“Did you see that Lily Tomlin was on Ellen again?”

“What’s that?”

Location Overheard: HUB

I’m not sure what the “what’s that?” was in reference to here. But whether it was about either Ellen or Lily Tomlin I am severely disappointed in this person’s reaction of not knowing either individual. What a disgrace to the 21st century. For those of you who don’t know, Ellen is clearly in reference to the popular daytime television host Ellen DeGeneres while Lily Tomlin is an American actress, comedian, and singer who is now popular for her show Grace & Frankie with co-star Jane Fonda. Both women are absolutely hysterical and are practically legendary.

So, for this blog post, I will be featuring Lily Tomlin and her very entertaining role as Frankie in Grace & Frankie (Thank you to whoever brought up Lily Tomlin on Ellen because now I get to talk about one of my favorite shows).

Grace & Frankie (2015)

Grace & Frankie is a Netflix Original that has featured five brilliant seasons of comedic gold and entertaining storylines. Season 6 has been renewed and will be uploaded to Netflix in 2020. The show features two women, played by Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, whose husbands leave them for each other. In an attempt to get over the shocking news, Grace and Frankie, who are polar opposites, become close friends as they try to navigate their new worlds. Frankie, who’s an eccentric and earthy aspiring artist, who smokes a bit too much marijuana and sages the beach house in her free time finds support in Grace, who’s a fashionable businesswoman addicted to pain medication who drinks martinis at eight o’clock in the morning. Both go on various adventures together as their ex-husbands Sol and Robert begin their new lives together as husbands.

I started this series over Christmas break and finished all 5 seasons by the time I returned to Penn State and even got my mother addicted The episodes are only twenty-five minutes long and the plot is light and funny. I highly recommend starting this series if you want something new that won’t drain you of energy by attempting to keep up with the storyline and characters.

Lily Tomlin even earned four Emmy nominations and one Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Grace & Frankie. 

Honestly, I just hope I age as well as Lily Tomlin and still have the ability to be so quick-witted even at the age of 79. And to whoever it was that was unaware of Lily Tomlin, well, I just hope that one day her hysterical presence will enter into your life in one way or another.

“On a side note edamame is so subtle but it is such a game changer!”

“Yes, I know! Have you ever had it warm and salted?”

“No, but I think I could spoon feed it to myself every day and not get sick of it.”

Location Overheard: Pollock Commons

I suppose it was the Asian Edamame Pad Thai on the menu that sparked this particular discussion at the next table over. I guess this dish was a hit amongst the group. Anyway, according to WebMD, (not really sure why WebMD has an article about edamame) edamame is “just a fancy name for boiled green soybeans.”

Edamame is simply immature soybeans, found in a lot of East Asian cuisines. In Japan and Hong Kong, the name edamame literally translates to “stem peas” because the beans were often sold with the stem still intact. Well, apparently these fancy little green soybeans have a lot of health benefits that go unrecognized.

High in protein: Apparently one cup of cooked edamame provides around 18.5 g of protein.

May lower cholesterol: Eating 47 grams of soy protein per day can lower total cholesterol levels by 9.3%.

Rich in vitamins and minerals: In 100 g of edamame: Folate (78%), Vitamin K1 (33%), Thiamine (13%), Riboflavin (9%), Iron (13%), Copper (17%), Manganese (51%).

Rich in fiber: Edamame is rich in protein, antioxidants and fiber that may lower circulating cholesterol levels.

Edamame is also considered one of the most versatile beans to cook with. Here are some ways that you can prepare edamame!

The Japanese typically eat edamame as a side dish. Salt and garlic are typically condiments for edamame.

Just like at Pollock, edamame can also be placed in Pad Thai which makes a tasty dish.

Edamame can also be baked in the oven with salt, pepper, garlic, and parmesan cheese. Similar to the snack called “kale chips” which is made with the same ingredients, crispy edamame can serve as a new side dish or a snack.

Overall, I suppose I learned that edamame is a bean that you can literally add to anything and enjoy the health benefits that come along with it. It was really interesting to hear someone get so excited over these little green beans, but I suggest that it is a valid thing to get excited over. The United States Department of Agriculture even stated that edamame beans are a “soybean that can be eaten fresh and are best known as a snack with a nutritional punch.” I had no idea that edamame was notorious for being such a game changer.

“What is one way that BiSci has infiltrated your life?”

“Well, one day I wasn’t feeling well so I remembered a lecture from a few weeks ago and took a few drops of my pee and put it in Gatorade and drank it to feel better.”

“That’s wonderful.”

