Imago Theatre Presents "ZooZoo"

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 accordians.  My favorite was a toss up between the cat caught in the giant paper bag and the penguins playing musical chairs.

The Degenstein Campus Theater was packed mostly with kids and parents, and all the little kids around just made the show more and enjoyable.  The whole evening had a fun circus-like atmosphere, with kids laughing and cheering and penguins and polar bears spilling out into the audience.

But words don't quite do it justice.  You should check out the video below.

Dig In

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 "varsity" is a common abbreviation for "university"), that is dedicated to creating communities of Christians on college campuses. Susquehanna's chapter currently has about 45 active members.

At the conference freshmen, sophomores and juniors from Bucknell, Penn State, Lehigh, Bloomsburg, Alvernia, Albright, and SU did an in-depth study of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Seniors like myself spent the conference talking about what it looks like to have faith after college in concrete terms.

After studying a few of Jesus' parables, we talked about how our faith can play active role in our jobs, careers, budgets, housing situations, and romantic relationships. We discussed the problems many twenty-somethings run into when they try to find a church and how we can actively seek out Christian community wherever we end up.

It was busy 24 hours, but I still found some time to connect with some old friends from Lehigh that I've gotten to know through other IV conferences. Susquehanna and Bucknell students opened up their rooms so students from the more distant schools would have a place to crash for the night.

At Susquehanna, a bunch of us ended up in a basement in one of the West Village buildings, spread out in front of the big screen TV, and we talked through all of The Italian Job. InterVarsity conferences are the only place where I've seen such vibrant community spring up so quickly among complete strangers.

Writers Institute Ribbon Cutting

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 filled with dark wood floors, faculty offices, a conference room, a classroom, and shelves and shelves of books, books written and signed by visiting writers and our own professors as well as plenty of copies of SU's student-run literary magazines and a whole host of chapbooks featuring the work of past SU writing majors.

Before the cutting of the ribbon, Dr. Fincke, our department head, gave a brief speech tracing the history of SU’s writing program, from when it started with three minors in 1992 up through to today—the program is now thriving with 152 majors and 20 minors.  A friend of mine caught the whole speech on tape:

Then, after the speech, the writing faculty armed themselves with scissors and officially opened the new building:

• For more information on SU's writing program, as well as pictures, video, faculty bios, and excerpts of writing from Susquehanna students past and present, visit The Writers Institute website.

• For a more on Susquehanna's writing program, read some of my other Campus Life posts about the Writers Institute, or visit my other blog, Workshop, and follow me through my freshman Intro to Fiction workshop class.

Meeting Steve Yarbrough

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 best meal they’d ever had even though they’d accidentally burnt the meat to a crisp.

The way I tell it, it’s just an anecdote, but in Steve Yarbrough’s hands, this story tells us everything we need to know about the affair the narrator’s about to have.

What I love about Yarbrough’s stories is the way he layers them, stories within stories, the past on top of the present. When you finish his stories, you never quite arrive where you thought you would, but you know you’re in the right place.

He knows how to tell stories. He’s published five novels and three short story collections. His work has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, Best American Mystery Stories, and the Pushcart Prize Anthology. He’s the winner of the California Book Award, the Mississippi Authors Award, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Fiction. His novel Prisoners of War was a finalist for the 2005 PEN/Faulkner Award. He’s also chair of the writing department at Emerson College in Boston.

So it goes without saying I was a little nervous about meeting Steve Yarbrough in person to hear what he thought of my own writing.

Every year Susquehanna’s Writers Institute brings about six acclaimed authors to campus through its Visiting Writers Series. Not only do these writers give Q&As and readings here on campus, often they will also guest-teach classes, have lunch with students, and meet one-on-one with upperclassman writing majors to discuss each student’s work.

That was me, the upperclassman writing major, popping another breath mint as I headed down the sidewalk to the Writers House for my conference with Steve Yarbrough. But it turned out I was nervous in vain—not only is Steve Yarbrough a great writer, he’s also a really nice guy.

