Philip Klass and William Tenn, RIP
Former Penn State English professor Philip Klass—best known to generations of science fiction fans by his pen name, William Tenn—died Sunday at 89. This obituary in the Centre Daily Times gives a good sense of what made Klass and his work so memorable and influential; among the writers touched by his guidance are David Morrell ’67 MA, ’70 PhD Lib (best-selling author of First Blood among many others) and Steven Levy ’74 MA Lib, who today penned this terrific tribute on Wired magazine’s site.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Add comment February 8, 2010
Six More Weeks of What?
For those of you who were not a fan of Punxsutawney Phil’s weather forecast and who daydream in warmer climates, please direct your attention to California based photographer, Jay Reilly ’94.
Reilly has been keeping himself busy by shooting for clients such as Nike, Sony, and Conde Nast, to name a few. He recently finished up a shoot at the Mondavi Family Winery for their partner ONEHOPE wine, a very cool organization that donates 50 percent of its profits to charitable causes. When not shooting for clients, Reilly is busy running a series of photo workshops on a variety of subjects ranging from weddings and fashion, to travel.
Below are some of the images I enjoy the most, especially during this winter season. So, if you need a break from the cold, take some time and check out Jay Reilly’s work. (Also check out his blog, mycameraisbiggerthanyours.com)
Jessie Knuth, graphic designer
Add comment February 8, 2010
Bob Garfield’s Annual Super Bowl Ad Review
So it turns out that I wasn’t the only person who was underwhelmed by the quality of the Super Bowl ads. Advertising Age sage Bob Garfield ’77, who’s been rating the ads for 24 years, had this take: “We will say this: We are totally pro-TiVo.”
Garfield’s best grade was three and a half stars, and only three ads earned it: Audi’s green police (yes, I laughed), Chrysler’s ad for its new Charger, and Qualcomm’s FloTV. The last two went over bigger with the two guys I was watching with; I’m just a little tired of the ads that Garfield calls “being emasculated by the ol’ ball and chain.” He did, however, rightly call out Go Daddy for its incredibly sexist, juvenile spots; he gave the company zero stars and called it “a national embarrassment.”
I’m a little disappointed that Garfield gave only two stars to a consensus favorite in my living room: the Snickers ad with Betty White and Abe Vigoda. And, probably because his review is done Friday, he didn’t even mention our favorite: David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey, and Jay Leno at what certainly was the world’s worst Super Bowl party. (Here’s the story behind that ad.)
If you need to refresh your memory, you can watch all of the ads here.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Add comment February 8, 2010
Henrietta Lacks Gets Her Due
A few weeks ago I mentioned that the book I’m most looking forward to reading is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.
I first heard about Skloot maybe five years ago, when our then-senior editor Maureen Harmon went to a writing conference in Pittsburgh and came back talking about a great session by Skloot (who I think was on the Pitt faculty at the time). Skloot had terrific advice on how to write about science for lay audiences.
She also struck us as a science writer worth keeping an eye on—someone we’d want to hire as a freelancer for The Penn Stater someday. A few years later I pitched a story idea to her and, while she wasn’t available to do it, she referred me to another science writer she recommended. And we’ve kept in touch via Facebook since then.
Anyway, one of the things Skloot had talked about in that Pittsburgh workshop was a book she was working on at the time—about a woman named Henrietta Lacks who had unwittingly changed the course of medical history.
Lacks was a poor woman from Virginia who sought treatment at Johns Hopkins for cervical cancer in 1951. Before she died, the Hopkins doctors took some samples of her cancerous cells—without her knowledge or permission—and propagated them in a Petri dish. The cells multiplied like no cells had ever done before, and ended up being used by researchers the world over. They played a role in the development of the polio vaccine, AIDS treatments, and many more medical discoveries.
And for decades, Lacks’ family had no idea about any of this.
To make a long story short, Skloot’s book—10 years in the making—is finally out. It was released earlier this week, and the acclaim it’s getting is just astounding. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book review as glowing as this one in the New York Times, for example, and that’s just one of three stories about the book in the Times this week. (Here is another one, in the Sunday Book Review section.)
Skloot also was the subject of a cover story in Publishers Weekly a few weeks ago, has been on NPR’s Fresh Air and on ABC’s World News, and will be on NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered today. And Popular Science did a piece on “Five Reasons Henrietta Lacks is the Most Important Woman in Medical History.”
I’m sure this is all beyond Skloot’s wildest dreams. And many people in the science writing community are thrilled that a science book can do so well (last I looked, it was No. 4 in the Amazon.com rankings)—although I get the sense that it’s so much more than a science book; there’s also history, ethics, and a compelling human-interest tale.
The copy I ordered arrived in the mail the other day, and I’m looking forward to digging in.
Tina Hay, editor
Add comment February 6, 2010
Professor Mia Bloom on Women Suicide Bombers
Mia Bloom, a faculty member in international studies and women’s studies, has a book coming out later this year called Bombshell: Women and Terror, and the research she conducted on female suicide bombers has her popping up in news stories.
