Paper#4 draft.

Ruijia Zhang

Dr. Jessica O’Hara

English 015

12 April 2015

Recommendation report on deliberation of State Patty’s Day

Abstract:

As a student of Penn State, I disagree on the idea that the State Patty’s Day should be stopped entirely. I believe when an issue has a problem, the best way is to solve the problem by carrying it into practical execution rather than just preventing this from happening entirely. While the basic concern is how to decrease the damage and negative effect the State Patty’s Day brings to the students, the school and the town, we might hold some alternative activities that involve families and children. This will not only help the local economy because of the rush of visitors to the town, students’ behaviour will also get controlled because of the existence of kids and parents.

Recommendation:

I recommend school to hold a parade or a concert that involves families’ participation on State Patty’s Day so that students behave themselves in front of kids and families. I also suggest that we can make State Patty’s Day a family-centered holiday rather than students-centered to both improve the family relationship and reduce damage at the same time.

Nature of problem:

Sometimes the nature of an issue is just its problem. State Patty’s Day originated on March 2, 2007, as a way for students to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at a point when Penn State’s academic calendar had the school on spring break when the real holiday fell. Students in Penn State or even those from nearby universities wear the green, meet friends and fill the streets, bars and restaurants for Penn State’s unofficial, and at times, unwanted, early Saint Patrick’s Day celebration. Here comes the problem: students crowd in downtown at bars that open early just for this holiday. Alcohol being an important part of this holiday, State Patty’s Day becomes one of the most crime-ridden days in Happy Valley. Due to the reckless drinking habits of college students, other negatives have surfaced. There are higher rates of vandalism and alcohol-related incidents on these weekends.

For a long time, the university has been seeking ways to improve State Patty’s Day’s reputation. The university even thought of stop state Patty’s Day entirely. But according to the deliberation in class, it seems impossible to stop State Patty’s Day because each Penn State student is truly proud of this student-led holiday. If it is abolished, students might establish a similar holiday just with different names so that the same activities can be carried out. This means, it is impossible to stop students from being boisterous, but we can appease them. While in the deliberation, there is an approach I would recommend, which is finding alternative activities. And I specifically recommend school to hold a concert or a parade to attract students’ eyeballs so as to hold them from other alcoholic activities.

Firstly, inviting families to State Patty’s Day will definitely shape students’ behavior especially those related to the alcohol. What partly composes students’ activities on State Patty’s Day is waiting in front of gates of the bars, going out of a bar and then getting into another one. People drink and get drunk, which is the lurking danger behind the large number of students arrested because of criminal behaviors. According to a 2007 Daily Collegian article, on the first State Patty’s Day, Penn State police reported that seven people seven people were taken to the hospital for dangerous drinking and State College Police received about 140 calls that day. Though compared to the 250 average arrested students, 7 people and 140 calls is not large data, alcohol is still an important issue that the university should take actions on. Children behave better when they are in front of their parents and their siblings than they are staying alone or staying with their friends. When family get together, drinking is not necessary and is not the only thing could be done on this holiday so that alcohol-related incidents will happen in a lower rate.

Secondly, holding a parade or a concert will also stimulate the local economy. According to an Onward State article, in the past several years, the university paid the bars to shut down. Though some small local business like bars get some money from the university, the money earned cannot be compared with those earned due to students’ long lines waiting for getting in and having drinks. If there is a parade or concert that attracts many families, the bars will not only open on State Patty’s Day, they will also receive more people coming as families and as Penn State students’ friends. Since who is attracted by parade is not limited to families of Penn State students, many visitors from nearby town or nearby university will also come and spend money. The rout for the parade will definitely be downtown, the College Ave. So Penn State can get some place downtown to sell featured Penn State snacks such as the creamery and cookies with Penn State patterns on them. This can also spread Penn state’s popularity, which help improve Penn State’s reputation. Holding a parade is like enlarging the scale of State Patty’s Day in general, which is an effective way for greater number of people getting involved.

