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July / August 2012
The true cost of
cheap food
Food & Farms IssueBuy Fresh Buy Local Guide PG 16PG 16
PP AA GG EE 11 22
w w w . v o i c e s w e b . o r g
COMMUNITYGreen thumbs, bighearts: locals growproduce for food bank
Food cooperativecoming to town
PG 8
Veronica Winters
Pg 24
POLITICSGrim prospects foreducation majorsPG 3
VOICES OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
We live in a
time of unprece-
dented access to
information—our
gift and our bur-
den.
As I researched
this month’s cover
story on cheap
food, I felt over-
whelmed by the
range and scope of
the problems I discovered.
America’s dysfunctional relationship
with food isn’t merely a matter of people
making bad choices at the grocery store.
History and culture influence those deci-
sions. They’re shaped by the economic
interests of agribusiness, the aspirations of
politicians and the ever-evolving values of
consumers.
The progress we make in some direc-
tions (such as more women entering the
workforce and scientific discoveries lead-
ing to higher and more reliable crop yields)
contributes to regression in other directions
(such as fewer homemade dinners and loss
of biodiversity).
The problems I explore in my article are
systemic problems—pervasive, tangled
and infinitely complex. The temptation is
to think: “These problems are too big. How
can I—one person—make a difference?”
But as I knelt in the dirt yesterday, har-
vesting turnips as part of a work-for-pro-
duce exchange, it occurred to me that
meaningful change can come from any
direction—the bottom or the top, or the
side for that matter. Our food system an
intricate machine, and change anywhere
can affect everything.
I can’t re-write the Farm Bill or rearrange
the shelves of every grocery in America,
but I can grow tomatoes and herbs in my
back yard. I can buy locally grown vegeta-
bles. I can eat less meat. I can pay attention
to what’s in season. I can try new recipes. I
can choose restaurants that serve locally
grown food. I can talk to my friends and
family about food systems, and I can write
about food issues for publications like
Voices.
If everyone in Centre County were to use
his or her limited resources to make small
changes to our
food culture, I
think something
amazing would
happen.
This is my
final issue of
Voices, and I am
extremely grate-
ful that I’ve got-
ten to serve as its
managing editor
for 14 months. I
leave with
tremendous con-
fidence in this
community and
the mission that
Voices serves
within it. I know
the passionate
leadership of Elizabeth Timberlake-Newell
will enrich this publication.
I plan to continue serving Voices as I am
able, and I ask that you do the same.
Remember that a small contribution—
whether it be an article, an hour spent copy
editing or a commitment to delivering
papers to a new location—can make a big
difference.
Voices will not hold staff meetings in
July. Meetings will pick back up in August,
every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Webster’s
Bookstore. Drop by and find out how you
can help!
© 2012 Voices of Central Pennsylvania, Inc.
July / August 2012
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maximum of 250 words, opinion pieces 600 to
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Thoughtful. Fearless. Free. Help Centre County by helping Voices from the desk of managing editor
Lucy Bryan GreenBOARD OF EDITORScontact the managing editor at
Managing EditorLucy Bryan Green
Politics and EconomicsElizabeth Timberlake-Newell
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Sue Werner
Lakshman Yapa
POLITICS and ECONOMICS pages 3-7Education majors face grim job prospects by Kenneth Bui................................................3
COMMUNITY and LIFESTYLES pages 8-11Locals grow produce for food bank by Allison Robertson.....................................................8
ENVIRONMENT pages 12-21Dependence on cheap food proves costly by Lucy Bryan Green..................................12
UNIVERSITY pages 22-23Dorms enforce policies for summer guests by Jessica Beard...............................................22
ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT pages 24-28Cartoon holds final performance by Elizabeth Timberlake-Newell................................24
OPINION pages 29-31Some alternatives to ‘cut & gut’ spending policies by Paul Dombek..............................30
Top Stories in This Issue
2 July / August 2012
Pennsylvania House Bill 2150 addresses
corporate tax loopholes, which can be a
problem in Pennsylvania. The legislation
restructures the tax system of the state and
cuts business taxes by almost a billion dol-
lars by 2020.
There are concerns that the House Bill
does not solve the problem of the
Delaware Loophole because it creates a
new loophole. HB 2150 may allow large
businesses to not pay the taxes they
should, through saying any expense has a
‘valid business purpose,’ according to the
House Appropriation Committee.
The Delaware loophole allows business-
es to have companies in Delaware that
benefit the corporation when it is time to
pay taxes. The business expenses paid in
Delaware is deducted from the state
income tax.
The legislation was introduced by Rep.
David Reed (R-62nd).
“The idea behind HB 2150 is to close the
so-called ‘Delaware Loophole’ and to use
the increased revenues generated from the
closure of this ‘loophole’ to provide busi-
ness tax reform,” Rep. Bernie O’Neill ( R-
29th) said.
Opponents of the bill have fears that the
bill will end up costing Pennsylvania more
than it is worth. Because the bill favors
Pennsylvania companies and may add
another loophole, some believe it will not
benefit the state.
The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy
Center, a statewide policy research project,
claims that bill is not worth the risks it cre-
ates.
While the Center’s website states the
legislation takes the step in the right direc-
tion towards closing a corporate tax loop-
hole, the bill would restructure the tax sys-
tem in the state in a negative way. The
website notes that the bill would close the
loophole with almost one billion dollars in
tax cuts by the end of the decade.
According to the center, that lost tax rev-
enue could have supported education and
healthcare. Past tax breaks have caused
cuts in services that the state supports, and
have lost jobs in public sectors such as
education.
Proponents of the bill believe it would
create an even playing field for businesses,
and do the job it is supposed to do: cut out
the Delaware loophole.
The bill not only cuts out the Delaware
loophole, but also minimizes corporate net
income taxes in the state. This means the
bill reduces the taxes on a company’s total
profit in the state. The net loss deduction
would rise and the corporate net income
tax rate would fall each year starting in
2014.
The bill was passed by the Pennsylvania
General Assembly on May 2.
While the bill may successfully close the
gap in the system at present, it may be at
too great of a cost to put into place. The
bill was referred to the Finance Committee
of the Senate on May 11.
Gov. Tom Corbett’s 2011-2012 budget
proposal cut more than $1.5 billion from
the pubic education sector, underscoring
the grim career prospects confronting
education majors in Pennsylvania.
Critics of the budget have focused
much of their attention on cuts to higher
education and the possibility of rising
tuition at Pennsylvania’s public colleges
and universities. Last year’s budget cuts
inspired student rallies and protests, and
in anticipation of Corbett’s 2012-2013
budget proposal, students from several
universities, including Penn State,
protested on the steps of the Capitol
Rotunda in Harrisburg on Jan. 31.
Within that population is a group of stu-
dents facing a particular set of concerns:
education majors.
As school districts face budget con-
straints, education majors anticipate
entering a field with very few jobs to
offer.
“The job field for teachers is not prom-
ising,” said Ron Cowell, president of
Pennsylvania’s Education Policy and
Leadership Center (EPLC).
Sebastian Castaño, an undergraduate
pursuing a degree in secondary math edu-
cation at Penn State, said that the lay-offs
in the Allentown District, where he went
to high school, worry him.
“When I was younger and wanted to be
a teacher, I was told of the job security in
education,” he said. “Now, I see how
many teachers in my own school district
lose their jobs, and it makes me unsure.”
Last June, a total of 265 Allentown
teachers received layoff notices. This was
an 18 percent cut from the school dis-
trict’s teaching staff at the time.
“In respect to the Corbett cuts, who
knows how many more positions from
Allentown will be cut in the next year,”
Castaño said.
A number of teachers from the State
College Area School District also
received layoff notices in the wake of last
year’s cuts. Last June, 21 employees of
the school district lost their positions.
These layoffs were part of a fiscal plan to
bridge a multi-million-dollar budget gap.
Though the number of layoffs varies
depending on the school district, educa-
tion layoffs are occurring throughout the
state.
According to PAreap.net, a
Pennsylvania school applications net-
work through which school employers
can advertise jobs, 147 available teaching
positions were posted between September
2011 and April 2012.
The schools participating in this service
have higher demands for teachers of cer-
tain over others. Of the available posi-
tions, about 18 percent were science-
related teaching positions, about 15 per-
cent were special education positions, and
about 10 percent were math-related posi-
tions.
3July / August 2012
Education majors face grim job prospectsby Kenneth Bui
see Education, pg. 6
“The job field for teachersis not promising.”
Ron Cowell, Education Policy and
Leadership Center
HB 2150 may decrease state tax revenuesby Kristen Jakubowski
“The idea behind HB 2150 isto close the so-called‘Delaware Loophole’ and touse the increased revenuesgenerated from the closure ofthis ‘loophole’ to provide busi-ness tax reform.”
Rep. Bernie O’Neill
Due to recent accidents between water-
fowl and aircrafts at University Park
Airport, measures have been taken to
decrease the population of waterfowl in
the area.
The Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) Wildlife Strike Database dates the
first incident at University Park Airport
between an “Unknown bird – small” and a
SAAB-340 aircraft to 1999. In that inci-
dent, no damages were sustained. A few
incidents occurred in 2000, 2002, 2006
and 2009.
Recently, there has been an increase:
three accidents in 2010, five accidents in
2011 and two in April of 2012.
The most serious of all of these acci-
dents was between a mallard and Eclipse
500, a small private jet. The plane sus-
tained approximately $45,000 of damage.
The remarks included in the report issued
by the FAA Wildlife Strike Database note
the strike involved two to ten medium
sized mallards.
The recent accidents triggered the need
to conduct a wildlife assessment for the
University Park Airport as mandated
through the FAA.
“We ended up hiring the USDA and they
worked closely with the FAA,” said Bryan
Rodgers, University Park Airport director.
“They did this assessment over a twelve to
eighteen month period where they came
in…conducting surveys, monitoring
wildlife activity. They had various survey
points around the airport that they went out
to on regular scheduled intervals both day
and night outside the airport.”
The study was conducted on the five-
mile radius of land surrounding the airport.
Survey points included the fish hatchery at
Pleasant Gap, the wetlands surrounding
Beaver Stadium, ponds and farms along
Route 550, the agricultural fields around
the airport that are owned by Penn State
and the East College Avenue pond.
After the assessment was completed, the
FAA mandated the University Park Airport
have a wildlife hazard management plan.
Potential solutions proposed for the area
directly around the airport were published
in the January 2012 Airport Newsletter.
Solutions include “maintaining a better
and more consistent recommended grass
height, which makes the area less attrac-
tive to many bird species” as well as other
actions.
Despite articles about the proposed solu-
tions published in the Centre Daily Times
and Penn State Newswire, people living
around the area do not feel like they
received enough notification of the new
plan.
The wildlife hazard management plan at
the East College Avenue pond was to put
up the warning signs requesting visitors
not to feed the waterfowl, followed shortly
after by the installation of gates to deter
members of the community from coming
to the pond to feed the birds.
But Jason and Naomi Smith, who live
with their children in a house next to the
pond, didn’t know why the FAA and
USDA were imposing such measures.
“There was no name [neither the FAA or
USDA were named on the signs], just
‘don’t feed the waterfowl.’ No indication
who put these up or for what reason. I
think we just felt like we were in the dark.”
Due to the frequent visits made by mem-
bers of the community to feed the ducks
4 July / August 2012
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Aviation accidents force waterfowl controlsby Tara Richelo
see Waterfowl, pg. 7
Photo by Jason SmithNaomi Smith with her daughter Gloria and son Reuben visit the East College Avenue duck pond. TheSmiths fed the ducks there until recently.
Say You’re One of Them: The Less-
Intelligent-than-Average American Guide
to Being Corporate.
Statistics show that the average
American spends roughly 62 hours a week
on help lines attempting to clear up corpo-
rate misconceptions. About 1 in 600,000
calls succeed.
Statistics aside, my cousin Marvin had a
rough week. Have you met Marvin? He is
shaped liked a fire hydrant, with much the
same range of motion and grace. But he is
kind, slow to anger and uncomfortably
honest.
Marvin’s 87 year old mother-in-law
hired a Van line to move her belongings
here from Florida. She was told the truck
would arrive in three to four days and
wisely planned for 10. It’s been two weeks
and, sadly, no one seems to know where
her truck is. In the interim, she is living
with Marvin and his wife, has run out of
meds, and practices the flugelhorn for 6
hours a day.
If you navigate the Van line’s phone sys-
tem, you eventually meet a charming
young person, Marcie, who promises to
call you back. She doesn’t. Right now, we
are waiting for a call from Marcie. She
apparently sits out on the median divider
of Route 95, just north of Richmond, and
watches the trucks go by. She’ll call when
she spots ours.
Marvin’s health insurance company
pays a recovery firm to find out if anyone
can be held liable for his health care
expenses. They asked Marvin to call so
they could gather additional information
about his recent back surgery. He called
and had a laugh with a nice young woman
named Marcie about their mistake. Marvin
didn’t have back surgery, he had cataract
surgery. Marcie promised to change his
records. She didn’t.
Yesterday, Marvin got a strongly worded
letter accusing him of not responding to
their request. They smell fraud and are
coming down on him like a load of bricks.
His lawyer feels that only by having the
back surgery will Marvin’s life ever be
bearable again.
When Marvin’s mother died this
February, he kept their joint account open
for a few months, as he is a good citizen
and very naive. Since there are no bank
branches near State College, he left with a
phone number to call to cancel the
account. He checked in April to verify all
the automatic payments had been stopped
and called to close the account in
May. Stay with us here, it’s complicated.
