Building a Basement. Building Hope.

I hated shop class as a kid.

First, I hated the fractions.  The class always seemed to start with the ruler and measurements.  So before even using something like a circular saw or hammer and nails, it would always start with some math.

I was never a math guy.

Then came the fact that there were all the saws and power tools.  While the idea of operating some fun power tools was exciting, it was outweighed by the idea of mangling my hands and fingers in a shop class accident.

So when it finally came time for me to start to tackle our first major house project, a basement remodel, I wasn't exactly sure where to start.

The quarantine had given me time to do the project. Of that, I had little doubt.  The only question would be if I possessed enough patience and skill to actually follow through with the project.  After attempting to prime and sand on my own, I saw the fear in my wife's face, and decided to go with a hired hand.

I got a few quotes, some from word of mouth recommendations, others from the internet.  In the end we ended up going with LNG Remodeling after considering all of our options.

While the economic reasons were solid (they ended up being competitively priced somewhere in the middle of most of the quotes I received), the reason we ended up going with Liam and his team was a feeling of trust.  Trust that they would treat our job, small as it might be, with just as much care and personal attention as anything in their own homes.

The first morning of the job, Liam arrived with his team of Chris and Bill.  Being that I had some extra time to pop in from time to time, I asked if I could chip in.  They laughed and agreed to let me handle some of the sanding and later offered to let me help out with the floor assembly.

Now...while I didn't take them up on the latter part, more on that in a moment, I want to share what it meant for me to have two complete strangers work in your home.

I wanted to make an effort to bond, to get to know what the people working on my home were all about.

First I opened up to Liam a little bit about myself.  About growing up in State College, getting my degree in communication, and a little bit about being currently furloughed.

I wanted to know if he would be willing to help me out with a project by being willing to just talk a bit about himself and his current work and situation.

He was refreshingly open.  Growing up in western Pennsylvania, his father worked in the FBI and how he, too, had graduated from Penn State with a degree in engineering.  He had always had a knack for numbers and this steered him towards a career based in financial success.

However, he felt that that while he was doing the things society may have expected of him, he didn't find the experience as rewarding as he had hoped.

So Liam decided to go back to school, get his own MBA and control the projects and direction of his life, beginning with a community first approach.  

"I wanted to do projects with the people around me.  I wanted to build up areas locally."

To me, this backed my own values.  I really believe, at this point in time in America, we desperately needed to talk to our neighbors, and work hard within our communities to rebuild trust and empathy.  To hear that the team I had hired had deeply similar values was very reassuring.

We talked about expectations with mask wearing and social distancing, making sure everyone involved understood our mutual risk in this pandemic era.  I'm happy to report that so far everyone on the team, as well as everyone in my family, have remained healthy, and I'd like to think part of that was due to the precautions we have all taken.

Being a relatively new homeowner, I had never had a team work on my house before and to be quite honest had no idea how I was supposed to act.  Should I be completely hands off?  Should I try to become an apprentice?  Should I try to make small talk?  What if they don't like me?  Do they want water?  Is it offensive to bring them things?  Is it offensive to play Vampyre on a playstation upstairs while two guys paint?  What if you write an article while they're doing hard labor?

I had small experiences in my past in terms of home improvement and repair. They weren't insignificant and I wanted to be of some help if able.  I also wanted to learn a little bit about the process so I didn't feel so useless.

I was also aware of a certain commercial making light of the people that hire others and then try to help out, and I distinctly remember feeling like I didn't want to be that guy.

As the project got underway, I was introduced to Liam's partners, Chris and Bill; two brothers from neighboring Philipsburg who shared in Liam's vision of doing things on a more local and personal level.  

I let them know to essentially make any adjustments they needed to make, and if they needed anything from me to just ask.  

I think giving the team space helped allow them to adjust to their new work environment, but it kind of drove me nuts.  I wanted to help, and in some very real way, wanted to know more about the people now working to improve my home.

After the first day, and mostly hanging back, I offered to the team that if they want to use me for any kind of simple labor that wouldn't get in their way, I would be on board.

Chris seemed pretty appreciative with the offer and suggested that the next day would be a good day for that since it would be mostly sanding the walls in preparation for painting later.

