DotPenn

News and Reviews for the Illiterati

DotPenn header image 2

Fest Rioters Bemoan Today’s Non-rioting College Kids

July 11th, 2008 · 6 Comments

State College Arts Festival Riot

 Gen. X students: Today’s Penn State kids lack anti-social skills.

Just ten years ago, Brenson Beason, then a senior in Undecided Undergraduate Studies, was a self-described naive change agent who attended the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts shopping for over-priced pottery and exploring vandalism as a form of artistic expression.

“Back then, we really believed we could make a difference,” Beason said. “For instance, we thought if you threw a trash can into a window. You know, that would make a difference by, like, shattering the window.”

Now, Beason said the new generation of college students just don’t get it. Apathetic and insulated, Beason doubts this new class would have the stomach or stamina for rioting.

“They’re so isolated, you know, I watch them walk around campus with their ipods in their ears, so afraid to confront the world,” Beason said. “When I went to school we made our own rhythms, like the sound of a light pole cymbal crashing on the street corner and the thumpin’ bass of someone jumping on a car hood. It was like jazz, man.”

Beason said the generation’s prolific rioting wasn’t just honed by disrupting art gatherings.

“No. No. No. We rioted when the basketball team won; we rioted when they lost,” Beason said. “We once rioted when they took the Price is Right off for a special news report.”

Sue Ellen Mishky, who spent most of the art’s fest riot flashing her breasts and taunting the crowd into a frenzy, said she agreed the new generation is apathetic to change, but blamed over-indulgent parents and video games for their indifference.

“These kids sit in front of a box and jack cars and destroy street corners on Grand Theft Auto when we did it in real life,” Mishky said. “I really feel sorry for the kids growing up nowadays. There’s a disconnect with real life.”

“And when I was a kid, our parents would be, like, you know, get out in the fresh air and kick some beer balls around,” said Mishky. “They wouldn’t stand for this, I-want-to-stay-in-and-play-video-game stuff.”

Mishky currently works as a headlining exotic dancer and has auditioned for several roles in reality television. Beason works as an assistant manager at the same Uni-Mart he worked at during the art fest riot. He was a manager then, Beason added.

Email This Post Email This Post

In other headlines…

Centre County grows by 6.6 percent due to increasing numbers of State College snobs.

Pennsylvania legislators continue to shine.

PennDOT to study how to make Johnstown street more unsafe.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • del.icio.us
  • Fark
  • Reddit
  • Slashdot
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Digg

Tags: Education · Penn State · State College

6 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Ignatius J. Reilly // Jul 11, 2008 at 7:21 am

    The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!

  • 2 Zippy the PinHead // Jul 11, 2008 at 7:24 am

    Mankind is like dogs, not gods - as long as you don’t get mad they’ll bite you - but stay mad and you’ll never be bitten. Dogs don’t respect humility and sorrow.

  • 3 Banksy // Jul 11, 2008 at 7:26 am

    I ate the best sandwiches of my generation engorged by madness, starving hysterical naked.

  • 4 Zenquistical Emu // Jul 11, 2008 at 8:39 am

    Perhaps these gen-x kids do not understand that art comes from chaos. The current implementations of $2500 ivory lawn gnomes for sale this year might have a touch more zest if only the artists had Carthage like riots inspiring them. I blame the current generations’ aspirations to acquire real jobs, opposed to serving the very respectable adult entertainment and convenience store industries.

  • 5 Ricardo Almquist III // Jul 11, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    I enjoy arts fest, but I don’t appreciate all of the people “coming over the mountain” into our town for recreation. I don’t think you have the right culprits — the rioting was caused by the fascists from Phillipsburg (and their ilk), not by PSU students. I wish this myth would be put to rest, once and for all.

  • 6 Pacowithtaco // Jul 12, 2008 at 6:27 am

    Let he who has not been stoned throw the first brick.

Leave a Comment