Their phone rep, Marcie, told him he
couldn’t cancel an account with a balance
($40.12) over the phone. Simple enough—
he sent a letter asking to close the
account. When Marcie didn’t respond in
10 days, he called and was told that the let-
ter must be notarized. Cleverly, he took
$40.12 out of the account to get to a zero
balance. Game over!
Unfortunately, that was the very day the
power company made an unauthorized
automated transfer from the account.
Counting the fee, he was overdrawn
$70.37. So Marvin sent a notarized letter
and a certified check for $70.37, only to be
told he actually owed $68.37. And with a
balance of $2, they couldn’t close the
account. Marvin raced to the bank to cash
a check for $2, but unfortunately, the
account didn’t have an adequate balance
for May. That fee was $20 and the account
balance is currently -$18.00. Marcie tells
him that real bank officers might be able to
help, but they are all in Monaco playing
Texas-hold-em with pension funds.
With no way out, Marvin did what any
rational person would do. He called the
insurance recovery firm and told them that
he had ruined his back dodging a brakeless
Allied Van Line truck, tripped over an
unmarked bicycle rack outside a Wells
Fargo Bank and went head first through
their plate glass window. “Let them work it
out,” he told me with an evil grin.
Why suffer as a person any longer? The
Supreme Court has declared that, for all
practical purposes, corporations are peo-
ple. And that is the reason, we at
Stevieslaw are proud to publish “Say
You’re One of Them: The LAGuide to
becoming a Corporation.
In the guide, you will not only be taken
through the process of becoming a
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remarkable benefits you can receive as a
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see LAG, pg. 6
6 July / August 2012
On the other hand, English, history, for-
eign language and music made up about 9
percent, 6 percent, 6 percent and 5 per-
cent respectively. About 20 percent of the
available postings were for Elementary
K-6 or general classroom instruction
positions.
According to Penn State’s College of
Education website, there are 2,532 under-
graduate students pursuing education
degrees at its 20 campuses, including
University Park. Many of these students
may not be able to find teaching work in
Pennsylvania.
Education majors realize that the com-
petition for positions is further complicat-
ed by the reduction in spending for teach-
ing positions.
Lauren Johnson, a Penn State
Elementary and Special Education Major,
graduated with her teaching degree this
May.
“It’s hard because older teachers stick
around because they can,” Johnson said.
“All of us leaving school have no jobs.”
Johnson also said “about 400-700
resumes are looked at for one teaching
position” and that it’s “hard to be patient
as an education major.”
In light of this, Johnson has made sure
to build her resume and take classes for
her Master’s Degree in Education.
She said that she built her resume with
credentials like summer jobs related to
the field, being in a sorority, volunteering,
and being a Resident Assistant and
Teaching Assistant for Math Class.
Due to the competition for scarce
teaching positions, out-of-state positions
may be the only choice for some
Pennsylvania education majors.
“Current education majors will have to
start looking at teaching options outside
of the state,” said Lawrence Wess, the
executive director of the Pennsylvania
School Study Council.
Cowell says that Pennsylvania has been
a major exporter of teachers for the last
twenty years.
“I’ve never thought about teaching out
of state because I always had the idea that
I could easily choose to stay in
Pennsylvania and teach,” said Castaño.
Fortunately for Kate Skowronski, a
newly certified Pennsylvania teacher,
her qualifications were enough to land
her a teaching position at Ridley High
School in Folsom, Pa. last January.
Skowronski graduated in 2010 from
Bloomsburg University and completed
her Master of Education in 2011, also at
Bloomsburg.
“I definitely wanted to stay in
Pennsylvania to teach,” she said. “I can’t
even guess how many positions I applied
for…over 100.”
Skowronski said she finally applied for
a position on the Ridley district’s website,
which first led her to an interview with
the Director of Human Resources, then a
second interview with three principals
and the English Department head. She
was runner-up for the position but was
then offered the job after the first-pick
applicant changed her mind.
She explained that to build a strong
resume as an undergraduate, she “made
sure any activity [she] did was somehow
related to children or young adults or edu-
cation.”
Her activities included teaching Sunday
school, being a nanny, tutoring, part time
substituting and getting involved at mid-
dle schools.
“I wanted to show my potential
employers how passionate I feel about
children and young adults and working
with them,” Skowronski said.
As a money saving measure, Corbett
has also suggested mandate reliefs, which
would reduce school district requirements
for professional development, certifica-
tions, workshops and training of current
teachers and school staff.
Wess said the budget cuts and mandate
reliefs discourage the best and brightest in
the field of education from pursuing the
career, even those considering education
majors who are still in high school.
“Instead of teacher training that is
required within five years, it would be
like that same training required within
eight years,” Wess said of the potential
mandate reductions.
To educators, actions like these send a
different message.
“It shows that the state doesn’t under-
stand how the education system works,”
said R.J. Beck, a fifth semester Music
Education Major. “The education of those
who educate is, in some respects, just as
important as the education that we pro-
vide to our students.”
Beck said he was offended at the news
of the mandate relief proposal on profes-
sional development.
“They have to understand that you get
out is what you put in,” said Beck. “How
can we put a dollar sign on our children’s
education and future?”
Emily Horvath, a Penn State under-
graduate pursuing a degree in secondary
education, said she took Corbett’s propos-
al personally.
“The state is leaving me with the
impression that they don’t care about the
future of education, teachers and current
students,” she said.
Photo by Kenneth BuiEmily Horvath, Undergraduate-Secondary education, cannot be sure she will land a job in her field,despite her attention to her academic work.
from Education, pg. 3
corpperson. For example, imagine your
fun when you start your own automated
phone system, using the voice of the tod-
dler next door with the adorable speech
defect and that of your neighbor down the
street who only speaks Swahili.
You will get to answer informative let-
ters with automated responses asking for
the very information you have just
received and to offer free gifts for an
expensive membership in a trial program
that can be cancelled at any time with only
a notarized letter from the Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court.
Picture yourself joyfully sending auto-
mated phone messages to random numbers
to tell strangers that their passwords have
expired and they must call mumble, mum-
ble, mumble, immediately to preserve their
credit rating. With practice, you can be as
inept and annoying as Verizon.
Become part of the problem. It’s all in
this month’s guide! And if it isn’t, just call
833-456-305 and ask for Marcie. If she
can’t help you, no one can.
from LAG, pg. 6
7July / August 2012
and geese, the birds have become accus-
tomed to accepting handouts from
humans.
When the signs and gate first appeared,
the Smiths hypothesized that they were
installed for the sake of Penn State Office
of the Physical Plant workers who were
often approached by the birds while they
were working.
“The duck pond was one of those [loca-
tions] where they get big concentrations of
waterfowl, and one of the issues is feeding
them,” explained Margaret Brittingham,
Penn State Professor of Wildlife
Resources. “Because then they’ll get the
mallards and the Canada geese to stick
around.”
The public can assist accident preven-
tion efforts by not feeding the birds,
though they are still welcome to visit the
pond and enjoy the scenery and wildlife.
Some residents feel informing the public
may increase cooperation.
“With a little bit of education, they
would have found more cooperation
among the public,” said Smith.
Smith suggested providing another sign
with an explanation of the problem.
“I think people could respect that more
than ‘don’t do this,’ ” said Naomi Smith.
The goal of the wildlife hazard man-
agement plan is not to hurt or dramatical-
ly disrupt the bird population.
“We think over the course of a number
of years, we’ll be able to stabilize the
population and make it a less attractive
place for the ducks,” said airport director
Bryan Rodgers.
Professor Brittingham believes the goal
would be to get the birds to reside else-
where around State College.
“There are lots of other ponds… so
they would just be more spread out across
the area,” explained Brittingham. “And I
think that’s the ultimate goal.”
Brittingham separates State College
geese into two different categories. First
are the resident geese that are causing the
problems with the airport. The second are
migrants that live and nest in the green
spaces surrounding State College.
A final step to get the waterfowl popu-
lation under control is to oil the eggs that
the birds have recently nested. Oiling is
the process of coating the eggs in corn oil
in order to stop carbon dioxide leaving
and oxygen entering the egg.
Subsequently, the embryo would suffo-
cate but the nesting parent would be
unaware and continue to incubate.
“They do that instead of destroying a
nest, [because] the birds would re-nest.
So what this does is, the birds think
they’re nesting…they’ll keep incubating
the eggs but you won’t get anymore
nestlings.”
After the nesting season is over, the
eggs would be removed to prevent the
birds from remaining in the area to wait
for eggs to hatch.
“This is a pretty humane way of doing
it compared to other ways,” said
Brittingham.
Airport director Rodgers also supported
the egg oiling plan, stating that the USDA
is utilizing the least invasive or severe
interventions.
Besides the April 2012 mallard inci-
dent, the FAA Wildlife Strike Database
does not note any other crash causing
damage.
from Waterfowl, pg. 4
Over the last six months, a group of com-
munity members has been developing a
plan to bring a food cooperative to State
College.
Food cooperatives, or co-ops, are mem-
ber-owned grocery stores that serve as
alternatives to larger chains and typically
offer local, organic and alternative prod-
ucts.
Operating under the motto “food you can
trust,” the Friends & Farmers
Cooperative’s mission is to be an inviting
community grocery store committed to
showcasing the best local products in sup-
port of a strong local economy.
Those organizing the co-op want it to
become a one-stop shop, providing every-
thing a family needs. It will offer locally
grown and prepared foods as well as fair
trade and organic bulk items.
According to organizers, local producers
will be given priority on store shelves.
Moreover, the co-op will use labeling and
shelving intended to inspire healthy eat-
ing—not, as is common in many grocery
stores, to draw the attention of children to
sugary treats.
“The cooperative hopes to offer a whole
food experience—a place where you can
get to know your local farms and farmers,
take cooking classes, help stock shelves,
more fully connect to the food that sustains
you,” explained Sarah Potter, a local food
advocate, educator and leader of the
Friends & Farmers steering committee.
Potter said she loves food and that she
wants to help others in this community see
the value in good food.
“I like feeling connected to the food I
eat... knowing the story of who raised and
tended the food and how has it come to my
home,” she said.
Driving members of the co-op’s steering
committee, Elizabeth Crisfield, and her
husband, Doug Henry, said they have spent
years talking about how they could open a
grocery store focused on local food.
“We dreamt big and small, but nothing
seemed possible,” said Crisfield. That was
until the couple joined forces with a group
of community members who wanted the
same thing.
“This is the power of the co-op,”
explained Crisfield. “A lot more is possible
when a whole community chips in and
makes it their own.”
The discussion about opening a food
cooperative got underway at a potluck din-
ner hosted by the Spring Creek
Homesteading Fund, a nonprofit focused
on local self-sufficiency, last November.
Over 100 people attended. When attendees
were asked to share a few ideas about what
Centre County “foodies” could do to
strengthen the local food system, starting a
co-op proved to be a popular notion.
“A bunch of the people interested in co-
ops met each other that night—or if they
knew each other already, got to know each
other better,” said Katherine Watt, a com-
munity organizer and founder of the Spring
Creek Homesteading Fund.
After the potluck, Watt reached out to
Sarah Potter and Daryl Sinn, a past mem-
ber of the Our Store Food Co-op which
In late May, Mary Watson, the newest
grower for the State College Area Food
Bank, stood proudly over herbs no bigger
than a thumbnail, and said, “These are
like my babies.”
This spring, Watson joined a group that
grows and donates fresh produce to the
State College Area Food Bank.
When Watson went to visit her daugh-
ter in Long Island last Christmas, she met
a man who grows and donates food to his
local food bank. Watson, a Chicago
native, decided to implement the idea her-
self, despite a huge challenge: she didn’t
know the first thing about growing veg-
etables.
“I’ve never even started seeds before,”
she said.
Bill Zimmer, director of growers for the
State College Area Food Bank, assigned
Watson a mix including herbs and fruits
that are rare at the food bank, such as mel-
ons and concord grapes.
In her back yard, Watson has a 34- by
86-foot plot in which she plans to plant
melons. To the right of the plot, along a
curved stone walkway, Watson has eight
whiskey barrels and some smaller pots
filled with herbs like basil, rosemary,
lemongrass, chamomile and chives.
Watson said she has attended confer-
ences and read books to learn about farm-
ing. She’s also using the internet to find
organic fertilizers and ways to keep the
bugs off her plants, like using a liquid
soap to spray the plants, she said.
“Why start out a farming project in the
21st century and use chemicals? I’m not
going to do it,” Watson said.
Watson said one of the hardest parts
about farming and growing plants from
seeds is having patience.
“I’m a really, really impatient person,”
she explained, adding that once the
excitement of planting seeds was over,
she thought, “What?! You mean I have to
wait four weeks for these little things to
show up?”
But when she began to see results,
Watson said she was shocked.
“I didn’t have any confidence that I was
going to be able to do it right,” she said.
“I didn’t trust the seed.”
Zimmer, too, faced challenges when he
began growing for the State College Area
Food Bank five years ago, even though he
had some gardening experience.
8 July / August 2012
Locals grow produce for food bankby Allison Robertson
Photo by Allison RobertsonBill Zimmer, director of growers for the State College Food Bank, stands in front of his potato plot.
see Food Bank, pg. 9
Food cooperative to come to Centre Countyby Carolyne Meehan
see Cooperative, pg. 10
When he and his wife first moved to
Centre Hall from Long Island, he expand-
ed his garden and took a few college
courses on horticulture. They soon decid-
ed to begin donating their extra produce
to the food bank.
