tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17833498452479457512011-11-24T05:52:48.363-08:00because college is more than just going to class - Welcome to Susquehanna UniversityRyan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-22175010430764025952011-04-02T12:43:00.000-07:002011-04-02T12:43:04.449-07:00

I wasn't sure what to expect.  All I really knew was that the penguins on the posters in the stairwells looked pretty cool: So Rob and I got tickets, and Tuesday night we went. It turns out ZooZoo is a collection of elaborate costumes, simple sketches, good acting, comedy, and dancing.  It's a show in which actors imitate animals and objects: frogs, rabbits, anteaters at a restaraunt, even

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-81813633599112221572011-02-27T13:37:00.000-08:002011-04-02T12:43:23.494-07:00

At 5:30 in the morning Dr. Dent drove the university van right up to the doors of our dormitory, and six of us writing majors sequeezed in a for the three-hour drive to Widener University, where we would get to meet essayist and short story writer George Saunders. Saunders, whose quirky stories frequently appear in magazines like The New Yorker, Harper's, and Esquire, recently appeared on the

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-16714637535961048892011-02-20T21:34:00.000-08:002011-02-28T08:31:07.124-08:00

This past weekend, 100 students from campuses all across Pennsylvania met here at Susquehanna University for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship "Dig In" conference, 24 hours of worship, scripture study, and socializing. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is not (contrary to popular belief) some sort of Christian athletes club. It's an international organization, started in Great Britain (where

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-50488627776727812362011-01-30T22:16:00.000-08:002011-01-30T22:16:17.136-08:00

It was snowing big thick flakes when Justin and I left the campus center to make the walk to the rare-and-used book store, DJ Ernst, on Market Street. It’s a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon, scanning the old cracked spines to see what jumps out at you. Because you never know what you’ll find, and as cliché as that sounds, it’s true. I picked up John Updike’s Terrorist, Graham Greene’s The

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-65497019952668093052010-11-17T06:59:00.000-08:002011-02-28T08:43:16.654-08:00

Susquehanna’s creative writing department has officially moved from the lower level of Hassinger Hall into a building of their own, and I got to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony. What was once the parish attached to the St. Pius X Catholic church (the congregation has since moved to a larger facility about a block away) is now the new writers house. Completely renovated, the house is now

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-44442383675067170162010-11-04T12:22:00.000-07:002010-11-04T12:27:49.482-07:00

When I read Steve Yarbrough, I’m reminded that stories matter. In deep weird ways, stories are a part of who we are. Like in the title story from his collection Veneer. The narrator sits in a restaurant with an old friend, and he tells her about his worst Fourth of July ever: the summer before his family lost their farm, when they splurged on a grill and some steaks and pretended it was the

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-5263452008926900782010-10-24T22:14:00.000-07:002010-10-25T06:43:05.755-07:00

"Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past." - Field of Dreams We drove all through the night—it’s about an eighteen-hour drive from Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania to Ames, Iowa—and napped in a Wal-Mart parking

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-71951879078893170542010-10-06T08:34:00.000-07:002010-10-06T08:35:14.181-07:00

It's like a fair, only bigger. When Holly talked me and Rob into to making the 45-minute drive up to Bloomsburg, I was expecting a handful of rides and maybe two dozen food stands, but I was wrong.  With over 400,000 visitors, 1,200 concession stands, and big-name music acts, the Bloomsburg Fair is one of the biggest fairs in Pennsylvania.  They were offering ten-dollar helicopter rides by the

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-76454554750112960522010-09-30T10:21:00.000-07:002010-09-30T10:36:36.727-07:00

Friday night I helped a friend cross an item off his senior year bucket list: attend this fall’s theatre department production, The Diary of Anne Frank. We arrived almost late (I tend to be almost always late for everything) and ended up sitting in the very first row because the show was almost sold out. The set was sparse, roof beams above, floor boards below, and a few crates that sufficed for

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-70776242653624341562010-05-05T11:26:00.000-07:002011-02-28T08:49:27.786-08:00

After enjoying the Mini Coop, the Inner Harbor, and, of course, delicious seafood, we finally made it to the main event, the National Aquarium. Home to over 16,000 animals representing over 660 different species including poison dart frogs, tree sloths, dolphins, and jelly fish, the National Aquarium in Baltimore is Maryland’s most popular tourist destination. Below is just a brief glimpse of

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-73288017152523276902010-05-04T11:24:00.000-07:002010-05-04T11:38:47.824-07:00

It takes about two and a half hours to drive from Susquehanna University to Baltimore, so we arrived at the Inner Harbor a little past noon. Our plan was to visit the National Aquarium and then grab a seafood dinner before heading back to Selinsgrove to turn in the rental car. After purchasing our aquarium tickets, though, we had to rearrange our plans. The National Aquarium only admits a

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-44382766309310803102010-05-03T12:17:00.000-07:002010-05-03T12:30:56.539-07:00

