Trip report - Happy Valley.
I visited the PSU campus for a weekend because they hosted a regional tournament for a high school sport.
I had never been there before but had nostalgic expectations because I grew up in the backwoods mountains of Pennsylvania. I almost expected an eclectic Swiss style village surrounded by mountains. I kind of imagined I would see signs pointing to the new research facility on how to prevent child abuse.
I was disappointed. It seemed to be mostly flat land, all owned by the university. Control was given to the graduates of the school of urban planning. It reminded me more of rural Ukraine, governed by central planners. They had made assumptions about where people should be, what they should do, etc. When faced with massive lapses in "provided services" (e.g. the central planners fouled up), in my opinion and perception, no one was in charge, all protected their superiors, and it was always someone the fault of someone else.
To my shock, I can almost imagine Joe waiting till Monday to report. In my opinion, that was the culture that seemed to permeate.
Indeed, in limited discussions, my perception was that the average person on the street believed the scandal was a "political problem". No one seemed to put pressure on those in charge to view it any other way. There seemed to be none of the UFM "there is a problem, it is my fault, there are no excuses, I will fix it".
The watering hole I saw still had a poster of Joe Pa, with amazing written tributes to him.
