Halloween Round-Up

Here is a round-up of some interesting things having to do with Halloween.

The sixth annual Boston University Pumpkin Drop happened today. See more photos here.

Salem Zombie Walk

Zombie Walks are becoming more and more popular every year. This week there was one in Salem and another in Providence.

Children in Foxboro will be trick-or-treating on Saturday 10/30 instead of on Sunday, which is Halloween, because of the Patriots game on Sunday night. This has been a big controversy in town among the parents. The kids don't seem to care though. I keep hearing them talk about getting candy in Foxboro on Saturday and then going to (neighboring town) Mansfield on Sunday!

The Evening (Bad)News

I have noticed recently that there is a big difference between the news shown on television at 6am and what is shown at 11pm. The morning news tends to be optimistic, talking about good news and human interest stories. On the other hand, the evening news is faced paced, with crazy graphics and full of stories about shocking violence and terrible things. 

Has anyone else noticed this?

Chloe's Carbon Footprint

For class this week I had to watch "The Age of Stupid". It is a really neat documentary. You should totally watch it if you haven't.

After watching the film, I was thinking about the idea of a carbon footprint, and read about it some more, and I found myself wondering how big my cat Chloe's carbon footprint would be. I used a carbon footprint calculator, and answered the questions as though I was her:

-1 person household
-1 car, traveling 10 miles/month (about how far I drive for her food & litter)
-$30 electricity/ month (we have electric heat and a/c, so I figured out about how often she is home alone)
-Mostly prepackaged foods
-Rarely buys local
-Generally buys organic
-Eats mostly fish

Sure enough, Chloe, my cat, has a bigger carbon footprint (2.28 metric tons) than the world target for an individual human (2 metric tons). I don't know what this means, but my mind is boggled.

Brand Loyalty and the Weather

Every evening I watch NECN to find out what the weather is going to be the next morning. Then, in the morning I watch to see what it is going to be over the course of the day. But during the day I consult the weather.com app on my iPhone to see if there have been any changes to the forecast, and if there is a weather system moving in, to see how close it is to my location.

When I was a kid, my dad and I watched The Weather Channel religiously. They were the people I turned to in order to know what to wear, and when to plan my events. I really don't watch anymore because the channel has added quite a bit of Reality programming, and I really don't need any more of that in my life. That being said, I obviously still trust them as The Source for weather information when it matters most: when I am out and about in the world. 

I think this says something about the importance of creating a brand people trust. There are dozens of weather apps for my iPhone, but I choose theirs. I honestly don't even feel the need to check anything else out.

Are there any brands you feel this kind of loyalty to?

Interesting Email

Today I received the following email from our VP of student affairs. Although I am not a lesbian, and not being bullied, I really appreciated him reaching out to the BSU community in this way.

To All Students,


I write to express my deep sorrow and outrage at the recent deaths of Tyler Clementi (Rutgers University) and Raymond Chase (Johnson & Wales)--two gay college students who committed suicide recently, one due to anti-gay bullying; and of Seth Walsh (13 years old), Asher Brown (13 yrs old), Billy Lucas (15 years old), and Cody Barker (17 years old) who took their lives in September 2010 after suffering anti-gay bullying. Members of the LGBT community at Bridgewater State University may feel especially vulnerable just now, and it is important for them to know that students, staff, and faculty/librarians of the University stand with them at this sad time.


Harassment is not a prank. It is never funny. It is hurtful both to the persons who are its targets and also to the whole University community-- and it is illegal. The BSU student Code of Conduct forbids harassment of individuals or groups based on race, color, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, political belief or affiliation, marital status, gender identity, and/or genetic information. I urge any student who believes he or she has been harassed to make a detailed record of the harassing incidents and report them to one of the offices listed below, no matter whether the harassment is based on sexual orientation or any other element of social identity.


Now is the time for all members of the BSU community to come together in mutual support. It is the time to stand up against inappropriate jokes and hurtful actions, and it is the time to reach out in friendship and care across whatever boundaries divide us. You all deserve a sympathetic ear and a helping hand.


Bridgewater State University is a wonderful place to live and study and work. Social justice is one of our key values. Especially now, let us live up to the values we espouse.




I'd like to think that people feel comfortable reaching out in our school, but since my experience has really only been positive, I really don't know if that is the case. Thoughts?

Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh, Asher Brown, Billy Lucas

You've probably already seen this by now, but I want to share it here. The recent suicides of young people that were being bullied, and especially those of the people who were ridiculed for being gay, have broken the hearts of many, including mine. I can't even express how horrified I am that this continues to happen. The worst thing about it is that there are people who take their lives every day for the reasons above and we never, ever hear about it. The only reason we are hearing about it right now is that the media has decided it is worth covering.

We need to DO something.

Wazzzzzzup with this new beer ad?

I'll be honest, I got the idea for this from a post over at teenagerie (a great website, by the way), but she makes such a great point that I needed to share it with you. The following advertisement appeared in Out Magazine recently:


Since when does Budweiser, the ultimate "(Heterosexual)Man's Beer" court gay men? Did they just suddenly realize that a solid percentage of the American beer-drinking population was not being reached by their T&A advertising and decide to branch out?

Now I'm not knocking Budweiser for this. You can't blame them for wanting to sell their product, and I doubt there are many other beer companies clamoring to advertise in Out Magazine. I do have to wonder how they went from women in bikinis and frogs and WAZZZZUUUUP to gay men in a bar, though.

What do you all think?

Going GrΣΣk

This semester I did something I never thought I would do: I joined a sorority. Me. I am the girl who watched "Sorority Life" on MTV with equal feelings of anger and sadness over how they treated their new sisters. I am the girl that bought "Pledged" the week it came out because I wanted to know more about what these terrible organizations were doing to young women. Me! The girl who would rather spend a Sunday watching football with her husband and her father than pretty much anything else in the world. Yeah. Me.

Something shifted in me, though. Maybe it was the show GrΣΣk's depiction of female friendships that got me, or maybe I was just lonely. I don't really know. When I heard about the new sorority that was coming to BSU I researched them like a good Virgo and found out that they are known for REAL sisterhood, and for embracing down-to-Earth, individual women and created strong groups that look out for each other and people in the world that need their help. So I contacted them, and we did some things, and now I am a member. To be honest, I am having time of my life.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my expectations going into this and I have realized that all of my ideas about what it means to be "in a sorority" come from the media. Since I have never known anyone that was involved in Greek life, I allowed television, newspapers, movies, books and magazines to make judgements for me. I was prejudiced against something I knew nothing about. Granted, I'm still learning, but I feel like this experience has shown me that you can't simply accept the things the media tells you about a subject, no matter how unremarkable it may seem. It is a good lesson to learn.