Edwardian Script

Edward is a 17th century landowner in England. He grew up in Wales on a small family farm with his 7 brothers and sisters. His parents were fairly wealthy because they owned a small mill where the people of the town would come and have their wheat ground into flour. The boys of the family worked the mill and attended to the barn chores, going to school only when there was not work to be done. The school that Edward attended was in the parish house three miles from his own family farm. The priest would invite the children into his garden where he would patiently teach them how to read and write, using the Bible as their only text book. Girls were not permitted to attend so it was only Edward, his two brothers, and three other boys from the country side that would make the three mile trek during the wintery months. It was in this small parish house that Edward excelled and became a very gifted reader and writer. He practiced constantly so that soon he was ahead of the other five boys who attended the informal classes. The priest even let Edward borrow his treasured Bible to study and copy whenever the priest could spare it. Edward soon became the priest’s favorite of the boys and the two spent much time together going for walks and talking about philosophy and God. Edward was hungry for more information than the priest could give him.
When Edward turned 15 the priest came to his father’s house to express how talented his son was. The old man had no idea that his child was as gifted as the priest claimed, but was very honored that the priest had come to his home to praise his child. That night the family celebrated Edward with the priest among them. At dinner the priest told Edward and his family that he planned on helping Edward get some formal education at a university. Edward’s father was pleased, but skeptical. A university would be expensive. Although the family did well, he would not be able to support his six other children and send one to school. Edward was thrilled however and told his father he could pay his way.
The next spring, Edward and the priest set out on in the priest’s carriage for the six day journey to London where a family friend of the priest’s had agreed to take Edward in. For the next seven years Edward worked in his host’s blacksmith shop for his food and board and studied at Cambridge University. The classes were so intellectually stimulating that the young man often did poorly in school but worked hard none the less and came out a highly respected member of his class. He quickly found a job as a journalist for England’s politics. He followed Lords, Senate members, and even the Queen and her attendants around the city and county writing everything that took place. He was promoted to the Editor of the London Chronicle and was invited to be a permanent attendant of every Parliament hearing that took place. He was considered an affluent member of society and married into a good and wealthy family. He and his family lived well in the age of Elizabeth.

Revisions

The issue lies in the safety and environmental aspect of the process. America is currently in a recession and our natural resources are quickly dwindling. Fracking would help alleviate pressures from both of these by creating jobs and opening up new opportunities for fuels. However, people are concerned that their water and land could be contaminated by hydro-fracking. A Marcellus Shale boom is occurring in Pennsylvania but many have mixed feelings. They want the benefits of the natural gas and jobs but have the NIMBY attitude. NIMBY stands for “not in my backyard” and the skeptics of Marcellus Shale drilling have good reasons to feel this way. The drill pad disturbs five acres of land or more not including any roads, right-of-ways, or piping that would need to be installed to transport gas and equipment to and from the drill site. Also, people are also afraid of the consequences of drilling through and below the water table. Pennsylvanians do not want their water quality to be compromised through the process. Furthermore, there is a concern with the content of the water used for fracking. 99% of the brew is water and sand but the remaining 1% is a mixture of toxic chemicals. Finally, there is always the scare of a disaster. If a drilling site were to have a blow out or major fire surrounding homes could be serious danger. Although all of these are very serious concerns that must be monitored and prevented, the Marcellus Shale industry has done an excellent job of keeping this process as safe as possible.


A Marcellus Shale boom is occurring in Pennsylvania but many have mixed feelings. The issue lies in the safety and environmental aspect of the process. America is currently in a recession and our natural resources are quickly dwindling. Fracing would help stimulate the economy by creating jobs and lessen the effects of the energy crisis by opening up new opportunities for fuels. However, people are concerned that their water and land could be contaminated by hydro-fracing. They want the benefits of the natural gas and jobs but have the “NIMBY” attitude. NIMBY stands for “not in my backyard” and the skeptics of Marcellus Shale drilling have good reasons to feel this way. The drill pad disturbs five acres of land or more not including any roads, right-of-ways, or piping that would need to be installed to transport gas and equipment to and from the drill site. Also, people are also afraid of the consequences of drilling through and below the water table. Pennsylvanians do not want their water quality to be compromised through the process. Furthermore, there is a concern with the content of the water used for fracing. A small percentage is toxic chemicals with the potential to create health risks. Finally, there is always the scare of a disaster. If a drilling site were to have a blow out or major fire surrounding homes could be serious danger. Although there is a great financial and gas producing potential for Marcellus, there is also great risk. Despite companies’ attempts at making the process safe there is still room for water contamination, soil pollution, and health concerns.

There is certainly a lot of potential for the Marcellus Shale industry, however drilling is not worth jeopardizing the environment and surrounding communities.

Neal Mayer, a Penn State freshman living off campus, knows what it feels like to be inconvenienced by the snow. This past winter Penn State saw some nasty snow and ice storms. During one of these ice storms in January Neal was unable to get to school. “I live on back roads,” he said. “My class was 9 a.m., plows hadn’t come through yet.” Fearing the roads were too dangerous to travel, Neal e-mailed his professor to alert him that he would not be in class, and asked him if he would be allowed to make up the in-class quiz that had been given that day. Surprisingly, even after Neal explained his situation, the professor said no. Snow and ice in Happy Valley does not just affect students however. Many faculty and staff have to brave the icy roads to come as far as thirty minutes away. If delays and cancelations on the Penn State campus were a little more frequent, we could reduce vehicle accidents, lessen the risk of falling snow off trees and buildings, falling on icy sidewalks, and make OPP’s job a little easier. Therefore, I propose that Penn State be more lenient in giving two hour delays and days off and have professors put assignments for the missed class time on-line.

Neal Mayer, a Penn State freshman living off campus, knows what it feels like to be inconvenienced by the snow. This past winter Penn State saw some nasty snow and ice storms. During one of these ice storms in January Neal was unable to get to school. “I live on back roads,” he said. “My class was 9 a.m., plows hadn’t come through yet.” Fearing the roads were too dangerous to travel, Neal e-mailed his professor to alert him that he would not be in class, and asked him if he would be allowed to make up the in-class quiz being given that day. Even after Neal explained his situation, the professor said no. Unfortunately, snow and ice storms do not just affect students. Some faculty and staff have to brave the icy roads to commute from as far as thirty minutes away. If delays and cancelations on the Penn State campus were more frequent, we could reduce vehicle accidents, lessen the risk of getting hit by falling snow from trees and buildings, and slipping on icy sidewalks. Also it would make the Office of Physical Plant’s (OPP) job of clearing snow easier. Therefore, I propose that Penn State be more lenient in giving two hour delays and days off and have professors put assignments for the missed class time on-line.