FEATURES
October 31, 2011
More than just a beautiful plume
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Feather hair extensions have a harmful effect on animals bred to produce the accessories
SUSANA COBO / Daily Titan Anti-animal cruelty groups provide alternatives to feather hair extensions that remain fashionable and safe for animals.
JOEY BECERRA Daily Titan
Shiny, long, speckled and featuring undulating colors. Weaving in and out of hair, feathers are an exotic option for accessorizing one’s tresses. Girls on college campuses have recently adopted the trend of weaving long, variegated feathers into their hair. Trends, however, come and go. On college campuses, it seems like they pass a little faster than normal. Some trends are regretted once they are over. This fad of weaving long feathers into hair, although pretty, has an adverse effect on the animals that are bred to produce said feathers. Ryan Huling, manager of College
Campaigns and Outreach for PETA, said the majority of the feathers used for extensions come from roosters. Huling said the roosters are genetically bred in order to produce longer feathers. The process of growing the special feathers, which takes months, is inhumane because “roosters are typically confined for 30 weeks— the majority of their short lives—in tiny, stacked cages inside deafeningly loud barns before they are killed and skinned,” said Huling. When the feathers of each rooster finally reach their optimum length, the rooster is gassed and defeathered for its plumage. Sadly, the trend of weaving feathers into hair is growing. The trend has been seen in both facets of
entertainment, on celebrities like Ke$ha and Steven Tyler as well as young people on college campuses. Amy Levin, founder and creative director of College Fashionista, a college style blog, said the fad of girls wearing feather extensions in their hair is a key trend for fall. “We have seen this trend east to west in all color variations,” said Levin. Levin said the feather trend was popular in Colorado before it spread to California and caught on in mainstream culture. “This trend definitely migrated from the West Coast with our SoCal students, but it seems students at all campuses are playing with this hair trend,” Levin said. People who weave feathers into their hair are often considered trendsetters. Levin pointed out that major trendsetters who weave feathers into their hair were seen at music festivals like Coachella last summer. One club on CSUF’s campus that provides a solution to the dilemma of animal cruelty that comes with feather extensions is Project P.A.W. (Protecting Animals Well-being), which offers alternative ways to end animal cruelty. Monique Ayala, a third-year health science major, is a Project P.A.W. co-founder and treasurer. Ayala said that there is a way to avoid harming animals while still looking good. “You could opt for synthetic feather hair extensions just as you would with faux fur or pleather. Wearing synthetic feather hair extensions would be the best way to still stay trendy as well as protecting animal rights,” said Ayala. Ayala also points out that synthetic feather extensions offer convenience and affordability. “(They) cost less and can be purchased online or at most beauty supply stores.” Another alternative to wearing feather extensions is to make them at home. PETA offers a do-it-yourself version of the feathers out of shiny ribbons and nail polish that creates a produ http://www.dailytitan.com/wp-content/ uploads/2011/10/halloween-web.jpg vct that is indistinguishable from the original. Who can argue with making your own at home for free?
Courtesy of Charlotte Woods Last year Charlotte Woods and her friends soaked up the Halloween spirit as they gathered at a club in England on Halloween night dressed up as nuns, cats and zombies.
The American Halloween
CHARLOTTE WOODS For the Daily Titan
If I had to describe Halloween in America in one word, it would be “crazy.” I’m from England and this is my first experience of Halloween here. I can’t believe that it is such a big holiday; you guys go all out. You throw huge parties and decorate to the max. I’m not at all saying this is a bad thing; I LOVE it. There are stores dedicated just to Halloween costumes, pumpkin carving contests and amazing decorations. My family is one of the odd ones out in England because we go crazy decorating. My dad made some coffins that he puts by the porch and jumps out at people. But Halloween is primarily reserved for children. Here in America it is accessible to everyone, which I think is great. In America, at the age of 21 it is still acceptable to go trick-or-treating and I can’t wait. Last year my college friends and
I made an effort for Halloween. We all went to costume stores and bought suitably “scary” outfits. Combined, we had a devil, a zombie, a zombie nurse, cats, a nun and the list goes on. In the U.S., Halloween seems to focus on the more skin, the better the outfit. My favorite quote from Mean Girls sums this up well: “In girl world, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” In England, dressing up for Halloween is more for humor than for “slutiness.” I’ve asked all my American friends and they say the Mean Girls quote sums up Halloween in the U.S. perfectly. I am very much looking forward to seeing how different the costumes and the parties are. Last Halloween in the U.K., my friends and I bought our outfits the day before Halloween in a rush. The next day, we got ready, scarified ourselves and went to my friend’s house and had a few drinks.