In the beginning, he planted too many
potatoes to harvest himself by hand, he
said. He ended up buying farm equip-
ment to make it easier. Now Zimmer
also uses the help of volunteers that the
food bank sends him to help harvest his
crops.
The first year, Zimmer donated 100
pounds of produce. This year, he said he
expects to donate over four tons.
Zimmer said he worries about local
children going hungry.
“I don’t know how much peas and car-
rots the kids will eat, but at least I’ll do
my best to give it to them,” Zimmer said.
“If the parents can get their kids to eat it,
I’ll grow it.”
Zimmer said he also tries to grow kid-
friendly produce, like apples and straw-
berries. For Halloween, he is growing
small pumpkins for children to celebrate
the holiday.
Zimmer said he knows kids will love
the grapes and other fruits that Watson
will grow.
Since Zimmer began donating his extra
produce to the food bank, he has expand-
ed his plot from .25 to 1.5 acres, and this
year, he has an intern helping him. He
also directs seven other growers who
have followed his lead.
When someone wants to grow pro-
duce for the food bank, Zimmer surveys
his or her land and makes recommenda-
tions based on the land’s capabilities
and the food bank’s needs. Zimmer said
he also keeps in mind what the grower
wishes to grow, as long as it’s not com-
mon vegetables like peppers or toma-
toes.
Zimmer said this year, his intern will
monitor how much produce is used from
his growers and how much the food bank
can accommodate based on its refrigera-
tion capacity.
Ernest Boyd, operations manager at the
State College Area Food Bank, said that
the produce programs are greatly appreci-
ated.
“Our clients often say that fresh pro-
duce is the thing they want most but can
afford the least,” Boyd wrote in an email.
“They have to choose between an apple
and 3 boxes of mac and cheese, for exam-
ple.”
Another group of volunteers takes a
different route to providing food bank
clients with fresh produce.
Norm Knaub, who is one of Zimmer’s
growers and a master gardener, leads a
group of master gardeners that grow and
provide free plants for people who use the
food bank.
Every year, the master gardeners hold a
plant sale for the general public. Knaub
said that four years ago, the group decid-
ed that at the end of the sale they should
donate the plants to the food bank.
“We grow extra plants, so we know
there will be plants left over to distribute
at the food bank,” Knaub said.
For people in apartments who don’t
have garden plots readily available,
Knuab said the master gardeners use
compost donated from the university and
plant the vegetables in large pots.
This year, Knaub added parsley, onions
and cabbage to the variety of plants the
master gardeners donate.
For the last two years, about 57 people
from food bank used these plants, Knaub
said.
Zimmer has also started several initia-
tives to keep donated produce fresher
longer. He said he is developing a cold
cellar in a friend’s barn basement to
increase food storage and wants to freeze
some of the fresh food.
“The cold cellar is a big deal,” Zimmer
said. “We can supply [people in need] the
whole winter.”
With the cold cellar, Zimmer says he
can expand the production of different
crops and get more growers.
Freezing the vegetables will also great-
ly help the food bank because of the lim-
ited amount of refrigeration space, said
Zimmer. The first
crop Zimmer wants
to try is corn.
“The food bank has
a number of freezers
that from time to time
they need, and time to
time they don’t,”
Zimmer said.
“Sometimes they sit
there idle. If we could
stock them with
frozen corn, that
would be cool.”
The food bank is
trying to make
arrangements with
another nonprofit
organization to use a state-approved
kitchen to boil the corn and then freeze it
for the food bank, said Zimmer.
“If we can do it with corn, we can do it
with beans, tomatoes and applesauce,”
said Zimmer. “Sky’s the limit.”
9July / August 2012
from Food Bank, pg. 8
Photo by Allison RobertsonMary Watson said she learned to grow seeds in egg shells at a conference.
Spotlight: Boalsburg Farmers’Market cooking demonstrations
10 July / August 2012
operated in State College between 1975
and 1981, to further the conversation in a
January meeting.
At this time, a group of students from
Penn State’s Community, Environment and
Development class, led by student Greta
Righter, got on board and designed a sur-
vey to measure community support.
Survey data showed that State College
consumers prioritize local and organic
foods in their buying choices. Data also
showed that most individuals are willing to
pay membership fees in the amount of
$100 to $200 or more.
“Right now our primary goals are build-
ing capital and membership,” said Potter.
Under her leadership, the steering com-
mittee has broken into membership and
legal/financial committees. According to
Potter, there is a store logo in the works and
bylaws in the process of being written.
“The steering committee has a great mix
of people with different experiences with
food and food business, but there is room
for more,” said Crisfield. “In particular we
keep hoping someone with law or finance
experience will be inspired about the possi-
bility of a food co-op and join us.”
There are nearly 300 food co-ops nation-
wide. The organizers have been in commu-
nication with other food co-ops around the
country, researching start-up strategies,
operations and membership processes.
“We hope to be ready to accept member-
ship applications in early 2013,” said
Elizabeth Crisfield.
For more information about membership
or how to help, please send an email to
from Cooperative, pg. 8
Photos by Tina GrashaAt a Chef’s Kitchen demonstration on June 20 Chef Mark Johnson cut brined pork for patrons (top left),market goers sampled food (top right), and chef Grace Pilato prepared four pesto recipes (bottom).
One of the primary challenges I face as
a health care provider is helping people
overcome their misunderstanding that
taking care of themselves is a selfish act
and is somehow wrong.
This perception is deeply ingrained in
many cultures—national, familial and
religious—and as with any other value or
belief, it can be challenging to reeducate
ourselves into a healthier and more free-
ing view.
There are practical arguments for tak-
ing care of yourself in terms of the ener-
getic, financial and service costs of not
doing so—as if we should need an argu-
ment to allow us permission to feel good.
In service to better balance, better
health, being happier and feeling well it is
important to take time for honest self-
inquiry about how much you value your
health and how you take care of you (or
don’t).
I have noted over time that a few reli-
gious traditions in particular focus on
guilt, especially around time taken for
one’s self, and certainly many families
pass this unfortunate learning down from
generation to generation. This is also a
prevalent cultural pattern, evident in how
we work, how we parent, how we take
care of others.
We have all had the experience of giv-
ing too much, finding ourselves exhaust-
ed, catching ourselves expressing resent-
ment for the boss or the kids or whomev-
er, when in fact much of that upset is
probably frustration with ourselves for
not speaking up or making time for us,
upset we then project on the other.
One of the most amazing examples I
have seen in practice was a newspaper
employee who came to my practice sever-
al years ago, unable to straighten her low
back past 90 degrees, facing the floor as
she walked. After several visits she was
only 15 degrees from vertical and rated
her pain at 4/10 instead of 10/10. She
informed me she was done with care
because she felt she could return to work.
I fell silent, unsure how to offer the idea
that she could hope for more than the bare
minimum, that she could allow herself to
feel well because she (not just her
employers) deserved it. At this point in
my career, I didn’t know how to offer this
idea in a way that wouldn’t intrude on her
values.
This is an extreme example, but we all
make the same choice all the time, for dif-
ferent reasons and to differing degrees.
Most of us hold, somewhere in the back
of our mind, the belief that it’s not that big
of a deal, that we don’t really deserve to
take the time to relax or address a prob-
lem, that someone else in our sphere is
more important or has it worse off, that
we’re just whining.
When we do this, we set the stage for
stress, for illness, for serious health chal-
lenges (mental, emotional or physical),
and strangely we reinforce the idea that
we aren’t as important as others while
cultivating our resentment towards them
and ourselves.
It is hard to find a logical reason not to
take care of yourself. Even those religions
that seem inclined to promote guilt have
direction to do the opposite: all the major
world’s religions have, somewhere in
their doctrine, the directive to “Take care
of yourself first so that you have the inner
resources to take care of others,” and this
idea is the essence of all “self-help” liter-
ature.
If you are preoccupied mentally, let
alone stressed or exhausted, you cannot
be effective in your work, you will not lis-
ten well to those you need to hear at work
or home and you cannot be present in the
moment or plan well for the next. You
miss your life.
If you are not relaxing enough to keep
your emotional self in balance, you’ll suf-
fer constant distraction, you will lash out
at innocent bystanders or the ones closest
to you who are trying to support you, and
you will feel drained of anything resem-
bling enthusi-
asm. A lack of
physical self-
care leads to
lousy sleep,
f u r t h e r i n g
e x h a u s t i o n
and to a sim-
ple lack of
r e s o u r c e s ,
whether good
nutrients or
exercise-driv-
en biochemistry.
Disease is the eventual result. In the
short term, dysfunction causes parts of
the body to compensate for others, driv-
ing your beautifully integrated systems
into the ground. Of course, these levels
are all interrelated: mental exhaustion
leads to emotional instability, which caus-
es toxic biochemistry and so on.
So taking time to nurture yourself phys-
ically, mentally, emotionally and spiritu-
ally is not only pragmatic in terms of your
energy levels, your effectiveness at work
and home, your relationships and eventu-
ally your health-care dollars—it empow-
ers you to benefit others.
In asking yourself what your patterns
around self-care are, you also have a pro-
found opportunity to uncover and change
any misunderstandings about your good-
ness or worthiness or about what it means
to feel good. If this feels like too big a
stretch at first, you can start by realizing
you’ll be a better member of your com-
munity.
Every patient I have seen serving as pri-
mary caregiver to a partner or parent going
through cancer, Alzheimer’s or dementia
has at some point had an epiphany that
they weren’t able to serve non-stop with-
out making time for themselves. Each has
eventually created time through friends,
family or nursing agencies to have a few
hours weekly to go do restful, rejuvenating
things for themselves.
I hope for you that you will allow your-
self this epiphany before someone around
you is in crisis—simply because you
deserve to feel good.
Be well.
11July / August 2012
ClearWater works to restore waterways
Learn more, get involved and pitch in.www.clearwaterconservancy.com
Self-care isn’t selfishby Matthew Hertert
Health Talk
Most of us hold, somewherein the back of our mind, thebelief that it’s not that bigof a deal, that we don’t real-ly deserve to take the timeto relax or address a prob-lem, that someone else inour sphere is more impor-tant or has it worse off, thatwe’re just whining.
That pound of hamburger you bought for
the Fourth of July barbeque cost you about
nine percent more than it would have last
year. That cereal you ate for breakfast cost
you nearly four percent more than its 2011
counterpart. And the milk you poured on it?
You paid several dimes more for that gallon
than you would have a year ago.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) reported in June that general food
prices rose 2.8 percent from May 2011 to
May 2012.
The inflated price of food could easily
tempt consumers, wearied by more than
four years of economic recession, to com-
plain about how hard putting food on the
table has become. But in reality, Americans
are putting a smaller percentage of the
money they make toward food than ever
before, and they’re dedicating a smaller
portion of their incomes to food than any-
one else in the world.
In 1929, the year the stock market
crashed, the average American family
could put 19.3 percent of its disposable
income toward food to be consumed at
home. That figure had dropped to 15 per-
cent by 1960 and 10.4 percent in 1979.
In 2009 and 2010, Americans spent an
all-time low of 6.4 percent of their incomes
at the grocery store. That’s less than half
the portion of disposable income Italians,
Japanese and French dedicate to food—
14.7, 14.6 and 13.5 percent, respectively.
Each American pays an average of
$2,056 for food eaten at home every year.
However, our neighbors in Canada pay
$186 more per capita and spend 9.3 percent
of their incomes on food. British and
Australians pay $357 and $782 more per
capita per year, 9.1 and 11.1 percent of their
respective disposable incomes.
According to these USDA statistics,
Americans enjoy some of the cheapest
food in the developed world. However,
many researchers, activists and health
experts claim that the way Americans pro-
duce and consume food takes a heavy toll
on their environment and health, costs that
aren’t reflected in grocery store price tags.
The origins of cheap food
Brian Snyder, executive director of the
Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable
Agriculture, said America’s obsession with
cheap food has deep roots.
“It goes back to the original mindset we
had as settlers coming into this country,” he
said. “Food is integral to the idea of
Manifest Destiny. In the same way that we
would look at the geography as something
given to us by… divine intervention, we
also think of food as part of that deal and
that we don’t have to do much to preserve
the sources of that food.”
But the kind of farming the colonists
practiced, when 95 percent of Americans
were farmers, is drastically different from
the agricultural model that produces
today’s low-cost food.
The most drastic series of changes in
American agriculture began with the 1930s
Agricultural Adjustment Acts (AAAs),
which created supply controls and price
supports for crops, as well as crop insur-
ance and income supports for farmers.
The AAA of 1949, the foundation of
America’s current agricultural policy,
established commodity subsidies—supple-
mental payments to farmers for specific
crops—which have been reauthorized by
Congress about every five years since then.
Farm subsidies dipped to their all-time
low in 1974, when the $9.2 billion paid out
to farmers comprised only 2 percent of
total farm income, according to The
Washington Post. They hit their all-time
high of $25.7 billion in 2000, making up 47
percent of farm income that year.
In the past decade, direct payments
(based on a farmer’s historical planting pat-
terns on fixed acreage), countercyclical
payments (based on market prices of
crops), conservation payments (which pay
farmers not to cultivate land) and other sub-
sidies (such as the tobacco buyout pro-
gram), have ranged from just over $12 bil-
lion to more than $24 billion per year.