Lastly, as an international student, I believe the culture matters on State Patty’s Day, and the culture is also a great element that can be taken advantage of. Taking my personal experience as an example, my Chinese friends receive little information about State Patty’s Day. Some of them even don’t know what this holiday is and what it is for. I have once interviewed my roommate, Kehui, who told me that if there are any Chinese elements on this holiday, she would be more willing to get involved. She also said she was naturally interested in this holiday but had no idea how to participate except for going to bars and wearing green. On State Patty’s Day this year, which is the only year I have experienced, I had no Chinese friends attending, joining in any parties. I don’t think it is the individual preference especially when a large group of people chooses not to do. This stands for a kind of culture. If we hold an alternative activity like parade in which all Penn State students are interested in getting involved especially the international students, State Patty’s Day will not only become a holiday with mixed culture, it also helps American students learn more about other cultures of different countries. This parade can be like homecoming, but it can also be simpler so as to not take place of the homecoming. Showing ways of entertainments in different countries is also a great idea since State Patty’s Day is originally an entertaining holiday led by students.

Conclusion…..

Bellefonte

DSC_2892For this week’s passion blog, I want to introduce Bellefonte, which is a small town near our campus because I just went there last week and I like it very much.

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Last week, since it was the Easter, UNC got a day off on Friday so my boyfriend came to visit me here. We went to the Bellefonte together. Though the weather was not delightful, we had a good time there. Because we missed a bus, so we decided to take an Uber there. The driver was really nice, who introduced us some information about Bellefonte. Actually it is only a small town with its own architecture style, so one day is enough for visiting. He dropped us off on the main street of Bellefonte. The Bellefonte downtown is mainly a T shaped block with two main crossing streets. We got off at the cross road so we could walk to the four directions. The T block is on a slope, so at first we chose to walk up. At the center of this T block, there is a grand architecture, from the driver, we know this is a court in Bellefonte. It is like a small square with several columns standing in front of the court. On the wall, there is the history of Bellefonte. When we walk up, we realized that it is the highest point of Bellefonte because when we look down, all the sceneries are under our eyes, including the mountain far away and the court under our feet. Since we both are fans of photograph, we took a lot of pictures there because the scenery is gorgeous.

IMG_8181Our next destination is a church far away. We could only see the top of the church in the current location. From the roof of that church, we could tell that it was a Catholic Cathedral because it is obviously the gothic architecture style. When I walked near, the red door attracted me. Unfortunately, it is still not open yet, so I just walked around and looked high to the top. When continue walking, we both found that there are many churches around, at least five with different styles. In such a peaceful town, the existence of churches makes a lot of sense because they really fit the town well.

DSC_3052We continue walking to a random direction, without know where we are, just like we were lost in this lovely town. Soon, a river and a park appear in front of our eyes. But we were hungry that time, we walked in a small café and had a sandwich. When we walked out of the door again, the whole scenery change: many people gathering in the park with tons of yellow balloons floating in the sky. When walking near, we saw clearly that there are many children in the park. They are enjoying the small party the town has prepared for them because of the Easter. There are colorful eggs on the grass. Near the river bank, some children were playing with ducks, some feeding the fish. How peaceful the day is. The sun is shining so the weather is not cold at all. Even not in the middle of the crowd, I could feel children’s happiness.

DSC_3036The park is the last stop of our visit to Bellefonte. But when we were waiting for the bus, there is an antique shop near the bus stop, so we walked in and found lots of vintage in that store. Though the store is old and the goods in that shop is aged too, but my boyfriend and I both loved them. He bought a old video tape of Tom Hanks’ “Big brother.”

As you may have know, there is a large difference between a town in China and a town in America. I like the one in America more, because each of these towns has their own feature, worth visiting.

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Reflection on the deliberation and an idea for recommendation report.