“It’s like a time machine,” Andrew said, peering over my shoulder to get a better look at the glowing dashboard. Sitting behind the wheel of the BMW Mini Cooper, I couldn’t have described the car better myself. Honestly, it took me a good five minutes to figure out how to work the keyless push-button ignition.  First you stick the fat disc-shaped key fob into the slot by the steering column,

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-71056897077495345542010-04-20T11:06:00.000-07:002010-11-03T08:04:57.877-07:00

Last Monday, students like myself as well as professors from the English and Creative Writing Department gathered in Isaacs Auditorium to hear a reading from Susquehanna’s own Gary Fincke, head of our creative writing department and author of twenty-two books of poetry, essays, and short stories. Sitting in a chair at the center of the stage, Dr. Fincke pressed his thumb into the uncracked spine

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-60118443589168230952010-04-06T10:52:00.000-07:002010-04-06T17:30:31.396-07:00

The meeting opened with mostly mundane stuff—talk about budget hearings and homemade cookie fundraiser results—but when the club’s VP turned to me and the three-person student documentary team who were also sitting in on this SU Paranormal meeting and asked us if we had any questions, the group began to overflow with campus ghost stories. They talked about “No-Face Girl,” a shadowy little kid who

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-48548421277948001072010-03-23T06:06:00.000-07:002011-02-28T08:51:29.005-08:00

Laundry is an essential aspect of campus life. I clean my clothes at the laundromat a block off campus.  It's cheaper than using the on-campus machines, and if you have more than one load to do, it's usually quicker too.  (Plus, it's kinda fun to watch the clothes swirling around in the machines.) If you don't happen to have a girlfriend with a car who can drive you to the laundromat, the washers

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-50772728738440391112010-03-04T11:07:00.000-08:002011-02-28T08:56:33.864-08:00

Saturday night we headed over to Weber Chapel Auditorium for evening full of the piano-driven rock music of Jack’s Mannequin. When I’d heard SU’s spring concert was going to be Jack’s Mannequin, Holly and I each bought two tickets, two for ourselves and two for my friends Jimmy and Sheri from back home, because Jack’s is one of Jimmy favorite bands. He’d seen the band twice already, but Saturday

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-48823978714709932832010-02-22T20:55:00.000-08:002010-03-16T11:10:37.278-07:00

Friday night Holly, Karen, Andrew, and I followed the railroad tracks to Trax, Susquehanna's on-campus student-run nightclub, for some drinks and some dancing at the Mardi Gras party. Trax frequently has "wristband" nights throughout the semester, nights where Trax serves free alcohol to students 21 years of age and older.  Students of age receive a three-tabbed wristband upon entering Trax to 

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-8725575298396510992010-02-10T16:07:00.000-08:002010-03-04T11:09:27.417-08:00

I’m not a morning person. I like to wake up slowly and ease into the day. Benny’s Bistro is usually my first stop on campus each day. I’ll grab a bagel and a cup of coffee and then read for twenty minutes or so until it’s time to head to my first class of the day. Benny’s Bistro is one of four on-campus eateries. For breakfast they serve eggs, hash browns, and all sorts of bagels. My usual is

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-47647684404954646162010-02-03T19:21:00.000-08:002010-04-26T12:14:40.433-07:00

Saturday morning the six of us piled into Holly's car and Jeff's jeep, and we headed forty-five minutes south into Harrisburg. Our destination was the Whitaker Center, a hands-on science museum. We were definitely the biggest kids there, but I'm pretty sure we had just as much fun as everybody else. See for yourself, check out the pictures below. Kelsey and Holly enjoying the 3D IMAX movie

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-15005197770310994822010-01-31T21:04:00.000-08:002010-03-16T11:10:19.930-07:00

I showed up at Trax a half-hour early to help set up, but by the time I got there everything was already done. “Here,” Collin, the VP of SU Swings, said as he dropped his hat onto my head. “You look good.” And then there was nothing left to do but listen to the band warm up and wait for everybody to show up. The Sock Hop hosted by SU Swings was well attended (thanks, in part, to the free root

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-63768031431121983742010-01-31T20:15:00.000-08:002010-01-31T21:09:52.313-08:00

At 8:30 PM my long Wednesday was finally over—class, work, class, a meeting that ran long and made me late for dinner, and then I led an Intervarsity Bible Study. It was third long day in a row, and Thursday was promising to be even longer. What I needed was a break, some time to relax. What I needed was Zombieland. Every Wednesday night (Friday nights too) Charlie’s Susquehanna’s student-run

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-65982128020889854562010-01-29T10:39:00.000-08:002010-01-29T10:39:09.200-08:00

The first week back from winter break is always an interesting one. It’s a comfortable return, with no heavy furniture to lug in, just small things to arrange. My refrigerator is plugged back in, and Elwood, my lovable betta fish roommate, is back in his spot on my bookcase. The first week back is also an exciting week. You keep bumping into people you’re really excited to see. Of course, they’

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-90142135003586854522009-12-07T12:42:00.000-08:002009-12-11T11:33:33.717-08:00

