Newspapers / Fayetteville State University Student … / Feb. 10, 2010, edition 1 / Page 7
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The Seer of Seers by Christine Williams Wiarton Willie, Balzac Billy, and Buckeye Chuck are just a few of the names used in different places around the world for their famous groundhogs. But none of them are as famous as Punxsutawney Phil who lives in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Every year at exactly 7:25 am, Punxsutawney Phil comes out of hibernation from his cozy underground burrow to let us know when spring will arrive or to tell us if we should keep our winter gear around for another six weeks. The verdict is in! On February 2, 2010, at 7:25 am, The seer of seers, prognosticator of prognosticators, and the weather prophet extraordi naire Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow once again, and there will be six more weeks of winter. Groundhog’s Day dates back to when the Europeans celebrated the holiday of Candlemas, which usually symbolized the beginning of spring. It was believed that if the sun shone on this day winter would last six weeks longer instead of having an early spring. The Germans added the idea of an animal, namely a woodchuck or a groundhog to the belief. If the animal saw its shadow on this day we would have another six weeks of winter. It has been said that Phil has seen his shadow a total 99 times, and there were 15 times that he did not see his shadow. This means Phil is more than 100 years old! Groundhog’s Day is a tradition that was brought to North America through a gentleman by the name of Clymer H. Freas in 1800. He was a man of great stature and settled in the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, which at the time resided many German settlers. The first American Groundhog’s day was celebrated on February 2, 1886 and in 1887, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and club President, Mr. Freas declared Punxsutawney Phil to be the official mascot of ground hog’s day and named Punxsutawney, PA to be the “Weather Capital of the World.” Every year there is a huge weekend celebration leading up to the morning of February 2nd in the town of Punxsutawney, PA that consists of chili cook offs, craft displays, town tours and much more. Fayetteville State Student, Sophomore, Daniel Harris, has a prediction for the outcome on this Groundhog’s Day. “Hopefully we can get some good weather for once.” Harris will be out of luck if Phil’s prediction is to be believed. Don’t pack up your snow boots and winter coats just yet, there’s six more weeks of winter to go! 21 Questions 1; Why are you at the basketball game looking like you’re dressed for Chocolate City? 2. Why do we sleep on underground artists and then act like wild animals when they blow up and visit the Rudolph Jones Student Center? 3. When driving, why do we turn the music down when we get lost? 4. Is Wal-Mart designed to deliberately distract you from what you came to buy in the first place? 5. Were the Grammy’s a great big iPad advertisement on the low-low? 6. How in the world do Greek plots get vandalized EVERY year without ANY witnesses? 7. How many times have you walked to the wrong Taylor building? 8. And when you realized you were at the wrong building, did you walk to the right one.. .or give up class altogether for a nap? 9. Do you remember when having the most Lisa Frank school supplies made you cool and popular? 10. Why in the world did we beg our parents for those light up sneakers? 11. Didn’t you secretly hate celery and peanut butter snacks in Kindergarten? 12. When your parents sat you down for the “sex talk” didn’t you want to jump out of the nearest window regardless of how far down you’d fall? 13. Why does the Bronco Grill even bother opening before Bronco Bucks post to student accounts? 14. Why did you laugh at the person who just tripped on a brick monster knowing good and well that just happened to you five min utes ago? 15. Why did the freshmen girls have on heels the day after the winter storm when the campus was half covered in ice? 16. It’s two am and you’re really sick but the infirmary is closed. Weren’t you billed for health insurance? 17. You complain about this. You’re sick of that. So have you ever been to an SGA meeting? 18. Even though it was perfectly normal, weren’t you shocked when Beyonce called Jay-Z her “husband” at the Grammy’s? 19. And don’t lie to yourself, weren’t you kind of hoping that Kanye would show up and do something outrageous again? 20. With its extreme partisanship, doesn’t our Government act like two elementary school tag teams just itching to say “You’re it!”? 21. Which one really makes the groundhog go back in his hole.. .his shadow, or the hundreds of humans staring at it to see whether we’ll have six more weeks of winter? 7
Fayetteville State University Student Newspaper
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Feb. 10, 2010, edition 1
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