Location Overheard: 100 Thomas Building

If this doesn’t sum up the class, BiSci, then I’m not quite sure would. For those of you who haven’t taken the class (BISC 3: Environmental Science), then I’m sure you’re feeling a bit lost and confused, and for those of you who have taken the class, I’m sure you’re feeling right at home. BiSci 3 was a course that I originally didn’t plan on taking, however, after overhearing a conversation between a guy who had taken the course and was planning to become a TA because of how the course had completely changed his life (I know it seems like all I do is eavesdrop on people’s conversations, but trust me I promise this is not the case), I decided to cram it into my schedule just for fun.

So, I looked into what the course consisted of and pleasantly found that it was taught by Doc and Jen with the goal of uniting environmental issues with one’s self in mind. It is hardly a science class at all but rather more of a philosophical one and was ranked as one of the best GenEds offered here at Penn State. With weekly journal entries, the course focuses on looking within one’s self, thoughts, feelings, and capabilities in an attempt to solve the detrimental practices that we see manifesting today that are harming the environment and Earth. At times, it may seem corny, but all in all, the course has really taught me a lot about myself and how I can learn to utilize my own emotions, agency, and activism to combat the problems of the world.

BiSci has been famously characterized as a “tree-hugger,” “look at the stars,” “hippy-dippy” course, but, honestly the current academic system is so focused on standardized testing that sometimes a class that focuses on learning about yourself rather than cramming outside material that you’ll end up forgetting by the summer is a breath of fresh air.

Anyway, getting back to the conversation featured in this week’s blog post, this is the epitome of BiSci actions. Props to this girl for drinking her own urine in attempts to cure whatever sickness she was feeling that particular day. Urotherapy is actually a legitimate practice that dates back to ancient Rome, Greece, and Egypt where urine was used to treat everything from acne to cancer. It is said that it reintroduce nutrients into the body such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and especially plant nutrients, however,  this practice should be done in very small quantities.

On the other hand, drinking urine in today’s society really isn’t advised. Urine can introduce bacteria, toxins, and medications into your system that may potentially be detrimental to your health.

All in all, maybe stick to DayQuil and Benadryl if you’re feeling a bit down in the dumps, but I appreciate the enthusiasm of skipping all the way to urine instead.

“Don’t you dare even think about eating that.”

“Wait, why not?”

“I haven’t taken a picture yet!”

“Oh, well then of course not!”

Location Overheard: Playa Bowls

The night before State Patty’s Day and all through State College, students crowded McLanahan’s buying green apparel, lugging cases of liquor, and… açaí bowls? Playa Bowls recently opened a few months ago in State College, and of course the chain that features a variety of açaí, pitaya, coconut bowls and smoothies became immediately popular amongst students.

In case you don’t know what açaí is, it’s a South American palm tree that produces small, edible, blackish-purplish berries which are used to make the açaí base. This palm tree is native to Brazil, Peru, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. The açaí fruit has actually been a staple in the diets of people within the Amazon river delta area for centuries. However, its exportation hadn’t become popular until the 21st century, right around the time when açaí bowls became the newest trend. Açaí berries are loaded with antioxidants, healthy fats, and fibers, making it a generally healthy food.

So the Friday before St. Patty’s Day, I ventured out towards E. Calder Way to grab myself a a pricy $10 bowl. From the overwhelming list of açaí flavors, I decided on Pacific- Green Bowl, having already tried the Tide- Banana Bowl (FYI I rate the Pacific Bowl 9/10 and the Tide Bowl a 7/10). However, while waiting in line, the girl before me received her very colorful açaí bowl only to be stopped from taking the first bite by her friend who claimed it would “ruin the aesthetic.”

Since when has it become such a necessity to document the food we eat, almost as proof that we were actually at a particular restaurant? Taking photos of our food has become such a determining factor of whether or not we actually ate the meal or visited the five star eatery. It all started with the surge of social networking apps that took to our smartphones that focus on sharing photos. Apps that feature accounts that are run by individuals who can be classified as “foodies” began popping up, especially with the mom-friendly and fan-favorite app, Pinterest. Then, there was a transition to Instagram. In fact, explore pages on the app are full of an overwhelming amount of picturesque meals, coffees, and desserts.

I definitely do not go too overboard with the foodie pictures, however, if I do find myself in a situation where the food on my plate looks more aesthetically pleasing than the average meal, then, well yes, I suppose I will take a picture.

Like when I was in France and had been awake for nearly 36 hours and severely jet lagged, of course my first meal at a crepe shop nestled near the Notre-Dame Cathedral would be featured on the ‘gram.

So, yes, despite the annoying amount of food pictures I scroll through on Instagram, I do understand that sometimes the beauty of açaí, granola, fresh fruit, and coconut flakes is all too much to handle and requires the necessary action of taking a picture to help preserve the artful piece. I, myself, fell victim to documenting the fruit-filled crepe.

