Liberal Arts Voices

Read the perspectives of our current students

My Penn State Experience

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Being an underrepresented student in the College of the Liberal Arts at The Pennsylvania State University helped shape my experiences. I met people from different ethnic groups who I was able to connect with on a personal level, developing friendships that would last a lifetime.

My experience at Penn State was a little challenging at first because I am from an urban area. However, I was able to join different organizations that helped make my overall experience better at the University. I was a part of the NAACP serving as the Corresponding Secretary for a year. In addition, I was a part of the Fast Start Advisory Council which helped First Year students get adjusted to campus. This organization really helped me because I was able to get a mentor in my hometown, with whom I am still in contact with to this day. She has helped me throughout my Penn State career and is still helping me in graduate school. I was also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. which put on programs for the Penn State community on issues that affect students, like how to avoid debt and how to maintain healthy exercising practices.

Attending The Pennsylvania State University is one of the best things I did for myself. It has helped prepare me for a graduate experience I could not imagine. During my undergraduate study, I was in the College of the Liberal Arts majoring in English. When I became a junior, I decided to double major in African American Studies. I learned to navigate through Penn State very well. I also had people who helped me along the way. One person who helped me was Mr. Merritt, the Director of Multicultural Equity Programs in the College of the Liberal Arts. Mr. Merritt assisted with my books, helped me to find scholarships that I was eligible to apply for, and provided caring advice when I needed it. Having someone that is able to help the needs of underrepresented students is very important to the Penn State community and can be a deciding factor of whether or not underrepresented students stay enrolled at the University.

Faculty were very supportive of my decision to attend graduate school. Three professors, Dr. Mhando, Dr. Thomas, and Dr. Gilyard helped me with my journey to graduate school. From being a part of the Ronald E. McNair Program, I was able to learn what research was by attending workshops and getting experience doing research with Dr. Thomas. I was able to learn Stata, a statistical software, and was able to learn about high school dropouts. This experience helped me to do research during the Summer of 2009 at the University of Michigan where I was able to study how achievement motivation affected African American adolescents. After these opportunities, my experience and motivation led me to pursue a doctoral degree in Education Policy Studies. Currently, I attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where I am on fellowship. This past May I received my Masters Degree in Education Policy. I believe the experiences at Penn State helped me to be adequately prepared for this program. I have no doubt that I chose the right school for my undergraduate experience.

From Chicken Culture to Vegan Living: Revamping the American Diet

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Food Pyramid
Originally uploaded by Writing Program PTW

Whenever I tell people I am learning about chickens this semester, they stare at me with disbelieving eyes, then laugh hysterically. It is true that a First Year English Seminar about “Chicken Culture” is not necessarily common . However, the class is more than just about chickens. The course reaches far beyond this little avian creature, to broader social, biological, and even cultural issues.   

During the fall semester, our class had a chance to attend a screening of “Forks over Knives,” a documentary that demonstrates the shocking truth behind the American diet and suggests an alternative. One might ask what our Chicken Culture class has to do with a movie like “Forks over Knives.” After the screening, it became obvious that the two are related in their focus on contemporary ‘dietary issues.’ They both concentrate on what we eat and the facts about food which we rarely seem to care about. This food documentary shed light on a variety of themes related to the consumption of animal products in the United States (and yes, that includes chickens). After the screening I had mixed feelings. I understood the great benefits of plant based diets, but on the other hand, it seemed like some other important factors were ignored.  

The obesity problem in the United States is becoming a big social issue. Adults and children are becoming more obese. This has resulted in a significant increase in illnesses and health problems, such as diabetes. The number of prescriptions that people rely on has skyrocketed as well. “Forks over Knives” says that this humungous health problem is directly related to both the food we eat and our misconstrued preconceptions about food. For instance, many people are losing the balance between meat and vegetables in their diets. We are consuming too much meat, which we all know is not a good thing. Perhaps most astonishing, however, are our misconceptions about food. Back in the day, we were all introduced to the ‘food pyramid,’ which told us that our meals need to be full of every food group. Many of us still believe this and tend to follow its advice. The film, however, indicates that the food pyramid is wrong. ‘We need to eat meat for protein’ and ‘Milk is good because of calcium’ are just a few misconceptions we have about food. In other words, many of us have been eating the wrong way for years.