While the U.S. government has remained
steadfast in its commitment to assisting
farms, the recipients of that assistance have
drastically changed.
In 1940, nearly a quarter of the country’s
population lived on small family farms.
Today, fewer than two percent of
Americans identify as farmers.
Of the approximately 2.1 million farms
in America, only 37 percent received gov-
ernment payments in 2009, according to
the USDA. Most of them were large-scale
farms producing wheat, rice, corn, soy-
beans or cotton.
That year, commercial farms (with gross
annual sales of more than $250,000)
received 74 percent of $6.1 billion in com-
modity payments. On average, each of
these farms received $789,000.
12 July / August 2012
Dependence on cheap food proves costlyby Lucy Bryan Green
Graphic by Lucy Bryan GreenThe food expenditure data above was compiled by the USDA’s Economic Research Service in 2011. Thehealth information was provided by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD). The OECD’s data comes from 2009 or the nearest available year.
Country Share of disposable income spent on food at home
Expenditure per capita on food (in US dollars)
Percent of population overweight / obese
Health care expenditure per capita (in US dollars)
Life Expec-tancy
South Korea 15.3% $1,541 31% / 4% $1,879 83.8
Italy 14.7% $3,376 46% / 10% $3,137 84.5
Japan 14.6% $3,147 24% / 3% N/A 86.4
France 13.5% $3,469 35% / 11% $3,978 84.4
Norway 13.4% $4,603 46% / 10% $5,352 83.2
Germany 11.4% $2,710 52% / 16% $4,218 82.8
Australia 10.6% $2,956 61% / 25% N/A 83.9
Switzerland 10.3% $3,758 37% / 8% $5,144 84.6
Canada 9.3% $2,242 60% / 24% $4,363 83
United Kingdom
9.1% $2,413 61% / 25% $3,487 82.5
United States of America
6.4% $2,056 68% / 34% $7,960 80.6
see Cheap Food, pg. 15
The Cerulean Warbler is one of the most
sought-after neotropical migrants for bird-
watchers. If you have ever been fortunate
enough to see one, you will readily testify
to their undeniable beauty.
Ceruleans are about four inches in length
and weigh in at .3 ounces. Males are a deep
sky blue on their upperparts. The throat is
white and adorned with a thin black neck-
lace. The breast and belly are also white
with course black streaks on their flanks.
Each wing sports two prominent white
wingbars. Females are muted, greenish ver-
sions of the male.
Ceruleans arrive on their breeding
grounds in late April or early May. The
breeding range extends from the upper
Great Lakes region, east to southern
Ontario and New England, and south to
Louisiana and Georgia.
Although their range appears broad, the
majority of Ceruleans are concentrated in
the Appalachian region from Pennsylvania
down through West Virginia and Kentucky.
In this region, their preferred habitat con-
sists of large tracts of deciduous forest
along ridges. The warblers will also use
interior bottomland forest.
Nests are built on lateral tree limbs that
are situated high in the canopy. The female
typically lays 3-4 eggs. Both parents are
involved in feeding the young. Their diet
consists primarily of insects which are
gleaned from foliage.
By August, Ceruleans begin to make
their way south to the tropical forests of the
Andes Mountains in Central America and
northern South America. They are some-
what of a habitat specialist on the wintering
grounds as well, where they require
broadleaf forests along cool mid-elevation
slopes with moderate rainfall.
Ceruleans’ narrow habit requirements
have left them less than flexible in adapting
to environmental changes. As a result, their
population has fallen at a rate of about 3 to
4 percent a year over the past 50 years.
While that may not seem like a large num-
ber, it translates to a 50 percent reduction in
population every 20 years. Since the mid-
60s, the population has declined 70 per-
cent. That is staggering!
The primary factor in their decline is
habitat loss of breeding and wintering
grounds. For the breeding grounds, the
most devastating contributor to habitat loss
is mountaintop removal coal mining. This
practice not only removes the trees in
which the warblers nest and forage, but it
also removes the entire ridge, leaving a bar-
ren rock landscape in its place.
Adding insult to injury, leftover debris
from the removal process makes it way
down the slopes and fills in the bottomland
forest valleys. From 1992 through 2012, it
is estimated that close to .7 million acres of
forest will be lost to mountaintop removal.
Their wintering grounds have been nega-
tively affected by clear-cutting of forests
for agriculture. As it turns out, in addition
to being attractive warbler habitat, these
areas are also suitable for growing coffee—
the major cash crop in the region.
Traditionally, coffee was grown as an
understory plant. In an effort to boost pro-
duction and facilitate harvesting, many
farmers converted their farms to open sun
plantations. As a result, over 60 percent of
the warbler’s habitat has been lost.
In an effort to preserve and restore criti-
cal winter habitat for birds, groups such as
the American Birds Conservancy and
ProAves Columbia have teamed up to
establish bird reserves. They are also work-
ing to educate local farmers about the con-
nection between birds and farming prac-
tices. Funding to establish and maintain
these reserves comes in part through the
sale of shade-grown coffees.
That is where you come in. You can play
your part to save critical habit, not only for
Cerulean, but for other birds such as Olive-
side Flycatchers, Golden-winged Warblers
and Baltimore Orioles.
When it comes to coffee, pay the extra
buck at the store to buy shade-grown vari-
eties. If you can’t find it at the market, you
can buy it online from companies such as
Thanksgiving Coffee or Birds & Beans
Coffee. You can even request shade-grown
at your local cafe.
When it comes to coal mining, write
your representatives and demand an end to
mountaintop removal. You can also cut
back on your energy usage at home by
turning out unused lights and switching to
more energy-efficient appliances.
If you want to see a Cerulean Warbler,
you are in luck. They breed can be spotted
locally along the ridges between S. Eagle
Valley Road and Black Moshannon.
Because the Cerulean is a canopy-dweller,
it can sometimes be hard to find; however,
if you learn their song, it will make the
search much easier. The song consists of a
series of buzzy notes that ends with a high-
pitched trill. Once you hear the song, keep
your eyes on the canopy and look for
movement. Warblers have a lot of nervous
energy and won’t sit still for long.
Questions or Comments? Joe Verica canbe reached at [email protected].
13July / August 2012
Teamsters Local 8
Proudly SupportsLocal Youth Activities
The Men and Women ofTeamsters Local 8 Encourage
Supporting Local Youth Activities
Trouble brewing for Cerulean Warblersby Joe Verica
Photo courtesy of a Creative Commons LicenseCerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea).
Thirteen years ago, Centre County
developer Mark Maloney bought a tract
of land off of Route 550 to preserve a his-
toric farm. The place inspired him with a
vision for a sustainable community where
people from all walks of life could live in
connection with the land, the food they
eat and each other.
“I didn’t have [the idea for a communi-
ty] before I bought the land,” Maloney
said. “It was...seeing this beautiful old
farm and figuring out, how can I preserve
it?”
Today, that initial purchase has expand-
ed to encompass 653 continuous acres in
Patton and Halfmoon townships, which
include forests, farmland and several
houses. The property also serves as home
to Greenmoore Gardens, a 13-acre organ-
ic farm that provides 160 weekly veg-
etable “shares” to Centre County resi-
dents through Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA) subscriptions. It has
been in operation since 2007.
Greenmoore Gardens has a community
kitchen for shareholder potlucks and a
barn converted into a movie theatre. It has
tent platforms, nestled in the woods,
where temporary farm workers and agro-
tourists can camp on the property. It hosts
farming and nature camps for children. It
recently added a medicinal herb garden
and a solar heated greenhouse.
But Maloney, owner of Halfmoon
Land Company, said this is only the
beginning. He has developed a plan for
Greenmoore Village, poised to become
the first Green Certified Community in
Pennsylvania, said Dan Wise of the
National Association of Home Builders
(NAHB).
Greenmoore Village will be designed
around three themes: sustainable tech-
nologies, CSA and traditional neighbor-
hood design, said Maloney.
According to current designs for the
development, there will be 286 acres of
residential space strategically planned
around agricultural and civic spaces,
including stores and a charter school. The
community will also contain an orchard, a
recreational lake and 91 acres of wild
space with nature trails.
Maloney is waiting for the approval of
a waste-water recycling plant for benefi-
cial reuse. In the long term, he said he
wants to set up a solar farm to help
power the community’s heat and elec-
tricity.
“We think we can do this entire devel-
opment without fossil fuels,” Maloney
said. “That will be a precedent-setting
example.”
Maloney also hopes to involve the
community in the farming at Greenmoore
Gardens.
“That’s what’s in their front yard,”
Maloney said. “They’re going to want to
look at it and make sure it stays nice.
That’s the synergy that we’re creating
between the built community around the
farm and the farm itself.”
Maloney said his traditional neighbor-
hood design is based on older designs
where the buildings were closer together
and everything was within walking dis-
tance.
“A majority of the population could
walk to this little town center,” said
Maloney.
There, residents will find businesses
featuring products from Greenmoore
Gardens as well as other local products,
like dairy and meat.
This design allows for a wider spec-
trum of housing types with more afford-
able housing, said Maloney. Not only will
this community include larger, single
family homes, but also townhouses, con-
dominiums and apartments.
Currently, there are four large, single-
14 July / August 2012
Graphic provided by Mark MaloneyAccording tho the National Association of Home Builders, Greenmoore Village could become the first Green Certified Community in Pennsylvania.
Green community planned for Centre Countyby Allison Robertson
see Greenmoore, pg. 15
“Real-estate projects that areoffering more than just a lotwhere you can build a house...are going to lead the marketout of the real-estate reces-sion that we’re in.”
Mark Maloney
Brian Snyder described farm subsidies as
“corporate welfare”—a far cry from the
agricultural safety net they were originally
intended to be.
“What you’re really doing is paying larg-
er farms to raise some raw material at less
than cost in order that the food processing
industry can get it cheaply,” Snyder said,
adding that they “create market distortion.”
Many economists also criticize farm sub-
sidies, including Daniel Sumner, author of
“Freakonomics” and director of the
University of California Agricultural Issues
Center.
Sumner wrote that there is no economic
rationale for continuing subsidy programs
and the only reason they continue is “Farm
commodity programs are an established
part of the American agricultural landscape
and have strong support from program ben-
eficiaries.”
Mark Maloney, founder of Greenmoore
Gardens, a small-scale, organic produce
farm in Patton Township, said subsidies
play a direct role in keeping America’s
food cheap.
“Our tax dollars are funding these subsi-
dies to these big farms so [they] can sell the
grains or the meats at a low price point, so
the food industry can deliver cheap food to
the public,” Maloney said. “If you factored
in the cost of those subsidies… our ‘cheap’
food would now be very expensive.”
Growing more with less effort
The rise of chemical technologies paral-
leled the evolution of farm subsidies,
which Maloney said has enabled farmers
“to grow more with less effort.”
In the years following World War II,
Agrochemical manufacturers like
Monsanto rose to prominence and began
distributing synthetic soil nutrients and
pesticides like DDT.
By 1996, farmers were treating nearly
100 percent of soybeans, 90 percent of
wheat and 83 percent of corn with herbi-
cides aimed at controlling weeds.
Farmers added nearly 20.6 million tons
of chemical fertilizers to the soil in 2001,
up from 7.5 million tons in 1960.
Today, the vast majority of corn, soy-
beans and cotton grown in the United
States has been genetically modified to
resist the application of the herbicide
Glyphosate, known as Roundup.
Dara Bloom, a doctoral candidate in
Penn State’s Rural Sociology program,
said the cheap food Americans enjoy today
is a result of agricultural practices and gov-
ernment policies aimed at increasing yields
“mostly through improved varieties and
synthetic fertilizers.”
“Our food system was designed so that
fewer people needed to farm, thus freeing
up labor for industry,” Bloom wrote in an
email. “[This] helped to drop the price of
food, which meant that factories could pay
lower wages to their workers.”
In essence, low food prices have enabled
a low wage economy, Bloom explained.
“This is the model that has been increas-
ingly criticized in the past couple of
decades,” Bloom wrote, “since it is argued
that there are many hidden costs that are
incurred by this system, such as environ-
mental damage from synthetic chemicals
or health problems associated with nutri-
tional changes, that aren’t reflected in the
price of the food that we eat.”
The environmental costs of producing
cheap food
James Eisenstein, a retired professor of
environmental politics at Penn State, said
the prices Americans are paying for food
don’t reflect its ecological costs.
American farmers are increasingly
reliant on agrichemicals, despite their long
history of harming the environment. The
negative effects pesticides and fertilizers
have on ecosystems are as varied as the
chemicals themselves.
Rachel Carson first brought the nation’s
attention to the detrimental effects of pesti-
cides on birds in her book “Silent Spring,”
which facilitated a ban on DDT in 1972.
More recently, the use of Roundup on
“Roundup Ready” crops has given rise to
herbicide resistant “super weeds.” In 2010,
family home lots, sized between 5 and 10
acres, that will soon be for sale.
Maloney said he had no choice but to
make the first lots very big because of
township regulations.
“These lots don’t really represent the
rest of the housing type because they’re
so large,” he said, adding that future lots
will average one third of an acre up to just
over an acre.
Maloney said several buyers have
expressed interest in the lots, which he
accredits to the community’s neighbor-
hood design, green homes and organic
farm. These features, he said, give him
an edge on the housing market.
“Real-estate projects that are offering
more than just a lot where you can build
a house... are going to lead the market out
of the real-estate recession that we’re in. I
really think consumers are looking for
something better,” said Maloney.
