Penn State Party School

I think the podcast about Penn State as a party school was a very accurate portrayal of what Penn State's party life is like. On any given night monday or tuesday night you can hear an ambulance rushing a student to the hospital for their stomach to be pumped because of how much alcohol they consumed. College is a crazy place. Our parents are paying for us to receive a degree from one of the most well respected universities throughout the entire United States. We are ranked #1 when it comes to corporate recruitment (Wall Street Journal). However, we are also #1 in drinking our faces off. Two things that are on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. I thought, is this a bad thing? Should I be proud of this? What should I say to other adults about this? To be quite honest, I don't really care what people think about the partying situation at our school is. Kids are still going to drink, smoke, and do drugs. That's life, it is inevitable. Whether laws or regulations are put into place, kids are still going to find a way to get around it and break the law. We're lucky to be young, and part of being young is making stupid decisions and learning from them, but hopefully the stupid decisions we make will not be too stupid to the point where our life is altered forever. I think the most memorable image from the podcast was when the 50 year old was drinking with the 21 year old. That is a perfect image of what the culture here is like. People like to pre-game, get buzzed, and get weird with one another because it helps people come out of their shell and interact with one another. A few beers is not going to kill anyone. I think the party scene here at Penn State is nothing short of spectacular. My older sister attended Penn State and graduation in 2010. I saw her in her natural habitat. I saw her smile, laugh, and cry. Crying because her four years at this university were over. I had never seen her cry so much, and I know she partied hard, trust me she partied wicked hard, but to see the tears roll down her face because she was no longer going to spend her days with her best friends in the world sealed the deal for me to come here. Relationships like hers last a lifetime, and drinking certainly contributed to that one way or another. We might be the #1 party school, but we also have the #1 student run philanthropy in the entire world, THON. We can be described as drunk stupid idiot, but that would just be a complete lie. We are caring, hard working, and fun. What else could you want in a college? We don't have the #1 alumni association for a college for nothing. This place is magical, and I would never want anything to change because of a statistic that shows we party hard. That is not what we are ALL about, and anyone who thinks that is an ignorant, internet reading loser. They should come here and see what it's all about, and I guarantee their opinion would be changed forever.

What IS Art?

In reality, anything could be considered a piece of art. After visiting the Palmer Museum and seeing numerous paintings throughout my education, there are many works of art that are published that just don't seem to be deserving. One painting in the Palmer that I saw was a canvas with lines of paint. That was it. Just lines of paint from a brush. How is that art? Art is interpreted by the artist. No one knows the mood or feeling going into a piece of art except for the person making it, so no one can really say that something is not art. I am not an artsy person whatsoever, nor will I ever be, but I consider anything to be art. Any piece created by someone can be considered art.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=fenway+park+art&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1136&bih=684&tbm=isch&tbnid=9Hc8IPm69L_EUM:&imgrefurl=http://www.bostonspastime.com/fenwaypainting.html&docid=K68DRhaZRe96nM&imgurl=http://www.bostonspastime.com/shop/fenwayshea.jpg&w=365&h=266&ei=V2tfT9C_OMjx0gGu1-TJBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=264&vpy=285&dur=7190&hovh=192&hovw=263&tx=136&ty=114&sig=106681146352279900270&page=1&tbnh=116&tbnw=155&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:0

This painting of Fenway Park is a piece of art I enjoy. I found it on google images. What strikes me about this piece if how well the artist drew the landscape of Fenway Park. Every structure in the stadium is drawn with great proportion. It evokes happiness, pride, and good vibes when I see it. I think it merits the term art because it was drawn by somebody else, pretty simple.

Benny Andrews' Cotton Choppers - 1965

The piece of art I selected to blog about after visiting the Palmer Art Museum was Cotton Choppers(1965). It was created by the artist of Benny Andrews. Andrews used oil pastels to create the drawing. There are three people in the painting, a man in the front center, a woman located on the right side of the painting, and another humanlike figure towards the back of the canvas, but is too small and undetailed to be determined as a man or woman. The man is wearing overalls, and the identifiable woman appears to be wearing something that looks like a purple dress or blouse. All the persons drawn in the painting are holding a device that chops cotton. The setting is in a cotton field. The ground is desert sand or dust, and there are rows of cotton plants. It is during the day time. There seems to be no historical significance at the time of when the painting was drawn that connects to what is drawn in the painting, but the time period that reflects the painting is most likely around the time of slavery. There is no conversation going on in the picture. The piece of art has credibility because the artist, Benny Andrews, was an African American who was one of 10 children of sharecroppers raised in Georgia while it was still segregated. He experienced first hand what sharecropping was like. Andrews made collages, paintings, and print makings. I think the claim that the artist is making is that sharecropping was very tiring, but needed to be done during the time period in which sharecropping took place. The man in the center of the painting seems to be taking a break from doing his job. He looks very physically and mentally drained. My overall experience at the time Palmer Museum of Art was alright. I do not like art very much, probably because I am not a good artist myself. There were some things that looked interesting, but no offense to the people who really enjoy art, I just don't get any satisfaction with staring at pictures that had impact on my life. I will probably not return to the Palmer by choice, but I'm happy I got to see the inside of the museum at least one during my time here at Penn State.