He told me he enjoyed my stories and asked me about my background, we ended up talking about our families and books we’ve enjoyed (he recommended about a dozen and I wrote them all down in the margins of one of my manuscripts) and we talked about the grad programs I’m applying to. Our thirty-minute meeting spilled over well into four o’clock, and he ended up shaking my hand three times before I left the building.

  

More books by Visiting Writers

(click for larger view)



• Check out all of Susquehanna’s past and current Visiting Writers by clicking here.
• For a more in-depth look at Susquehanna's writing program, visit my other blog, Workshop, and follow me through my freshman year.
• For more information on SU's writing program, as well as pictures, video, faculty bios, and excerpts of writing from Susquehanna students past and present, visit The Writers Institute website.

The Diary of Anne Frank

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 furniture. With the exception of a few cherished objects (a fur coat, a music box, the diary itself), there were no props. The actors mimed nearly everything. We watched the eight Jewish characters on the stage eat from empty hands, seek privacy behind invisible doors, and light Menorah candles that gave off no light.

After the show I learned that the tiny dimensions of the set that the eight actors shared actually matched those of the original rooms where Anne and her seven companions remained hidden for two years.  When the play ended, director Doug Powers joined the cast on the stage for a brief Q&A with the audience. The actors dangled their feet over the edge of the stage and discussed the challenges of acting in a tight space and bringing to life characters who were described primarily through the eyes of a young girl.

Sometimes people forget that Anne was just a girl, Powers explained during the Q&A. His aim in producing the play was to get his audience to see Anne not as a symbol of the Holocaust, but as a person. He said that by restoring her humanity, we strengthen her message.

More On SU's Theatre Department
Tickets and Upcoming Shows

The Canals of Mars

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 of his new memoir, The Canals of Mars, and he started to read:

I take us through Etna to the Circle Bar (you could see it from my grandmother’s porch), but now it’s somebody or other’s sports bar, one of those places with two pool tables, a dart board, and dual televisions tuned into ESPN and ESPN2 below a display of Pittsburgh sports memorabilia and a sign advertising fifteen-cent wings during Monday Night Football. Late afternoon on a weekday, it’s deserted except for two men simultaneously watching an equestrian competition and a dog show. “You’re too late for all this,” my father says. “You should have been this interested when your mother was alive.”

Every year the Writers Institute brings in some pretty big-name authors for on-campus readings—last year I had lunch with Sue Miller, attended a workshop class guest-taught by Bob Shacochis, and sat down for an interview over Chinese food with Tom Franklin and Beth Anne Fennelly—but I was especially looking forward to Dr. Fincke's reading, a celebration of the debut of his newest book, The Canals of Mars, a memoir that explores his working-class background and his family’s view on work, religion, and weakness.

In the writing world, Gary Fincke is pretty big deal. Last year Salman Rushdie, guest editor of Best American Short Stories 2008, placed Dr. Fincke's “Isn't She Something” in his list of “100 Other Distinguished Stories of 2007,” alongside works by John Updike, David Foster Wallace, Alice Munro, and Stephen King.

Dr. Fincke’s work has appeared publications such as Harpers, Newsday, The Kenyon Review, and Doubletake. His poem “The Sorrows,” was recently read by Garrison Keillor on NPR’s Writer’s Almanac, and in 2003 he was awarded the Flannery O’Connor prize for his most recent collection of short stories, Sorry I Worried You. And he’s also won two Pushcart Prizes.

Dr. Fincke’s stories and poems are great, but it’s his nonfiction that grabs me the most. Four years ago, as a prospective student, I heard him read what is now title essay of The Canals of Mars, a reflection on growing up during the Cold War, a time when Body Snatchers, communists, and sixth-grade dropout Jimmy Mason were all very real threats.

My freshmen year, in my Intro to Creative Nonfiction class with Dr. Fincke, we looked at selections from his other memoir Amp’d, which chronicles the rise of his son’s career in rock music as lead guitarist for the band Breaking Benjamin.