In the last week, I attended two deliberations, one as a participant on the topic” fifty shades of consent” and one as a moderator of one approach on the topic “State Patty’s Day.” Because English is my second language, in most part I act as a listener. But the group members are nice. When I told them I was worried about my English and might made mistakes, they told me they would create some questions so that there would not be awkward silence. Also since there is cultural difference, sometimes I agree on what people said but I need to change to another brain to think about it in other people’s shoes especially on the “sexual assault” topic. Both the two groups did good jobs. The “fifty shades of consent” is a broader topic, so there are many points to extend. However, since the State Patty’s Day is a topic within the community, our group dives into many specific approaches and examples, but we still ended some time earlier. Each of us tries best to try to continue the topic and made the conversations going on. Through these two deliberations, I learned a lot, not only about the deliberation processes, but also different ways to continue the conversations and break the embarrassed silence. Also, though the deliberation is serious and formal, humor is needed. Examples are also important because examples are everywhere in our life, which is a good point where people can participate in the deliberation, not like the abstract reasoning part.

 

For an idea for paper four: the recommendation reports, I still want to write about my group’s topic: State Patty’s Day. During the deliberation, what impressed me was Dr. Ohara’s question: Do you think we should bring families into State Patty’s Day or just leave it a student-oriented holiday. This is a point that all the group members haven’t though about. At least my mind is limited to the three approaches: how to control the damage and what kind of alternative activities we could find to take place of the alcohol parties. I totally agree with this idea and would like to develop my recommendation report to this point. There are some alternative activities such as the concert and parade that will attract families in the town or in the near-by towns. Since there are parents and kids as audience of concert and parade, students may not be as crazy as what they are in the parties. So I would definitely recommend this approach.

TianJin

For this week’s passion blog, I want to introduce you a city with a long history, Tianjin. As recorded, Tianjin is the only ancient city in China that has the clear built time recorded. Though it was an ancient town, Tianjin has become a large and prosperous city due to its location, which is only one-hour drive from Beijing.

DSC_6357I went to Tianjin twice last year not only because my boyfriend lives there, but also because I like that city’s atmosphere very much. The most impressive part is its night light along the river. There is a river that runs across the whole city. In china, there is a convention that where there is water, where there will be prosperous. I believe it’s true. Above the river, there is a Ferris Wheel named “The eye of Tianjin.” You can imagine how amazing the view is when the Ferris Wheel is above the water and high into the sky, where you can oversee the view of the whole city. I still remember what was in front of my eyes that night because the night is a great time to get onto it. It is also the only one Ferris Wheel, which is built on a bridge. Well, the scenery along the river is another beautiful view. It is not as breathtaking as in the sky, but it is really silent and peaceful when you are walking along the river. The night-lights are all dark yellow, not dazzling at all but they provide a warm feeling.

DSC_6359DSC_6366DSC_6356DSC_6394Another place of interest I want to talk about is the Ancient Cultural Street. When you see the name of this
street, you probably already have some idea about this street. Right, it is a large district where you can see all kinds shops selling the antiques and small toys. Also, you can taste different kinds of the ancient Tianjin snacks, though to be honest they are not delicious. They are all featured Tianjin snacks because it is impossible to buy them elsewhere. Though I don’t like the antiques like my dad does, I still like the small antique toys that are made of ceramics. Some of them shape like birds and some of them shape like a lovely doll. If you have a chance to visit Tianjin, I strongly recommend you to come here to feel the ancient China atmosphere and have a taste of featured old ancient Chinese snacks.
DSC_6348Here I want to point out a great difference between China and America, on the aspect of transportation especially the subway. Since the subways in America all have a long history so most of them seem old, but most subway stations in China are really new. Like in my hometown Harbin, the subway rout is still in construction, and there is only one line in operation, from which you can tell how new the station is. I also put one picture of the station in Tianjin, where we play the photos and selfies through the reflection of the windows.

There are a lot of places worth visiting. There are also two top twenty universities set in this city, which is one of the reasons why I like Tianjin very much. Nowadays, some cities develop so fast that they forgot about the education. And you cannot feel the culture and arts in those cities. I like Tianjin also because it follows the old tradition of riding the bicycles and reading the newspaper. I feel great when you see people riding the bicycle appearing from the sunlight.

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