Maloney said the smaller housing lots
will be available within five to 10 years.
“This is a lot of years to plan and create
something like [Greenmoore Village],”
Maloney said, adding that typical devel-
opers never take that time.
Maloney said that though he’s a devel-
oper, he’s just as much of a farmer at
heart.
Dan Wise, NAHB Certified Green
Professional and an accredited verifier for
the International Code Council (ICC)
Green Standard, is helping guide this
project in achieving green standards. ICC
Green Standards are specifically tailored
for residential concepts.
The community as a whole and every
home in Greenmoore Village will be
graded on a one to four star scale, with
four stars being the most green, in cate-
gories, including selection of site, green
qualifications of team members, mission
statement and goals, site design, site
development and construction and inno-
vative practices.
“The preliminary analysis of
[Greenmoore Village] scores well above
the requirement for a community’s four
star rating,” Wise said.
However, some regulations, such as the
regulations involving the beneficial reuse
wastewater system, have slowed the
process of creating Greenmoore Village.
“The regulatory environment does not
embrace green community design,”
Maloney said.
But Maloney said he is collaborating
with the local and state government.
“When you’re blazing a trail with
something new, it’s going to take longer,”
said Maloney.
15July / August 2012
from Greenmore, pg. 14
from Cheap Food, pg. 12
see Cheap Food, pg. 18
Photo by Lucy Bryan GreenAssistant Farm Manager Stephanie Hertel and Farm Manager Sunil Patel tend vegetables atGreenmoore Gardens CSA Farm.
16 July / August 2012
SERVING LOCAL
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the New York Times reported that ten
species of super weeds had shown up in 22
states. In May, Reuters reported that super
weeds had spread to 12 million acres of
farmland in the United States.
Several studies published this spring
have linked the use of pesticides to Colony
Collapse Disorder, the mysterious dying
off of honeybees first noticed by beekeep-
ers in 2006. Researchers found that certain
pesticides decrease growth rates, reduce the
number of queens in colonies and impair
bees’ abilities to return to their hives.
This continuing problem poses a major
threat to agriculture and the environment.
Thirty percent of crops worldwide and 90
percent of wild plants depend on honeybee
cross pollination according to the Natural
Resources Defense Council.
Fertilizers and pesticides also pollute the
air and water systems. Centre County is
part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed,
which encompasses 87,000 farm opera-
tions on 6.5 million acres of farmland
according to the Chesapeake Bay Program.
Chemical runoff from these farms has
caused fish kills, created no-oxygen “dead-
zones” and promoted the growth of danger-
ous bacteria that threaten people and ani-
mals in the Chesapeake Bay system.
“The number one source of nitrogen pol-
lution to the Bay comes from agricultural
runoff, which contributes 40 percent of the
nitrogen and 50 percent of the phosphorus
entering the Chesapeake Bay,” the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation states on its
website.
Pollution from agrichemicals isn’t the
only pollution our food system is causing
according to James Eisenstein.
“American agriculture is a massive
machine for converting fossil fuels into
food,” he said.
Although the energy consumed by farms
fell by 28 percent between the late 1970s
and 2003, according to a Congressional
Research Service report, the total energy
cost of farms in 2003 was $28.8 billion.
In 2007, food-related energy use
accounted for 15.7 percent of America’s
100 quadrillion Btus of energy consump-
tion, according to the USDA. This includes
energy used along the entire production
and supply chain—from manufacturing
pesticides to transporting harvested food to
cooking meals in the microwave.
“We don’t pay the full costs of food
because we rely on fossil fuel,” Eisenstein
said. “I don’t know what will happen if we
have really hard times. If fuel prices go
way up, then the price of food… is going to
go up.”
PASA’s Brian Snyder explained that in
his mind, food and energy are the same
thing, especially when “you have crops like
corn that can either be turned into food or
put into your gas tank.”
He said he’s worried about the contribu-
tion our food system is making to global
climate change.
“There’s a day of reckoning coming, par-
ticularly if the climate continues to throw
us curve balls,” he said. “Any sense of sea-
sonality is what’s going to go. We’re going
to have warm and cool periods at all times
of the year… That is going to make it hard-
er to produce food.”
Snyder said our country tends to defer
costs, and the true cost of food is no excep-
tion.
“The much bigger deficit is not in the
federal budget, but in the deferred costs of
growing cheap food and providing cheap
food to people,” he said.
The health costs of eating cheap food
Americans are producing more food
more cheaply than they did fifty years ago.
They also are eating more. The USDA
reports that in 1957, American agriculture
produced about 3,000 calories per person
per day. By 1970, that figure rose to 3,300
calories, and today, our food system affords
us approximately 3,900 calories per person
per day.
Much of that food is lost due to spoilage
and waste, but at 2,637 calories per day, the
average American in 2008 consumed 23
percent more calories a day than in 1970.
Nearly two thirds of those calories came
from grains (predominantly refined grains),
added fats and added sugars—major con-
tributors to obesity—while only 7 percent
came from fruits and vegetables.
America may enjoy the cheapest (and
most abundant) food on the planet, but it
also boasts the highest obesity rates and the
highest healthcare costs in the world. The
Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) reports that in
2009, 68 percent of Americans were over-
weight and 34 percent were obese. That
year, they spent an average of $7,960 per
person on health care, and the average life
expectancy was 80.6 years.
Developed countries that spend more
money on food tend to have lower health-
care costs, lower obesity rates and higher
life expectancies. For example, in 2009,
only 35 percent of French were over-
weight, and only 11 percent were obese.
They spent about $3,978 per capita on
healthcare and lived 84.4 years on average.
James Eisenstein, who now works as an
“unpaid field hand” on his son’s vegetable
farm, said the way America produces food
creates an abundance of refined grains and
sugars like high fructose corn syrup that are
then incorporated into processed foods and
sold at cheap prices.
“Fresh fruits and vegetables, for the most
part, [are] not subsidized at all, so they cost
more relative to Wonderbread,” he said.
He also pointed out that large-scale agri-
culture has diminished the variety of fruits
and vegetables available to Americans.
Grocery store shoppers are missing out, he
said, since each variety of produce offers
different nutrients. Moreover, many of the
varieties sold in grocery stores are selected
for their ability to withstand cross-country
transport, not nutrient density.
18 July / August 2012
see Cheap Food, pg. 19
from Cheap Food, pg. 15
Mark Maloney of Greenmoore Gardens
said the farm lobby has been using the gov-
ernment to push consumption of refined
grains for years.
“The Food Pyramid, if you really look
behind the scenes, was a way of market-
ing,” Maloney said.
First introduced by the USDA in 1992,
the Food Pyramid was a triangular nutrition
guide divided into sections based on food
portions. The largest block, serving as the
foundation of the pyramid, featured the
“Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta Group”
and recommended six to 11 servings per
day. The vegetable block, with three to five
recommended servings, and the fruit block,
with two to four recommended servings,
sat atop this block.
According to the Centers for Disease
Control, no state had an obesity rate over
20 percent in 1992. By 2010, no state had
an obesity rate under 20 percent, and 12
had obesity rates in excess of 30 percent.
In 2011, the USDA scrapped the Food
Pyramid for a food plate, which focuses on
proportions rather than portions. Half the
circular graphic representing a daily diet is
dedicated to fruits and vegetables, while
just over a quarter is dedicated to grains.
The “Fats, Oils, and Sweets” group has
vanished completely.
The USDA now varies recommended
servings of grains according to age and
gender—anywhere from three to eight
ounces—but says at least half of all grains
consumed should be whole grains like
brown rice and oatmeal.
However, old habits die hard, according
to Maloney.
“Your formative years pretty much cre-
ate who you are, including your eating
habits,” he said. “Most [Americans] don’t
want to change their diet because they love
whatever food they’re eating. Then we
have a medical system that will ‘fix’ the
problem when you’re sick—whether it’s
surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, pills… so
that you can continue eating cheap food
that is bad for you.”
According to the Institute of Medicine,
obesity related illnesses cost the United
States $190.2 billion per year.
“The obesity epidemic and the problems
that we have with diabetes and heart dis-
ease and even cancer are part of the cheap
food phenomenon,” Brian Snyder said.
“There may be nothing more expensive.”
A possible solution
In 2007, an interdisciplinary group of 10
researchers from MIT and Columbia came
together to analyze the causes of childhood
obesity, which had tripled between 1980
and 2006.
Their conclusion: “Obesity is wide-
spread due to our national-scale system of
food production and distribution, which
surrounds children—especially low-
income children—with high-calorie prod-
ucts.”
In 2009, after further studies and meet-
ings with food industry leaders, the group
released another report, proposing a solu-
tion. America, they said, needs to increase
its regional food consumption.
They recommended that each region, or
“foodshed,” should supply as much of its
own food as possible and should work with
19July / August 2012
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nearby foodsheds to lower “the distances
that food must travel from farm to dinner
table.”
This would result in Americans eating
less processed food and more nutrient-
dense, low-calorie food researchers said.
Although the number of outlets for buy-
ing food locally is growing—the number of
farmers markets in the United States rose
from 1,755 in 1994 to 7,175 in 2011—still
only 1 to 2 percent of the food consumed in
this country is produced locally.
The researchers acknowledged that
large-scale changes need to happen to
enable the efficient production and distri-
bution of local food, and that not all food-
sheds are able to produce all desired (or
required) products.
Eating locally is a luxury many can’t
enjoy at present, according to Dara Bloom.
“There are issues of accessibility and
affordability, but also of culture and time
constraints,” Bloom said. “First, local and
seasonal food is often… harder to
access. For example, many farmers mar-
kets are open during the day while people
work or are located in more affluent neigh-
borhoods.”
Tracy Fisher, a State College mom, said
she does her grocery shopping at Wegmans
and Walmart, which are more convenient
for her than farmers markets.
Bloom explained that other models, such
as subscriptions to local farm products
through Community Support Agriculture
(CSA), require an up front investment up
front that many consumers can’t afford.
“On top of these challenges, cooking
fresh produce or preserving it is both time
consuming and requires some basic food
knowledge that has been mostly lost over
the past few decades,” Bloom said. “Many
people work long hours or several jobs to
make ends meet, and taking the extra time
and money to find local food and prepare a
nutritious meal every night can be a lot to
expect. Our food system has shifted
towards cheap, processed food for a rea-
son—it’s easier and more convenient.”
William Callahan, owner of Cow-a-Hen
Farm in Mifflinburg, Pa., sells beef, pork
and poultry at multiple Centre County
farmers markets. He said that as a farmer,
his primary responsibility is to make high
quality, locally raised meat available to
consumers, but that he also feels a duty “to
make sure that I pass along to people quick,
easy ways to prepare this stuff.”
John Eisenstein, owner of Jade Family
Farm in Port Royal, Pa., said he thinks
there’s a real shortage of options for buying
locally produced food in the Centre region.
“If people don’t have the choice, then
they can’t make it,” he said.
The demand is there, though, he said.
“We’ve expanded production every year,
and we’re having a hard time keeping up,”
Eisenstein said.
The “healthy food is expensive” myth
20 July / August 2012
from Cheap Food, pg. 19
see Cheap Food, pg. 21
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The USDA introduced the Food Pyramid (left) in 1992. In 2011 it replaced it with My Plate, which emphasizes proportions over servings and eliminates the“Fats, Oils, & Sweets” category entirely.
Another barrier that may be standing in
the way of Americans making more nutri-
tional food choices—at grocery stores or
farmers markets—is the idea that healthy
food costs more than unhealthy food.
An often referenced study that appeared
in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition in 2004 found that “$1 could buy
1,200 calories of potato chips and 875 calo-
ries of soda, but only 250 calories of veg-
etables and 170 calories of fresh fruit.”
The seemingly obvious conclusion—
latched onto by food activists, nutritionists
and researchers—was that eating nutri-
tiously is an expensive endeavor.
However, a report released by the USDA
in May brought the logic of this conclusion
into question. Most Americans don’t shop
with the goal of maximizing calories per
dollar. Rather, they pay more attention to
the price per ounce or unit that most gro-
cery stores list alongside price. They also
don’t eat with the goal of consuming as
many calories as possible.
They eat according to portion size or
weight—and a full serving of ice cream has
many more calories than a full serving of
carrots.
The report concluded, “When measured
on the basis of edible weight or average
portion size, grains, vegetables, fruit, and
dairy foods are less expensive than most
protein foods and foods high in saturated
fat, added sugars, and/or sodium.”
In fact, when considering price per por-
tion, carrots are less than one third the price
of ice cream (they’d be more than three
times as expensive using the dollar per
calorie measure).
According to Mark Maloney, buying
food from local sources can help con-
sumers save money. He said most CSAs in
Centre County sell organic vegetables for
60 or 65 percent of grocery store prices
because they’re able to cut out the middle
man by selling directly to consumers.
Maloney said that increasing local food
sourcing has the added benefits of creating
jobs and reducing the carbon footprint of
the food.
The challenges of farming local food
Meeting America’s demand for cheap
food can be challenging for small-scale
farmers who sell to local markets.
“It’s possible to make a good living in
farming, but it’s difficult and it takes many,
many years,” said John Eisenstein.
He added that he’s seen many new farm-
ers “drop out” because of the financial and
emotional strains of farming.