It ended up being pretty perfect for me.  It gave me a chance to talk to both guys about their background.  

They talked about how their family was a family of hard working entrepreneurs of various trades, including home contracting and a tow truck company.

I came under the impression that Chris and Bill may have been where Liam is now, at a younger age, but now enjoy doing the nuts and bolts of the job more than the oversight.  Having gone from employee, to manager, to employee myself, I felt like I could empathize a bit with that thought process.

We shared stories of where we grew up and what we liked to do.  They enjoyed the outdoors, fishing and hunting, while I was more into football and television.  I talked about what it was like for me choosing between signing up for the military vs going to college after 9/11 and why I chose to study journalism.  Our shared stories helping lead to a stronger relationship and what I hoped would be a positive experience for everyone.

The next two days of the job included more technical expertise and my assistance was not needed.  I appreciated this to a large degree, because while I was eager to help, I was not eager to make any mistakes and potentially create more work and make the job more expensive.  

I encouraged them to play music if they liked, and let them know if things came up in their personal lives that they needed to be taken care of, that would be fine by me.  The quality of the job and their happiness was more important to me than the timing.

They did say that during the floor installation phase I might be useful again to help relay pieces and I thought that would be fine.

Now, when that phase happened, something else also happened, where I got inspired to write.

Like I said, I had studied journalism in college, and now being furloughed from my traditional job, I felt like if a worthwhile topic and thought provoking idea comes across my brain I need to put it to paper and try to develop it.

Regrettably, I didn't let Chris and Bill know I was writing with my headphones in, and they started that part of the job without me.

To be sure, I felt an odd sense of guilt where I felt like I had let the people I was paying to do the work, down.  

Thankfully, as they finished for the day, and while they gave me a good natured hard time about it, there was only understanding and respect for each other.

Near the end of the job, there was a few changes we had made to our original contract that changed the end price that we were curious about.

After emailing Liam, he got back right away saying that he had recently lost his Grandmother to Covid-19.  Devastating news to anyone and given that we were in the process of exchanging our stories, felt personal to me too.

I let him know to not worry about my question at the moment and that my thoughts were with him.

Chris and Bill were able to finish the job shortly after and Liam came by for a final review of the work and to debrief.  The work they had done was beautiful and exactly what my wife and I had asked for.  We couldn't have been more satisfied.

In a time where human contact and personal connections seem to be becoming increasingly rare, our experience with Liam, Chris and Bill was overwhelmingly positive and helped reaffirm my wife and I's faith in our neighbors and our community.

Why Penn State's Football Culture Returning Matters More Than Ever

I must confess I have yet to care about college football.  That will change for the first time this Saturday.

I know the SEC has been on.  I know that Notre Dame is playing.  I know Clemson is out there.  To me, it just hasn't mattered.  

This year has obviously been wildly different than any in mine, and most everyone else's, lifetime.  A worldwide pandemic has struck; one in which the United States has been losing nearly one thousand lives a day and continues spread at alarming rates.

There has been both violent and civil unrest as more and more Americans are becoming outraged at the conduct of officers and a system of justice that severely needs addressing.

In a very real way, my appetite for sports in this time frame has waned.  Even my favorite basketball team, the Los Angeles Lakers, winning a championship didn't particularly excite me.  The bizarreness of it all had slightly stripped the joy.

Penn State, like it or not, will also be in the news for this week for the Pat Chambers resigning/dismissal story.  The speculative stories seem to center around the case of Rasir Bolten and Josh Reaves, which may have been smoking guns towards a larger issue that the general public wasn't aware of with Chambers.

While some fans have decided to pass judgment, I don't pretend to know all the information that was found during Penn State's internal investigation, but one would have to think that the evidence found was substantial and serious enough that neither side wanted it public.

I will always say that being a coach or a manager and how you treat subordinates is a very big deal, and how you are perceived by those that work under you matters.  Pat Chambers has had numerous reports about temper issues that have resulted in conduct that would be inconsistent with the values of Penn State.

I don't believe Penn State would or should tolerate coaches who may use fear and anger as tools to teach.  If that's what was happening, as reports have indicated, then I have no issue with the two sides separating and moving on.

