Unify our parks and recreation systems To the Editor: It's autumn in Philadelphia. The Phillies are in the World Series, and the Eagles' season is in full swing. While we cheer for our professional sports teams, kids and adults all over this City are playing baseball at over 160 ballfields, football on 70 fields, tennis on nearly 300 courts and soccer at approximately 125 sites.

Drew Healy is often likened to a superhero. But it has nothing to do with his eight shutouts this season. Nor is it because the senior goalkeeper has been the catalyst behind the men's soccer team's 8-2-2 start. Rather, he has been likened physically to a variety of super-powered crime fighters for the unique eyewear he dons for games and training.

If a Phillies fan knows one thing, it's that the "phever" is restricted to very few outbreaks, with many a year in between. It's a disease that has been in danger of eradication for, oh, about 125 years. On Broad Street in Center City on Wednesday night, however, the symptoms were flaring: car horns trumpeting, white and red towels dangling from windows, crazed fans pouring from bars and apartments into the streets.

Biking isn't just for trendy kids anymore. As bicycle use increases in Philadelphia, city and Penn officials are taking steps to accommodate bikers and promote bicycle safety. Data from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia shows that bicycle commuters in the city increased by 76 percent between 1990 and 2006.

For College sophomore Calvin Gruss, Physics and Astronomy professor Larry Gladney "couldn't have tried harder to provide a good education experience and environment." "He really made an effort to have everyone understand the topics of the class, and he was always willing to meet with students outside the class to go over anything they didn't understand," Gruss added.

To infinity, and beyond! Philosophy professor Scott Weinstein lectured at the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity last night about the mathematical concept of infinity. SAM president and College junior Charlie Isaacs and academic chairman and Engineering sophomore Andrew Hicks hosted Weinstein as part of their chapter's initiative to bring in various faculty speakers over the course of the year.

Exactly one year after the public phase launch of its capital campaign, Penn is still "Making History." With $2.172 billion raised so far - 62 percent of the $3.5 billion goal - the campaign has broken all fundraising records and exceeded the goal set for the first, public-phase year of the campaign.

I've never been a minority in a classroom. As a white female English major partial to courses on gender and sexuality, I tend to be surrounded by people who look a lot like me. Until this semester, when I enrolled in "African Americans in TV and Film." For the first time, I'm in the racial minority, learning about a group that far outnumbers me in the classroom.

College students don't read - at least not outside of class. At least that's what several recent studies and many students have led us to believe. Some professors beg to differ. Over the past 20 years, the percentage of 17-year-olds who do not read for pleasure has doubled from 18 to 36 percent, according to a 2007 National Endowment for the Arts report.

Jocelyn Kirsch - a former Drexel University student and the ex-girlfriend and identity-theft scam partner of 2005 Penn alumnus Edward Anderton - was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison. A federal judge also ordered Kirsch to pay $100,000 in restitution and to be supervised by a probation officer for five years after she is released from prison.

Police are still looking for the gunman of a Friday night shooting at 40th and Ludlow streets that killed one man and seriously injured another. The shootings took place at 10:52 p.m. on Friday, according to Officer Jill Russell, a Philadelphia Police spokeswoman.

Printing at Penn is getting much more personal. Information Systems and Computing is working on a wireless system that will allow students to print directly to Penn printers from their laptops. With the new network, students will be able to download onto their computers software which will give them access to designated printers.

Today marks the second day of the Muslim Student Association's Islam Awareness Week on campus. While I'm typically ambivalent toward awareness campaigns - there are so many that it seems difficult to focus energy on any one topic - I believe a campus dialogue about Islam is valuable.

In honor of the United Nations' International Day for the Eradication of Poverty last Friday, Wharton '05 alumnus Gabriel Mandujano examined the poverty issue just blocks away from central campus. In honor of the United Nations' International Day for the Eradication of Poverty last Friday, 2005 Wharton alumnus Gabriel Mandujano examined the poverty issue just blocks away from central campus.

Despite being sidelined in the hospital recovering from a mastectomy, Penn volleyball coach Kerry Carr wants her team to focus on winning, not her fight against cancer. "She didn't want us to be distracted," sophomore Julia Swanson said. And so, the Quakers headed into their first weekend without Carr as coach hoping to pick up their second conference win of the season.

Health officials have started preparing for the upcoming flu season - but they're not making any predictions about its severity. Predictions for upcoming seasons are difficult to make, as many factors change from one year to the next. Besides ordering vaccinations, making sure students have all the resources for immunization and being vigilant, little else can be done in anticipation of the season.

A number of new stores and restaurants around University City are preparing for their grand openings, some as soon as the end of the month. Naked Chocolate Cafe opens later this month near 34th and Walnut streets, with Capogiro Gelato Artisans, Jimmy John's sandwich shop, CVS pharmacy and Chipotle Mexican Grill scheduled to open soon after.