Physics society's laser show is a superblast!

I'm writing about the Student Physics Society sponsored Laser Rock Show. This year's show is simply terrific and is competitive with the best entertainment around. Way out! Take your (select one) (a) date (b) friends (c) kids (d) parents (e) antagonisms or (f) frustrations out for three bucks, which will incidentally buy each of you a pair of three-dimensional glasses.

And, oh yes . . . if your friends can figure out how the 3-D glasses work, give them a free candy bar or popcorn. Anyway, you won't regret this one. Show times this weekend: Saturday, April 5, at 6, 8, 10 p.m. and Midnight. See ya there.

Roger Herman
Student Physics Society adviser

Textbooks have a voice for students to hear

I would like to make a couple of comments on Kevin Gardner's opinion piece in the April 2 Collegian. Gardner is right on about the enterprise of General Education: it's a great idea, and it's very hard to pull off successfully.

That said, I would just add this: sometimes I think that students' complaints about courses are partially a result of their not understanding how they are supposed to process what is presented to them.

A classic problem in General Education is the relationship between the general and the specific, the broad and the narrow.

Last semester, I attended several of the lectures in World Religions, because a friend and colleague was teaching it. Needless to say, the lectures afforded him time only to touch on some of the most important aspects of the world's major religions (which he did superbly).

But that is a given -- it is the purpose of the lecturer to synthesize and generalize. Yet that does not mean that the course is superficial. Synthesis and generalization are distilled from accumulated specifics, and the whole world of the relevant specifics is readily available to students in and through textbooks and additional readings that the textbooks point to.

Lectures are not meant to be a substitute for reading, any more than Nittany Notes are a substitute for the lectures. But that seems to be what happens; my friend found that very few students read the textbooks at all.

Apparently, many students mistake the lectures for the course, but lectures are only windows. The student's job is to look through the windows and then go and examine the landscape and its features.

If this is not happening, then complaints about broad vs. narrow are not well-taken, because it is the design of such courses that broad and narrow be complementary, not contradictory. Students have to be sure that they are doing their part.

If some of the problem is that students in these broad courses don't do their part, perhaps a passage in Gardner's article offers a clue as to why.

He writes, "I learned about other people by listening to them, not by reading a book." Have you forgotten that when you read a book you ARE listening to someone? If, as has so often been suggested by culture critics, we have gone so far away from the "culture of the eye" that we no longer hear the voice that is always there on the printed page, perhaps that's a partial explanation for students' attention to the performer in the front of the room and not to the books in the course.

I wonder whether the problem is that the "voice" of popular culture, in music, movies and TV, is now so loud and so ubiquitous that some among us can't hear softer voices, which, I might suggest, could be just as interesting.

J.D. Shuchter
Lecturer in English

SOUL's New Age Fair planned for tomorrow

The opportunity to experience people from varied backgrounds and their customs, foods and cultural events was what drew me to Penn State in 1981 as an undergraduate student.

Having said this, I would like to invite everyone to an event that features many different healing practices, spiritual growth and meditation techniques, as well as group demonstrations and workshops.

Tai chi, acupuncture, rebirthing, Chinese medicinal herbs, hypnotherapy and massage are just some of the modalities to be presented.

Several vendors from the Centre region will also be offering their wares including pottery, Native American crafts, candles, musical instruments, jewelry and dream catchers.

This New Age Fair is being held tomorrow, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Friends Meeting House, 611 E. Prospect Ave. In the evening, there will be an open drumming circle from 7 to 9. Throughout the day there will be food and free entertainment. This event is sponsored by the SOUL Foundation (Sharing Our Unconditional Love).

Frank C. Schawaller
Class of '86

Phil Collins can rock all night, party every day

The concert review written by Jake Stuiver (March 31) proves that the Collegian writing staff obviously has very little knowledge about what they write.

If Stuiver had ever played an instrument in his life, he would understand perfectly that the five chord riffs and blues scales played by KISS are overshadowed by the diverse musical influence and sheer creative talent of Phil Collins and the band that accompanied him on Easter night.

Having 19 years of musical experience gives me adequate credibility on this issue, and I believe that most other objective people would agree that Phil Collins deserved much more respect than was given in the March 31 Collegian. The review mentioned Collins' "overextended career" and stated that The Bryce Jordan Center was "half filled."

I don't know what concert Stuiver was at. I had first level seating that allowed me to scope out the entire scene, and I found the place to be well-packed, with the exception of the upper level. As far as Collins' overextended career, I think maybe Stuiver ought to look at how long KISS has been coasting along on their hits of old (i.e. "Rock and Roll All Night!")

Don't get me wrong, I love KISS and listened to them throughout my pre-teen years. But comparing KISS and Phil Collins, and coming to the conclusion that KISS rocked and Phil Collins is through as a musician is stretching the truth.

I just hope that anyone reading the article on Monday takes Stuiver's critique with a grain of salt. He is obviously not able to give credit as due and has a very narrow taste for good music.

As for the Collegian, I think that having writers misinform us furthers student apathy, because even if a topic is covered, it's terribly slanted -- usually in the wrong direction!

Frank Grill
junior-finance