All that said, finding something positive to write about this week before the start of the game proved a little bit more difficult, but all the same, I am ready to get started.


There are many different kinds of fans that watch and support Penn State football.  Some support out of their own family tradition.  Some just like the brand of football.  Some have an appreciation for the specific culture.  Some because they are alumni.  Some just like the simple blue and white color scheme.

I fall into the category of rooting for this program because of it's espoused culture.  One where academics and the process of education will be put before athletic results.  

That is not to say athletic results do not impact the student-athlete business, but that the athletic aspect remains secondary.

One of the biggest points of pride I had held for my alma mater was that focus so many of our young athletes had towards other pursuits.  Penn State football graduates were not athletes.  They were renaissance men. They were the best of every world.

And the best part is, you can see it on the field.

You see it in the physical effort and grit of the linemen.

You see it in second and third efforts from running backs.

You see it when coaches pull kids aside to teach rather than scream and yell.

You see it when sportsmanship is shown by helping up an opponent.

You see it when a mistake is made and it brings a team closer together.

You see it when an individual triumphs, it is a team that celebrates.

You see it when they leave football and remain successful.

When I watch this Saturday, I will be excited to watch a team go out there and attempt to be both physically and mentally superior in everyway.  I want to watch the team make highlight play after highlight play.

I also understand that isn't realistic.  Indiana, while not as reputable a program as Penn State, has players who have been training and working hard for their own goals.  

I expect there to be adversity for this Penn State team, perhaps lots of it.  In those moments, I look forward to seeing the character of the team reveal itself and grow.  What happens if an injury occurs?  A penalty?  A turnover?  Just like in the past, I expect to see our young people at their best.

For the past 6 years, James Franklin has been an exemplary leader for the program and for young people.  He has not waivered in his commitment to a positive mindset getting positive results.  In my estimation, he along with Sandy Barbour and Bill O'Brien deserve the lion's share of credit for keeping a unified football front during the height of the sanctions imposed by the NCAA.

Despite asking his players to be so much more than athletes; despite working for an institution that still needs to do more to ingratiate itself with minority communities; despite dealing with a past as divisive as any, James Franklin is getting some of the very best kids in America to believe in him and Penn State.  I believe in time, it will lead to multiple championships.

In an HBO special, the little goal that Franklin had kind of kept to himself, that he wanted be the first African American head coach to win a National Championship, got amplified.  I believe that message will resonate in a way we haven't seen before.  If the the start of the 2022 recruiting cycle is any indicator, certainly it seems more top players may want to be part of that vision.

I don't know what tomorrow holds.  I have my doubts about wins and losses.  I don't know if  Penn State will finish the season, or if they get to a championship game, should they even play a team like Alabama who hasn't taken the disease seriously and may infect them in the middle of a pandemic?  

What I do know, and what I take solace in, is that so far, the leaders at Penn State, while not perfect, have done a great job of keeping Penn State's athlete's reputation of being more than an athlete. They have kept moving forward and while there have been setbacks, they continue to embody a spirit of perseverance and positivity.

I look forward to more of the same come Saturday afternoon.  

Register to vote against the modern fascist.

 

Today is the absolute last opportunity to register to vote. 

I honestly believe if Trump stays in office the entire country will break down and descend into whatever the ugliest version of modern day fascism could be.

The evidence for this is as follows.
****

Forced reproductive surgeries and sterilizations by law enforcement and people "following orders." 

The threat of law enforcement becoming increasingly radicalized and looked at as the only way to maintain order, often at the expense of minority groups.

The Neo-nazis that killed a protestor by using a car to run over people who simply did not want the KKK and Neo-Nazis marching through their town.

The continued assault on the press and freedom of speech as the police attempt to intimidate and target journalists who are attempting to freely cover the social unrest.

The continued championing of a go it alone mentality, as well as a belief of an exceptionalism due to their heritage.

The criminalization and championing of violence towards political adversaries.

We can start the process of healing with Biden.

No he isn't perfect.  No president ever has been or will be.  But we need as a country to start choosing the representatives that work for all of us and not just some. 

