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December, 2012

  1. Kokomo

    December 6, 2012 by Lauren Parrott

    Apparently my life is too busy for me to enjoy it. Therefore, the novel continues:

     

    When I first met Leo his hair was fire engine red. My mom was understandably concerned but he was unmistakably charming. The dye had since faded to a dusty brown but he always looked like a redhead to me. He was pale, with a smattering of freckles, and a baby face even though his jaw had become more defined as we grew up. He was handsome, but when I looked at his profile all I could see was Joe. The resemblance was uncanny. Leo used to love when people thought that they were siblings. Now it just seemed like a curse.

     

    By the time we were in Indiana the car was suffocating. You probably weren’t aware, but there is actually a Kokomo, Indiana. We passed a large green sign that announced that fact and made my day. My knee jerk reaction was to start singing.

    “Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take ya. Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty-”

    “Stop, please god” He laughed and shook his head at me. I turned to look at him.

    “Leo, where are we going?”

    “Does it matter?” He asked innocently.

    “Don’t give me that sass,”

    “Sass? I would never,” He smiled. “Are you going to trust me?” He asked looking over at me.

    “Are you going to watch the road?” I asked skeptically. He kept eye contact and grinned. I glanced from him to the road and back.  “Leo!” He laughed but turned to look at the road.

    “You’re fine,” He admonished. I glared.


  2. Negative Image

    December 6, 2012 by Lauren Parrott

    Recently, one of our sororities on campus made a poor decision. Undoubtedly, many people have heard about The Nu Gamma’s Mexican-themed party. A picture of the girls dressed up in sombreros and ponchos has sparked criticism and a considerable amount of backlash. The picture portrayed many offensive and inappropriate stereotypes; including signs that read, “will mow grass for weed” and “I don’t cut grass, I smoke it.”

    As a Penn Stater it is important to remember that all of our actions are under the microscope. Everything that we do makes an argument for our school, whether positive or negative. The community aspect of Penn State has been, at times, our downfall. The representatives of our community have not been casting Penn State in a positive light. However, it is important for us as a whole to remember how we represent the unit.

    Yesterday I was stopped by a reporter and a camera crew that asked me if I knew what happened. They introduced themselves as a crew from the NBC today show. He asked if he could get my reaction for the segment about the picture, and I told him no.

     

    At the time I was not prepared to be the voice of our school. I did not want to be a negative representation. Our school’s image needs to be handled delicately. We, as a community, need to remember that what we do is not just a reflection of ourselves but the entire school. I would remind everyone to be conscious of the argument that you are making.


  3. Video Project

    December 6, 2012 by Lauren Parrott

    The video project is definitely a challenge. We have started researching the topics and getting background information, along with statistics. I have gotten information from news websites as well as from databases. It is a good start, but we do need more information before we can put everything together.

    We decided to do our project on the lifetime blood donation ban on gay men. We will be discussing whether it is statistically correct to say that they have higher levels of HIV and whether this is still a relevant concern or if the policy should be changed.

    I had intended on giving blood yesterday to interview a nurse and get footage of the blood donation process. Unfortunately, there was a three hour wait to give blood and I was unable to wait due to scheduling conflicts. We will need to find something else to fill the gap since I could not get the footage.

    We have been thinking that we want to do interviews, however, it is been difficult to figure out who we want to interview and what will be relevant for our argument.

    I am a little worried about having enough footage or pictures and enough things to talk about in general for the entire video. Seven minutes is a long time when it comes to videos.

    It will be good to get the video making demo from the media commons people today. I have not really been involved in making a video before, especially not with apple technology. It will be an interesting experience. Hopefully we can make a successful and engaging clip that can get to the bottom of the issue.

    The next step is to start pulling together all of the information and media to create the video.


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