Probably the biggest evidence that the documentary gives is the “China Study.” An enormous undertaking, both in scale and time, the China Study was performed over a period of 20 years and covered the entire population of China. The study showed that animal-based diets caused more health problems than plant-based diets. This is due to the fact that animal-based food was high in casein, a type of protein that is mostly found in mammalian milk. Our solution is this: a plant-based diet. By eating this way, people can lose weight and live much healthier lives without having to worry about getting ill. The film indicates that by maintaining a vegan lifestyle, some people are able to avoid severe illnesses, such as cancer and diabetes.  

‘Forks over Knives’ is very convincing in many ways. It provides a variety of analyses and research that suggests a plant-based diet is the best solution to these health problems. However, after leaving the theatre, some questions started to pop in to my mind. First of all, the film relied on a simple, yet controversial proposition: meat is bad for you. However, considering what I have learned in our ‘Chicken Culture’ class, there is more to the production of meat than we think. Many farms are more like factories now. Cows and chickens live in barred areas, are fed the best feed to get fat and ready to be eaten in the shortest amount of time and at the lowest possible cost. It makes me wonder if this mass production of meat might be the real problem here. Secondly, in my opinion, the film does not adequately consider reducing meat consumption as another possible solution. Too much meat consumption is not good, and that we all know, but I am not sure if the complete removal of meat from our diet is realistic. The film’s proposed solution is perhaps too ideal. I doubt many people will be able or willing to so drastically change their eating habits.  

Need for a health solution is evident. But before we consider how to solve this problem, it might be best to first acknowledge the importance of and issues surrounding the food we currently eat. This documentary attempts to do both and ultimately suggests that the answer lies in a healthier, plant-based diet. As for me, I have started to consider what I have on my plate and reduced the amount of meat I eat every day, filling the empty spot with more greens. Maybe removing meat completely from my diet is impossible, but trying to eat better, nutritious meals is what I will strive for now. Probably in the future, my plate will be full of greens.  

High Schooler Challenges the Internet Generation

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On April 8th, the Composition Program held its banquet for the Annual Pennsylvania High School Writing Contest. It’s now in its 29th year! We recognized 20 students: 17 finalists and the top 3. The winner was Joy Wang, a student from Council Rock High School, South, which is in Holland, PA.

The essay question this year was on globalization and the Internet:


In “Global Village Idiocy,”New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman provides a relatively pessimistic view of how the Internet affects users, especially in an age of extended social relationships. Based on your personal experiences, what is your take on his arguments and on the global dimensions of the Internet? Do your experiences, views, and opinions align with those of Friedman? Have your experiences been more positive? If global networks are here to stay, and they appear to be, how might we use them for learning, community building, and other productive purposes? In your response, (1) describe and evaluate your experiences with the Internet and (2) explain how the Internet has assisted you in becoming a member of a more global community, or has failed to live up to its potential to do so. Use your personal experience with school, community service, and other programs to illustrate and support your points.

This was a challenging question, which Joy handled expertly in her thoughtful, insightful response.
Professor Stuart Selber

Below is a post Joyce has written for LAUS@PSU about the essay she wrote:

Hello everyone, guest blogger here. I’m Joy Wang, a junior at Council Rock High School South. And you may ask, with good reason, “Joy, why are you writing for the LAUS blog?” It’s a long story that starts with an essay contest, of all things–the one that Penn State’s composition department runs for high school juniors.

So on a frosty day in December, I was locked in a computer lab with two other juniors from my school and was told to agree, disagree, or qualify a prompt which included an article by the New York Times columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, that ran in 2002, titled “Global Village Idiocy.” My essay, entitled “Information Overload: Skepticism and Social Organization in the Internet Era,” was apparently sufficiently ingenious to catch some reader’s eye for a reason I’ve yet to discern.