We need to find a way to find peace and disarm not only ourselves, but the world. The goal should not be conquest via violence, but harmony and peace via diplomacy.

I know that for some, no amount or reasoning will work.

They would be the same kinds of people that existed in Germany that sat passively by, happy to reap any economic benefit and believe the lies of Hitler, a charismatic and angry individual who at the end of the day cared only about himself and his vision for a world without anyone he deemed unworthy.

Those are the little Nazi's.  The ones that sat back and may not engage in the violence, but would let the violence occur if it benefitted them.

But for some still, I think there is conflicting narrative that throws them for a loop. 

Because Biden is flawed, the argument is that he is just as flawed as Trump.

That isn't true.

Fascism is the cruel disease that under the right circumstances, will destroy a democracy.

It doesn't happen overnight, it happens over time.

Please, do if you haven't yet please register and please vote for Biden. 

Vote against the modern Nazi.

Adventures In Quarentine: Natural Instinct

As I sit at my kitchen table and watch out the window, I see my newest friends. 

There's Baxter and Mr. BunBun, laying outstretched by the patio swing, Backpack is at the picnic table scarfing down everything in sight, Junior and J.R. battle over a picked over cob of corn.  Jacques, the late night rascal that he is, has just gone to bed maybe an hour before I got up.  Sadly, Lucy and Early haven't returned in over a month.

These are the assorted little creatures that make up my backyard wildlife.

I watch them, and I can't help but feel my mouth curl upwards into a smile and my heart feels warm. 

In these moments, with these brief and fleeting moments with nature, I have found an oasis of peace and insulation from a world that seems to filled with conflict.

I know full well that these animals do not need me.  There is plenty of food available within the community if they would be willing to risk going outside the confines of the surrounding yard.  Yet for me, I feel like a strange alien governor, feeding my citizens in hopes of encouraging a more peaceful union.  It feels good to give.

This little event started naturally out of boredom and looking for things to do.  We named the squirrels, bunnies, and even a skunk that has decided to come by for a bit, although the skunk development has led to a bit of friction between my wife and I.  She is decidedly less 'pro' skunk than I am.

Quarantine, has altered life drastically for most of us, and most definitely me.  So to spend a few minutes each morning just watching these little lives roam and enjoy their environment gives a certain sense of normalcy in times that are absolutely not normal.

I spend most of my free time in front of screens these day and I have found that the digital environment can be one fraught with anxiety.  To unplug from the stream of information that is constantly pitting one side against another is to give your mind a break from attempting to decipher right and wrong things with the world.


 

How The Big Ten and Pac-12 Accidentally Saved Their Players and Made Them Money.

The Big Ten and Pac 12 don't care as much as the SEC, Big 12, and ACC does about its players, its fans, and about football.

That is the narrative being talked about right now by many in the college football media sphere.

The Big Ten messed up, and they need to fire people, etc.

Perhaps.

But maybe, begrudgingly, they not only did the right thing, but they put their football programs and players in a far better place to succeed.

Because the NFL, or any other company isn't going to pass on players and talent for a lack of tape due to a pandemic and subsequent conference decision.

The NFL and its scouts are in business of stockpiling human capital.  The college season only helps serve the scouts in helping determine who MIGHT be better for their team.  It is not even close to the only metric, and maybe not even the most important one, depending on the position.

The New York Giants aren't going to pass on the physical freaks being trained here at Penn State, or Ohio State, or USC, or whatever players Nebraska has that have a chance to make it to the league.

While game reps matter, they are not necessarily the most important aspect to a prospect.  Size, speed, strength, and an understanding of the game are all more important to a coach and general manager.  The tape is used to help, but it's not everything.

There is also some evidence that playing may actually HURT your opportunity in the NFL.  The position of running back, in particular, is now looked at with how many carries they have in a career, with more carries equating to caution as their career might be shorter.

Wear and tear matters as well, and any player who plays this season will add some experience, but will also add hits to their bodies, potentially setting them up for shorter pro careers.  The off-season is used to heal from a long grueling season, as well as to build up for the next one. 

