In the Jungle; Mark Weaver

Welcome to In The Jungle, where we meet the guerrillas of Pittsburgh State University. I'm your host, Howard Smith, and today we're joined by Mark Weaver. Hi, Mark. Hi. Hey, we're glad you're with us now. Tell us, just give us a little bit of background about yourself, where you from, where you go to high school, and what are you majoring in? Okay, I was born in California, but I moved here about 13, 14 years ago, so I've lived here for most of my life. I attended Pittsburgh High School, and after graduating, I decided to come here and be an English major. So really, you're local. I mean, you went to school here, and you chose Pitt State over others. How come? Mainly two reasons. First of all, the tuition for in-state school was, was really low, so that was a huge factor in it. And also, it was close to home, so I could live with my parents and not have to pay rent somewhere. And it's just a five minutes drive from here, so it was really close by and, so I could commute from school really quickly and easily. That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. You've picked English and philosophy. Right. Now, what's your interest in those two areas? How come those two? Philosophy has really taught me how to reason and to think for myself. And English, I think, is a sort of medium for philosophy.

By reading the stories that other people have wrote, we're learning what they think, how they think, and how we can apply their ideas about the world to our own lives. And that's something that I think is really important, and that students need to understand is to think for themselves. Now, with those two majors, I know you're actually involved outside the classroom with some things in those areas as well. I know you're involved with Cal Creek Review in some way. What do you do there? Right. So, I'm the co-editor and chief of the Cal Creek Review. I help lead meetings and we put together a magazine that's published at the end of the year. A lot of work. Definitely. We go through maybe hundreds of poems and short stories, and we decide which ones go into the magazine and which ones don't make the cut. But it is a lot of work. But it's really fulfilling, you know, getting to take a look at what students have written and just see how they view the world. And we also get to use their writing in order to make our own writing better and to really know what makes writing good and what makes it enjoyable.

I know. I understand you're the president of the blank page. Now, what is the blank page and what's involved with that particular group? Yeah. So, the blank page is the PSU writing club. And we get together about once a week and learn about different writing styles and techniques and how to perfect our own writing. And maybe once a week or every other week, we'll have one of our members come in and bring in something that they've been writing about. And we'll do a workshop over it and encourage them in the areas that they've done really well and tell them where it could be better. And in doing so, we just help each other make our writing better. Now, you're also in the philosophy club. Yeah. What's philosophy? What are you doing in philosophy? Okay. So, I'm the president of the philosophy club. And... Yeah. You got a lot of leadership going on here. It sounds like you're working hard. Yeah. It keeps me pretty busy. Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't run. Go ahead.

Oh, no. That's fine. But in the... Well, in the PSU Philosophical Society, we get together also once a week and we usually have a topic or a subject of discussion. And we just sit in a room for an hour and a half and talk about it. And it's a lot of fun getting to hear everyone's different opinions and ideas. We also actually just attended a philosophy conference up in Kansas City last weekend. Oh, really? Yeah. Was it for a lot of college? Was it for area colleges or what kind of conference was it? Yeah. There were several grad students there and several professors who had come from all over the country to get together and give lectures on certain subjects that they were interested in. And so, some of us went up on Friday and another group of us went up on Saturday. And it was a lot of fun just getting to... Just getting to hear their opinions over different subjects. My favorite one was pedagogical philosophy. And so, what they were talking about was starting to teach philosophy to children at a younger age because kids these days aren't growing up and understanding how to reason

and how to use logic and apply critical thinking. So, that was an area that they were highly stressing. And I agree. I think that's something that's important that needs to be taught. Hey, who are some folks that may have influenced you while you've been on campus here? I know you mentioned a couple earlier. Who's influenced you and why? Okay. So, a couple of professors who have definitely inspired me and encouraged me would be Dr. Paul McCallum. He's an English professor here and I thoroughly enjoy his classes. I try to take at least one every semester. He really engages the students and his wit is phenomenal. And he's just been really encouraging me in my path to becoming an English major. And he's a prime example of why I wanted to become an English major in the first place. It's that the classes are really fun and really interesting. You get to read so many stories about so many different things

by so many different people who have so many different views on life and it's really cool to be able to put all of those together and to apply it to your own life and really give you a different perspective on the world. And you mentioned Dr. Mining. Yeah. So, I first had a class with him last semester and he really opened my eyes to what philosophy is and really inspired me to have a love for it. Yeah. So, in teaching me philosophy, he inspired me to start the philosophical society and to be more open with other people about my views and to be more receptive to other people's views. And to just get me thinking more about so many different things and about the world and how I can make it better. Both of those professors sound like they're very motivational. I mean, they bring you along and they support you. So, that's great to have those experiences. Definitely.

Hey, what advice would you give a perspective student that was considering Pitt State? Why should students consider us? It's a really friendly, safe and secure environment. Especially if you don't know what you want to do with your life yet. It's a really good place to try and figure out what opportunities you have, what you enjoy, what you're good at. And the staff here are really incredible and they'll definitely help you to figure out what you want to do with your life. The classes are enjoyable. The people here are really friendly and all in all is just a really great place to be. And that proves why you belong at Pittsburgh State University. Thank you for joining us in the jungle. I'm your host Howard Smith.