Penn State Proud!

    "I came to Penn State because of its legacy, because of the pride people have when they say they attend this school, not to be bashed and ridiculed because of a scandal." This is exactly how I felt when I received text messages and saw Facebook and twitter posts and the issue. I was more annoyed than hurt and more embarrassed than angry. 

    When I first came to Penn State, I was excited. Everyone talked about how great of a school it was for so many reasons. I had never heard a bad thing about it. I was happy to get away from home, meet new people, experience different things, and, of course, attend the ever famous football games. Everything was all good until the month of November came and the knowledge of Jerry Sandusky's sexual crimes with young boys surfaced. I remember hearing about it, first, from my mom. I was shocked, but I hadn't heard much about it from people on campus, so I brushed it off. 

    As things started to unfold in the following days, my feelings about the issue grew stronger. I was disgusted when I found out and I still am. How could you take advantage of a child like that? How can you keep your crimes to yourself for so many years? This scandal is absolutely horrifying for parents and students and faculty who attend and teach at this university. So many emotions are still running high and it's a shame how much has come from this.

    As a result of what Sandusky did, Joe Paterno, our then-head football coach, and Graham Spanier, then-president, have been terminated. Joe Paterno was huge part of the Penn State legacy and the way he was fired was wrong. He has been here for most of his life and football and the students are a big part of his heart. I think the Board of Trustees should have let him retire and leave it at that. I think he was treated unfairly, but I don't think it was wrong for him to be fired. He obviously knew things, but he didn't do all he could to end them. As for Graham Spanier, I couldn't care less what happens to him. He knew about this and didn't make a move to handle it. Instead, he decided to cover it up. He deserves what he gets. Both Paterno and Spanier knew things that were crucial to this whole scandal and it's sad because if they would have spoke up or done something about it, things would have been different. 

    The world is taking this in so many different ways, but most of the people who speak on it don't attend or are not affiliated with Penn State. Their comments are usually ignorant because they know nothing about how we feel. There have been so many times where I wanted to tell someone to just shut up because they don't know what we're going through. After Paterno was fired, the students rioted. People thought we were dumb and we looked like animals. I agree, it was stupid, but most of the things people are seeing are through the media and they make things look worse than they are. 

    I was angry at first because, now, every time I tell someone I go to Penn State they say, "Oh yeah, the school with the scandal." But, I realized that that's not all we are. I knew we were a family before, but now our bond is even stronger. We were leaning on each other in this tough time and it helped. One person's actions hurt our image as a school, but they can never break our pride and our love for each other. I will always be Penn State proud and I will never be ashamed to say, "We are...Penn State!"

Kiss Me, Kate!

    I have to say I was kind of excited to see Kiss Me, Kate. I did not know it was a musical, but I knew it was a play and I thought it was something different for an English class to experience. The most recent live theater performance I've been to, that I can think of, was a musical production of High School Musical at my high school. In comparison to this, Kiss Me, Kate was much better. Maybe because this is a university and it has more money to give to its productions. In my opinion, the acting was better, the singing was in tune, and it kept me on my feet at every point of the play. This play was not what I expected it to be at all. I thought it was interesting that we were going to see a play, but I also thought it was going to be boring with actors who thought a little too highly of themselves. This production definitely proved me wrong.
    I love the musical-theater genre. It is full of catchy songs and smiling faces. I love to watch regular plays, but I love watching musical theater more because it's so entertaining. I've seen many musicals, on TV, but I'd have to say that Grease and The Sound of Music are my favorites. When comparing all of these, I don't think Kiss Me Kate stands a chance. These musicals are classics and no one will ever forget them. They have songs that people are always singing, whether they are in commercials or in other movies. They even have sequels and remakes. Kiss Me, Kate was a great production, but unfortunately, it doesn't measure up to Grease or The Sound of Music in any way, shape, or form.
    During my senior year of high school, we read and watched Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. We read the play first and I loved it. It was something that I could keep up with and, when I was reading it, I didn't want to put it down. I couldn't wait to see how someone portrayed it in a movie. We watched the version with Elizabeth Taylor and I have to say that it's one of my favorite movies of all time. Seeing and reading it did increase my appreciation of the plot. I think I respected it more because I knew it was a classic. I loved the fact that they took an old play by Shakespeare and put a twist on it to make it their own.
    My favorite parts of this experience were the many different facets of the actual play. First, I did not expect for it to be as funny as it was. I found myself dying of laughter as the show progressed. Another thing I liked was how it was a play within a play. Judging by the title and by flipping through the program, I thought it was going to be a strict remake of The Taming of the Shrew, but they incorporated the play into the dramatic lives of actors and actresses trying to put on a production. Overall, I enjoyed this experience. It had to be one of my favorites.