If I ran an organization and I wanted to draft a prospect, with potentially the exception of quarterback, I would prefer the player that I think has less wear and tear on their system, and the one that had devoted the entirety of the year preparing for the NEXT season and not this current year.

Not only that, injuries and risk are far more mitigated to those players sitting out and focusing on training.

Right now, let's say Kyle Pitts and Brevin Jordan play 4 or 5 games for Florida and Miami, respectively.  They are projected as the two other top tight ends in the country.  Just because they played, while Pat Friermuth continued to work and train, will not put them ahead of Friermuth, especially if Friermuth puts up incredible combine numbers. 


Now, not all players are NFL prospects, but that doesn't mean they don't want to play.  The game is incredibly fun.  I believe if you asked them, they wouldn't care what uniform they put on, as long as they could play.  This game is addicting, and people will do almost anything to keep playing.

Players will try to hide injuries to play.

Players have cheated on tests to play.

Players have taken steroids to play.

So it doesn't shock me in the slightest that a lot of players would want to play during a pandemic, ESPECIALLY if they feel safer in their college bubble than they do at home.

That said, they are more than football players, but human beings that know full well that they will likely not become pros in the NFL, and they will not get to choose the end of their playing days. 

It is essential that those players live, grow, become healthy, and become the best versions of themselves BEYOND football.

By encouraging those players to continue their education and encouraging them to continue trusting in their values and training that they are far more likely to become more well rounded than their counter-parts in the SEC, who will have so much of their attention drawn to playing a meaningless season for the boosters of the their schools.

For example, if I were a bank hiring a finance major from Clemson or Penn State, would I take the student-athlete who was completely focused on football, or one that had a balanced approach?  I'd like to think the latter.

As the schools of the South appear dead set on attempting to exploit America's football addiction for profit, the schools of the Big Ten and Pac-12 have decided to mitigate the damage of the virus to best of their abilities (which was still poorly executed and done with such little transparency everyone was left appalled).

In the end, while I think the SEC has won a short-term image battle in public sphere, it will be the athletes of the Big Ten and Pac-12 who will benefit the most from their leaders decision to postpone the season.

To Play or Pandemic? Feelings Towards an Unknown Season.

When I was 18, and a Freshman with Penn State football, I would have done just about anything to be out on the field.  

Not even to play, just to dress.

As a walk-on, and a late one that made it via try-out, I had an incredible uphill battle.  

If I were to put myself in my 18 year old self, I would absolutely want to stay involved, and play a season.  I would sign a waiver.

I imagine, for those upperclassmen who may have waited years for this opportunity, they would do nearly anything to play.

I imagine that pretty much anyone who truly loves the game and has a near fanatical passion for it, would want to play.

The question becomes "Under what circumstances?"  

As long as the approaches and measures taken are what the players, the coaches, and support staff are comfortable with, then I can in good conscience support an attempt at a season.

HOWEVER,

I recognize we are in a pandemic state.

Over 160k have tragically passed in America to this novel Coronavirus.  

The only way any nation has been able to control the virus has been widespread adherence to social distancing and mask wearing combined with vigorous testing and contact tracing.

It appears to most in our academic and health care communities agree that having large crowds and doing nearly anything together over time greatly increases the risk.

If Penn State does value the opinions of doctors and academics, then I believe any kind of season will not have fans.

As a former letterman, mine (as well as others) have had their sideline privileges taken away (I have zero problems with this).

The players, coaches, and support staff must always feel safe and supported as well as their families.  If for this season, it is recommended there are no fans in seats then fine.

I honestly think they could play the games, tape them and play them later and all of America would still watch while knowing the results. Thats how starved I feel some people are for new athletic content.

Now, I also think people should also accept and be open to the idea that a season may start, stop and not have a clear champion.

We need to be OK with these potential scenarios as our collective health and well being are more important than one specific sport or game or thing.

If no one is sick, or getting sick, and things are improving, fantastic. 

If we move into November and an outbreak hits the offensive or defensive lineman rooms?

If the the support staff aren't properly equipped and they pass the disease to a loved one?

These are difficult times, and we need to be patient and support one another through everything.  I want those young guys to have fun.  To be able to show how hard they worked, not just this year, but for their whole life.