The scariest thing I did this week was on Saturday, when we went to the Sunbury Ice Rink and I learned how to ice skate. The Sunbury Ice Rink is just a twenty minute drive up the river from Susquehanna. The rink is where Susquehanna, Bucknell, and Bloomsburg Universities all play their hockey games. The place is a little tricky to find (we had to stop and ask directions), but it’s worth the

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-25959258790458393072009-11-23T12:58:00.000-08:002010-02-03T19:27:03.824-08:00

I don't think it's at just any university where you can go out on a Friday night, shoot pool, and listen to your girlfriend's history professor belt out "Highway to Hell" while your literature professor backs him up on the guitar. At Susquehanna, you can. Saturday night we walked over the railroad crossing to Trax, Susquehanna's on-campus student-run night club.  Trax holds all sorts of events

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-3552214712739653802009-11-21T12:04:00.000-08:002010-10-21T10:57:11.572-07:00

The room was hot but silent as Dr. Giuseppe Mazzotta began to read from Canto 1:Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, Which in the very thought renews the fear. So bitter is it, death is little more; But of the good to treat, which

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-53401548153632453732009-11-20T01:32:00.000-08:002009-12-02T12:58:41.414-08:00

The Thursday before Thanksgiving Break is one of the best days of the year at Susquehanna University. Students pack into the Everett Dining Room for a delicious turkey dinner served by the faculty and staff of the university. After Chaplain Radecke's blessing and President Lemons' annual Thanksgiving toast, everybody takes a gulp of sparkling cider. Then we all twist around to watch our

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-20999086937886112272009-11-13T12:51:00.000-08:002009-11-18T11:16:22.062-08:00

Last Saturday at Susquehanna, the hills were alive with the sound of music.  Okay, not literally, but this past weekend the theatre department did put on The Sound of Music. Every fall the theatre department teams up with the music department to put on a musical for family weekend.  In past years they've put on shows like Hello, Dolly!, Chicago, and West Side Story. This year, because they moved

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-40327185344194756172009-11-09T12:30:00.000-08:002011-02-28T08:58:37.644-08:00

Friday after class four of us piled into Holly's car, and we took 81 South to Shippensburg University.  Shippensburg is usually about an hour and half drive from Susquehanna, but the trip was longer for us because we drove fifteen minutes past Shippensburg to my hometown, Chambersburg, where we squeezed my friend Jimmy into the car and grabbed some Tex-Mex food from Moe's Southwestern Grill. Then

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-71828518147769002762009-11-03T14:49:00.000-08:002009-12-11T11:27:10.300-08:00

Normally when a bunch of Susquehanna students from Intervarsity Christian Fellowship get together, the meeting involves a laid-back contemporary worship service or an in-depth look at a passage from the Bible. But last Friday, that wasn't the case at all.  Last Friday involved vegetable and knives.  Intervarsity spent the night before Halloween carving pumpkins down in the common room of West

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-101629390020275022009-10-28T11:58:00.000-07:002011-02-28T09:00:24.948-08:00

I have yet to see the Hershey Bears win a game. The game started out all right. The Binghamton Senators scored two goals early in the first period, but the Bears answered with two goals of their own. Then Senators scored again early in the second period and then once more early in the final period. The Bears pulled their goalie to try to make a comeback, but Senators slip past them and scored one

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-9026352222908985342009-10-16T12:28:00.000-07:002009-12-11T11:25:57.097-08:00

There is nothing fun about studying for midterm exams.  But when you do find yourself stranded in the middle of midterm week, there’s something you can turn to for relief: pancakes. Every semester during midterm week, Susquehanna’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity sets up an electric skillet in the lower level of the campus center, and from 8 PM to midnight, they cook pancakes. "People just come

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-61779686733392908762009-10-12T12:22:00.000-07:002009-12-11T11:36:21.252-08:00

“You don’t have to keep backing up,” Kristen—that is, DJ K-Ri—tells me. Sitting in a swivel chair behind the glowing mixing board in the WQSU control room has me feeling a little jumpy, but Kristen seems confident enough. WQSU-FM is the 12,000-watt radio station in Susquehanna's campus center. The station broadcasts FM music and talk to places as far away as Bloomsburg and Williamsport and

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-49070595470967649452009-09-28T11:50:00.000-07:002010-04-26T12:19:07.630-07:00

On the phone, Holly carefully explained it to her grandfather: yes, we’re going to a concert on a school night, but no, we’re not going to cut class. We finished all our homework ahead of time. We’re good kids. Once Jimmy – a friend of mine from back home – got on campus, we threw his overnight stuff in my room, grabbed some dinner at Red Robin, and then the three of us headed out. The Toyota

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1783349845247945751.post-79046797082485010812009-09-08T21:50:00.000-07:002009-12-11T11:24:13.791-08:00

Saturday was supposed to be Fall Frenzy at SU (and, technically, it was), but really it was too blue-skied, warm, and sunny to be anything other than one of the few remaining days of the summer. My girlfriend, convinced that this was not a day to be wasted, suggested we go tubing. For two dollars apiece, you can rent big black inner tubes from the Info Desk in Deg. Before I knew what was going,

Ryan Rickrodehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07475505247939016300noreply@blogger.com0