In any case, the thesis of Friedman’s argument is this: That the internet, however convenient and accessible, has fundamentally become a force for polarization and misunderstanding rather than a catalyst for harmony and societal interaction. A bold claim, to be sure, but one that has some traction given the horror and blind stupidity of the dregs of internet forums and comment threads. (For a particularly telling cross-section of these internet denizens, I recommend the comment section on CNN.)

The luxury of near-complete anonymity, Friedman argues, has brought out the virulent haters, the extremists, the fringe elements of our society who would have otherwise remained isolated, quarantined from the rest of the world by the analog divide. And this is not untrue–but it’s only half of the story.

I’m not really all that big on the Internet. I keep an email account that I check religiously, and I follow a couple of news outlets online. Webcomics are my guilty pleasure. But other than that, there’s no Facebook, no Twitter. I’m not interested in the sordid details of the lives of a host of casual acquaintances nor do I need to read the inane mental diarrhea of the world’s self-perceived rich, famous, and important. Social networking, in case it weren’t already clear enough, holds no appeal to me. Nevertheless, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that the Internet has become a powerful force for good as well.

I cited the death of Neda Agha-Soltan in the street protests that followed the Iranian elections of 2009. Her death, captured on video, became a rallying cry for the Iranian people in the wake of brutal government crackdowns. Little did I know or anticipate any of the events in the Middle East that would occur a little over a week after I wrote my essay. The self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010 in Tunisia has since then sparked a series of protests and revolutions that has spread throughout the Arab world to Egypt and Libya, Syria and Bahrain. Unsurprisingly, social networking and the Internet have played a critical role in these revolutions even more directly than it did in Iran two years ago.

In Egypt, for example, the We Are All Khaled Said movement, a Facebook-based dissident network and protest group started by Google executive Wael Ghonim, was formed to mourn and decry the senseless beating at the hands of Egyptian authorities that led to Said’s death. In the days after the initial revolution, Egypt’s government even tried to shut down all Internet access–a clear indicator of exactly how important of a role the Internet itself played in the organization of this popular revolt. In truth, even before there was the spark of revolution in Tunisia that touched off the dry tinder of the Arab world’s underrepresented class, there were the rumblings of discontent and social activism on the Internet.

As it stands, the last paragraph of my essay still has as much resonance as it did when I first typed it almost five months ago:

The world has changed drastically in the past twenty years, in no small part because of the Internet and all its trappings, both good and bad. But in the end, the Internet–like any other technology–is only a tool. Just like the use of nuclear fission in bombs and power plants can both kill and sustain (respectively), so too can the Internet breed both hatred and hope. In the end, it is the actions that its users choose to take that will determine history’s ultimate verdict. Which road shall we take? In the years to come–in the generations that follow–will the Internet be known as the technology that forged a better world, or the one that tore it asunder?

We are the Internet generation. Where do you think this brave new world will lead?

Joy Wang

The Penn State Sisters, or What I Gleaned from Rebecca Rasmussen

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Two birds on a vase
Originally uploaded by MarkAllanson

Here’s the metaphor: Rebecca Rasmussen, who got an MFA from Penn State’s creative writing program, just released her first novel, on April 11, called The Bird Sisters. From the moment I heard about her background as a published Penn State alumna, I decided to use this blog post of mine to explore further parallels between her and many other aspiring Penn State writers. It’s a real up-by-the-boot-straps kind of tale. 

But first I want to take a moment to recognize how cool it is that Rebecca still feels so much attachment to Penn State when it was while doing coursework for her second MFA at the University of Massachusetts that she did the real writing of her novel which eventually became The Bird Sisters. Before she began her reading at Foster Auditorium, Rebecca acknowledged the recent cutbacks in Penn State’s English department and volunteered herself as a resource in any way possible. She stressed how great her experience with the program was and as an English major myself I couldn’t help but feel the same pride in Penn State English studies. Nothing could have set my Penn State pride going more.