I love the guys out there asking to have a season just as much as I love Micah for deciding not to play and train in a more comfortable environment.  Both things can be true.

I think we can try to have some football on the players terms, but I think we as fans and as people, need to recognize that this is difficult and turn to our better angels of support and empathy at this time.

The Need To Teach America About The Evolution Of White Supremacy.

When I was in fifth grade, we were watching the series Roots in what became a startling show of the terror inflicted by white people upon the Black population they had kidnapped and forced into slavery. 

In the middle of the unit, our school day was interrupted as news spread about the Oklahoma City bombing. 

Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people, including 19 children.

At age ten, I had a hard time understanding what happened.  It seemed that everyone around me calmed me down by saying it was just the work of a crazy person.  He was just imbalanced, and just like that, I didn't really think about McVeigh again. 

I turned back to Roots, horrified at both the actions and inactions of people of history.  Believing and hoping we had moved on.

In 1999, I was a freshman in high school, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 13 people.

Again, the reasoning given was about the imbalance, about bullying and about the media.  There was considerably less importance placed on the obsessions about Hitler and far right ideas.

In 2015 Dylan Roof killed 9 people in a church after first praying with them, in an effort to start a race war. 

I thought it was just the act of a loner.

There was no talk about white supremacy anymore because, while all these events were happening around us, we were taught that essentially Martin Luther King Jr, along with Rosa Parks, solved racism in America. 

We were taught that racists were now only a very small minority; that they existed only in the past and that we had moved on. 

The idea of the KKK, of Neo-Nazis, and the idea of the far-right existing within America was simply not brought up as a realistic thing in my education. We were taught that they were simply a relic of the past and not worth our time.

I remember thinking American History X was just that.  A movie.

At no point, was I taught the name George Lincoln Rockwell, a former Navy man, and the founder of the American Nazi party, whose influence and ideas can be seen all over the far right and a person whose influence is still wreaking havoc long past his death. 

Louis Beam, likewise, was absent from my history books, even though he was a former member of the US military in Vietnam where he served as a helicopter door gunner, would come home to not only become a domestic terrorist as a member of the KKK, but then also built his own organized militia to promote racist military style trainings in kids as young as 8.  He is also credited with being one of the first proponents to a leaderless resistance strategy that is employed in many different factions.

This has done us all an incredible disservice from understanding where some ideas and thoughts come from.

The "free speech on college campus" idea isn't new.  But it's important to understand that Rockwell wanted to exploit that idea and was the first to do so.  It's also important to understand how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as others, did not play into his hand so as to diminish the power of the propagandist.

It's important to realize that both the El Paso shooter, and the Christchurch shooter both believed in a variation of the original lie of white genocide that Rockwell espoused.  They believed that the Jews are behind everything and that they are using blacks to carry out that will.

To this day, I'm guessing the great majority of Americans have no idea that the El Paso shooter, the Christchurch shooter, Louis Beam, Eric Harris, Dylan Roof and Timothy McVeigh all read the same book written by a Neo-Nazi named William Luther Pierce who was a direct associate of Rockwell. 

I believe we need to address this shortfall, as white supremacy is a real threat to democracy.  I believe the best tool is education.  We need to have the hard conversations, especially with our friends and family about where this hate has come from, what this hate sounds like, and why this hate has been so difficult to extinguish.

Easily the best source of information for me researching the bulk of this material has been the journalist Robert Evans.  While he had previously covered the Ukrainian Revolution of 2014 as well as the war in Iraq, he has spent the last few years reporting domestically and starting his own podcast called Behind The Bastards.

However it is his other Podcast, The War On Everyone that really spells out the role White Supremacy and Fascism has played in American Culture.

Evans absolutely has a bit of Hunter S. Thompson to his reporting, however he is great at citing sources, and giving greater context to things that might not be as readily apparent.  He is also honest enough to say when he simply does not know because he couldn't find any sources.

His dedication to revealing detailed information about some of the worst possible topics helps to illuminate our own world in a new light, and calls attention to our own biases and flaws.

These are trying times.  Confusing times.  But if we understand our past, it can help guide us in the present, and preserve a better future.