Anyway, clearly, discussions regarding taking pictures of food are pretty common in today’s day and age. I hope the girl and her friend at Playa Bowls got a “post worthy” picture because she’s definitely not alone in the act of doing so.  Just take a look at @Overheadla’s recent Twitter post.

@Overheardla | Twitter & Instagram

“Hey look it’s Erik Erikson!”

“Wait, isn’t Erik Erikson a famous psychologist?”

“Yeah, I think so”

“Oh my god, what is he doing on FOX? Wait…”

Location Overheard: Pollock Dining Commons

In my senior year of high school, I took a semester-long introductory psychology course which pretty must just grazed over the major concepts of psychology and the famous psychologists within the field of study. It was pretty much a crash course of all things the human mind. So, along with Sigmund Freud and Ivan Pavlov, Erik Erikson was a pretty prominent figure.

Both of my godparents are psychologists at a college in Upstate New York called SUNY Cortland. In fact, my godmother just recently told me that when she would look after me when I was younger, I was often the subject of several benign psychological childhood development experiments. She would then use her experimental findings as examples in her Psychology 101 course. Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure nothing major ever happened, at least not that I am aware of. Psychologically, thus far, I am pretty sure I am doing just fine. So, following the lead of Pavlov and his dogs, my godmother experimented with classical conditioning—such as taking a toy that I was initially scared to play with because of its loud noises and having me play with it until she had conditioned me to be unafraid of the thing. Anyway, moral of the story is that I knew who Erik Erikson was, but clearly, these two Penn State students were a little hazy on the subject, and when I heard that Erik Erikson was currently on Fox News, it more than just caught my attention.

Crash Course Erik Erikson Style

In case you’re not one of the thousand psychology majors here at Penn State, Erik Erikson (1902-1994) was a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst. The man was best known for his eight stages of psychosocial development from infancy to adulthood. I won’t bore you with much detail, but here they are:

Now that you hopefully know who Erikson was, let’s transition back to the conversation above that took place at Pollock Commons one evening about a week ago. Who the girl had seen on FOX was, in fact, Erick Erickson. However, it wasn’t the Erik Erikson that she later realized she thought to be the long deceased, world-renowned psychologist. It was actually this man:

For some reason, seeing this man, with the name Erick Erickson plastered below his picture really just made her question whether or not the psychologist was back from the dead, discussing matters on FOX News. The slight difference in the spelling of these two individuals’ names is actually quite misleading as there is a drastic difference between them. This particular Erickson is a conservative American blogger and radio host.

After contemplating what she saw and what she had just said, it was moments later that this Penn State student realized that the individual displayed on the television, engaged in a heated political debate, was not actually Erik Erikson the psychologist. However, I am pleased to say that she soon recognized her mistake and we all shared a good laugh.

“I used to have a friend from Tibet. Yeah, he did mushrooms and I haven’t seen him since”

“Oh wow. Now I hear it’s all about LSD”

Location Overheard: Webster’s Bookstore & Café

I’d have to say, this was one of the more unusual conversations to overhear, really, in any public space. Two old men with graying beards, crouched over bowls of soups sat at Webster’s at a table adjacent to my own, enjoying a nice Sunday brunch. After hearing this one specific line I couldn’t help but continue to listen. Turns out, after listening to a bit more of their conversation, the man with the Tibetan friend served in the army, was a doctor in Japan, and was also a pimp for a brief moment in time. Interesting enough, this man seemed to have lived several lives in his one lifetime and now sat in a basement lined with used books in State College telling his story to his friend at a rather loud volume. In fact, he spoke so loudly that my eavesdropping could hardly be classified as that and should rather be considered as casual listening.

Anyway, after being fascinated by the Tibetan man who did mushrooms, I decided to do some research on Tibet and unearth his rather captivating culture. Disclaimer: this blog post will not feature any sort of analysis of the psychedelic drugs mentioned in the above dialogue. Let’s save that compelling conversation for another post.

Tibet is an autonomous region within China and is centrally located on the Asian continent, falling directly above Eastern India and Nepal. In 1913, Tibet’s spiritual and political leader, the 13th Dalai Lama, affirmed Tibet’s independence. However, by 1950 Communist regime in China had invaded Tibet, and to this day the nation remains under Chinese occupation. There are still remnants of tension between the two nations. In fact, this past year it was discovered that Google has been assisting China in creating a search engine named ‘DragonFly’ that will censor and limit Tibet’s access to certain information that is linked with words, such as “human rights,” “democracy,” “Dalai Lama,” or “Tibet.” It is set to be launched in 2019.

