Here’s a link to a recording of my speech on March 15 at the Penn State Forum at the Nittany Lion Inn on the campus of Penn State University: http://wpsu.org/radio/single_entry/LL-2851/pennstateforum

An interesting Q&A follows the speech. Thanks to Katie O’Toole of the Forum for moderating.

Justin Catanoso
Author
“My Cousin the Saint: A Search for Faith, Family and Miracles”
Monday, March 15, 2010
Ballroom, Nittany Lion Inn, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Speakers have been announced for the 2009-10 Penn State Forum Speaker Series. The series features several luncheons, modeled after the National Press Club Speaker Series, which include a presentation by an invited speaker, followed by audience questions. The luncheons are held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Nittany Lion Inn or the Penn Stater on the University Park campus of Penn State.

Co-sponsored by the Penn State Bookstore and the offices of the Executive Vice President and Provost and the Senior Vice President for Finance and Business, the Penn State Forum Speaker Series is open to the general public. Tickets for the Penn State Forum are $15. To purchase tickets for any or all of these events, contact the ID+ Office, located at 103 HUB-Robeson Building, University Park, call (814) 865-7590, or visit http://www.idcard.psu.edu/forums/ online for more information.

Some 30 years ago, I learned to write with passion, conviction and (hopefully) accuracy as a reporter and columnist for one of the finest student newspapers in America — The Daily Collegian at Penn State University. Today, writer Sandra Fischione Donovan (’72) writes about me and my book for Collegian AIG, the online publication of Collegian alums. The link is here.

There have been lots of musical milestones in our house in recent years, but perhaps one of the biggest comes this weekend. On Saturday evening, my wife, Laurelyn Dossett, and her singing partner, Karen Sickenberger, will sing on the iconic public radio program A Prairie Home Companion with famed radio host, storyteller and author Garrison Keillor. We have been listening to this program for nearly 25 years, and this week, at the new Durham Performing Arts Center, Laurelyn and Karen, as Polecat Creek, will share the stage and sing to a radio audience of millions. The show airs at 6 p.m. on a public radio station near you.

This will actually be the third time Polecat Creek has performed with Keillor. The other two times, in Greensboro (shown here, Laurelyn on the left) and Winston-Salem, they opened for one of his non-radio storytelling events. Their harmonies caught his attention at the Wake Forest gig last fall and an invitation to APC followed soon after.

UPDATE: Our alma mater, Penn State University, helps spread the word — here. Thanks Tina.

You won’t find this news very easily in your local sports pages, unless you read the Centre Daily Times, so I might as well post this story here. Penn State 69 Baylor 63. Congratulations Nittany Lions on their first major basketball championship. The team got robbed by not getting invited to the NCAA tournament, and illustrated that fact by winning five straight basketball games since they got left out. Great run by a very good team.

Joe Paterno isn’t exactly a saint, but the legendary Penn State football coach has been an icon in our family for many, many years. Our ties to Penn State are long and deep (my father, my two older brothers and my wife, whom I met in State College, and I all have Penn State degrees) and our support for Nittany Lion football has been mildly fanatical since the late 1960s. Thus, as Penn State concludes a highly successful season, and Joe proves that like the sun, he’ll be back tomorrow, it’s nice to see articles like this one being written about the coach and team again.

Update: Joe has surgery. Details here.

For Relevant Radio listeners throughout the Midwest and beyond, I will be a guest today on Searching the Word at 1 p.m. Eastern, noon Central. This opportunity comes thanks to highly regarded Catholic author Mike Aquilina, a fellow Penn Stater who offered an introduction to the producers. He was on the show earlier in the week.