The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: costumes

  • Commercial Costumes Can Be Problematic

    Commercial Costumes Can Be Problematic

    Many costumes portray culture and lifestyle in an insensitive manner

    Humboldt State students hurry last minute to piece their Halloween costumes together but find no comfort in commercial Halloween stores as the stores will often have sections full of costumes that are ignorant or insensitive.

    Sierra Cosper, a forestry major, expressed her discontent in the commercial Halloween store, Spirit Halloween.

    “I went through Spirit Halloween and they had a whole aisle of Pocahontas and it’s not cool,” Cosper said. “It’s 2019, can we move on from that now?”

    Students agreed that Pocahontas and Native American themed costumes were disrespectful and unacceptable to wear. Haley Fedalizo, a liberal studies elementary education major, found another commercial Halloween store, Party City, to be disrespectful toward culture and body weight.

    “Obviously the [costumes] that are in your face like the Native American one is not okay,” Fedalizo said. “I was literally at Party City yesterday and I saw a “fat costume” and that’s not cool.”

    Jose Moreno, a social work major, also found fault in the commercial chain Party City. Moreno practices an ironically ‘fun’ tradition at the store every year. Often losing count of the inappropriate costumes.

    “I went through Spirit Halloween and they had a whole aisle of Pocahontas and it’s not cool. It’s 2019, can we move on from that now?”

    Sierra Cosper

    “When I go to Party City or anything like that, I count how many cultural appropriation outfits there are,” Moreno said. “I’m like ‘there’s one right there, and right there! I lost track.”

    Beyond the recognizable commercial chains, the internet continues to advertise culturally insensitive and inappropriate Halloween costumes and accessories.

    HSU student Gabrielle Sturm, an environmental studies major, went online to browse for the Halloween season and couldn’t believe what was advertised.

    “I was looking up costumes online and I was a little surprised to see how many [inappropriate costumes] there still are,” Sturm says. “I think they’re bad but a lot of people still do it.”

    While cultural appropriation continues to popularize social media with cultural awareness movements, HSU promotes a safe and respectful Halloween season. Of course, the message on campus has no influence on commercial chains.

  • What’s your costume?

    What’s your costume?

    By | Iridian Casarez

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    Bailey Tennery

    Journalism, 3rd year

    Velma

    “I chose to be Velma from Scooby Doo, I have always loved her,” Tennery said. “She was the smartest one.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    IMG_4407John Yu

    Zoology junior

    Monkey

    “All weekend, I was at Halloween parties as a monkey with a bundle of bananas and people kept asking me for them, so I decided to get bananas and started giving them away,” Yu said. “I’m the Monkey King.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    Alycia Padilla

    Wildlife senior

    Steampunk Keyblade Master

    “I’m a steampunk Keyblade Master from the video game Kingdom Hearts,” Padilla said. “I’ve always liked steampunk style and Kingdom Hearts has different Keyblade Masters so I came up with my own.”

     

     

     

     

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    Photo by Iridian Casarez

    Madeline Lueck

    Botany

    Scarecrow

    “My partner went as a crow, so I decided to be a scarecrow,” Leuck said. “It took days to put it together but I thought it’d be fun.”

     

     

    IMG_4416Ryan Maberry

    Forestry 2nd year

    Elf on the Shelf

    “I’ve been told I look like an elf so I dressed up as the Ellf on the Shelf,” Maberry said. “It took me about two hours to put together.”

     

     

     

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    Zachary Warren

    Sophomore Econ major

    Ash Ketchum

    “I normally do really bad costumes, I will have an idea and then try to do it myself and it doesn’t work out, so I wanted to be something really cool this year,” Warren said. “Ash is a recognizable character. A lot of people grew up with Pokémon so I thought it’d be really cool.”

     

  • My culture is NOT a costume!

    My culture is NOT a costume!

    By | Reza Sadeghzadeh

    Some people might think it’s sexy to wear a Pocahontas costume for Halloween or funny to dress up like a Muslim wearing a thawb with a fake bomb strapped to their chest.