Really, Dr. Fincke’s the one who sparked my interest in the whole creative nonfiction genre to begin with. He’s the professor who taught me that “creative” and “nonfiction” can actually go together in the same sentence, that essaying is actually a really satisfying way to gain a deeper understanding of your world.

So for all these reasons wrapped up together, I was excited to sit down and hear some world-class writing and pick up an autographed copy of the new book. For me, it’s opportunities like this that make Susquehanna the best place to be an undergrad creative writing major.

More:

• Hear Garrison Keillor read Dr. Fincke’s poem “The Sorrows”*
• Learn more about Susquehanna’s creative writing program by checking my other blog, Workshop
• Read Gary Fincke's full bio
• Order The Canals of Mars on Amazon
• Visit Susquehanna's The Writers Institute website for more information on our Visiting Writers Series, our summer writers workshop for high school students, our student-run magazines, and our other top-notch writing professors

*Dr. Fincke's name is pronounced "Fink," not "Finky."  Keillor is mistaken.

SU Paranormal

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 lives (if “lives” is the right word) in Seibert Hall and watches you from the foot of your bed; a big, dark figure with red eyes who can be seen staring out the door at the end of the hallway in one of the freshman dorms; the “evil hallway” in the basement of Weber Chapel where the group once had their flashlights flicker out.

“When all you can see are the exit signs, that’s what you’re running for,” said the VP, vigorously nodding her head.

The group takes its investigations seriously.  They have a strict no practical-joke-scaring policy and insist that no one goes off on their own. They also have a no-flip-flops rule (they make too much noise).  Through the cookie fundraiser I mentioned above, they're hoping to earn enough money to take a Gettysburg Ghost Tour trip. 

And equipment is important. On walkthroughs, the group carries EMF detectors for detecting electromagnetic fields, digital voice recorders for picking up EVP (“Electronic Voice Phenomena”), flashlights for obvious reasons, and digital cameras for capturing orbs of light that can’t be seen by the naked eye.

“The strangest thing I’ve ever encountered,” said Rob, “is capturing orbs on camera in Weber Chapel.”

Orbs, however, Angie pointed out, are contested as evidence of paranormal activity because they can be caused by dust particles in the air.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not—and even the club members range from firm believers to mild skeptics—SU Paranormal is a fun group to talk to, especially if you enjoy passionate storytelling.

“I think I might have to sleep with the lights on tonight,” I said as I closed my notebook, smiling even though, honestly, their stories had raised my heart rate higher than I’d like to admit.

The VP widened her smile, ready to tell another story. “What dorm are you in?”

“I’m not telling you.”

Laundry Day

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 and dryers on campus can get the job done.  All the major residence halls have them.  Half the machines are coin-operated, and half are card-swipe, drawing cash from an account linked to your student ID.

SU's Spring Concert: Jack's Mannequin

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 was Sheri’s first concert ever.

And, lucky for Sheri, it was a great concert. The second opening band, fun., had this really great rock-and-roll sound you don’t hear too much anymore, an ELO/Queen/Blood, Sweat, and Tears kind of sound. I downloaded their album Aim and Ignite off i-tunes three days ago and haven’t stopped listening to it.

Fun. playing a show in Los Angeles.

After fun. finished their set, Jack’s Mannequin took the stage, and they didn’t disappoint. They opened with a song called  “Crashing,” then Andy, the band’s pianist and front man, told us all how excited he was to be here at “Sus—ka—honna.” After the fans crowded around the front of the stage corrected him (“Sus—qwa—hanna!”) he played a great high-energy set. At one point in the show he was actually standing on top of his piano stomping on the keys.

For the encore, Andy came back out alone and played “Swim,” one of my favorite Jack’s Mannequin songs, and then the rest of the band joined him and they finished off the night with “Dark Blue.”

It was a great time.

"Swim" by Jack's Mannequin

Fat Tuesday on Friday - aka Mardi Gras at Trax

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 ensure no one gets overserved.  Students who aren't 21 yet are also welcome at Trax on wristband nights; they just get their hands stamped instead of a wrist band.