Bethany Spicher Schonberg and her hus-
band Micah started Plowshare Produce
CSA in 2009 on land they rented from her
parents in McAlevy’s Fort. She said the
first year, they sold 45 six-month vegetable
shares and broke even. Today, the five
acres they farm supplies nearly 75 veg-
etable shares, which earn them enough to
pay a part time employee and has enabled
them to buy and renovate a house.
Still, they live simply. They don’t have a
TV or take vacations, and they buy second
hand. Spicher Schonberg said her life as a
farmer feels very rich, but that work is
extremely demanding.
“Right now we’re both working really
hard and long, and we’re realizing that’s
not really sustainable,” Spicher Schonberg
said. “We need to have time to rest and
enjoy our life here. We want to build a farm
where it’s sustainable financially and emo-
tionally for the farmers. We may need to
supplement that with another income or
find ways to work smarter or add a more
profitable crop.”
Mark Maloney said it’s very hard to
deliver cheap food while operating at a
small scale because of all the fixed expens-
es—the mortgage on the land, investments
in physical structures like barns and main-
tenance of irrigation systems and equip-
ment.
He said his ultimate vision for
Greenmoore Gardens, which currently sup-
plies 160 CSA shares from 13 farmed
acres, is to scale up. He said he’d like for
the operation to expand to supply local
restaurants and eventually nearby institu-
tional clients like the state College Area
School District or Penn State.
“The customer has to realize they need to
partner or collaborate with the farmer
through a transitional period where the
farmer is scaling up because there will be a
point where the farmer can’t lower prices
anymore until he gets bigger,” Maloney
said.
Hope for the future
Despite a food system he describes as
“out of whack,” PASA’s Brian Snyder said
he sees several encouraging trends that
indicate changing attitudes toward food.
He referenced the results of a May W.K.
Kellogg Foundation poll.
“The data show that people want pro-
duce that is healthy, affordable, green and
fair,” said Gail Christopher, vice present -
program strategy, on the foundation’s web-
site.
Over 90 percent of those surveyed said
they think everyone deserves access to
fresh produce and that they’d pay “$1.50
more each month for produce to guarantee
fair wages for the people picking fruits and
vegetables.”
Snyder said he’s especially encouraged
that “Through one of the worst recessions
in this country’s ever seen, the demand for
local and sustainably produced foods has
increased.”
He said he’s watched farmers markets
and CSAs continue to grow.
“People—in some cases with less
money—are making the choice to buy
local, more sustainable, healthier food for
their families,” Snyder said. “The fact that
the poor economy did not really put a dent
in this trend is really an amazing thing.”
21July / August 2012
from Cheap Food, pg. 20
Photo by Lucy Bryan GreenBethany Spicher Schonberg harvests vegetables at her CSA farm, Plowshare Produce.
22 July / August 2012
As students at Penn State University
Park pack up and head home for the sum-
mer, new residents of all ages are preparing
to move in. Freshmen leaving their East
residence halls in May may not realize that
their old dorms will see thousands of visi-
tors pass through their doors before Fall
semester rolls around again.
Summer in Happy Valley houses the
youth camps and professional conferences
which keep University Park a busy town
with unlikely neighbors.
“It’s like a revolving door up here,”
Jennifer Garvin, Director of Ancillary
Services in the Penn State Assignment
Office said.
Every summer, Penn State runs nearly
one hundred sport camps and academic
youth programs. Each camp lasts between
one and four days, makes use of facilities
all over campus.
According to Dick Bartolomea, the
director of Penn State sports camps, about
90 percent of overnight sports campers stay
in the East residence halls. He said that the
East halls are used exclusively for the
sports camp guests and that no other pro-
gram guests stay in any building where
campers are housed.
All conferences and associated events
are sponsored by Penn State. Conference
planners sign a contract with the confer-
ence entities, the Penn State Housing
Office and Outreach. Then, they work with
the conference planner to set up the hous-
ing for the event.
Garvin said that most Penn State students
taking summer classes are housed in
Pollock. Adult groups are more focused on
North and West campus as well as
Eastview Terrace and Nittany Apartments.
According to the Penn State Sports
Camps Staff Manual, males and females
are housed in different buildings.
Overnight guests are prohibited and quiet
hours are enforced between 11 p.m. and 7
a.m. One coach or counselor is assigned as
a duty counselor each night from the end of
the camp’s evening session until 7 a.m. the
next morning.
This University policy requires a mini-
mum of one staff member for every eight
residential campers ages 9 to 14 and one
staff member for every ten residential
campers ages 15 to 17. Conference assis-
tants are there to answer campers’ ques-
tions, help them when needed and enforce
policies.
According to Garvin, adult-only groups
are usually housed at opposite times than
youth-related programs in Eastview
Terrace. These groups include adult stu-
dents associated with a variety of depart-
ments but not registered for summer class-
es, such as those doing research or intern-
ship work.
Garvin said that the disciplinary and reg-
ulatory policies are the same for youth and
professional Penn State summer programs
alike.
“We hold everybody to the same stan-
dards,” Garvin said. “It’s just across the
board.”
The dry campus standard of the regular
school year extends to the summer months
as well. Conference guests are subject to
the same residence hall regulations as stu-
dents concerning behavior, substance pos-
session and use. Possession or use of alco-
Dorms enforce policies for summer guestsby Jessica Beard
Believing in freedom and independenceIt must be election season, can’t you tell?
In the last three weeks, there have been
more political ads than there have been for
any of the reality shows trying to increase
ratings for their summer season. The prob-
lem is a majority of these ads are “not con-
doned” or not endorsed by the candidate
that they are claiming to support.
You know what I’m talking about, right?
The candidate’s voice plays in the back-
ground over the Rockwellesque picture of
his/her family life or some popular activity
(think Putin on his horse, no shirt on in
January, in the Russian wilderness) for that
region. Every Political Action Committee
seems to feel that playing hard and loose
with the facts is the way to show that their
candidate is the lesser of two evils.
Bringing up actions from high school
days or college experiments is uncalled for.
Just think for a moment. Think about all of
things you did in high school and college,
the things you tell your children not to do if
they want to be responsible and deserve
your trust. Now, imagine some stranger
comes along and revisits all your past mis-
takes as if you committed them yesterday.
By no means is this a fair assessment of
how you live now, so why tolerate that kind
of action from those seeking our trust?
What is important to remember about all
of this is that candidates quickly run out to
condemn these ads when the public raises
an outcry. The problem is that the candi-
date’s team should be making it clear that
he/she is above the playing to the lowest
view to gain a few votes. We, as the elec-
torate, should be making it plain that we
will not stand for such foolishness, but we
don’t and it continues to persist.
I would like to see ads where our elected
officials say, “I was wrong here, but here is
how we fixed it...” Wouldn’t that be the
best? Wouldn’t it be great if a governor said
something like, “I didn’t act on this when I
was Attorney General, but I take responsi-
bly for my actions, and I will l do my best
not have this happen again”?
Ah well, such a fantasy truly only hap-
pens in movies.
Putting the money spent on these nega-
tive, and often false (or edited to be taken
way out of context), into something good
could reduce the national debt. If given to
cities and states, this money could save
teachers and hire more police and firemen.
Right now, all this money does is tear
down another human being that is going to
live on after the votes are cast. These ads
might as well say “candidate X steals
candy from babies and will do the same to
your money if you do not elect our person.”
Then, right after the election, are we to
believe that these opponents are going to
support each other without pay? There is
no way you could pay me to speak well of
someone who has attempted every form of
character assassination known to man.
When I disagree with you, I am going to
disagree with your points and respect your
right to have a different view. It doesn’t
mean you are out of touch, un-American,
or elitist—it just means you see things from
a different point of view (although that
would be unfortunate, as I am always
right). It doesn’t mean I have to hate who
you are as a human being. Somewhere in
our Constitution it tells me that you can say
whatever you want, and that’s ok.
Independence Day is rapidly approach-
ing, and is this the type of freedom that we
want our children to believe in? We have
to do better. Our votes count for something.
Let us make our dollars and voices count
for that something as well. Be safe and
enjoy the Fourth!
by Jamie Campbell
see Conference, pg. 23
23July / August 2012
hol, tobacco and other drugs are prohibited.
There are some differences in how poli-
cies are enforced for camp and conference
guests compared to students. According to
the Office of Student Conduct website, all
students under 24 found guilty of “prohib-
ited underage possession or use of alco-
holic beverages, excessive consumption of
alcohol, or driving under the influence”
must complete BASICS (the Brief Alcohol
Screening and Intervention for College
Students). Parents or guardians are notified
if the student is discovered or admits to on-
or-off-campus drug or alcohol possession.
Students are exempt from parental notifi-
cations if they are 24 years or older,
enrolled in a graduate or professional pro-
gram or married, as well as veterans of the
U.S. Armed Forces and students with chil-
dren or dependents receiving more than
half of their support from the student.
There is a three-strike disciplinary policy
for camp residents. The resident receives a
warning and a brief meeting with a coun-
selor for a first offense. If there is a second
offense, the resident’s parent or guardian is
called and a third offense results in imme-
diate withdrawal from the program. No
refunds are issued in the event of a
camper’s dismissal.
According to Garvin, individual 2012
summer conference enrollment numbers
have been steady, if not higher, than they
were compared to last year’s. Garvin said
he took this to be a sign that recent events
surrounding the Jerry Sandusky trial
haven’t affected peoples’ desire to come to
Penn State.
“Folks still see us as a viable place to go
to enhance your education,” Garvin said.
Fran Ganter, the summer camp football
director, recalled an incident from earlier in
the week when he saw a camper whose par-
ent dropped him off on campus each day
wandering near Johnson Hall where the
sports camp office is headquartered.
“I’d say he was 10, 11 years old,” Ganter
said. “[I thought], didn’t he have to have
somebody with him? We always have two
people with every camper: a 2-up policy.”
Garvin said that since the Sandusky con-
troversy broke last fall, the existing policy
regarding minors on campus had been
“revamped.”
“No adult can have one-to-one contact
with a minor,” Garvin said. “It’s working
very well now that people here have adapt-
ed to that regulation.”
Bartolomea has his own philosophy on
summer logistics at Penn State.
“If you follow the seven P’s, you’ll be in
good shape: Proper Planning Prevents Piss-
Poor Performance,” he said.
Ganter admits that he shares
Bartolomea’s seven P’s with his campers.
“We’re very good at seeing potential
challenges,” Ganter said. “I don’t say
‘problems.’ That’s not what we’re about.
There’s no such thing as a problem. It’s a
challenge, and a challenge is just an oppor-
tunity to excel.”
from Conference, pg. 22
Photo by Kevin ReillyFireworks light up the sky at the 2010 Central PA 4th Fest in State College, PA. This is one of the biggest all-volun-teer firework displays in the nation.
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Websters Bookstore Cafe, 133 E. Beaver Ave. Reception: Tues., July 3, 5:30
Painted Photographs by Mary Vollero showing through July
On July 13 and 14, local acoustic band
Cartoon will play its last shows. For 32
years, Cartoon has been playing local ven-
ues such as the American Alehouse and
Café 210, but these shows will be the last
time that lead guitarist Jon Rounds, gui-
tarist Glenn Kidder and bassist Randy
Hughes will take the stage together. Jon
Rounds discussed the band’s history with
Voices. The following is the question and
answer interview.
Voices: Tell me about Cartoon. When did
the band get together, and what was it that
brought you together? Who is the song-
writer among you, or do you all take up the
role (noticed in the release that you play
original music)? What sort of musical
backgrounds do each of the band members
have?
Rounds: Cartoon formed in State College
in 1980 when four State College perform-
ers—Randy Hughes, Glenn Kidder, Kevin
Dremel, and Jon Rounds—began sitting in
on each other’s shows, drawn to the same
genre of harmony-rich acoustic music and
each committed to performing original
music. We are all songwriters. (And all
Penn State grads.)
Randy Hughes, a State College native,
now in Pinehurst, N.C., was bass player
and vocalist for Morningsong, a popular
State College folk-rock band of the 1970s
whose debut album was reviewed in
Billboard and won critical acclaim. Randy
also played for many years as a solo per-
former in State College clubs. He is the
vocal arranger for Cartoon and plays guitar
and bass.
Glenn Kidder, from Pittsburgh, now in
Milton, Mass., is a prolific songwriter
whose influences include singer/songwrit-
ers such as Jonathan Edwards and Crosby,
Stills, Nash & Young, but is also drawn to
music with a beat— R&B and Motown.
Glenn was a popular solo performer in
State College clubs at the time Cartoon
formed. Glenn plays guitar and percussion.
Kevin Dremel, from Altoona, Pa., now in
Keene, N.H., is likewise a prolific song-
writer who was a popular solo performer in
State College clubs in the 1980s. His influ-
ences are eclectic. You will hear strains of
contemporary folk and alternative rock in
his tunes, which are strongly narrative and
occasionally whimsical. He wrote “Lady
Jamaica,” a State College hit of 1981.
Kevin plays guitar and percussion. (Note:
because of other commitments, Kevin can-
not attend this year’s show.)
Jon Rounds, from Yardley, Pa., was a
member of the Rounds Brothers Band, a
1970s State College rock band who per-
formed all original music. He continues to
write songs with a folk-rock and country-
rock flavor. His influences include early
Dylan, The Byrds, The Band and Rodney
Crowell. He plays guitar.
