OCR Text |
Show Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011 Page 4 AggieLife Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Giving back this Halloween with safe outdoor activities BY EVAN MILLSAP staff writer Across USU, students are coming up with creative, new ways to celebrate Halloween. Below are just a couple ways to spend this Halloween weekend as well as tips from the USU Police for having a fun and safe Halloween. Reverse trick or treating - - Perhaps one of the most surprising of these events is reverse trick-or-treating. On Halloween night children — and college students who are still children at heart — will hand candy back to the adults that answer the door at over 100,000 households across the U.S. It's not that they dislike candy; rather, the kids will be giving out fair-trade chocolate attached to an informative card to raise awareness of the child labor, forced labor, trafficking, poverty and environmental degradation allegedly widespread on cocoa farms. The idea was created by Equal Exchange, an organization dedicated to halting unfair trade practices. According to its website, in September 2011 Global Exchange, Green America and the International Labor Rights Forum released the article "Still Time to Raise the Bar: The Real Corporate Social Responsibility Report for the Hershey Company." This report dissented the practices of Hershey's, which has reportedly been the least involved of the leading chocolate companies in adopting changes to its sourcing practices. USU students have joined the cause and plan to take part in reverse trick-or-treating. "I think it's such a good idea," said Melissa Richards, an elementary education major and prospective reverse trickor-treater. "I mean, like, it's good to raise awareness about bad issues." Pumpkin Toss For those who think they're too cool for trick-or-treating, or any variation thereof, there are more passive activities, such as the Pumpkin Walk and subsequent Pumpkin Toss. "My Favorite Things," was the theme for the 28th annual North Logan Pumpkin Walk, which started Thursday, Oct. 20 and ended Tuesday. Committee member Gina Worthen said more than 500 REMNANTS FROM the Pumpkin Walk (above) will be hurled from a catapult Saturday Oct. 29. The Pumpkin Walk is just one safe Halloween activity for students and members of the community alike. DELAYNE LOCKE photo carved pumpkins lined the walking path through the scenes, which were put together by volunteers. Now that the walk is over, USU engineering students get to have some fun by launching the pumpkins in catapults and trebuchets they've designed. "That's going to be Saturday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. at Elk Ridge Park," Worthen said. "It's going to be on the soccer fields, and also people can come and watch that. They can come and toss pumpkins by hand. I understand that we have some sponsors, so there will be prizes for whoever comes and tosses their pumpkin by hand." Halloween Safety Safety is key, no matter what Halloween activities students choose to participate in, Capt. Steve Milne of USU Police said. He said little kids should worry about getting run over by cars or getting razor blades in their candy, reverse trick-or-treaters should worry about getting strange looks by refusing candy, engineers should wear safety goggles and follow other normal catapult precautions and those going to the Howl drunk should worry about getting arrested. USU police will not be available on Halloween to provide their normal safety escorts to those who feel unsafe, Millen said. If you are a reverse trickor-treater, you cannot have a police officer follow you around town. He said the cops will be busy Oct. 31 checking for pupil dilation. "If you're going to drink, don't come on campus," Milne said. "We have two-dozen officers employed that night that are going to be checking the sobriety of students." To enhance classic Halloween fun this year, USU students only have to decide which activity they take part in: whether it's distributing conflict-free candies and refusing to accept blood chocolates, smashing pumpkins or spending the night sober or behind bars. – evan.millsap@aggiemail.usu. edu Walking the tightrope for tricky entertainment BY MARIAN NOBLE features senior writer It's a beautiful, sunny day. Your left foot is on the ground, while the other is gripping the inch-wide tubular webbing, 3 feet in the air. As you shift your weight from left to right, your leg starts to wobble. After one more pep talk, you push and finally manage to stand in midair. Slacklining is not for those who give up easily, but Logan Hager, a sophomore majoring in English who bought his first line three years ago, said once you try it, you won't want to stop. "It's addicting," Hager said. "It seems like you should be better than you are, so you just keep going until you figure it out." From far away slacklining looks similar to walking a tightrope tied between two solid objects, such as trees. However, a slackline has less tension and is made of nylon webbing, similar to what trampolines are made of. The two common slackline sizes are 1- and 2-inch-wide. Most ready-made, commercial sets, with brand-names like Gibbon, cost between $50 and $100. Although, Hager said, many people purchase supplies at sporting goods stores and make their own. To do this, a person needs some inch-wide tubular webbing and three or four carabiners, to create a cinch, he said. "It's really cheap for how much time you can spend on it," undeclared freshman Caden Christiansen said. "I bought this line a year and a half ago, and I've used it a good 80 times." Different sized slacklines are used for different purposes. Hager said the thicker ones are usually used for more aggressive tricks, like flips or jumps. Different people tend to have different preferences in the types of slacklines they use, said Rebekah Wood, a structural geology graduate student. "People who do the thin line and don't wrap trees (to prevent bark damage)," Wood said, "they're very down to earth. They're not hippie-granola. But people who wrap trees typically are more environmentally conscious. And the people who use big lines — I just think of Europeans with that — there are just stereotypes." Wood said she prefers to stay away from thicker slacklines and the tricks that go with them. "It's just kind of a stress relief to me," Wood said. "It's not one of those thrill-seeking hobbies." But for others, like Seth Hansen, a junior majoring OSee SLACKLINERS, Page 5 SLACKLINERS TRY TO WALK on a rope tied between two trees. Slacklining is a popular sport for rock climbers. KIMBERLY SHORTS photo |