Tibet’s geography is unique as its Southern territory is bordered by the Himalayan Mountains. So if you are aware of where Mount Everest is located and the geography and climate that aligns with this particular region, then you probably have a good sense of what Tibet is like. Tibet actually takes home the award for the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of 16,000 feet.

After a few articles in, I found that Tibet also has some interesting facts worth noting. Roughly 47% of the world’s population depends on the flow of fresh water from Tibet because of the Tibetan plateau, which is currently the third largest storage of water and ice in the world.

Also, Buddhism is essentially the foundation of Tibetan culture. You may have previously seen these colorful, rectangular pieces of cloth before. They are in fact called prayer flags and are often found strung alongside mountain ridges or suspended from the peaks of the Himalayas. Their primary use is to bless the surrounding countrysides. The flags are meant to be constantly blowing in the wind, and it is said that their movements will spread goodwill, peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom.

Color and order are essential to the layout of the prayer flags as well. From left to right, prayer flags are strung in the order of blue, white, red, green, and yellow and represent the five elements. Health and harmony are believed to be produced through the balance of all five elements.

Well, that concludes today’s brief lesson on Tibetan culture. Hopefully, the man’s friend from Tibet who took mushrooms and mysteriously vanished is doing alright. We may not know who he is or where he is, but at least we now know a bit more about his culture.

“Yeah, I think I’m going to skip the gym today. It’s been so packed lately because of that whole “new year, new you” thing. Emily couldn’t even get into White Building. There was a line out the door.”

“Give it a week. It’ll die down. No one actually sticks to their resolutions.”

Location Overheard: 106 Chambers Building

“New year, new you.” Each year, as we near the end of the month of December and emerge on the first day of January, this particular slogan can be seen plastered across Instagram captions of Jessica posing with a margarita in Mexico or your grandma who’s just sifted through her friends list on Facebook, cutting out “fake friends.”

Either way, “new year, new me” has become a mantra for people worldwide who desire to be transformed into the individuals that, deep down, haven’t had the guts to emerge in any other given month. So, naturally, the beginning of a new calendar year (even though time never really has a defined beginning nor end, it kind of continues without anyone’s approval) seems like the perfect time to finally become the person you have envisioned for the past year but never really had the time to pursue.

As we religiously praise “new, year, new me” as a way to reconstruct ourselves, dismissing everything we displease with the hopeful promise of changed habits, then why is it notorious that this mindset begins to fade by the second week of January? For some, maybe even by the second day?

Approximately 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February. In the year 2019, it has become a known fact that resolutions rather transform into wishful thoughts. Resolutions are more like the half-completed projects that you so eagerly pursued at first, yet, now they remain half done, collecting dust as the months progress and the desire to “try again” is a far removed thought from your mind.

Amidst the failed fates of resolutions, this year I began to think of the holiday in a different way. What I was able to infer was that people certainly enjoy posting their resolutions on social media as a way to reaffirm the new journey they’re about to endure, as if permanently publicizing the promise that they are making with themselves is the equivalent of signing a contract.

Even though the first day of January is overloaded with updated statuses of your Aunt Marge who you know won’t stop drinking excessive amounts of wine even though she proposes to do so. And even though there’s actually a 20% chance that David, the high school drug dealer, will actually quit his Juul addiction, I’ve decided this year that its become a beautiful thing to watch people seek to uncover the individuals they want to emerge from the ashes of 2018 and rise into the new light of 2019. I believe this holiday is about promoting self-growth and taking steps into the unknown, even though many people’s hangovers on New Year’s Day last longer than the actual resolution itself.I think New Year has certainly surpassed many holidays on my list of favorites. New beginnings, however big or small, spark a small flame in people. For some it lasts the whole year, their flames rising greater with each month that they fulfill their goals. For others, it slowly dims before becoming extinguished before the calendar displays January 31st. Either way, time and the illusion that it is offers a small “start over” or “reset” for those who choose to step out of the comfortable complacency that the last year had molded their minds and bodies to. I’m not sure how a flip of a calendar page can inspire such change, but for at least the start of a New Year, humans across the world envision a better version of themselves and aiming to do just that is something that should be celebrated.

So, I guess the moral of this conversation is that “new me” doesn’t have to wait for “new year.” I suppose we’ll never know if Emily braved the line at the gym or gave up and went home. Either way, remember, you don’t need a New Year for you to become everything you’ve always wanted to be, or to start eating more plants, or to go to the gym more often, or to uproot and move to San Francisco.

Each and every day is a perfectly fine day to do so.

P.S. checkout “About” under the “Menu” tab on Overheard State College’s home page to find out what sparked the creation of this passion blog and more worldwide Overheard pages!