Jamie Rounds from Yardley, Pa., now in
Nashville (special guest at this year’s
show), was also member of the Rounds
Brothers Band and later, Backseat Van
Gogh, for whom he penned the regional hit
“Catch a New Wave.” His influences
include the Beach Boys, the Beatles,
Smoky Robinson and contemporary coun-
try artists. He plays guitar and bass.
I think the two key features of Cartoon’s
appeal are vocal harmony and original
songs. Go to any college town, anywhere,
and you’ll find bands with great lead
singers and hot instrumentalists who can do
cover tunes note for note. But tight harmo-
ny singing is a rare commodity. For one
thing, it takes a good ear just to hear three
parts around a melody. Then you have to
design the parts, which in Cartoon has
mainly been the role of Randy Hughes.
And it also takes more rehearsal time to
work out the parts because—unlike lead
guitar licks, which you can practice on your
own—you have to practice harmony as a
group.
Being committed to original tunes is both
a benefit and an obstacle. The obvious ben-
In September, the Bellefonte Art
Museum for Centre County will host an
exhibition of oil paintings by local artist
Veronica Winters. Winters is a veteran
exhibiter, but this show will represent a
departure from her usual shown work
and a frank demonstration of her recent-
ly discovered courage in bringing to the
fore emotional turmoil.
According to Winters, the shows she
has done previously are landscapes or
decorative art, but this one has a surreal-
ist tone that she often invokes when por-
traying more emotional elements.
“When I work on my surreal stuff, it’s
very personal and it’s often misunder-
stood and I tend not to exhibit it,” said
Winters. “I feel vulnerable about it; a lot
of people don’t understand it. They ask,
‘What’s happening in your head?’ It
stops me from exhibiting my personal
stuff. But I thought I would do it this
time around, as a change.”
In these surrealist works, the artist
makes a deft use of symbolism to convey
the intertwined currents of women’s
roles, loss, and broken relationships.
Winters’ “Feeling the Pinch” references
the dichotomy of the stereotypically fem-
inine versus the “unfeminine” desire for
physical comfort and practicality through
the juxtaposition of a high-heeled shoe
and a sneaker. The artist stated that she
found her inspiration in her own foot
pain, which prevents her from wearing
high-heeled shoes for prolonged periods.
“There is always a trade-off,” said
Winters. “It’s a choice—do you want to
suffer and be beautiful or feel okay and
be kind of unattractive? I think this feel-
ing could be shared with lots of women;
lots of them feel or think the same way.”
Embodying this sense of pain and
beauty are the works within the series
that directly refer to loss, and frequently
feature the image of the artist as the focal
point. In a manner that Winters described
in her blog as “intimate and heart-open-
ing,” these paintings represent what she
deemed a “response to my wild emotion-
al roller coaster I had this spring.”
The painting “Pain” is fundamentally
about the broken pieces—of the artist
and the home.
“I wanted to express this deep feeling
of pain,” said Winters. “So the broken
pieces mean broken heart.”
Winters notes that the image of “the
broken heart” is cliché, so in her series
the feeling of loss is communicated
through an open torso. In “Pain,” that
open torso is surrounded by its pieces,
but the figure’s profound sense of loss is
read through the dark clouds.
“The dark cloud [means] gloom, hope-
lessness,” she said, pointing to the fun-
24 July / August 2012
Cartoon holds final performanceby Elizabeth Timberlake-Newell
Winters paints portrait of emotional turmoilby Elizabeth Timberlake-Newell
see Winters, pg. 26
“Feeling the Pinch” by Veronica Winters
see Cartoon, pg. 28
Lisa Dawn White is a smart, successful
artist who works from her studio in
Pennsylvania Furnace. For more than a
decade, the artist has been creating floral
collages, gift cards and jewelry pieces.
These pieces can be compared to little
inspirational notes of nature found by the
artist and captured under glass. Layers and
layers of hand-made paper, paint, and dried
botanical specimens are uniquely arranged
into beautiful landscapes.
The artist projects her affinity for nature
through weaving patterns of colorful
papers, real dried flowers and delicate
feathers.
“I’ve always enjoyed art and craft-mak-
ing since I was a child,” she said.
White’s artistic sensibilities have grown
as a result of her masters degree in horticul-
ture. As part of her studies, the artist had an
internship at the arboretum a few years
back, where she began pressing plants and
flowers.
“I own several plant presses that allow
for the right amount of air flow and temper-
ature to preserve color in specimens,” she
said.
The plant press resembles a giant old
book of multiple layers of newspaper and
carton sandwiched between two wooden
covers with attaching belts that hold it all
together. The artist collects flowers in full
bloom and presses them immediately.
Some of them get cut to press, a very time-
consuming but necessary process.
Filaments or anthers are removed from
flowers prior to pressing.
“I perform a flower surgery in a way,”
she said.
The artist has produced eight major
series of collages. Although each piece is
unique, all artworks in each series follow a
specific theme captured in a replicated
design. Her best-seller series is titled
“Appalachia.”
Reminiscent of a Pennsylvania land-
scape, it consists of layers of hand-made,
collaged papers, dried elderberry flowers
and moss. By painting over papers with a
thin layer of acrylic paint, the artist unifies
hand-made papers in color. The series has
six different sizes, ranging from 1 by 3 feet
to just 12 by 12 inches.
The Hawaii-inspired design “Island
Pikake” (Hawaiian for peacock) is a
vibrant arrangement of peacock feathers
and orchids. Orchids are the only flowers
artist buys from a local farmer, while other
specimens are either grown in her garden
or collected on hiking trips and from
friends’ gardens.
Due to the variety of flowers and papers
used, as well as an application of modern
aesthetic and influences, White’s collages
are far from being sentimental.
“My dry floral arrangements have a con-
temporary aesthetic, unlike Victorian-era
images,” she said.
White is very particular about the
enhancement of color in her art. She paints
leaves and flowers with metallic pigments
to add shimmer and dimension, and uses
other acrylic paints closely matched to the
natural plant coloration. Because green
fades in leaves over time, she uses floral
spray paint to replace it. White also paints
over petals with a small brush to match col-
ors perfectly and make them look natural.
“Color is vital to my process, as it repre-
sents my feelings,” she said.
The brilliant colors and textures that
White favors in her pressed-flower collages
are also found in her paper works. She
makes her own paper from recycled paper
that has no ink on it. As the process is
incredibly messy and time-consuming,
White reserves a week of her time to
devote to it. Then, the artist paints over her
papers to bring textures to life.
White’s jewelry-making is closely relat-
ed to her collages, carrying on the same
natural themes with either square or rectan-
gular miniature landscapes made of color-
enhanced flowers or plants.
Sealed with glass-like resin,
they are little expressions of the
environment, evoking feelings
of love, warmth, and comfort.
The pendants attach to either a
simple ribbon or chain with a
few beads that pleasantly com-
plement colors of petals or plants
frozen in one piece.
The artist will exhibit her col-
lages and jewelry pieces at the
Central Pennsylvania Festival
for the Arts in a booth number A-
25. To contact the artist directly,
write to: lisa@whitedawnde-
signs.com or call: 814-571-3379.
To see her artwork, visit:
whitedawndesigns.com.
25July / August 2012
133 E. BEAVER AVE – ½ BLOCK FROM ALLEN STREET (UNDER UNCLE ELI’S)
Over 100,000 Used books
Full cafe, specializing in vegan, vegetarian and local foods.
Organic, Shade-grown, Fair-trade Coffees
Over 90 loose-leaf teas!
Musical Sunday Brunch every Sunday with fantastic fresh food & local musicians playing at Noon.
AND! Stax of Trax used Vinyl!
ARTS FEST LINEUPJuly Art Gallery - Mary Vollerointernationally recognized painter & photographer
Friday Jul 13th, 7pmSizzle Stix - Swing Dance Party!
Saturday Jul 14th, 7pmNatalie J. Plumb progressive contemporary spiritual music.
Sunday Jul 15th Sunday Music Brunch - 9am to 2pmPhilip Masorti & The Herd - Noon to 2pmApache Records recording artists!
Author Appearance Barry Kernfeld - 3pm (editor of the Grove Dictionary of Jazz)will read and discuss his new book Pop Song Piracy.
Color and texture enliven White’s collagesby Veronica Winters
Photo by Veronica WintersLisa Dawn White holding one of her collages from her best-sell-ing “Appalachia” series.
In the Studio
26 July / August 2012
nel-shaped cloud reaching from the fore-
ground to the background. “It’s a never
ending turmoil. Those little pieces are
the pieces of the broken house.”
Some of Winters’ most compelling
paintings in this show are the ones that
feature no figures at all. One such
poignant work is the painting
“Communication,” which focuses on two
laptops on a bed. The laptops, she said,
serve a dual role in her symbolic lan-
guage—as representations for the absent
figures and as the means of communica-
tion.
“It’s about communication,” said
Winters. “Communication is through the
internet. The link gets broken between
two people.”
“When something gets broken between
the two people it’s very painful and hard
to repair,” wrote Winters via email.
“Both persons need to be open for
change to preserve the relationship. So,
these paintings depict my pain and strug-
gle to come to terms and understanding,
to find acceptance and love.”
While producing this series was emo-
tionally challenging and left the artist
with a sense of vulnerability, Winters
also sees art as an outlet to “express feel-
ings in a positive and meaningful way.”
In her vision of a breakdown in com-
munication in marriage, she also sees the
seeds of repair in the recognition of that
breakdown and the subsequent admission
of mistakes.
“I also think it’s important to admit the
mistakes we make and find balance in
honest talk with each other about prob-
lems (between a husband and wife),”
wrote Winters. “Thoughts and feelings
often get hidden and eventually the con-
flict occurs.”
However, Winters says that not every-
one can establish “mutual trust and hon-
est communication with each other about
things that matter.”
In addition to creating art, Winters also
teaches it. She gives private lessons, but
also teaches at the Art Alliance, where
she will be teaching a beginning oils and
acrylics workshop August 13-17. As
well, Winters teaches for Galaxy, an edu-
cational program that places artists in
schools as teachers.
“Teaching is a very big part of my
daily existence,” wrote Winters via
email. “I enjoy being with students at my
studio or at the Art Alliance. Students
often challenge my abilities to explain
things and I also learn from them, believe
it or not.”
Despite what she describes as a diffi-
cult jobs climate for artists, Winters con-
siders herself fortunate to be financially
secure enough to continue her creative
endeavors.
“You can be born as an artist but never
develop as one,” wrote Winters. “It takes
years of hard work to achieve the desir-
able result of what you want as a person
and an artist. It took me years of
patience, perseverance, and financial and
moral support from my husband to be
where I’m today.”
Clearly Winters sees making and
teaching art as part of her greater quest in
finding purpose.
“I’m searching for the purpose in life,”
wrote Winters. “I came close to under-
standing the concept of Buddhism, as I
enjoy its peaceful approach to self-
improvement. I think most of my paint-
ings are quiet, peaceful, and meditative in
a way. I want them to be beautiful, so they
would bring joy to others. Unlike land-
scapes or still lives, even symbolically
painful paintings could be beautiful.”
More information about Winters’ work
can be found at http://www.veronicawin-
tersart.blogspot.com/ and at
http://www.veronicasart.com.
She will also be selling her work at
stall A 58 at the Central Pennsylvania
Festival of the Arts.
from Winters, pg. 24
“Pain” by Veronica Winters
“Communication” by Veronica Winters.“
“...these paintings depictmy pain and struggle tocome to terms and under-standing, to find accept-ance and love.”
Veronica Winters
July 1
Art Alliance: Art through Touch Exhibit
at Foxdale Gallery (through August 24)
Bellefonte Art Museum for CentreCounty: Photographs from NASA: From
Earth to the Solar System (through July
15)
Bellefonte Art Museum for CentreCounty Community Gallery: Ellie
Tarraborelli
Green Drake Gallery: Plein Air—
Painting in the Moment
Saloon: Atomic Supersonic (10:30
p.m.) (Atomic Supersonic plays the
Saloon every Sunday night.)
Websters: Sunday Music Brunch (11
a.m. to 2 p.m.)
Websters: Art exhibitions by Mary
Vollero and Kristina Gibson
Zeno’s: Miss Melanie and the Valley
Rats (9:30 p.m.)
July 2
Websters: Community Yoga with Karen
Sepia (6 p.m.)
July 3
The Saloon: Hotdog Cart (10:30 p.m.)
(Hotdog Cart plays the Saloon every
Tuesday night)
State Theatre: 1776 (2 p.m. and 7 p.m.)
July 4
State Theatre: 1776 (2 p.m.)
July 5
The Saloon: My Hero Zero (10:30
p.m.) (My Hero Zero plays the Saloon
every Thursday night.)
July 6
Bar Bleu: Low Jack (10:30 p.m.) (Low
Jack plays Bar Bleu every Friday night.)
The Saloon: The Nightcrawlers (10:30
p.m.)
Tussey Mountain: Movies on the
Mountain, Captain America (9 p.m.)
July 7
Bar Bleu: Ted McCloskey and the Hi
Fi’s (10:30 p.m.) (Ted McCloskey and the
Hi Fi’s play Bar Bleu every Saturday
night.)
The Saloon: Mr. Hand (10:30 p.m.)
(Mr. Hand plays the Saloon every
Saturday night.)
Websters: Second Winds jazz (7 p.m.)
July 10
Websters: Nittany Valley Writers open
mic
July 11
State Theatre: Babe (12 p.m.) (Part of
the Read It, Watch It series recurring
every Wednesday at 12 p.m.)
