Back in the old days when cleaning out kitchen cupboards was my job the task would pretty much get done over a period of time. Every day I would empty a few cupboards or drawers, wipe them out, paint them if necessary and put everything back. Nobody else in the house was aware that this process was even taking place. That fact that the cupboards and drawers stayed neat and tidy, well, that just was. No thought was even given to that fact. HA!

Well, now some household jobs are in the hands of the man of the house, Mr. Retired Guy, who comes up with all sorts of activities to keep himself busy and no regard to any history of household procedures particularly ones never witnessed. His premise is because he did not witness a procedure it never happened.  

Anyway he is doing the kitchen cupboards this week. We are on day 4. Kitchen is a mess, Every single cupboard and drawer has been emptied. Every single flat surface in occupied with stuff. 

The kitchen is pretty much unusable.

I lived 17 years in State College and living there was an adjustment I never made. My first impression was the similarity I felt with the movie, "The Spepford Wives".  Specific comparisons are ellusive, but not the intuitiveness. The Penn State University holds a unique standing in a small town. It is the "center of the universe for much if not all of central Pennsylvania" --A kingdom with its realm that is huge awith a reign supreme. Penn State is a powerful force not easy to be reckoned with.


The economy of Centre County lives and dies by the university and its football. The town with a population of 40,000, and the purchasing power of Penn State University supports two Walmarts. The population doubles when school is in session and triples the weeks of home football games. People come with their RVs and camp out days before a home game. They spend a lot of money.


If it is a fall Saturday and home game day you go to the game. If you are a contrarian and do not attend the game then you have to plan your day accordingly.  You do not go out to dinner or run errands; there are too many lines, too many people, too much traffic. You time what you must do to coincide with game time when everyone is sealed inside Beaver Stadium or glued to their TVs. On any football Saturday State College becomes the third largest city in Pennsylvania.

In central Pennsylvania Penn State  is THE place to work; it is THE center for entertainment; it is THE resource for information and expertise. Everyone and every organization seeks its support, its sanction, its embrace. "State College" and "Centre County" is the subset of the PSU bigger circle of governance. And frankly if you are associated with the university you have a higher standing in the community. "oh, you work at the university" "oh, your father (husband) is a professor" (Notice the gender, as did Marlo Thomas in her commentary in the Huffington Post that there there's been scant mention of women in the school's (PSU) chain of command. But thats a topic for another blog.)


The populace of surrounding communities, towns "over the mountain" perform daily commutes into the "city" of State College to service the needs of the university. The goal of many in those areas is to land a job at the university. At the same time, the people of these surrounding communities are often intimidated by the university and its elitism: its intellectuals, its money, its power,  it size, its students...all of this so more sophisticated then what they know. These are simpler folk. The geographic fact that the school is three hours from anywhere is not insignificant. For some a trip to State College is a trip to the "big city" and a significant number have never ventured past there, not even to Harrisburg, to Pittsburgh, or Philly, but that may as well New Jersey. A few venture to Altoona. Essentially all the needs of the population need to met locally, and locally means Penn State University. Everyone depends on the university for something.

Everybody can mingle at Beaver Stadium and watch a great football game.

The football culture imbeds itself in so many ways. It is a way of life. For some it is the only life they know. Kids grow up there thinking football is the way of the world. JoePa is the "Holy Father" for  everyone. Michael Weintraub (SCAHS, 1991) states it best: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7205085/growing-penn-state
If you do not "do football" you are a kind of geek; if you say you are not going to the game, people sorta stop and stare, like "what?!" The epitome is when you say you have never been to a game and people nearly gasp! You are marked much akin to the antichrist.