We are...Number One

The issue of the piece is Penn State being the number one party school, and what that title entails.  The main issue with being the number one party school is the drinking involved.  As stated, although it is part of the college experience, it has become bothersome for most people living around on campus.  Public health is a reason for the issue to be investigated.  The neighbors of the frat parties have a major problem with drunken students going to the bathroom in the lawn, littering everywhere, be loud at three in the morning, and vandalizing the streets.  The intended audience would definitely be the students at Penn State, the community, and alumni.

            A fact that was really sad was the one with the guy found dead, after falling and hitting his head after a fraternity party.  Even a death would not change the habit of college drinkers, because it was not about the amount he drank, but the fact that no one walked home with him.  It tells the audience to make sure you always help a person out, for instance when they are walking home.  A detail that explain how drinking affects the community, would be the people going to the bathroom on private property, or stealing a stop sign from a street.  There was also the example of the police stopping for girls who asked for help, and wanted a ride.  One girl ran, while the other two held the officer back telling the girl to run.  It’s these ridiculous stories that show how drunk some people are.  The students see it as a great reputation, wanting to keep it going, while the officials and community want the drinking to be toned down.

Some interviews and research that were provided offered insight of what living at State College feels like.  Although I feel that this was very bias, it is still true for most residence that the endless parties are bothersome at times.  They interviewed a wide variety of people, from sober underclassmen, to drunken students, to fraternity people, to state officials.  The interviews were very informative and relevant to the issue.  The one death was sad, and as the President of Penn State said, although it may have a little impact to the people in school, he says that the freshmen that come in would just start the cycle all over again.

There were many narrative techniques used by the creator, but the ones that stood out the most, was the use of dialogue from the interviews as well as the dialogue of the parties and what it was like to be there.  They also made it as a radio talk, not a written piece, which made the amount of audience even bigger.  It was also more affective for the listeners, because emotion could almost be felt in the voices, unlike a black and white print.  Since it was on a radio show, there were more people who listened and got something out of it.  The narrator gave points of view from everyone, even though it was mainly the people who were against drinking at Penn State.