2008 Woodie Awards
Cat ears and sporks spark discussion about individuality
Whitney Harding, Contributing Writer, wharding@smu.edu
Issue date: 5/1/07 Section: News
When sophomore Tony Nguyen steps out of his dorm each day he looks pretty much like a regular college student. He has a backpack on his shoulders filled with books and homework, and he wears a T-shirt and jeans.
There is one thing that makes him stand out among his peers, though. Perched atop Nguyen's head sits a set of fuzzy, black cat ears. He doesn't leave home without them.
Students want to know: Why the ears?
"When you become a topic of conversation it's weird," said Nguyen. "In my case it's a bewilderment. I mean, there is the war in Iraq and the Darfur genocide, but students are talking about me."
Nguyen isn't the only student at SMU who has a creative accessory. Junior Allee Wesolowski adds character to her hair with a spork that sits on top of her ponytail. A spork is an eating utensil that has the bowl shape of a spoon combined with the tines of a fork.
She has also been known to wear a Renaissance-style cloak.
"It's very warm, very windbreaker and water proof," said Wesolowski. "I don't know why they ever went out of style."
Nguyen and Wesolowski are college students expressing themselves in different ways. What many students at SMU call "quirky" and "weird," Nguyen and Wesolowski find to be creative and an extension of their unique personalities. On a campus like SMU, where the stereotype of conformity is popped collars and pearls, some students still want to stand out and not follow the crowd.
"When you have a society that is very conformist, people often use things that are completely random so they can be saying, 'I'm challenging this idea,'" said SMU sociology professor Dr. Sheri Kunovich.
Nguyen and Wesolowski's celebrity status on campus has been confirmed on Facebook. Wesolowski said that a couple years ago she was wasting time on the social networking site, Facebook, and searched "sporks." A group came up called "What the hell's with the spork?" It was a group dedicated to her. She said she joined the group and got involved.
There is one thing that makes him stand out among his peers, though. Perched atop Nguyen's head sits a set of fuzzy, black cat ears. He doesn't leave home without them.
Students want to know: Why the ears?
"When you become a topic of conversation it's weird," said Nguyen. "In my case it's a bewilderment. I mean, there is the war in Iraq and the Darfur genocide, but students are talking about me."
Nguyen isn't the only student at SMU who has a creative accessory. Junior Allee Wesolowski adds character to her hair with a spork that sits on top of her ponytail. A spork is an eating utensil that has the bowl shape of a spoon combined with the tines of a fork.
She has also been known to wear a Renaissance-style cloak.
"It's very warm, very windbreaker and water proof," said Wesolowski. "I don't know why they ever went out of style."
Nguyen and Wesolowski are college students expressing themselves in different ways. What many students at SMU call "quirky" and "weird," Nguyen and Wesolowski find to be creative and an extension of their unique personalities. On a campus like SMU, where the stereotype of conformity is popped collars and pearls, some students still want to stand out and not follow the crowd.
"When you have a society that is very conformist, people often use things that are completely random so they can be saying, 'I'm challenging this idea,'" said SMU sociology professor Dr. Sheri Kunovich.
Nguyen and Wesolowski's celebrity status on campus has been confirmed on Facebook. Wesolowski said that a couple years ago she was wasting time on the social networking site, Facebook, and searched "sporks." A group came up called "What the hell's with the spork?" It was a group dedicated to her. She said she joined the group and got involved.
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