Pride Student Newspaper of Penn State New Kensington
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The nittany pride Student Newspaper of Penn State New Kensington Vol. V No. 2 nittanypride.wordpress.com February 2011 Diversity Diversity - “Be Proud of Who You Are” ------------------------------------ Superbowl Halftime Show Needs To Go ------------------------------------ MTV Bares All in the New Hit Show “Skins” ------------------------------------ It’s the End of the Net As We Know It ------------------------------------ Pluto: Not a Planet or a Good Role Model For Children Table of ConTenTs Alumnus Vera Spina Recalls “Glory Days at PSNK”............................................. Page 2 GIG Club at PSNK Experiments With New Direction........................................... Pages 3-4 Diversity – “Be Proud of Who You Are”............................................................. Pages 5-6 Martial Arts & Self Defense Club Presentation at Cafe 780.................................. Page 7 Super Bowl Halftime Show Needs to Go........................................................... Page 8 Dirty Hits & Double Standards........................................................................ Page 9 MTV Bares All in the New Hit Show “Skins”....................................................... Page 10 Beady Eye: Different Name, Same Sound........................................................ Page 11 “We Hope You Have Enjoyed the Show”........................................................... Page 12 Arnold Schools Require More Funding.............................................................. Page 13 Domestic Violence: Public Safety Problem in Allegheny County............................ Page 14 Ruth S. Weir Park to Open Summer 2011......................................................... Pages 15-16 It’s the End of the Net As We Know It.............................................................. Pages 17-18 Re: “I’ll Tell You What Man”...CAB Responds..................................................... Page 19 Gay Marriage: In Truth, Not A Terribly Complex Issue........................................ Page 20 Reproduction is the Flaw of Love..................................................................... Page 21 What the Shale?........................................................................................... Page 22 Pluto: Not a Planet or a Good Role Model For Children ...................................... Pages 23-24 Pride (n): Or, Why the Dictionary Still Matters.................................................. Page 25 The Simple Joys of Catholicism....................................................................... Page 26 niTTany Pride Penn State New Kensington, 3550 Seventh Street Road, New Kensington, PA 15068 ediTorial sTaff Editor-in-Chief & Online Editor Andrew Tsou Managing Editor Chelsea Markle Opinions & Sports Editor Kelly Haugh Entertainment Editor Craig McNair Advisor Abhinav Aima 1 CamPus life Alumnus Vera Spina Recalls “Glory Days at PSNK” By Melissa Gemballa “I’m here to ‘wow’ you,” Kelly Sieja declared at the January believe the politically meeting of the Alle-Kiski Society (AKS), the local chapter correct term here of the Penn State Alumni Association. is “dachshund”). She is an avid Sieja, an applied psychology major and THON Chair at sports fan, following Penn State New Kensington, revealed that THON’s current the Penguins, the fundraising efforts totaled $32,000, with two canning Steelers, and, weekends still to go. This total was already in excess of course, the of that reached in the previous year, which incidentally Nittany Lions. In had set a campus record. Sieja, however, was still not fact, “Stanley” is a satisfied. She confided to the AKS board that she would forerunner on the list like to reach $50,000. of possible names she has made for her “Oohing” and “aahing” louder perhaps than anybody else future wiener dog. was Vera Spina, one of the youngest members of the AKS board. Having served as THON Chair during her time at Already familiar with Penn State New Kensington, she recalls the work needed the AKS through to raise just $10,000. In fact, Spina created the first ever her association Mr. PSU pageant to aid fundraising efforts during her time with THON, Spina Penn State alumnus Vera Spina in office. Male contestants solicited sponsors, modeled began attending (photo courtesty of Vera Spina) casual, evening, and even swim wear, and finally subjected meetings shortly themselves to a Q & A session as part of the competition. after graduation and The event not only generated the needed funds but also officially became a board member in 2004. Always one features as one of Spina’s most cherished memories. She to get her hands dirty, she began organizing events such claims that the pageant scepter and crown