The letter, a response to a mention in a recent issue of this magazine about the Berkey Creamery’s policy against mixing flavors, arrived via email back in 2019, and it made its point in just a few dozen words. Concise and clever, it was every bit the reflection of its author:
Ice cream laws? Really? How un-American. How antithetical to the melting pot yearning to mix flavors. I could be mistaken, but I don’t recall the pre-Berkey Creamery denying something even as mundane as vanilla/chocolate. Bureaucrats of Pennsylvania, tear down this wall between Black Cow and Peachy Paterno.
This marked my first interaction with longtime CNN correspondent Charles Bierbauer ’66, ’70 MA Com, a name I had known since before I knew he was a Penn Stater—in fact, well before I was a Penn Stater myself. As a Gen Xer who came of age during the early years of cable news, and who decided early on I wanted to pursue a journalism career, I’m not sure I can remember not knowing his name. Bierbauer died last August, a few weeks before the passing of another proud journalism alum, Town&Gown magazine founding publisher Mimi Barash Coppersmith ’54 Com. You can find In Memoriam profiles of both in this issue.
Including the death earlier last year of former New York Times and Newsweek correspondent Rod Nordland ’72 Com, 2025 robbed us of some of Penn State’s most successful—and impactful—journalism alumni. I’ve been thinking lately about that impact, and that of so many others still working in a beleaguered industry that remains essential to a healthy democracy, as well as of the students now learning and practicing their craft in the Bellisario College of Communications, poised to extend the program’s proud legacy.
If they follow the trails blazed and examples set by Bierbauer, Coppersmith, and Nordland, they’ll be just fine.
Ryan Jones ’95 Com | Editor
ryanjones@psu.edu
P.S. As most Penn Stater readers should know by now, the Creamery’s no-mixing policy is meant to prevent cross-contamination for customers with food allergies.
More online
CELEBRATE THON: With the 54th annual IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon set for Feb. 20–22, what better time to revisit our expansive Jan./Feb. 2022 oral history of THON?
OLD VS. NEWS: Our May/June 2014 issue highlighted the student media rivalry between young journalists at the venerable Daily Collegian and upstart Onward State.
