Nittany Lines

We took a visit to this place over the weekend.  The primary purpose was to pick up Maddie from a week at band camp,  it was also a chance to finally get Alex started at looking at colleges.

Penn State is an odd place in the summer.  In the fall winter and spring,  it's a busy place,  students are everywhere.  Its quiet in the summer, but the Nittany Lion Shrine was still bustling with people even on the hottest day of the year.

For Central PA this is bustling, trust me.

This is supposedly the most photographed spot in Pennsylvania, considering it took 10 minutes of standing in line on the hottest day of the summer to get a picture taken, I believe it.



Krissy pointed out that calling anything with a college mascot a shrine is kind of... well.... obsessed. 


Its not like PSU is obsessed with Lions or anything.


Well maybe we are.

You got a problem with that?








I was relieved that even though we are in the new world of digital communication, that bulletin board system is still alive and well.

Though perhaps a bit tongue in cheek.

Another surprise was that moving actual chalkboards are still being used in the Forum, where Mora is shown  holding court.

Last but not least, we passed by Pattee and Paterno Library.  This enscription has always bugged me, mainly because I never believed it.  I mean while it may have worked for Abe Lincoln, most of us don't learn by just books,  its the interplay between people and minds that I felt really make for learning.

Think about it,  now we have the internet, which is the greatest library ever amassed, we can get whole volumes of books and information in mere seconds.  But at the same time, we are as small minded (at least collectively) as we ever were,  I think that is mainly because as we go through the web, we can pick and choose the ideas and thinkers who make us the most comfortable, who validate the way we already think and feel.

What I found (and still find) the most interesting place to be is to find yourself surrounded by people who disagree with you.  That is when you get the chance to test your conceptions and toss a few overboard every now and then.

Still, Dr Pattee wrote a hell of an alma mater though....