When we were walking down the street to a local club, we were stared at and wolf-whistled at because we stood out. We were the few who had chosen to dress up. For many of the U.K. population, Halloween passes without a glance, whereas it is kind of hard to ignore it in the U.S. We then proceeded to the club and mingled with fellow zombies and an assortment of scary characters. It was a lot of fun and the club we went to was one of the select few that had a Halloween theme. I can’t say I remember the journey home, but I woke up the next morning in a drunken haze on my friend’s couch surrounded by cats and a zombie nurse. It did take me a while to realize it was not a nightmare. I am very much looking forward to seeing your American spirit on Halloween. For a start, this year I bought my outfit well in advance, not the day before. There is many a discussion on what outfit to wear and what parties to go to.
So if you see a 21-year-old English devil taking in the Halloween atmosphere, thoroughly enjoying trick-or-treating again, that will be me.
NAT BETANCOURT / For the Daily Titan The basement of the Pollak Library South is said to be haunted by the victims of 1976 shooting massacre where a CSUF janitor shot nine people, killing seven of them.
Spooky campus spots JESSICA RUBIO Daily Titan
Cal State Fullerton may appear to be your typical college campus, but lurking in the basements of buildings, barns, elevators and rooftops are paranormal spirits haunting the university grounds. Although not on campus, the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity house, otherwise know as the “Barn,” located on the corner of State College and Yorba Linda Boulevards, is said to have nightly visits from the spirit of a young girl, Wendy R. Osborn, who was killed in the ravine next to the Barn. The Wendy R. Osborn Memorial Bridge, in remembrance of her life, is lined with Bible scriptures and is located between the Barn and the Eastside Christian Church. At night the spirit of the young girl has been known to turn water taps on and off, flicker the lights and open and close cabinets. These are just minor occurrences compared to the experiences Hans Holborn, a Phi Kappa Tau alumnus, has had with the girl’s spirit. The very first thing that happened to Holborn was on Christmas Eve in 2007. “I was in my room and for some weird reason I hear my name being called out and I hear this whispering sound,” said Holborn. “I was the only one in the barn.” He then felt someone hit every side of his leg as if they ran through him. No more than two weeks after, Holborn’s fraternity brother was asleep in his room upstairs and woke up to the laughter of a little girl and his bed shaking as if a child was jumping on it. “I have never seen a grown man freak out like this before,” Holborn said. Holborn said these occurrences stopped when his brothers agreed that he pray over the barn. If you have ever thought McCarthy Hall was a bit run-down and creepy, you were right. In December of 1976, Stephen Peters, a physics professor, was murdered by a female student in the basement next to the service elevator in McCarthy Hall. She shot Peters once in the head and twice in the chest. It has been reported that Peters haunts the service elevator in the building. The elevator will travel down to the basement Sundays and hold the person there even if a different floor has been selected. Try it if you dare.
Although Cynthia Kakish, a senior biology major, was unaware of the spirit that haunts the McCarthy Hall elevator, she is unsure about what goes on at CSUF. “It’s kind of scary, you never know what happens here,” said Kakish. Ever wonder why there is a metal grating on the outside stairways of the Humanities Building? Well, these bars are the result of a series of five suicides reported between 1977 and 1982. All victims jumped to their death from the fifth and eighth floors of the Humanities Building. And if that isn’t creepy enough, in 1976, a janitor named Edward Charles Allaway shot nine people, killing seven with a .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle in the basement of the Pollak Library South. This fiveminute shooting rampage is often referred to as the first major school shooting and the most violent day in CSUF history. Because Allaway was convinced that his co-workers at the CSUF library were making pornographic movies with his exwife, he snapped. Stephani Waidner, 21, a student assistant at the Titan Multimedia Desk in the library basement, has experienced paranormal activity while working in the lower south wing. “I went into the restroom and the door slammed,” said Waidner. Then she said the automatic paper towel machine kept dispensing paper towels until the entire trash can overflowed. Waidner said nobody appeared to be standing in front of the machine that would trigger the sensor on the dispenser to spit out that many paper towels. “After that I was kind of freaked out to go in the bathroom alone,” Waidner said. “The paper towels are always going off.” It was only after this incident that Waidner’s boss and co-workers told her about the 1976 shooting. Rumor has it there were seven trees planted in the Quad representing the seven people who died in this campus massacre. Allaway was judged as criminally insane and sentenced to a state mental institution during his trial. Allaway, now 72, remains in custody at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County.
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