Hello I'm Rich Brown and this is my personal website and blog. I'm just your simple, average, down to earth, professional, out gay man and aspiring circuit boy, living in Phoenix, Arizona with a few things to say while trying to find my place among all the scary, conservative, religious nuts in this sick and twisted world.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
A Little of My Past History
I actually decided to do this post because while I usually post current photos and talk about what's going on in my life right now, I don't talk too much of my past. I do have a great deal of information about me on the rest of my website, but I haven't blogged too much about it.
Prompted by a comment on my blog today from J. David, a Penn State Alum, asking me about the Penn State sweatshirt I was wearing in my sick photo, I began looking through some of my old photo albums today. I realized that most of my photos before 2001 are film photos and I was looking for a particular set of photos but couldn't find them so I just gave up and remembered that I had taken these when I took Justin up to visit Penn State back in November of 2002.
You may or may not know but I too am a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, otherwise more frequently known as Penn State or PSU. Probably one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life was to attend Penn State. Not only has the university name recognition helped me throughout my career, but with Penn State being ranked as the #2 party school in the United States, I also have many very fond memories from that time in my life.
Old Main Building
Probably one of the most recognized and historic building on campus, Old Main used to be the center of the university and built just to the right of the geographic center of the state of Pennsylvania. It's not primarily administrative offices but visually represents all of University Park to whomever walks the grounds. The funny story about the Old Main Building is that at night it becomes a huge cruising area for gay students. On any given night while school is in session you can walk by and find college guys either sitting on the steps or walking circles around the building in hopes of possibly meeting someone.
Me at the Nittany Lion Shrine in 2002
The Penn State football team known as the Nittany Lions were given that name from the mountain lions that roam on the local Mt. Nittany. The Lion Shrine was sculpted in 1940 and is probably one of the most photographed sites on campus. Everyone usually goes here after graduation to get a picture of the lion while still donning their cap & gown. I indeed have that photo of myself in cap & gown post-graduation.
Walking up the 'Mall' between the Elms
The one thing about Penn State is that the campus was always beautiful. All four seasons offered a picturesque view from any part of the campus. These Elm trees are over 100 years old, and this walk between the Elms used to be party of my daily walk to campus for classes.
The Corner Room & Allen Room
Located at whats considered to be the historic front gate of the University, on the corner of College Avenue and Allen Street, sits the Corner Room & Allen Room. Both offering great food and drinks, it was a favorite hangout of my friends and I. An interesting tidbit is that the only gay bar in town, Chumley's, is just a few feet down on College Avenue to the right of where this photo ends. Well if you look at this photo you can see that the Allen Room overhangs the curb and that with the windows, anyone sitting on the right corner of the Allen Room could see practically everyone walking up and down College Avenue. One night my fraternity brother and I, both of us gay and still somewhat closeted at this time, decided to duck in real quick to Chumley's for a drink and to check out the crowd. Well as unlikely as it may have been five of my fraternity brothers were sitting at that very right most table and happened to see us both walk in to Chumley's. Needless to say by the time we got back to the house the word was out that we were gay. That was pretty much the end of me being in the closet and to my surprise, most of my fraternity brothers were really very cool with the entire situation.
The Rathskeller
The 'Skeller' is the place we'd always end up going for drinks and to play pool. This place was a total dive but had cheap beer and was so much fun to hang out with your friends over a case of Rolling Rock Mini's. That's right you could order a case and the bartender would sit it right in front of you. Oh the good old days. I wonder where I got my bad drinking habits from, I simply can't imagine.
Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity House
Last but not least of is a photo of my fraternity house. Living there was a blast. I had so many great friends, met a ton of amazing people and just had so much fun in this house for many years. Things have changed and the fraternities just aren't what they used to be anymore. My fraternity brothers and I started to see things going downhill as the university really started to crack down on all the houses around campus. Penn State used to have the largest greek system in the United States, but since then many houses have shut down and fraternity life seems to be un-pc these days. I really feel sorry for the college kids who won't have the opportunity to experience the same type of brotherhood, camaraderie, and parties that we used to have when I was at university. It was a great experience and something that I would have never changed.
So that's a little background to some of my experiences during my undergraduate years at Penn State. After starting out as a Computer Engineering major and many years of uncertainty, indecision and major switches, I finally graduated from Penn State in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (HRIM). Having a Penn State degree has certainly made an impact on my life and my career. While I don't get back to the campus to visit as much as I'd like these days, I still manage to keep in touch with the pulse of the university through newsletters, magazines and the Alumni Association. I continue to be an active member of the Penn State Lion Link program which allows undergraduates to contact me with questions or for mentoring. I enjoy it and I feel it's a way that I can give a little back to a school that gave so much to me. Cheers!
Ahhhh, Rich! Now that was an especially fun post for me. I won't comment on time spent circling Old Main, but everything else looks very, very familiar. I started at Penn State Schuylikll (a small branch campus), and spent my Junior and Senior years at the "main campus" in State College. I've visitied a lot of colleges and universities since then (I graduated with my BA in 1991), and PSU is still one of the most beautiful. I must admit though, the University of Washington comes close to PSU in terms of size and beauty - their campus is stunning (and very gothic arctitecturally). Anyway, what a fun post - it was cute to hear about your PSU life, especially when you snuck into Chumleys. *WINK*
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by J. David Zacko-Smith @ Sunday, December 03, 2006 10:58:00 AM
