Among the Woo People: A Survival Guide for Living in a College Town

Russell Frank

Published by Penn State University Press 2017

Among the Woo People

A Survival Guide for Living in a College Town

Russell Frank

In the series Keystone Books

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271080451

Overview
Contents

About this book

In the mid-nineties, Russell Frank left a peaceful life in rural California to raise three kids in a town saturated with fraternities, late-night undergrad fast food haunts, and rowdy football crowds. Among the Woo People recounts his two decades living—and surviving—in State College, Pennsylvania, the often-chaotic home of Penn State University.

This humorous peek at life in a college town smack-dab in the middle of rural Pennsylvania chronicles a changing community over the course of two eventful decades. A professor of journalism, former columnist for the Centre Daily Times, and contributor to StateCollege.com, Frank has a unique perspective on living in the shadow of a university—especially on the tribe of nomadic young adults known as the “Woo people,” so named for their signature mode of celebratory communication. He invites readers into the routines of his hectic household as they embrace their new home, skewers the culture of intercollegiate sports, relates the challenges and peculiarities of teaching at one of the nation’s largest universities, and, most important, teaches us to be amused at college-kid antics and to appreciate their academic and real-world accomplishments, even as we anxiously tick off the days until semester’s end.

From tales of missing porch furniture and red plastic cups in the bushes to a “Nude Year’s Eve” run by an octet of forty-somethings to the sweet relief of summer, Frank’s hilarious, insightful essays are indispensable for anyone who wants to survive, appreciate, and enjoy college-town life.

Author / Editor information

Frank Russell :

Russell Frank is a columnist with work in the Centre Daily Times, the Hill, the Conversation, StateCollege.com, and other publications. He is also Associate Professor of Communications at Penn State University.

Reviews

“With equal parts candor and wit, Russell Frank describes life in a college town from the dual perspectives of a professor and a neighbor of fraternity houses. From either vantage point—the subdued classroom or a rowdy street scene in which he seeks to ‘observe the mob without joining it’—he’s an insightful witness to student behavior.”
—Gene Foreman, author of The Ethical Journalist: Making Responsible Decisions in the Pursuit of News

“Full disclosure: I’m a total crank about State College. But these surprising and funny and terrifically distilled essays make even someone as uncharitable as I appreciate the yin and yang of the place. The real joy of this book, though, is that you’ll get to know Russell Frank. You’re in for such a treat.”
—Sarah Koenig, producer of Serial and This American Life

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction: “We’ll Take It” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
We Arrive. Will We Stay? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
“We’re About Beer” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
The President Buys an Ice Cream Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
Too Many Choices Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
First Fall Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
The Big Coat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
The Lecture Circuit Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
Snow Bowl Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
Hold the Foam Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
Goodbye Newsroom, Hello Classroom Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
The Case of the Disappearing Porch Furniture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
Freeze Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
Go! Be! Do Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
Cooties Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
Images from Kosovo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
The Provost Was Not Amused Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
Pyropetrics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
Year of the Ant Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
Lies My Students Tell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
We Need to Remember Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
Old Eyes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
Let There Be Laundry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Lifeways of the Yard People Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
Naked Run Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
Toss It Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
Mob Scene Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
When It Rains, It Floods Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Don’t Expect to Be Bored Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
Back to School and Out the Door Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Not Quite Business as Usual Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Nothing But a Pack of Cards Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
The Solace of Routines Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Little Idiot Children Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Under a Dark Sky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
Let Us Commence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	92
No Magic Circles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Ship of Fuels Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
Questioning Authority Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
Zen and the Art of Driver Training Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
Keeping the Streak Alive Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
Movie Dog’s Last Reel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
The Brats in the Frats Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
RIP, Bop the Movie Dog Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
Welcome to the Diploma Store Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	110
Things Fall Apart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Liberals on the Loose Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
The Invisible Poor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
Meet the Woo People Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
Leaf Ballet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
All the Classroom’s a Stage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
The Flower Within the Flower Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
In Defense of Those Pesky Gen Eds Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
The Pursuit of Liveliness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Tow Story Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
Straight from the Lion’s Mouth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
I’ve Sneezed and I Can’t Get Up Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140
Stand-Up Guy Seeks Position Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
Return of the Woo People Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
Must You Go Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Football’s Terrible Beauty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
How to Rein in the Woo People, Part 1 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
How to Rein in the Woo People, Part 2 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Drunkenness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Secrets of the Woo People Revealed Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
Let the Joyous News Be Spread Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Noise Essential to Woo Life, Researcher Says Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
We Are—Going to Be OK Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Seeing Something and Saying Something Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
We’ve Got to Get Ourselves Back to the Garden Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
So Many Opinions, So Few Facts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
THON (Jekyll) vs. State Patty’s (Hyde) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
The Fumbler and the Furnisher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
Farewell to the Woo People Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Things are Just Peachy Around Here Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	194
As I Was Saying Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Greetings from Zombie Nation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	200
Welcome to Alt-State College Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
Ten Things to Be Thankful For Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Who’s Naked Now Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Apples vs. Icebergs: Who’s Right Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
Battle of the Bamboo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
To Weed, or Not to Weed Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	218
In Search of the Cure for the Summertime Blues Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Don’t Be Rattled Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
It’s Wonderful to Be Here, It’s Certainly a Thrill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 248
Keywords: Gift for university professor; Gift for PSU professor; Gift for university staff; family; State College; Pennsylvania; college; fraternity; humor; college town; community; university; PSU; Penn State; Pennsylvania State University; antics; students

eBook

Published: October 8, 2017
ISBN: 9780271080451