State Theatre: Community Percussion
Circle (5:30 p.m.)
Websters: author Keith Nelson (3 p.m.)
July 12
Central Pennsylvania Festival of the
Arts (July 12 - 15)
July 13
The Saloon: Velveeta (10:30 p.m.)
State Theatre: Syncopation (3 p.m.)
Websters: Sizzle Sticks (7 p.m.)
July 14
Websters: Live music Natalie J. Plumb
(7 p.m.)
July 15
State Theatre: Brio Dance Company (1
p.m.)
Websters: author Barry Kernfield (3
p.m.
July 20
The Saloon: Velveeta (10:30 p.m.)
Tussey Mountain: Randy Travis (8
p.m.)
July 25
Websters: Muriel’s Repair (7 p.m.)
July 27
The Saloon: The Nightcrawlers (10:30
p.m.)
Tussey Mountain Ampitheatre: Toad
the Wet Sprocket (7 p.m.)
August 1
Green Drake Gallery: Under the
Influence
August 3
The Saloon: The Nightcrawlers (10:30
p.m.)
Tussey Mountain: Movies on the
Mountain: Tarzan (9 p.m.)
August 5
Bellefonte Art Museum for CentreCounty Community Gallery: Kim Gates
Flick
August 10
The Saloon: Velveeta (10:30 p.m.)
August 17
The Saloon: Velveeta (10:30 p.m.)
August 20
Tussey Mountain: Movies on the
Mountain: Hugo (9 p.m.)
August 24
The Saloon: The Nightcrawlers (10:30
p.m.)
State Theatre: Fiddler on the Roof
(7:30 p.m.)
Tussey Mountain: Movies on the
Mountain: The Smurfs (9 p.m.)
August 25
Art Alliance: Juried Show (through
September 2)
State Theatre: Fiddler on the Roof (2
p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
August 26
State Theatre: Fiddler on the Roof (2
p.m.)
August 29
Websters: Muriel’s Repair (7 p.m.)
August 31
State Theatre: Monty Python and the
Holy Grail (4 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m.)
Items for upcoming events listings canbe emailed to the Arts and EntertainmentSection editor Elizabeth Timberlake-Newell at:
27July / August 2012
July / August calendar of A & E events
efit of an original band over a cover-tune
band is that you’re offering a unique prod-
uct, not just a version of something people
can hear anywhere. The obstacle is that a
lot of the music audience wants to hear the
hits, the stuff they know.
Voices: What are your musical influ-
ences?
Rounds: We were lucky to arrive on the
scene at a time when the singer/songwriter
tradition was well established in main-
stream American music, so all college stu-
dents were familiar with the music of writ-
ers like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Steven
Stills, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Carole
King, James Taylor, et cetera.
We too were influenced by all these peo-
ple, but we also drew from the country-
based sound of Guy Clark, Willie Nelson,
Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris.
Going back even further, you can hear
in our harmony style echoes of the folk
music movement of 60s, in both its com-
mercial vein—Peter, Paul & Mary,
Kingston Trio, Chad Mitchell Trio—and
the more rootsy sound of Gordon
Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia, and early
Dylan. We’ve even been accused of hav-
ing bluegrass influences.
Voices: How do you feel about the live
music scene in State College and the sur-
rounding area?
Rounds: I loved the State College music
scene when we lived and played there
because along with the rock bars, there
were clubs like Rego’s, Highway Pizza,
and Café 210, where people actually came
to listen.
We were fortunate to have an expert
soundman, Jim Thorn, at the helm of a
good PA system, and we took pride in pro-
ducing crisp, professional shows. You can’t
do acoustic music over the din of 200 stu-
dents who came to drink beer and hang out,
so listening clubs are crucial to our kind of
band.
One of the drawbacks of State College as
a musical home base is that it’s a cultural
island in the middle of a big, rural state. If
you’re a local band trying to expand to
regional—as we were—it means getting in
the van and driving back and forth to places
like Lancaster, Pittsburgh and Philly. It
wears you out.
Voices: What sort of venues has the band
played?
Rounds: We’ve played many clubs in
State College (some of which are now
gone): The All American Alehouse in
Toftrees, The Phryst, Rego’s, Highway
Pizza, Café 210, The Sheraton and many
others. At the Arts Fest—Schwab
Auditorium and the Festival Shell.
Voices: Can readers buy your music
online or on CD anywhere?
Rounds: (All CDs are sold out.) [Our
music] can be bought as digital albums.
Voices: Why are these your last perform-
ances?
Rounds: It’s just time. We set pretty high
standards for ourselves, and each year it’s
more of a challenge getting the callouses in
shape to play guitar for hours and the voice
in shape to hit all the notes. We’re the luck-
iest band in the world when it comes to
fans, employers, and venues.
Our fans listen closely, they know music,
and they’ve been very loyal—Schwab is
packed every year. We’ve also had the
good fortune to work for two excellent Arts
Fest directors, currently Rick Bryant and,
before him, Phil Walz, who’ve been sup-
portive and accommodating. They put us in
Schwab, after all, which is as good as it
gets for an acoustic band. Tom Hesketh,
who assembled the house PA and coordi-
nates sound, is a real pro.
With all the support we’ve received from
folks like these, we think we owe them a
good show.
………………………………………
Local acoustic band Bookends and har-
monica player Richard Sleigh will be join-
ing Cartoon on stage for their performance
at Schwab Auditorium on July 13.
Performance starts at 7:30 p.m. Arts
Festival button is required for admission.
Cartoon will also be playing the
American Alehouse on July 14 from 9 p.m.
to 11 p.m.
28 July / August 2012
Photo courtesy of Jon RoundsCover art from “The Chapel Sessions,” the 2010 release for Cartoon.
Lend us your voices!
E-mail [email protected]
Dear Voices,
Attending my 50th PSU reunion after a
long absence, I discovered VOICES. My
enclosed check recognizes your crucial
contribution to the community, but partic-
ularly to students, many exposed for the
first time to a thoughtful discussion of
issues.
VOICES reminded me of the few peo-
ple in the late 50’s and early 60’s who
demonstrated in State College for civil
rights, and against nuclear testing and
the early stages of American involve-
ment in Viet Nam.
While they were then mostly greeted
dismissively as hippies, their voices
continued to be remembered and joined
by many of us over the past 50 years.
Your VOICES will be what todays’
students will remember and join over
the next 50 years all over the world.
Thank you.
Peter Rumsey
Raleigh, NC
Dear Voices,
Today the banks with their symbolic
underground are destroying Greece as
surely as if they were an army occupying
the ground and slaughtering the inhabi-
tants and all done with a preciseness of
figures that prove through the cyphers
that what they do is exactly correct.
The banked money is buried under-
ground, present delayed for future, my
own for community and faith that yes-
terday will yield to providential tomor-
row.
Yet when that future is so brutally
straightened, that community so deci-
mated that tomorrow reduced to dark
misery, it is time to say—if there is to be
sacrifice here between bank and public
community, let it be the bank however
compelling its cyphers.
Greece should go off the Euro, deval-
ue the Drachma and restructure the debt.
Austerity does not remedy recession.
Repudiate it.
In what name? In the name of the
people above ground in their native
hope and enterprise there where sun-
light flashes on the sea.
Pluto need not rape Persephone this
time. Let Zeus himself intervene. For if
coin does not bear a humane face, it is
not wealth but cancer.
John Harris
State College
29July / August 2012
Letters
Cosmo is on holiday for July andAugust, but sends his best regards.Stay tuned for an extra sassySeptember edition!
ASKCosmoCampus and
Culture from the Canine
Perspective
There are two ways that people are
forced out of their homes by decree: one is
by foreclosure, the other is sheriff sale.
The first is truly a sad national epidem-
ic; the second seems to be a problem in the
Keystone state. Just see the tax sale
notices in newspapers across the state.
A bill has recently been introduced in
the state house, called “Property Tax
Independence Act”. Although I agree
100% in principle, I take issue with is on
the revenue replacement portion.
The bill offers a great opportunity for a
broader, total tax & financial reform.
However, there is way too much emphasis
in the current bill on raising income and
sales tax. These are two taxes that fall
hardest on struggling working folks.
Having lived on a state with no state or
local income tax for several years and
returning to this high taxation state was a
shock and a burden.
If there must be an increase in taxes,
then the only aspect of revenue replace-
ment that I do agree with is the gambling,
yet it gets a scant mention. Gambling tax-
ation should be where all emphasis sits,
for the following reasons:
First, in debates leading up to legaliza-
tion of slot machines, Pennsylvanian’s had
been promised lower property taxes and
singing tomorrows.
Second, gambling contributes nothing
to the productive economy and nothing to
the overall living standards; it is a zero-
sum game.
Another, less known, yet more hideous
form of gambling that impacts us all is
speculation in virtual financial instru-
ments. A person need go no further than
the gas pump, or the grocery store to feel
the impacts of these parasites; they are a
tapeworm on a productive economy.
These virtual gamblers make obscene
profits in nanoseconds with flash trades
that contribute zero to the productive
economy; in fact, they even hinder real
growth with the rapid increase in prices.
A very small sales tax on these transac-
tions (they currently pay zero) would raise
some much needed revenue replacement.
This would allow sales and income taxes
to be lowered or eliminated.
The website of the Pennsylvania
Taxpayers Cyber Coalition points out that
North Dakota is moving to eliminate
property tax. What they fail to mention is
the fact that the bank of North Dakota,
which was formed in 1919, is the only
state-owned or public bank in the United
States. All state revenues flow into the
bank of North Dakota and back out into
the state in the form of loans.
The state of North Dakota is consistent-
ly faced with the enviable position of
either lowering taxes, adding programs, or
a combination, thus raising living stan-
30 July / August 2012
Don and Barbara Gross are excited to move to their new 2-bedroom apartment at Foxdale Village. The Grosses have gotten to know Foxdale very well over the past 20 years, with Barbara’s parents having moved there when the community first opened. Now, it’s your turn to make a move. Our Oak apartment features a great corner location with windows wrapping two full sides, a spacious floor plan for entertaining, and a sunroom to enjoy beautiful sunsets. But don’t wait, there are only a few remaining. To learn more, call us at 272-2117. Visit us at www.foxdalevillage.org.
500 East Marylyn Avenue | State College, PA 16801(814) 238-3322 | (800) 253-4951
– Don and Barbara Gross
Only a
Few Oak
Apartments
Still
Available.
“Our new apartment at Foxdale has lots of windows, and we look forward
to enjoying our new sun porch.”
A Quaker-Directed Continuing Care Retirement Community
Some alternatives to ‘cut & gut’ spending policiesby Paul Dombek
see Spending, pg. 31
I was talking the other day to Whitey
Blue, longtime Centre Area resident and
hard-nose.
Whitey, any thoughts about the up-
coming Gritmurky triial?
“”I sure do!”
What are they?
“It’s probably too late now, and may
not be in accordance with state laws, but
I think the trial should be held in a
remote state, like Alaska or Hawaii,
where the jurors wouldn’t be brain-
washed by all the adverse publicity
Gritmurky is getting.”
So you think G. won’t get a fair trial
here in Centre County?
“No, he won’t.
All these do-gooders have over-
loaded the local and nearby media with
their tales of his alleged abuses. This
certainly will bias all local judges and
jurors!”
Whitey Blue on Gritmurkyby David M. Silverman
dards.
Since 2008, while servicing student,
agricultural and energy sector loans with-
in North Dakota, every dollar of profit by
the bank. This has added up to tens of mil-
lions, flows back into state coffers and
directly supports the needs of the state in
ways private banks do not.
Ultimately, the private federal reserve
needs to be federalized, because credit
creation and management must be a pub-
lic utility. As Thomas Edison said:
“It is absurd to say that our country can
issue $30,000,000 in bonds and not
$30,000,000 in currency. Both are promis-
es to pay; but one promise fattens the
usurer, and the other helps the people. If
the currency issued by the Government
were no good, then the bonds issued
would be no good either. It is a terrible sit-
uation when the Government, to increase
the national wealth, must go into debt and
submit to ruinous interest charges at the
hands of men who control the fictitious
values of gold.”
We shouldn’t have to throw people into
the wood chipper, in the name of “auster-
ity,” while too-big-to-jail zombie bankers
reap obscene profits and pile all their loss-
es onto us. Ideally, you can have mini-
mum tax burden by saving on the single
biggest long-term fixed expense: interest.
Regardless, if the federal reserve system
is abolished, they should be forced to pur-
chase long term 0 percent interest bonds
from state governments for infrastructure
and capital improvement projects, such as
high speed rail and safe bridges, et. al.
These projects would be bided out to the
private sector, creating a positive multipli-
er effect.
Instead of what is happening now--
pouring money in a black hole of kited
toxic derivative bets for the zombie banks,
while they hoard and deny funds to other-
wise meaningful projects, and we the peo-
ple are accepting the cut & gut psychosis.
History proves that you can’t cut & gut
your way to recovery, growth, and pros-
perity. It didn’t work in 1931-32 Germany,
more recently Spain, and Greece.
As mentioned above, I really think it is
a great opportunity for a broader and total
tax and financial reform. Even though this
is just at the state level, for now.
31July / August 2012
Instructions:
Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every three-by-three box contains the digits 1 through 9. There is no mathinvolved. You solve the puzzle with reason and logic.
The solution to this month’s puzzle can be found on page 29 ofthis issue.
By Peter Morris
SSuuddookkuu
from Spending, pg. 30
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