May 2018

Our first introduction to what the world is like comes through our parents. We look to them for guidance, reassurance, modeling, and wisdom. In the first few months to years of our lives our parents comfort, teach, lead, and share their wisdom with us that will ideally give us the confidence and tools we need…

Emily Hu began playing chess under the tutelage of her father. “Until I got too good,” Emily says, smiling.  Emily, a sophomore at State College Area High School, recently became the state high school champion during the Pennsylvania State Chess Federation’s scholastic championships in Gettysburg. She managed an upset win over a chess…

The Penn’s Woods Music Festival has a succinct but important vision: “Inspiring a passion for live music in this and future generations.” The festival began in 1986 but ended in 2003 before being re-started in its current format at Penn State in 2008. The festival was begun to provide something the community did not…

Although Veronica Swift earned a bachelor’s degree in jazz vocal performance in 2016, the diploma seems like more of a footnote than a milestone on her impressive resume. Before graduating from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, the Charlottesville, Virginia, native had already taken second place (2015) in the influential Thelonious Monk…

While Christmas is the “most wonderful time of year,” for those who enjoy trying new beers, it’s tough to beat summer. Beer goes with the other three “Bs” of the season — barbecues, beaches, and baseball games. According to a 2017 story by the National Beer Wholesalers Association, beer sales, on average, are 20 percent…

As a history guy, I naturally tend to see events as taking place within a larger context. Recently, I’ve found a book that does this for me in both history and geography. It’s The American College Town, by Blake Gumprecht, a professor of geography at the University of New Hampshire, published in 2008. Like…