This week, her research was referenced in a UPI special report called “Suicide Sisterhood: Al-Qaida’s Female Bombers.” And in late January, her book got a mention in this essay by Newsweek’s Christopher Dickey, which explored the role of women in jihad. Dickey quotes from a draft of Bloom’s book: “There is an army of female organizers, proselytizers, teachers, translators and fund-raisers, who either enlist with their husbands or succeed those who are jailed or killed.”
Click here to learn a little more about Bloom and her colleagues at Penn State’s International Center for the Study of Terrorism.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Add comment February 5, 2010
More on Penn Staters in Haiti
Matt Marek at a First Aid Post in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross.
We’re working on wrapping up our March/April issue, included in which is a profile of Matt Marek ’98, the Red Cross’ man on the ground in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Marek has worked in Haiti for years, was there when the earthquake struck, and will likely be there for the next few years (at least) leading the Red Cross’ recovery and rebuilding efforts. I’ve had a chance to talk to some of his family and friends, and can tell you that Marek seems every bit the impressive guy you’d expect.
I’m also following the efforts of Margaret Trost ’84, whose work feeding some of Haiti’s poorest kids is more important than ever, and of the team of doctors and nurses from the Hershey Medical Center who have been treating quake victims over the past few weeks. But a name I didn’t expect to hear was that of Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley ’78. Last weekend—in the midst of the final recruiting week of the spring, when he certainly had his hands full at work—Bradley joined his friend Cliff Benson ’71 on a plane that left Pittsburgh loaded with 30,000 pounds of medical supplies. As Bradley told the Allentown Morning-Call, he went along to help load and unload the supplies, and the roundtrip took less than a day. “Eighteen hours,” Bradley said. “I think everybody can find that kind of time.”
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Add comment February 4, 2010
Some Resolution for “Climategate”
Michael Mann, the prominent climate researcher and director of Penn State’s Earth System Science Center, has been largely cleared by the University of wrongdoing in the so-called “Climategate” scandal.
In a report released this morning, a panel of University administrators found no evidence of professional misconduct in three of the four allegations—accusations that he hid or falsified climate data; deleted emails or information tied to British climate scientist Phil Jones; or misused privileged information—brought against Mann. On the fourth allegation—essentially, the question of whether Mann fudged his research findings—the panel decided it lacked the expertise to make a definitive call. The investigation will be passed on to a new panel, made up of five high-level faculty in engineering and the sciences, who will review the evidence and announce their findings in the next four months.
You can read extended takes on the story from the The New York Times here, and from The Chronicle of Higher Education here.
And you can read Mann’s statement on the findings here.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Add comment February 3, 2010
She Doesn’t Play Much, But She Has No Regrets
I really liked the story in today’s Daily Collegian about Nicole Arcidiacono, a senior on the Lady Lion basketball team.
Arcidiacono joined the team as a walk-on two years ago, and although she has since earned a scholarship, she still plays only sparingly. Penn State has to have a pretty insurmountable lead before she gets into the game, and that doesn’t happen too often.
Yet she plays a big role on the team, according to the Collegian piece.
“She’s always telling us what we need to be doing and always sending us text messages reminding us about every little thing there is to know,” freshman guard Alex Bentley says in the article. “She’s almost like the Team Mom.”
And Arcidiacono (who, by the way, has a name that’s fun to say; it’s pronounced arch-ee-dee-OCK-uh-no) seems to relish her experiences as a part of the team, even if she rarely gets a chance to play in the actual games: “If I had to do it all over again,” she says, “I would do it in a heartbeat.”
Tina Hay, editor
Add comment February 2, 2010
A Poignant Memorial on College Avenue
More than five weeks after Christmas, you can still see a wreath and a card attached to a fence on the Penn State side of College Avenue, near the intersection with Pugh Street. The outside of the card reads, “I miss you,” and the inside reads, “Wish we could be together to share the special times.” Someone has added a hand-written message to “Tom”:
Merry Christmas
XOXO
Your Dad
I have no idea what the story is behind this. (Do you?) Our class notes editor, Julie Nelson, says this memorial turns up almost every year. Mysterious, and sad.
Tina Hay, editor
2 comments February 2, 2010
Perez Hilton Loves THON
First socialite Khloe Kardashian blogged about it. Now it’s socialite-slayer Perez Hilton’s turn. The gossip blogging, oftentimes-most-hated-man-in-Hollywood took a philanthropic turn this morning and dedicated a post to THON:
He didn’t tweet about it (too busy chatting it up with celebs), but for those who judge online importance on number of followers, Perez has 1,772,406 (and growing) followers to Khloe’s 923,263 (and growing).
And his bubblegum-colored, acidic blog ranks in at 177 for most-trafficked sites in the U.S., according to Alexa.com.
The faint of heart should skip the comments—though the usual lewd, crude words are sprinkled with lots of “We are…PENN STATE”s.
Where can THON land next? Will Ashton Kutcher, the most popular man on Twitter, tweet about it next? Stay tuned as blogging and micro-blogging weave a web of publicity for the world’s largest student-run philanthropy.
Amy Guyer, associate editor
Add comment February 1, 2010
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