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PSU: Stop the cuts, save the programs

Penn State Altoona is facing a devastating 10% cut to the campus operating budget. These cuts will eviscerate the integrative arts program by removing faculty and cutting classes that can be taught next year. These cuts also make live performances impossible with the loss of technical faculty and staff. The administration is also cutting faculty in Arabic, Korean, Russian, music, theater and communications and is intending to close majors in math, science, political science and integrative arts. Losing these faculty and programs hamstrings Penn State’s ability to provide ...

Sunshine Protection Act misses mark

Last month, the U.S. Senate passed legislation that would make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent starting in 2023. The Sunshine Protection Act is now in front of the House of Representatives for approval before it can go to the president to sign into law. However, this act is not what is best for our health. The Sunshine Protection Act would end the twice-annual changing of our clocks and, according to supporters, would advocate brighter afternoons, more economic activity and allow children to play outdoors later. However, DST increases sleep deprivation, causing on ...

Good time to heed Jesus’ words

Scriptures say that the two revolutionaries who were crucified with Jesus Christ on Mount Calvary on the day known now as Good Friday joined the chief priests, elders, scribes and others in the crowds in taunting, mocking and otherwise verbally abusing Jesus. When one of the two implored Jesus to “save thyself and us,” however, the other rebuked him, saying both of them deserved their punishments but Jesus had done nothing to deserve his. According to Scriptures, Jesus responded to the one who had defended him, saying, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Jesus’ words ...

On Passover, a new cry for redemption

At tonight’s Passover seder, the ritual festival meal at which we share with family and friends our story of God’s redemption of the Jewish people from slavery and violent oppression in ancient Egypt, we read the following: “In each and every generation, each one of us is required to see ourselves as though we personally were redeemed from Egypt.” The seder meal is a sensory experience meant to stir such emotions: the sharp bite of the horseradish as a symbol of the bitter lives of our enslaved ancestors; the density of the “charoses,” the mixed fruit-and-nut salad that ...

Meeting Mother Teresa

Editor’s note: The following piece was written by Dr. Punyabrata Roy, a psychiatrist with Cen Clear. Dr. Roy, as he is known locally, said writing is a hobby and in particular, he wrote poetry in his native language of Bengali. Today, he mostly writes articles on mental health, Roy said, but he wanted to share his memory of meeting Mother Teresa now, in light of the war in Ukraine. Only a couple of minutes with Mother Teresa made an everlasting imprint on my heart. It was in 1975 and I was a medical student at S.S. Medical College — Mitford Hospital, located in the old part of ...

Hoping hope will survive in Ukraine

For those who believe that there is no such thing as evil, they need to seriously re-think their escapist view. And for Americans who see the issues that divide us at home as the greatest threat that we face as a people, I suggest that they quickly re-focus. An existential crisis, unlike anything the world has seen since the 1930’s and 1940’s, is now upon us. The human tragedy that is unfolding in Ukraine is there on the international stage for all to see. Words, pictures and plaintive pleas — reaching us from innumerable sources — tell a story of death and ...