So after showing off some of my (terrible) dance moves, I had a glass of Land Shark Lager.

The Mardi Gras party also included mask-making, a raffle drawing for a flat screen HDTV, and lots of dancing.  DJ Novocane, a student DJ, took requests all night—Shakira, Lady Gaga, the Black-Eyed Peas, "The Cupid Shuffle," that sort of stuff.  At one point during the night, there was even some spontaneous break dancing.  It was a good night, a good good night.

• More on Trax

Bagels at Benny’s

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 either a salt bagel (it’s like a soft pretzel for breakfast) or just a plain bagel, though if I’m feeling really adventurous I may get something exotic, like cinnamon raisin or poppy seed.

For lunch and dinner, Benny’s offers pizza, soup, salads, sandwiches, burgers and fries, stuff like that. I’m a big fan of the chicken tenders wrap (with hot sauce, ranch dressing, and pepper jack cheese). It’s definitely not the healthiest option, but if you’re looking for quick college food, Benny's is the place.

• More on Benny's Bistro

The Sock Hop

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 beer floats and milkshakes). The student jazz combo played a great hour-long set that we all danced to, and then it was DJ’d swing music until 2 AM. There were beginner lessons upstairs by the pool tables and free-dancing downstairs in front of the stage.

It was really a great Saturday night. My girlfriend looked beautiful in her green dress, and I don’t think I looked half-bad in Collin’s hat (but judge for yourself). It’s always a huge amount of fun dancing with so many of your close friends. All in all, it was an awesome evening, full of inside turns, outsides turns, dips, leans, cuddles, milkshakes, barrel rolls, pretzels, and even a few never-ending loops.

• More on SU Swings
• More on Trax

Chilling at Charlie's

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 coffee house, plays a movie that’s left theaters but hasn’t made it onto DVD yet. I’d seen Zombieland at the Selinsgrove Cinema Center with Rob and Holly back in the fall and had been completely surprised to find that it wasn’t terrible like I’d expected it to be. It was actually really hilarious—especially for a zombie movie.

Anyway, Zombieland was just what I needed. I met Alice, Casey, and Eric at Charlie’s and for two hours completely forgot about how jam-packed Thursday was threatening to be.

Charlie’s is great. It’s home to both the best hot chocolate on campus and the university’s most comfortable couches (Get there early if you want a good seat!). They serve hot and cold drinks as well as all kinds of snacks. Occasionally they also do “mocktails,” and during football season, they have free wings. In addition to showing recent movies, Charlie’s also has live music, football games on the big screen, poetry readings, open-mic nights, and all sorts of other stuff.

It’s one of my favorite places on campus.

• More about Charlie's

One Week Down

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’re the same people you were bumping into a month ago, except now they’ve got new haircuts and some new stories to tell.

In some ways it’s a weird week, with new schedules, new classes, and new professors. On Monday, I was feeling a little over confident—I arrived at Bogar Hall just in time for my Italian class only to suddenly realize that I didn’t know what room Italian class is in this semester (Don’t worry, I found it eventually.)

Of course, the newness of it isn’t all bad. My new classes this semester include Detectives in Fiction and Film as well as a novel-writing workshop. Excited isn’t exactly the right word to describe how I feel about churning out 150 pages in one semester, but I’m looking forward to the class anyway.

All in all, this semester seems to be shaping up pretty well.

"Faculty Lounge" Rocks Trax

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 throughout the semester, including concerts, dances formal and informal, casino nights, wine tastings, even a gaming convention.  What drew my friends and I out on this cold Friday night was the chance to hear Faculty Lounge play a set.

It turns out that Dr. Roth is not only an expert on literary theory, he's also a great guitarist.

The band is made up of Dr. Long, my music tech prof, on the drums; Dr. Roth, my lit prof, on guitar; Dr. Winegar, one of SU's deans, on bass; and Dr. Imhoof, Holly's European history professor, on keyboard and vocals. 

