Category: Work in Progress

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…..

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.

Personally, I don’t think State Patty’s Day should be abandoned. State Patty’s Day acts as an alternative to celebrate the Saint Patrick’s Day since there is a time conflict between the spring break and Saint Patrick’s. It provides Penn State students with a great chance to get together for parties and be crazy, and it’s only once in a year, which will not bring lasting impact to the school and the town. Since Saint Patty’s Day is a student-led holiday, this truly presents Penn State students’ initiative and creativeness. I believe a university is a students-centred place, so stopping this holiday will dispel students’ enthusiasm on participating events especially the events established by students themselves.

Regarding the adverse impacts this holiday brings to the school and the local town, we can find solutions to diminish them. Firstly, we can put more police force on controlling the student activity on that specific day. Because State Patty’s Day is only a one-day holiday, increasing police force will not cost a lot. In this way, the damage will be controlled in a large range. Secondly, the school can make laws on this specific day. The school has the idea of re-evaluating this holiday is mainly because it concerns about students’ behaviors. However, if we have regulations on what students can do and what they cannot, and if not obeyed, there is punishment. In this way, students dare not be truly crazy, or they will be punished.

There will never be “NO Damage,” but I hope the school can think of other solutions of controlling the damages instead of stopping this holiday completely and entirely. In my opinion, as a place where students can get the largest extent of freedom, university should be strict and wise at the same time.

Intro:

In this video, the Colbert satirically comments on several news clips and photos, with his face expressions changing dramatically to show his antipathy towards the North Korea dictator, Kim Jong-un.

List the commonplaces one by one, where the ironic points appear in the video.

1. The exclusive name: There is a law that people cannot share the same name as Kim Jong-un. Those with this name must change and birth certificates with this name are rejected. Colbert uses an ironic example to support this law:” when reading the newspaper about “Kim Jong-un inspected local lubricate factory”. You don’t want them wondering it is Kim Jong-un, the farmer down the road or the dictator who killed them for having the same name.” From the semantics, it is an evidence that shows Colbert’s support on the exclusive-name law. But obviously he is using this for rejecting the law because the law is ridiculous and his use of “the farmer down the road” is funny.
2. North Korea denies role in Sony hack: Colbert admits that there is somebody who can hack Sony—a 12-year old boy who uses Bit Torrent. But as people know, a 12-year boy has no motivation to attack Sony especially when he has only the Bit Torrent with him.
3. Mall cop: Blart2 unreleased script: Here inserts a satire, mocking at the Mall Cop’s plot. Colbert says surprisingly “ what? Mall Cop has script? They just ruined the entire plot, they gave away entire plot: large man falls down”
4. Hacker’s letter: Hacker says that they are perfect enough that people cannot find them so we’d better carry their demand. The whole sentence are so ridiculous that even make people think the letter is probably a dialogue from the Mall Cop’s script.
5. Hacked by #GOP:
6. UNhappy:
7. Mushroom picture
8. Stage five cheese ankle.
9. The ending applauding North Korea.

Analyze ethos pathos and logos. (rhetorical tactics)

Ethos: As a host of a TV program, Colbert is a person whose stance is obvious. He uses satires on his evidence to show his own stance. It is his sharp words that hold his figure in front of thousands of audience.

Logos: The logics appear in the satire works are interesting because they make sense from both sides. When children read a satire work, they may not understand the meaning behind the words. Sometimes even the adults who have the ability to deliberate will not detect the satire because of different cultural background. For example, as a foreigner, when I first watched the “12-year boy with Bit Torrent,” I didn’t laugh because I don’t know about the Bit Torrent, especially when a picture shows on the screen, which is confusing. The same happens when Mitch Mcconnell and microwave appears, because I’m not familiar with American politics. My situation is when I cannot understand the satire. And there is more, when people think what a person says makes sense when that person is actually commenting on something ironically. So the logos takes a great part in understanding satire works.

Pathos:

Explain the persuasive aim of this satire video.