To Dance and Play

Dating in college. Romance in the college years is an interesting beast. Colleges are often bashed as having a “hook-up culture”, implying that courtship and romance are a thing of the past, scarce to be found on a modern day campus. However, one merely needs to observe the number of couples holding hands, cuddling on benches, or doing other obviously “coupley” activities to realize that dating is all but dead. Despite what people say, it is my experience and observation that college students are extremely active in the dating scene… perhaps more active that most any other age group. In this post, I intend to examine some amusing trends I have observed in my freshman peers’ dating habits.

The dining commons. One might wonder, what does this have to do with dating? As a freshman, EVERYTHING. Nothing is more chivalrous and romantic than paying for your date’s four dollar buffet entrance fee, using your ID card meal plan paid for by your parents. If I was a female, I’m sure this gesture would win me over in an instant. In all seriousness, I do find it interesting how many couples are always present in the dining commons. The irony of spending parents money on cheap food aside, being able to go to lunch/dinner many nights a week with one’s significant other does actually sound pretty nice. Maybe the food is not the best, but few are the students in college who can afford to wine and dine their romantic interest all the time. On the issue of dining as a couple in the dining commons, I must conclude that I am torn. I would certainly prefer to be able to go somewhere a little more classy, but I have also never before been in a position to be able to see a girlfriend close to every day for dinner (this would have seemed quite a strange idea in high school). In the end, I suppose spending time together wins out over the pitiful image of going on a date to a university dining commons.

In my title, I also mention binge-watching, referring to the practice of streaming many episodes of a TV series all in a row. Again, one may wonder what this has to do with college dating. My answer is that I hypothesize this is a common date activity for poor college students who want to spend time together. For underclassman students without access to a vehicle, the number of date activities within a walking distance can be limited by money, creativity, and interest. Binge-watching television shows seems a natural alternative. Like with the idea of going to dinner at the dining commons, I find myself with mixed feelings about the idea of watching television as a date. On the surface, it seems a somewhat strange way to spend time with another person. Yet, I also expect it is a highly effective way to create a shared experience between two people. Who knows how many inside jokes will be formed, ideas and laughter shared during the course of watching a TV series. In addition, it is a good excuse to spend some time together in someone’s room, which few college student’s likely have objection to.

College is a time for creativity. The dating scene is not dead, although it may not exactly resemble that found in any other environment. Given the limited resources and time available to college students, they are not doing a bad job of finding ways to spend time together by making normal routine behaviors into romantic opportunities.

College is a time for self-discovery and exploration since it brings young people just emerging from their parents home into the real world into contact with ideas and behaviors they have never seen before. College students may be seen as a single group by the public at large, but they represent an incredibly diverse group of people from all walks of life, possessing a great variety of interests and talents. I propose that it is this diversity which is responsible for the great prevalence and success of niche groups and communities on college campuses.

Penn State, as my school, is the most likely source of evidence I can draw on to support my claim. With around 1,000 student run clubs and organizations, there truly seems to be a group for every imaginable activity. From clubs dedicated to community service, to sports teams, to the board game club and the video game club, there is no limit to the students ability to support clubs of all varieties. In this post, I would like to bring attention to some of the less well-known, yet nonetheless quite intriguing, clubs on campus.

3D Printing Club– Yes, Penn State has a club dedicated to promoting the art and science of 3D printing. In addition to training members in the operation (and construction) of 3D printers, this club provides a service to the University Community by printing parts by request, for a small fee. The club is said to have access to several dozen 3D printers, most of which they have constructed. They have, quite ingeniously, figured out how to use 3D printing to produce the required parts for building more 3D printers. This club is certainly one of the most unique and interesting clubs I have ever heard of.

Clown Nose Club– A somewhat recognizable club around campus (although not necessarily universally recognized by the students), this club promotes spreading happiness through positive social risks. They wear red clown noses to help break down social barriers, and make people more comfortable engaging them in conversation. I have witnessed members of this club show up at OTHER clubs meetings to appreciate the club, have seen them hanging positive, uplifting messages on walls, and even recall  a day when they were “ambushing” people passing by the HUB with a giant group of clowns throwing compliments at people. While seemingly odd on the surface, I think this club is pretty cool.

Comic Book Club– A prime example of a type of club which might only be found on a college campus, this club promotes, well, comic books. I have never attended a meeting, so all of my information is second-hand, but I have heard that this club discusses and shares comics at their meetings, as well as plays card games such as “Magic.” Indeed, there is a comic book store in downtown state college, which I imagine is somehow involved with the comic book club. I have visited this store, and was overwhelmed by the number of available comics and related merchandise. While never a big comic buff myself, I can appreciate how strong of an interest this must be for some college students to support such a business.

Penn State, and colleges in general, are full of amazing and interesting clubs. Here I have described only three clubs, but they are simply the tip of the iceberg of clubs available at Penn State. For a full list of clubs available at all Penn State campuses, be sure to visit http://www.clubs.psu.edu/ Perhaps you will be surprised to find your favorite hobby already has a club available to join on campus!

