Here at Penn State, we have one of the most tight-knit student bodies in the entire country. We unite in times of triumph and in times of loss. Like, our main chant is "We are Penn State". If that doesn't show unity, I don't know what does. Because of how tight-knit we are as a school, our culture is one of long-standing tradition and, in turn, many different commonplaces. As a freshman, I've caught onto a decent amount of these commonplaces, and will attempt to list some of them here:
1. Football is life.
My dad was not a large watcher of sports. At home, we would turn on ESPN to see the Olympics and the World Cup; nothing else. This ended up being my general outlook on watching sports as well. I would go to high school football games when possible, but it wasn't the end of the world whenever I missed one. Here, things are much different.On the first day of classes, I tossed a football around with some of the kids on my floor. I definitely grew up in a soccer household, so my football-throwing skills are decently sub-par. When my floormates witnessed my inability, I could feel the seething disdain hitting me in the temple like a gamma ray. Also, I never knew how much of a big deal Sunday Night Football was to the general male population until I spent my first weekend here. I could hear people screaming from my open window every time. Do I even need to venture into the realm of PSU gamedays?
2. Late-night Dining
Establishments that are open past midnight in State College are treated as a Garden of Eden to socially active college kids. Canyon Pizza is about as legendary as any eatery could possibly be among a group of people. When I Googled "most famous restaurants", next to nothing came up, and that proves how peculiar of a phenomenon this is. Places like Gumby's, DP Dough, and Wings Over all enjoy almost equal amounts of fame as well. This is another example of how strong the sense of tradition is here at Penn State.
3. Greek Life is Amazing/Awful
Greek life is a very polarizing issue at our school. Everyone that I have talked to seems to either love it or hate it with the force of 10 supernovae. Of course, this may just be a product of selection bias (people who feel strongly about it are more inclined to talk about it), but nonetheless I have seen many examples of this trend around campus. Common arguments used by proponents include brotherhood, networking, and social status, whereas GDI radicals (god-damn independents) usually refer to hazing, expensive dues, and all-around personality of your typical "frat star" as reasons to hate the Greeks. I am one of the few that I've met that seem to be on the fence about the whole thing, so this apparent commonplace intrigues me. Now, this commonplace is only applicable to fraternities. I haven't heard much in terms of arguments for or against sororities, so I'm not ready to lump them into this hypothesis.
These are just three of the commonplaces that I have witnessed at this beautiful school. You can expect me to revisit this topic after spending more time with this incomparable student body. If you have noticed any more, feel free to post them in the comments below!
I definitely agree that all three of these commonplaces can be easily seen at Penn State. I wonder how different our campus is from other Big 10 schools, like Ohio State and Michigan, etc. Are these just general college commonplaces, or is Penn State more unique?
ReplyDeleteTerrific post -- loved the specificity of identifying and naming generally unspoken PSU commonplaces. Nick's comment is interesting, too. I'm not sure whether some commonplaces would be thematic across different campuses, or whether some are purely specific to our "dear old State."
ReplyDeleteNice application with this post, Gabe.
These commonplaces are definitely true. From what I have noticed "Football is Life" is the biggest commonplace through out this campus. It is actually part of the reason I came to this school. With football comes school spirit. Where I grew up Friday nights were reserved for football and Saturdays were for watching the University of Arkansas play football. I already had this mind set when coming to Penn State, but sharing the same pride with over 45,000 other people makes this commonplace truly special.
ReplyDelete"I could feel the seething disdain hitting me in the temple like a gamma ray" haha! I personally can also attest to the influence of the "football is life" commonplace. I love watching and playing sports but have absolutely no understanding football and frankly find it insanely boring. Like you said though, at Penn State, even those who don't like football feel obligated to go to at least one game. In that sense, I think commonplaces may be one of the most persuading methods of rhetoric out there. We don't need ethos, pathos, or logos to convince us to do something when everyone else around us doing it. Though commonplaces play on our common grounds as individuals in a society, it has just as strong of an effect on our need to fit in.
ReplyDeleteBefore coming here I only saw the Super Bowl because it is the Super Bowl, but I am a HUGE soccer fan! But I can relate a lot right now to the commonplace of football as life; after going to the first game of the reason my whole perspective towards school spirit and college life changed. After that game I felt like I would take a bullet for Penn State (not literally), due to the spirit and attitude of everyone surrounding me in the stadium, and with every game I have gone to this feeling just keeps increasing. Still don't have a strong opinion on Greek life or late dining. I look forward to reading about some other commonplaces you might come across in this year and in the future here at Penn State!
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