And while we’re on the topic of cool, can we also spend a moment getting excited by the fact that our very own alumna has a Wikipedia page in her name? You know you’ve arrived when you’ve hit the Wikipedia scene. She joins the ranks of fellow Penn State faculty writers Robin Becker (a frequent feature on the Liberal Arts Blog) and James Brasfield who have similarly been making a name for Penn State.

When Rebecca began her reading, she let the audience know that this Penn State stop was her very first one, not only on her book tour for The Bird Sisters, but also in her career as a writer. In her novel The Bird Sisters, there are really two narratives at work: one of two sisters Milly and Twiss as old women, and one of Milly and Twiss as younger women in the summer of 1947. Rebecca read an excerpt of each to give us a sense of how this one summer in and out of the Wisconsin town fostered a pivotal change in the lives of these two women. From the younger years, Rebecca created a hilarious priest that would rather be off in Mexico with a Margarita than moderating a cycle of peace be with yous. If you want to see for yourself, you can check out a preview of the book online.        

After her reading, Rebecca sent shout-outs to other Penn State faculty. Professor Toby Thompson, who I had last semester for a class on Gonzo journalism, was Rebecca’s professor for biography writing. As a man who writes by the skin of his generation, he asked her about the challenges of writing about a generation that was not her own in the 1947 part of her story. She stated simply that she made it up; that was one of the benefits of writing about a rural town that was largely untouched by the war. She used her hometown experience in the rolling hills of Wisconsin as a model.

But the more interesting part of her response was when she referenced her class time with Professor Thompson, who is a successful Rolling Stone reporter and Bob Dylan biographer. She said she didn’t think she could hack it in his class anymore where accuracy of detail was a must. Rebecca also had her fair share of memories and banters with Professor Bill Cobb, or William J. Cobb if you’re looking at his own published novels.

“I was trying to forget about that,” Rebecca said, laughing, in reaction to something from their class time together that Professor Cobb brought up.

It’s thrilling to think that current Penn State professors, who are still teaching students now, had a memorable impact on a recently published writer. And it’s thrilling to think of how many Penn Staters have truly made it in writing. During the question and answer portion of her reading, Rebecca made herself vulnerable for the hope of aspiring writers. She talked about the dark days of trying to get her novel published: the query letters, the rejected manuscripts, the yearlong adventure in crying and the painstaking revisions. She stressed that being a writer isn’t easy, much less being a published writer, but that despite all the hardships you can find people who will support you. It is in building your own support group and working closely with them that a young writer can work towards success. And, Rebecca said, make sure to celebrate the small stuff. When she graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a draft of The Bird Sisters as her thesis, her husband had it bound and covered for her as a gift. They drank champagne and toasted to that accomplishment. The process is only worthwhile in the light of these little celebrations.      

CALS Internship

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Though my summer internship gave me a lot of interesting experience and insight into the work that goes on in academia, one thing it did not bring me was credits, as I would have to pay for a summer term to get those.  I was hoping, however, that if I did a good job with my research internship over the summer, I would get offered a position with the Center for American Literary Studies (CALS) here at Penn State, of which Hester Blum was the director at the time.  Luckily, this worked out perfectly for me, and I became the undergraduate intern for CALS last year when I came back for the school year. 

My internship with CALS last year pretty much amounted to completing one big project per semester.  Fall semester, I researched the other English departments in the Big Ten, looking specifically for those researching and teaching in American lit to compare with our program and boost funding.  Spring semester was a busy time for CALS, as the C-19 conference (a conference about 19th century American literature) was coming in May. To contribute to this, I compiled the conference program detailing the events of the weekend to make the conference run more smoothly. I really enjoyed my time with CALS this past year and working with Hester from summer to spring. I kept my internship with CALS for this school year as well, and the new director Sean Goudie and I have already gotten started on some new projects for this year, which I look forward to continuing as the year progresses.  One such project is working with the Centre County Libraries on their Centre County Reads program, to which I am very excited to contribute.

