On September 13 at 1:00 p.m., The College of Liberal Arts held the first marathon reading of Catch-22 on the Pattee mall.
A tent was set up on the lawn with a large banner that read “Penn State Marathon Reading.”
On a table inside the tent, several copies of Catch-22 were available if attendees wanted to read along. If listeners wanted to participate in the marathon reading, a sign up sheet was available.
One could read for a minimum of five minutes or for as long as they wished. For participants, blue souvenir t-shirts were available along with Catch-22 flyers. The t-shirt said, “Catch-22: I read. Did you?” Attendees of the reading were encouraged to take a “Proud to celebrate Penn State Academics” poster.
A large crowd gathered on the lawn at 1:00 p.m. to hear Sue Paterno kick off the 24-hour marathon reading.
With a hamburger-shaped timer on the podium, Sue Paterno began the reading. Hesitating only a few times for laughter and fear of using foul language, Paterno read for almost 20 minutes before handing off the book to the next reader, Women’s Volleyball coach, Russ Rose.