The band played a good mix of original stuff and solid covers, including "Hey Ya."  After Dr. Imhoof jumped off the stage and did a lap around the inside of the building, he closed the set by singing "Now I'm a Believer" – in German.

This was definitely worth braving the cold.

Listen to Faculty Lounge.
More on Trax.
More on Faculty Lounge.

Dante's Inferno

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 there I found,

Speak will I of the other things I saw there.

Dr. Giuseppe Mazzotta, the Sterling Professor of Humanities for Italian at Yale University, visited campus last Thursday to deliver a lecture on the role education plays in Dante's Inferno.

I've never seen Isaacs Auditorium so full. They had to bring out extra chairs just to fit everyone in, and Dr. Mazzotta did not disappoint.  This was honestly the best lecture I've ever attended.

Admittedly, I am a creative write/religion double major and a fan of the Comedia, so I may have a bias here, but it was more than just interesting.  For Dr. Mazzotta, Dante isn't just an area of expertise.  Dante is also his passion.  You could hear it in his voice and see it in his animated hand gestures.

Dr. Mazzotta said that the Commedia is a journey of both mind and body, that for Dante simply knowing what justice is is not enough to make a person just.  The path up to the top of Mt. Purgatory begins with the road down into Hell.  The journey of conversion involves both intellect and passion.

Intellect and passion.  I think that's what made Dr. Mazzotta's lecture so outstanding.  Not only did he know Dante inside and out, he had such a strong passion for Dante that this 700-year-old poem suddenly seemed relevant to our lives today.

When President Lemons cut off the questions from the audience and thanked Dr. Mazzotta for coming, I thought, wow, it's over already?  Then I checked my cell phone and saw that an hour and a half had just flown by.

Thanksgiving Dinner

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 professors carrying out steaming trays of food.

This year Dr. Klotz, my psychology professor, carved the turkey while the eight of us started in on our corn, greens, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Then, after we'd cleaned our plates, my Italian professor, Dr. Rodgers, served us slices of pumpkin pie.

Warm is the word I'd use to describe the whole evening. The sun's setting earlier and earlier now. It's already dark outside, dark and winter cold, but here we are, packed into the Everett Dining Room, sporting sweaters and button-down shirts, stuffed with good food, surrounded by our professors and our closest friends. It’s the best.

The Sound of Music at Susquehanna

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 the show from the Weber Chapel Auditorium, which seasts 1,500, to the much smaller Degenstein Theater, the theatre department doubled the number of shows, performing during family weekend and during homecoming.

Which was great for me because my younger sister was busy with marching band stuff during family weekend but was free during homecoming weekend.  So after my friends and I saw the Brian Regan show, we squeezed her into Holly's car and brought her back with us.  My sister's involved with drama club at school, and I thought she'd really enjoy the play.

The theatre department did not disappoint.  The student who played Mother Abbess really nailed her part, and of course the student cast to play Maria was excellent.  Four of the six Von Trapp children in the show were played by actual children, the sons and daughters of university faculty and staff.  The kids all did an amazing job.

What I thought was best about the play was the musicianship in the pit orchestra.  The music was fantastic.

The whole production was really professional.  I think it really made my sister's visit a memorable experience.

More on Susquehanna's Theatre Department

Pumpkin Carving with Intervarsity

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 Village G.

See for yourself:

Late Night Pancakes

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 right up to us,” Kenny, one of the Habitat volunteers, told me as my pancakes sizzled.  According to Kenny, the pancake sale relies primarily on word-of-mouth advertising around campus.

But the real secret to Habitat’s success has to be the warm smell of freshly made pancakes. The scent hits your nose as soon as you walk through the door. You can’t escape it. The campus center is filled with with that delicious smell. It’s no surprise Habitat sells about a hundred pancakes a night.

It’s only a dollar for two pancakes, and for fifty cents more, they’ll add chocolate chips to the batter. Every sale brings Habitat one step closer to building another house here in Selinsgrove. The money also helps supports the Collegiate Challenge, a spring break trip that puts students to work building houses for low-income families.

It’s a win-win situation.