From an eager freshman interested in English but unsure where to take it to a junior starting the second year of my CALS internship, I have come a long way in finding a way to integrate my interest in English with a practical internship that taught me what I can do with my degree after graduation.  Thanks to a lot of guidance from the English department, I have found a way to both learn about the usefulness of my degree and give back to the English community that has helped me so much.  

This is the final post in a series of three that Rachael wrote for our LAUSatPSU blog.

A Philadelphia Summer

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Library books
Originally uploaded by CCAC N. L.

After spring semester ended last year, I was on my way for starting my summer internship.  For this first internship with Hester Blum, I was taken on as a preliminary researcher of sorts.  Since I live in the Philadelphia suburbs, I was able to take the train into Philadelphia during the summer to go to many of the libraries there and put together a bibliography of works that looked suitable for Hester’s project, to make her research easier and more direct when she got to these libraries herself.  Hester’s project had to do with polar exploration in the 19th century, particularly artifacts printed in exotic locales, such as on board ship.

To conduct this research, I divided my time between the American Philosophical Society, The Library Company, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Rare Books Library at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Free Library of Philadelphia.  I took the train into Philadelphia from my hometown (about 45 minutes outside of the city) to whichever library I was currently focusing on, and then spent the day searching the catalogues for 19th century memoirs of explorers that fit Hester’s research interests. 

One of the nice things about this internship was the fact that I had nearly free reign in how I spent my days, how often I went to the city, and even in what I searched through.  Though frightening at first to be thrown into the world of research by myself, I came to really enjoy finding my own way in these research libraries, deciding how long to spend in each one and taking lunch breaks when my sinuses could no longer take the pressure of being constantly surrounded by decaying books.  I spent a lot of time at The Library Company, where more than helpful librarians aided me in discovering a section of their materials that are not listed in the catalogue, so that I could look through them myself and determine their worth for the project.  I have to admit, when I went up to the room that held all the un-catalogued works, I found myself getting really excited by all the old books surrounding me and curious about what was contained in their pages.  It’s moments like those when I know I picked the right major.  I ended the summer with a lengthy bibliography from all the libraries, documenting the lives of explorers as well as my own explorations within the research world.

This is the second post in a series of three. Stay tuned next Friday for Rachael’s last entry.

Liberal Arts Voices: Robin Becker’s “The Lover of Fruit Trees”

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Plum Tree
Originally uploaded by plindberg

This is the third of several special episodes of Liberal Arts Voices featuring this year’s Penn State Laureate, poet and Professor of English and Womens’ Studies, Robin Becker. Throughout the fall semester, Liberal Arts Voices will be collaborating with Penn State Live to cover the poems and work of Professor Becker.

In this podcast Professor Becker joins Dean Long; CLA Enrichment Coordinator and PSU English alum, Ashley Tarbet; English major Natalie Kovak; and English grad student William Woolfit to discuss Professor Becker’s poem “The Lover of Fruit Trees.” You can read the full version of “The Lover of Fruit Trees” on Penn State Live.

Professor Becker begins by describing how she found inspiration for this poem by observing her friend’s experience gardening in the dessert of New Mexico. Throughout this episode, the group discusses a variety of themes that are evoked by the poem such as endurance, the ability to find the unexpected in miraculous places, and the love and awe inspired by natural landscapes.

We invite you to respond to this poem or to the question that Professor asks at the conclusion of her poem: With whom do you have rich and searching conversations? How might you describe those conversations or find images that evoke them?

Liberal Arts Voices: Robin Becker’s “The Lover of Fruit Trees”

To subscribe to Liberal Arts Voices through iTunes, click here.

To watch a video of Professor Becker reading this poem or to read the actual poem, visit Penn State Live.

We encourage all of our listeners to write to us with comments, questions, or suggestions at laus@la.psu.edu. We may even respond to these comments on the next episode of Liberal Arts Voices.

