The Sandusky Scandal: As Experienced–and Written–by Penn Staters
January 28, 2013 at 10:42 am Lori Shontz 4 comments
About nine months ago, I received an email from Sheila Squillante ’02g, a senior lecturer in Penn State’s English department, and Dave Housley, who works in Penn State’s Outreach department and is an editor at Barrelhouse magazine. They were collecting pieces that had been written about the Sandusky scandal for an anthology, and they had a specific mission. They wanted pieces written by people who are connected to Penn State. And they wanted not straight news accounts or opinion pieces about who’s at fault, but pieces that dug into the emotions of the situation. They eventually came up with a title: Notes from Inside a Burst Bubble: Penn Staters on the Penn State Scandal.
I was honored to contribute a piece I wrote for this blog, about how sociology lecturers Sam Richards and Laurie Mulvey ’94g addressed the issues in SOC 119. I’ve been eagerly waiting to see what other pieces would turn up in the anthology, and the time is drawing near.
Squillante and Housely couldn’t find a traditional publisher for the book, so they’re raising funds to publish it themselves. They’ve set up this page on indiegogo to solicit donations because they want to donate any profit to RAINN, and that wasn’t possible on some other platforms. You can go there to donate; every little bit helps. They need to raise $2,000 to cover expenses, and as of Monday morning they’re at the $1,200 mark.
The Daily Collegian did a nice piece on why the book matters; Squillante called it a “document for people to make sense of what happened.” Among the contributors are Squillante, her English 15 class, Housely, and Michael Weinreb ’94, who often writes for us and who wrote insightfully and movingly about the scandal for Grantland.
If you’re interested in contributing, I know that the editors—and the writers, including me—would be grateful. None of us are making a dime. But it’s important for the voices of Penn Staters to be heard, and of course RAINN is doing valuable, vital work. Here’s a way to support both.
Lori Shontz, senior editor
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: Dave Housely, Grantland, Laurie Mulvey, Notes from Inside a Burst Bubble, Sam Richards, Sheila Squillante.
1. Naturewoman | January 28, 2013 at 10:52 am
Why RAINN. They used the Paterno name, writing about his so called guilt, in order to promote their cause. I did donate to RAINN in the beginning, but will never again.
2. The Truth | January 28, 2013 at 12:27 pm
RAINN chose to disregard due process and a search for the truth in order to accept the media orchestrated smear of Paterno, and I find the title of this work to be similarly disturbing, because the only burst bubble at Penn State is that of respect for the trustees and administration of the University who have brought shame to the honor.
3. R Thomas Berner | January 29, 2013 at 5:53 am
Why not just self-publish at CreateSpace, Lulu or Blurb?
4. Anonymous | February 1, 2013 at 9:13 pm
I self-published my book at Tattered Cover Press in Denver – they have a great set-up for self-publishing – http://www.tatteredcover.com