    But ask a Native American woman if she thinks it’s sexy to dress up like a subordinate Disney character where Native Americans are portrayed as a second-class citizens. Ask her if she thinks it’s sexy to dress up like Pocahontas when Native American women have the highest rate of rape and assault.

    Ask Mohammad Maleki, a former HSU student from Iran, if it’s funny to dress up like a stereotypical Muslim suicide bomber when he was unable to come back to America during Trump’s travel ban earlier this year.

    Those who like to use other people’s cultures as costumes might claim that they are only choosing to dress as such just for the sake of Halloween. They’ll add that they don’t mean to promote racial stereotypes. But their intention is irrelevant.

    That is why the My Culture is Not a Costume campaign has been brought to our campus with the endeavor of students like Deema Hindaw to raise awareness about this issue.

    “My goal with this campaign is to show people that cultural appropriation is not a joke,” said Hindaw. “The culture of others shouldn’t be a costume that one gets to wear for a night.”

    Hindaw and other students from the MultiCultural Center have also put together a workshop to inform others about the distinction between cultural appreciation and appropriation.

    My Culture is Not a Costume is a nationwide movement. It is not just about a costume, it is also about “putting on other people’s skin for that one night as a prop,” said Elizabeth Phillips, a Communication student at HSU. “And at the end of the night, you get to take it off and maintain your privilege while other people have to deal with their cultural reality… the reality that our society has viewed skin color in a hierarchy.”

    Every culture is beautiful and slightly different from one another. But at the end of the day, we are all humans who want the same things in life. Cultural appropriation is a systematic ideology implemented by those who are advocates of racial segregation and the scandalous rhetoric of “divide and conquer.”

    Cultural appreciation is a framework for solidarity, because it helps us admire our cultural differences that is used as guidance for a healthy dialogue regarding race. Finally, culturally appropriated costumes discourage us from having any type of healthy dialogue about our different cultures.

  • Plunging into the Humboldt Bay

    Plunging into the Humboldt Bay

    By Iridian Casarez

    Participants line up to plunge into the icy cold waters of the Humboldt Bay for the children’s Discovery Museum.

    The Discovery Museum in Eureka held its 16th annual Perilous Plunge fundraiser Saturday February 11.

    The Perilous Plunge is a fundraiser for the Discovery Museum where people dress up in costumes to jump into the Humboldt bay to raise money. The Discovery Museum is a science museum for kids. It is the only children’s museum in the area according to Kala Minkley the executive director of the Discovery Museum.

    The Perilous Plunge is the only big fundraiser the museum throws and covers 20 percent of their yearly budget said Minkley. Plungers needed to raise at least $150 to jump into the bay.

    Plunger Brenda Urueta was dressed as Prince. This was Urueta’s first time plunging.  She was with the Humboldt Area Foundation group that was plunging into the bay dressed as “the fallen stars of 2016”. The Humboldt Area Foundation is a non-profit community foundation that gives grants, scholarships and resource library to non-profit organizations.

    “I am doing the plunge because I decided I wanted to do something adventurous and at the same time help advance the mission of the Discovery Museum,” Ureta said. 

    The Marching Lumberjacks performing at the Perilous Plunge on Saturday Feb. 11 2017 in Eureka, California. Photo by Iridian Casarez

    Michele Stephens works for the Department of Health and Human Services and plunged into the bay with a group of her co-workers. The Department of Health and Human Services’ costume theme was beach inspired. This was Stephen’s second time plunging into the bay for the Discovery Museum fundraiser.

    “It’s a great fundraiser for the Discovery Museum and the museum is a great part of the community,” Stephens said. “The water was super super cold.”

    Jamie Corsetti from Corsetti Accounting Corporation raised over $2,000. This was Corsetti’s 10th year jumping into the Humboldt Bay for the Perilous Plunge fundraiser. “I do it to have fun,” Corsetti said. “I plunge to support the community and the Discovery Museum.