An English Major’s Quest for an Internship

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Rachael Green (ENGL Major)
Originally uploaded by
LAUSatPSU

When I decided to be an English major freshman year, the one problem I had with my chosen field was my lack of knowledge of where a degree in English could take me.  I’ve heard my share of “living in a box” jokes to know that many consider the post-graduation opportunities for people in my major to be slim.  I was determined that this would not stop me from pursuing the major that I truly enjoy, so I went on the quest for an internship in my field that would give me some background into what I could do with my beloved English degree after graduation.  Before recounting my tale, let me say a little about myself now.  I’m Rachael Green, a junior in Schreyer majoring in English and Psychology.  As I did when I was a freshman, I still think I will probably pursue a career in English upon graduation.  One career that I considered as a freshman (and that I am still considering) is a position in academia.  To test out this potential career path, I stumbled into an internship that allowed me to glimpse the research that those in academia conduct. 

The real reason I was able to find an internship at all was because of Elizabeth Jenkins.  She’s actually the assistant director of the graduate program, but I was steered in her direction when I asked about internships.  This was some of the best advice I have received.  When I expressed interest in working with a professor, she was very receptive and immediately said that she had someone in mind if I would like to try that.  Curious, I decided to pursue this option.  This led me to Hester Blum, an associate professor here at PSU.  At that time, Hester was just starting the research on a new project, and she was more than willing to take me on to help her with this at Liz’s recommendation.  Thus was the beginning of my first internship. 

This is the first post in a series of three. Stay tuned next Friday for Rachael’s second entry.

Liberal Arts Voices: Robin Becker’s “Solar”

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This is the first of several special episodes of Liberal Arts Voices featuring this year’s Penn State Laureate, poet and Professor of English and Womens’ Studies, Robin Becker. Throughout the fall semester, Liberal Arts Voices will be collaborating with Penn State Live to cover the poems and work of Professor Becker.

In this podcast Professor Becker joins Dean Long; CLA Enrichment Coordinator and PSU English alum, Ashley Tarbet; English major Natalie Kovak; and English grad student William Woolfit to discuss Professor Becker’s poem “Solar.” You can read the full version of “Solar” on Penn State Live.

Professor Becker explains how the time she spent in the Taos desert inspired the theme of this poem. She explains how she was interested in the idea of the comparison between our experience with and love for a physical place and the way that we love an individual person. The group discusses how the qualities of the desert – the weather, plants, animals – bring to light an interesting kind of personification of a landscape.

They go on to contemplate the question that Professor Becker asks at the end of her poem: If you were to personify a landscape as a beloved teacher, what landscape would you choose? What qualities would you examine or celebrate? We invite you to respond to this question and to the podcast in the comments section below.

Liberal Arts Voices: Robin Becker’s “Solar”

To subscribe to Liberal Arts Voices through iTunes, click here.

To watch a video of Professor Becker reading this poem or to read more about it, visit Penn State Live.

We encourage all of our listeners to write to us with comments, questions, or suggestions at laus@la.psu.edu. We may even respond to these comments on the next episode of Liberal Arts Voices. 

CLA Faculty Robin Becker Named Penn State Laureate

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The College of the Liberal Arts congratulates Robin Becker, acclaimed poet and professor of English and women’s studies, for being named the 2010-2011 Penn State Laureate.  The Penn State Laureate is charged with bringing increased social, cultural, artistic, and human perspective and awareness to a wide variety of audiences.   Becker is the third Penn State laureate, and the first from the College of the Liberal Arts:  she succeeds Anthony T. Leach, associate professor of music and music education; and Kim Cook, professor of music in cello.

During her year as laureate, Professor Becker will be appearing at University Park, the Commonwealth Campuses, and throughout the state at various events.  Her goal is to engage students, alumni and others in the university community–both in person and virtually–through discussions of poetry and its unique power.  We plan to use our blog and other social media outlets to facilitate Professor Becker’s efforts and to encourage participation in her initiatives by the Liberal Arts community.

For additional information on Professor Becker’s impressive publication and teaching record, check out her bio on the Department of English Web site.

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