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A S T. M A R Y ’ S P U B L I C AT I O N S I N C E 1 9 2 4 VOL. 104, NO. 10 | OCT. 19, 2016 | SAN ANTONIO, TX
ENTERTAINMENT
Zombie walk invites students to attend,
CANDY:
MOST UNHEALTHY TREATS TO CONSUME DURING HALLOWEEN
HEALTH AND FITNESS
PAIGE GANDARA-VALDERAS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
DARIA FLOWERS / PAIGE GANDARA-VALDERAS STAFF WRITER / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Surpassing Easter and Valentine’s Day, Halloween is known as one of the largest days of candy consumption in America. While many college students may consider themselves too old to participate in Halloween festivities such as trick-ortreating, many will inevitably be tempted to satisfy their sweet tooth cravings. Halloween is right around the corner and that usually means that avoiding candy is almost impossible. Although children consume the majority of candy during this holiday, college-aged students will face a huge consumption as well. “Heck yeah [I still trick-or-treat],” Luz
PG. 2
HORRORS OF STUDENT LOANS
PG. 6
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION
Del Alma Hernandez, sophomore English major, said. “I like getting dressed up and it’s free candy. Like, who wouldn’t want free candy?” For this holiday in particular, it may seem like it is OK to collect a pound of candy, eat it without any limitations and save what is left for the weeks ahead. Though all of the candy is collected during the night of Halloween, and, depending on the amount of candy collected, can last for weeks to come. This leaves people eating unhealthy for days. Candy corn, one of the most iconic candies of Halloween, is actually one of the least healthy among the broad scheme of candies. Candy corn consistently ranks as being one of the least healthy Halloween candies. According to Heather Mangieri, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, at just 140 calories per ounce, zero grams of fat and approximately 32 grams of sugar, it is safe to say that candy corn is almost purely sugar. “I eat candy corn every once in a blue moon,” Polet Guadalupe Martinez, sophomore criminology major, said. “[Now knowing] its nutritional value makes me not even want to eat it [at] all.”
According to Daily Burn, “candy-crazed celebration” has some stats that some might find surprising when it comes to Halloween candy consumption. One finding is the amount of money spent each year on candy during this holiday. Americans spend about $74 billion on candy alone. About 90 million pounds of chocolate are consumed the week of Halloween and about 3,500 to 7,000 calories worth of candy is collected by each individual person. Though exercising the night of Halloween is probably far from most people’s minds, there are actually surprising statistics in regard to just how much it takes to burn off the calories consumed. It takes about 54 push ups to burn off one pack of M&Ms and about 17 minutes of burpees to burn off one bite-size snickers (160 calories). Aside from exercise, there are other health factors involved with candy consumption. With all of the sugars in candy, tooth decay and cavities are possible. Tooth decay is very common among adults. In fact, the average adult between ages 20 and 64 has about 13.6 decayed teeth
ENTERTAINMENT
As Halloween approaches, many students will be tempted to consume candy without any moderation. Over 90 million pounds of chocolate are consumed during the week of Halloween.
COMMENTARY
NEWS
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Photo by Paige Gandara-Valderas
FEATURES
The Zombie Walk, a San Antonio tradition since 2009, invites people from the community to come dressed as zombies and walk the streets of downtown. This year the San Antonio Zombie Walk will take place Sunday, Oct. 30 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Tower of the Americas. Each year the event has grown bigger and the staff has had to control the zombie outbreak by setting new boundaries. One of the biggest changes this year is that there will be a general admission fee of $5 to attend if purchased in advance; otherwise, the price will go up to $10 at the door on the day of the event. Previously, there was no charge, but with increased attendance, the staff has made this decision to help fund the festivities, amenities and police officers. Any extra proceeds will be given to local charities. “The costs to have this event have always come out of pocket,” Joseph Devine, coordinator of the Zombie Walk, said. “We wanted to hire more police officers, but it has just gotten too expensive to do so. Safety is our main priority.” This year, the Zombie Walk staff hopes to break the world record for the largest zombie gathering. This title is currently held by the Zombie Pub Crawl of Minneapolis Minnesota. The Zombie Walk first started with just a small group of friends back in 2009, according to Devine. “It started with just a handful of friends and grew from there,” Devine said. “We didn’t start turning it into a festival until about four years ago.” One St. Mary’s student who has routinely gone to this event for the past three years is Elizabeth Lewis, junior criminology major. Though she may not like Halloween, she enjoys going to the event instead to make up for missing the holiday. “I think [the Zombie Walk] is a great way for the community to come together to enjoy the event and to show their creativity,”
PG. 10
FOUNDERS HALL GHOST STORIES
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PG. 12
FOUR QUICK COSTUME IDEAS