much alcohol. SPD has gotten various media coverage because of the elevated numbers of alcohol-related hospitalizations that happen over the weekend. Many students from around the country frequent the State College area for this excuse to get drunk. But what does this holiday say about Penn State, especially when it is coming a weekend after THON?

After THON, and over $10.6 million raised FTK, the common theme among Penn State students is that our reputation as a world class institution and student body has been restored. Then again, with SPD following the next weekend, I don't see how the great things done at THON will automatically outweigh all the bad that has happened and surely will this weekend. I'm not saying students shouldn't be allowed to go out and have fun, but they have to realize the consequences associated with doing such, and should not complain because of these consequences.

SPD has also helped to confirm Penn State as one of the top "party schools" in the country. This is a reputation that the administration and parts of the student body are vehemently against, but that others embrace. I wonder how much this truly hurts job opportunities for Penn Staters, since the alumni connection is said to be so strong between those who have never even met. The fact is, many students factor in how the parties at potential colleges are before choosing the college they attend. If the party school reputation brings in more students, is that necessarily a bad thing? I understand that students who simply make a decision based off of how good a school's parties are might not be the best students, but the most innovative people are not always the best in school. Steve Jobs dropped out of college before creating Apple. I know that's an incredibly rare case, but it DOES happen.

Basically, I'm split on how to perceive SPD. On one hand, I can see the negative attention it brings to the university, and why that potentially should be stopped. On the other hand, I see it as a way to bring friends up to your school, and show them a good time. I guess the only real suggestion I have is to have a good time, but always in moderation. When you're having way too much fun in a particular instance, chances are something is wrong with the situation.

The Rhetoric of THON

I'll probably post about this again on Monday, after THON is over. With the building anticipation of what I truly believe is the best event on any college campus, I can literally think of little else besides this 46 hour long Dance Marathon.

nittanywhiteout.com

I'm on a Rules and Regulations Committee, which basically means I'll be working security for a little over half of THON. 5 hours on, 5 hours of is the custom. So what does this dedication say about Penn State, college students, and what people think about cancer?

For our last meeting, everyone in the committee talked about why we personally are doing THON. I was so surprised by how many people have, one way or another, been affected so drastically by cancer. Almost everyone in our 40+ person committee said losing a loved one to cancer was a huge motivator as to why they are volunteering for THON. What I think this says is that there may be no greater inspiration in the world than the lost of a loved one. Although these people are gone and cannot tell us how great whatever we are doing in their honor is, it seems that most people don't particularly care about that, and simply want to do good in the name of a lost loved one. This can, as in the case of THON, be a tremendously good thing. I'm sure that someone's strife to make a loved one proud has led to terrible, terrible things too. I think using loved ones as a motivation can be a great thing, it simply depends on what the motivation is being used for.

Penn State has been racked by so much scandal these past few months, that I think THON should have a huge impact on the image of Penn State. People need to realize that great, wonderful things are happening on this campus, and that THON is simply the most visible of these things. Thousands upon thousands of students are volunteering their time and unmatched effort for so many diverse and equally great causes, and I hate to see THON get so much publicity over everything else combined.

College students are often a slightly maligned set of people. We are commonly seen as lazy, unmotivated, and wasting our youth away for various bad pursuits. THON and other charities should put these stereotypes right away, yet they seem to prevail. Unfortunately, I cannot see a reason for this stereotype to change, because people have every reason to rid the preconceptions of college students they old now, and still neglect to.

The Rhetoric of Headphones

My beats that I adore so very much. www.drdrebeatsdetox.com

Think back to the time when iPods were just really becoming popular. Even better, think to the time before you owned an iPod, if you can. It's a hard thing to think about, admittedly, since the device has become so commonplace in our culture. But think to walking down the street, wishing you could be listening to music at the same time, but Christmas or your birthday or whatever is so far away. Then you see those white headphones on that person that just passed you.

Those white Apple headphones that come with their products used to mean a great deal. They used to mean that you could afford an iPod, and that meant something. You could listen to music while walking down the street, and you didn't need CDs, or a radio or anything silly like that. You were able to choose the music you wanted to listen to, and listen to it.

Now, when almost everybody under 40 probably owns an iPod, those white headphones are everywhere. Having them means nothing, only that you've bought into the fad along with everybody else (I'm not excluded from this group, so please don't get offended). So, something had to happen with headphones.

There have been various companies that have tried to capitalize on this instinctive nature to appear different from the masses. The one that comes easiest to mind is Skullcandy. I think their headphones are absolutely gaudy and somewhat horrible, but I respect them for trying something new. The latest fad in headphones has been Beats.

Beats, by Dre, are over-the-head headphones that are said to produce the best sound quality of any headphones. I myself bought a pair of Beats, and I really had to think about why. At the end of the day, I could have stayed with normal iPod headphones, but I felt a need to be different from the masses (even though tons of people own Beats). So, I spent the outrageous amount of money I spent on something that only professional DJs could really use. I love my Beats more than anything in life, but they are completely unnecessary. All in an attempt to be different.

This I Believe

I believe in Tearjerkers.

http://soundcloud.com/jack-small/this-i-believe

The Rhetoric of National Signing Day

Yesterday, as you may or may not know, is a HUGE day in college football. The first of February marks National Signing Day, when many of the best college football recruits in the country mail in their Letters of Intent if they've already committed to a school, or decide what school they will take their talents to (if they are highly-touted enough, this decision is filmed on national television).


The common practice for the decisions for these prospective athletes, regardless of whether they are televised or not, is to have hats of the schools they are considering on the table in front of them, then eventually selecting the school out of those hats.

Watching kids decide their futures in front of potentially millions of people watching at home got me thinking about the entire college football recruiting process. It is a very odd thing when you break it down. Men, usually in between their 40s and 60s, travel around the country trying to essentially woo 17 and 18 year olds to take their school's scholarships over all the other ones they may have (and recruiting doesn't only begin when a kid is 17 or 18, it usually starts the sophomore year of high school, but USC once got a 12 year old QB to commit to them). The drama truly starts to unfold when these kids promise to go to a school, and "commit," but since these "commitments" aren't binding in the least, these high school students often change their mind. That's what drives so many college football fans crazy. When a committed player take his promise to go to your school and decides to go elsewhere (even *GASP* your archrival!!!) fans end up taking it personally and slew these kids with insults. When fans decide to take a change of heart as a personal assault, they see no possible recourse but to flood message boards with like-minded fans of the same program with attacks on 17 & 18 year old's character, decision-making skills, and overall intelligence.

What I think must happen is fans must relax when it comes to these prospects, remember that most of them don't even pan out to be the superstars they were expected to, and, most importantly, think how you would want people to treat your kid if he promised to go to one school, saw it really wasn't for him, then simply changed his mind, thinking about what would be best for him in the future.