At the end of my third passion blog, I promised a video of myself testing out pickup lines on girls. I have been out a number of times with a camcorder, a wireless mic, and a few faithful friends to get that footage. While the video is coming together nicely, I am still interested in filming some more before publishing the video. If you are interested in helping record video, or even trying out some pickup lines for the camera yourself, let me know (filming will likely occur immediately following spring break). You can express your interest either by commenting on this blog (leave an e-mail address or phone number) or writing to me at kih5283@psu.edu

Now, on to the subject of this entry. After writing several times about risky, questionable fad behaviors, this week I was determined to find some positive, healthy fad behaviors to explore. I asked people all week about what college fads they had learned of or witnessed her at Penn State, expecting that by now, I couldn’t be surprised by anything. Yet I was. And so once again, I present a compilation of extremely questionable behaviors, which undoubtedly pose many grave risks to health safety, or in some cases just our decency.

Purple Drank– A seemingly harmless mix of Jolly Ranchers, Sprite, and… codeine cough syrup. This is the latest fad in abusing this depressant cough remedy. Ingesting an overdose of codeine cough syrup leads to drowsiness, an altered perception of time, slowed breathing and heartbeat. While there is nothing about the use of Jolly Ranchers or Sprite which adds significantly to the effect of the codeine, these ingredients have sufficed to turn the nasty tasting liquid into a party drink. While I had heard of this concoction on occasion in high school, I was surprised to hear of its presence at college. College students are already sleep-deprived zombies by the end of the week, so why they would wish consume “purple drank” is beyond me. In any case, the risks associated with this fad are great… Overdose of codeine cough syrup can lead to labored breathing, seizures, coma, and even death.

Drinking Hand Sanitizer- This fad most college students likely became aware of sometime in middle school or high school. The sanitizer gets its antibacterial properties from its alcohol content. Ethyl alcohol, to be specific. When ingested straight out of the bottle, this practice inevitably lands people in the hospital with stomach problems and, more often than not, alcohol poisoning. Clever college students have tried to reassure those concerned about ingesting chemicals by creating a process to extract the ehtyl alcohol using salt, creating a concentration of nearly 100% alcohol. Don’t be fooled… It is not the “toxic chemicals” that from drinking hand sanitizer that kill… it is the insane amount of alcohol in such a small amount that leads to alcohol poisoning. The process of extracting the alcohol only makes the practice even more deadly.

Polar Baring- This is the first of the strange fads I never heard about prior to entering college. Given the large amount of snow around the State College area, in retrospect, I am not surprised that this particular fad is a big thing right now. It involves people (usually girls) posing, naked, outside in the snow, to take pictures for social media. I don’t intend to engage in any sort of commentary on the morality of nudity, public or not. Simply the idea of going outside in this weather nude is enough to convince me that this is a really dumb fad. I hope that they get some good pictures, because that might be all they have soon… frostbite isn’t cute!

Penn State Hookups Facebook Page- Not to be taken too seriously, this facebook page is representative of a broader collection of pages. Many colleges across the country have similar pages… in fact, the Penn State page is not particularly active compared to many others. The idea is that students can anonymously post a message to their hookup .

Perhaps the page description says it best: “This page is specifically designed so you can reconnect with that hot piece of a**, that one night stand, or any wrongly spurned lovers.” Unlike so many of the other fads I have detailed in my blog series, I will not warn you away from this page. In fact, I was highly amused reading through the posts, which can be found here.

I hope you have enjoyed this collection of fads, brought to my attention by fellow Penn State students. Stay smart, and stay safe! And check out that Penn State Hookups page for a good laugh.

Remember to comment/e-mail me if interested in participating in the pickup lines video! (kih5283@psu.edu)

THON is such a part of the Penn State student culture, that it is nearly impossible to imagine a campus without the constant sight of THON attire, and the advertisements for fundraisers and “THON Orgs”. The sheer number of people involved is evidence that THON is a big deal… but why? I went to THON to find out more, and talked to some attendees to discover the craziest traditions related to THON.

When I arrived, the Bryce Jordan Center was bustling as I had never seen. People were everywhere, and in a matter of hours, the BJC would be filled to capacity. Inside, everyone stood around, dancing, and conversing, and trying to stay awake. The court was awash with a rainbow of neon t-shirts, and various organizations waved lettered signs everywhere to announce their presence. As I wandered the stadium, I ran into so many people from my classes, clubs, and organizations. I realized that part of the appeal of THON is that everyone seems to be involved with it in some way. It has become a quintessential part of the Penn State experience, and I imagine those who have no interest or involvement with THON are in the minority. The massive number of people involved grants THON great financial rewards through the fundraising efforts of so many committed individuals. I imagined that it also meant that some very unique and interesting methods of fundraising might be employed. With a little bit of investigation, I heard about what I believe was the most unique and most interesting of all…

The Penn State Marketing Association held an auction to raise money for THON. They were auctioning off dates… Penn State athletes, to be specific. Many great stories emerged from this evening. Apparently the auction enjoyed significant success, raising over $1,400 for THON.