are most likely as a Just Ducky Tour for alumni and students and most still stored somewhere on campus. recently, along with fellow board member Ashley Traini, the Alumni Central Tent at last year’s Fall Festival. She In addition to THON, Spina participated in the Drama Club enjoys the camaraderie of the AKS, noting “the love of the and served as president of Lion Ambassadors during her blue and white” as a common bond that cannot be found two years at the New Kensington campus. She spent her in the workplace. final two years at University Park and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in political Spina feels strongly that alumni should be “cheerleaders science in 2003. Spina currently works as a contract for the students.” She understands well the challenges compliance coordinator for the Westmoreland County that students face but encourages them to “thrive in every Courthouse. minute of it.” Recalling her own glory days at Penn State New Kensington, she fervently declares that she would Her job, of course, does not define her. Spina openly exchange “18 credits, three clubs, and a broken ankle” admits that she is a “neat freak” and is “crazy-organized.” (sustained during a campus Powder Puff football game) She enjoys shopping and baking and shines her brightest for the hassles of the real world any day. at Christmastime. No surprise that she’s a fan of the Food Network, Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri in particular. She also Find Vera Spina and other local alumni by searching watches “Bones,” “CSI,” and has just recently discovered “Alle-Kiski Society, Penn State Alumni Association” on “Glee,” citing her favorite episode thus far as “The Rocky Facebook. For more information about meetings or Horror Glee Show.” events, contact Melissa Gemballa, SGA Alumni Affairs Rep, by e-mail at [email protected]. Spina also revealed a burning “need” to own a wiener dog (I 2 CamPus life GIG Club at PSNK Experiments With New Direction By Andrew Tsou UPPER BURRELL, Pa. – The president of the Group Investigating God club at Penn State New Kensington has been leading the club in a new direction. Trevor Beldham, a senior at PSNK, has been the president of GIG since the beginning of the school year. GIG is a nondenominational group that wrestles with questions pertaining to God and the Bible. Beldham said that, as GIG president, he wanted to make the club more structured. “Before I was president, there were tons of topics,” Beldham said, “Like, ‘Why is the world messed up?’ or ‘How do elections matter in regards to eternity?’ and ‘What does God think of this or that’ and ‘Is religion evil?’; kind of all over the place, and I wanted it to be more structured.” Dave McGeary, GIG’s advisor, said that he approved of this new direction. “What was exciting was that the GIG club is supposed to be about what students want it to be,” McGeary, said, “And Trevor had an idea and asked everybody if they wanted to do it. We actually proposed two ideas; one of them was [Trevor’s], and they chose his. It was the students who said, ‘Let’s have this Bible study,’ along with Trevor’s initial idea, and this is the way it’s supposed to operate anyway; students lead, students participate.” “God Gave us a ChoiCe. God GAVE Them (adam and eve) a ChoiCe.” Beldham’s idea was to study Philippians, a chapter in the Bible, and this is what GIG plans to do for the spring 2011 semester. “[We’re] going through Philippians, one verse at a time,” Beldham said, “We spent the whole first meeting on just the first two verses. The reason behind [choosing Philippians] was Paul, who wrote about two-thirds of the New Testament. [It] was also short enough that we could do it in one semester. I looked through it a couple of years ago, not with any structure like this, and it’s been on my heart to go through Philippians for quite a while.” Shanna Williams, the vice-president and treasurer of the club, commented that “it’s a lot of responsibility, what [Beldham] does, holding the club together.” “I think that he’s doing a really good job,” Williams added, “Sometimes we’ll have worksheets with fill-in-the-blanks and Q&A and actually get involved in the discussion so it’s less like a lecture, and I really enjoy it. Everyone else in the club seems to enjoy it too.” McGeary stated that Beldham’s leadership is “exciting” for the club. “[Beldham] is an idea person, just naturally,” McGeary said, “What was different was that this time he offered an idea and offered to actually lead it, whereas before he’d offer ideas and hope that somebody else would lead it. I mean, a lot of people do that, but in this case, he thought it was a cool idea and was willing to make it happen, if everyone else wanted it.” 3 CamPus life Beldham said that GIG is open to anyone, regardless of individual religious preferences. “You don’t