Under the baobab: Thon headlines events to be proud of at Penn State

“Come on State, let’s soar! // Cubs and Lions, shake the floor! Look around, feel this moment // Find your dream. Chase it. Own it. Legacies last forever // Dancing to new heights together. Everyday our mission calls // Taking Thon beyond these walls” — Thon 2024 line dance lyrics

Congrats to the dancers, organizers, officials and volunteers of Thon, which ended Sunday afternoon. Thon is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. More than 700 dancers spent 46 hours on their feet to raise money for the Four Diamonds Fund to aid children’s hospitals. As of this writing the final tally was not available but in 2023 it was $15,006,132.

Thon began in 1973 in Rec Hall, when 78 dancers raised $2,000. This year dancers were joined by almost 17,000 student volunteers. We are proud of our students. We should be. They excel in many areas — sports, entertainment, academics and social justice activism to name a few.

The undefeated, No. 1 ranked Penn State wrestling team recently celebrated its 1,000 victory. Coach Cael Sanderson won his 200th. Coach Sanderson’s team have won 10 of the last 12 NCAA Championships. They hosted No. 3 ranked Nebraska on Sunday as this year’s tournament approaches.

For three days the African American Music Festival celebrated the music of African Americans and representative composers, with performances by faculty, students and guest artists. The festival was created by Dr. Tony Leach, the long-standing director of the Essence of Joy choir. This year it featured, among others, school of theater alum Gilbert Bailey, Allyson Kaye and Prof. emeritus Jerry Zolten, who was also featured in the Henry Louis Gates PBS documentary, “Gospel.”

The school of theater will be opening its production of “Urinetown” on Feb. 20. It runs until March 1. The musical is directed by David Kersnar with musical director, Darren Cohen. The Center for Performing Arts sponsored workshops in the community to develop the Sydnie L. Mosley Dances project, “Purple: A Ritual in Nine Spells.” Tempest Productions’ “Hamlet, Time is Out of Joint,” closed Sunday. The provocative piece was directed by Cynthia Mazzant and featured Hilary Appelman, Elizabeth Baptista, Jessica Karp, Evan Marcinkevage, Mazzant, Elaine Meder Wilgus, Drew Pirrone-Brusse, Mary Rose Valentine, Laura Waldhier and Michael Waldhier.

More than 1,000 Penn Staters participated in the annual national Douglass Day Event sponsored by the Center for Black Digital Research and coordinated by Jim Casey, Denise Burgher, Pheolyn Hayes, Jennifer Isasi, Eden Mekonen, Courtney Murray, Lauren Cooper and Gabrielle Sutherland. Douglass Day began around the turn of the 20th century and helped inspire Black History Month. Each year on his adopted birthday, people around the country have gathered to transcribe the handwritten notes of Frederick Douglas and others stored in the Library of Congress. This year over 8,500 people in 165 locations participated.

The Center for American Literary Studies sponsored “The Healing Community, Black Women on the Arts and Liberation Pedagogy.” The panel was moderated by grad student/poet exemplary Carmin Wong and featured Professors Shauna Morgan and DaMaris Hill from the University of Kentucky and Professor Emerita Grace Hampton from Penn State.

The recent Israeli/Palestinian war has been raging for over 150 days. It is a continuing catastrophe. Over a hundred hostages are still being held and reports are that many are dying in captivity. Estimates are that 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children. Only one operational but badly damaged hospital in Gaza services 2 million people. More than half of the region’s housing units have been destroyed.

“Everyday our mission calls.” Every Monday a hundred of our neighbors gather at the Allen Street gates asking for a cease-fire. Sisters and brothers, in love and sorrow, I repeat what Marvin Gaye sang: “Let’s save the children. Let’s save All the children.”

Charles Dumas is a lifetime political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. Congress in 2012. He was the 2022 Lion’s Paw Awardee and Living Legend honoree of the National Black Theatre Festival. He lives with his partner and wife of 50 years in State College.