Items auctioned ranged from $30 to over $700, the first being a date with four members of the swim team, the latter, the entirety of the football team. The Nittany Lion was present, of course, to encourage bidders to compete for the lovely men and women of Penn State athletics. Other interesting events included a showdown between two bidders for a date with two women’s lacrosse players. Eventually, they decided to go on a double date, splitting the $130 charge. All of the teams had their own approach to attract bids. Some didn’t have to work so hard, such as the football players, who brought along some popular guys like quarterback Christian Hackenberg and tackle Gary Gilliam. Others had to be a little more creative, such as the men’s lacrosse team. Represented by eleven members of the team, they expressed interest in a riverboat gambling trip, and building snowmen, and promised to buy their date pumpkin spice lattes…

While people are involved in THON in many different ways, and for very different reasons, I have no doubt that the effort is a good thing. THON is a demonstration that students can come together as a community, and with nothing but raw determination, raise enough support for a cause to make a difference. It is evidence that students have the power to change the world around them, and it is evidence that they care enough to try. Whether by volunteering to be auctioned, or simply by canning in front of a local Wal-Mart, Penn State students found their own way of contributing to the great effort that is THON.

We are undoubtedly of a generation determined to explore the limits of human stupidity- if you have any doubt on this point, please refer to my previous post on strange means of getting drunk. However, this noble quest is nothing new… In this entry, I will examine a variety of silly college fad behaviors throughout history, leading up to some present day shenanigans which you might have heard about, and might not have.

Pole-Sitting – This strange behavior involves climbing a flag pole, and perching on top of it for an extended duration. While not very common among college students today, in the 1920’s this was a big fad. There was intense competition over who could sit atop a flag pole for the longest duration. This odd, though not particularly disruptive, behavior was intended to draw attention and fame. Sometimes the sitter was supplied with necessities by companions, and other times they attempted to bring enough supplies atop the pole with them to stay. And did they ever stay… Some early records are on the order of 40-50 days atop poles, while the current world record holder is H. David Werder, who remained on a pole for 439 days, 11 hours, and 6 minutes from November 1982 to January 1984 as a protest against gasoline prices. This fad seems really pathetically silly to me… Some logistics problems emerge which might make this extremely uncomfortable, such as how to use the bathroom, how to sleep, etc.

Goldfish Swallowing– The frat boys have been stirring up controversy for as long as greek organizations have existed. This strange fad was all the rage in the 1930’s. It is exactly what it sounds to be- people swallow live goldfish to satisfy a dare or bet. Believed to have been started by some boys at Harvard, this behavior became such a fad that universities implemented a ban on the practice. This seems a strange thing to ban, but perhaps the officials simply felt the trend was too disgusting to condone through silence. 

Streaking– Penn State students know what streaking is. The annual “Mifflin Streak” is perhaps the most well-known and longest running streaking events anywhere in the country. Despite this yearly Sunday evening of nudity, modern day Penn State does not rival the streaking glory of the 1970’s. Streaking was a huge craze during this time period, with streakers scandalizing public squares across the country every day. Evidence of the prominence of streaking during this time period rests in the recording of the 46th annual academy awards, during which a streaker runs behind the host David Niven on camera, prompting the now famous quip by the same: “Isn’t it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?”across the country were forced to ban the practice of swallowing or otherwise consuming goldfish. While the behaviors seems bizarre, the ban strikes me as even stranger… I doubt that the practice poses significant health risks, and the population of goldfish was not being jeopardized. Perhaps university officials felt this was just too gross to condone by the absence of a ban.

Cinnamon Challenge– While there are countless silly fad behaviors between the 1970’s and the present day which I might examine, I have selected the cinnamon challenge because it is relatively current and still attracting attempts by teens and young adults as evidenced by the steady stream of youtube videos documenting the many, many, failures. The challenge is as follows: Consume a spoonful of cinnamon all at once, without any water. While not impossible, as proven by Mythbusters’ Tory Belleci, the challenge is difficult enough that it typically results in a coughing fit and violent gagging. Cinnamon is an extremely fine powder, and covers a huge surface area when spread out. It is extremely absorbent of liquids such as water, and saliva. When such an amount is added to the mouth, it depletes available saliva nearly instantaneously and causes gagging, leading to retching and coughing. If this description is not enough to discourage you from attempting this, watch some youtube videos and see how miserable the attemptees look. This can pose a health threat if aspirated, especially in those with asthma or pre-existing breathing impairments. 

Thanks for reading, and be sure to tune in next week for a firsthand examination of Penn State’s pickup and/or hookup culture. I will be out with some accomplices testing the trends in response to pickup lines in different situations at Penn State… the video will be a part of next week’s blog!

One Spoonful? Too Easy. Uses entire ladle, with… bad… consequences.

Click for video…