FEATURES

Hot or Not? Students Flaunt Spring Fashion Trends on Campus
Jessica Thompson | Staff Reporter

Walking through the MSU campus, there is a flurry of colors and people; the athletes wearing MSU athletic wear, the Greeks showing their letters and the average student wearing jeans and a favorite T-shirt. Amidst the chaos of trying to get to class you see bits of personality reflected in what the students have chosen to wear.  Everyday each student has to get up and get ready for class. For some students that may be easier than others. Do we pick out what we wear or just throw on something clean? For many students, their clothes reflect a bit of what they are about.
Every student has their own opinion of what’s hot or not, but some very agreeable fashion don’ts were; Gold jewelry, wearing your high school letterman jacket, Spandex anything, too much ‘80s gear, tapered jeans, too many piercings and snow boots with skirts.
Some Indian favorites are “hoodies,” American Eagle jeans, black pointy boots, stilettos, chandelier earrings, MSU tees and sweatshirts, track jackets, caplets, wristlets, keychain wallets, scrubs (for our dental and nursing students), Gap clothing, Concert t-shirts, light–colored tops, house shoes and fuzzy slippers.
Students’ fashion also depended on location. Dorm students seemed to be more comfortable not dressing up for class. However, the off–campus students and commuters seemed to want to dress up more for various reasons. “It makes me feel better to dress up” said Ashley Klement, a junior who lives off campus. She also works after school, so starting out a good day is a must for her. The students who live on campus feel comfort is the major factor. Guys and girls both preferred jeans and T-shirts with a comfortable pair of house shoes. Girls in sororities and from more urban areas seemed to favor monogrammed designer purses and chandelier earrings, whereas some students felt that designer clothes were outrageously priced. Vintage clothing seemed to be a big hit overall, so if you need a new shirt why not go to the nearest thrift store?
The students’ backgrounds also seemed to be a varying factor on the way they viewed clothing. Students from urban areas, like Houston and Fort Worth, seem to go shopping more, and knew about more stores and clothing items. Urban students don’t like the mall here, but rural students were just happy to have a mall.
“I think people from big cities have the habit of going shopping more often,” Brittany Pittman, a freshman from Dallas, said.
The new store, Hollister, has somewhat been reflected in the trends, but most students agree they didn’t like the atmosphere or pricing of the clothes. Most students agreed clothes seem to be a big expense now they are out of the house. Many expressed that they only shopped at big, designer stores if there was a sale, or not at all since they didn’t have their parents’ credit card to rely on.
“I go shopping a lot more when my parents pay for it, because then I have money left over for myself,” said Kelcy Simpson, freshman. Many also admitted having to walk around campus all day made them less likely to focus on what’s trendy and instead choose what’s comfortable.
If given unlimited funds, favorite stores and designers were Polo, J. Crew, Louis Vuitton, Abercrombie and Fitch, Nordstrom’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.  
Everyone has something they enjoy and would be willing to spend money on. For some people that might be clothes, for others it could be different. The bottom line, people shouldn’t judge others on what they wear. There is probably a reason for wearing certain types of clothes and people should be more accepting to others fashion. 

Groundhog Day Begin in Punxsutawney
Abigail Carter | Managing Editor

A Native American tribe called the Delaware settled Punxsutawney, Penn. in the early 1700s, according to the Stormfax Weather Almanac. The Delaware believed groundhogs were the spirits of their ancestors. In the story of creation which the tribe believed, their ancestors lived as animals in the earth, coming forth after hundreds of years as humans. Groundhogs and woodchucks are actually the same animal. “Woodchuck” is derived from the Delaware legend of Wojak, the groundhog, whom they believed to be their grandfather and ancestor spirit.
Later that same century, German settlers arrived, bringing with them a traditional celebration known as Candlemas Day, which originated from the pagan celebration of Imbolc and so came at the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. According to superstition, were an animal to cast a shadow due to the sun shining on February 2nd, the day halfway between Winter and Spring, it meant there would be six weeks more of cold weather.
Germans typically watched for a badger’s shadow and selected the groundhog as the badger’s replacement. Groundhogs are members of the squirrel family who eat succulent greens such as dandelion, clover, and grasses. The first official celebration of Groundhog Day was Feb. 2nd, 1886, when the editor of Punxsutawney’s newspaper, “The Punxsutawney Spirit,” printed the proclamation: "Today is groundhog day and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen its shadow."
The groundhog was christened “Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary'' and his hometown was thereafter known as the "Weather Capital of the World.'' Phil travels to Gobbler’s Knob each February to take up residence in his heated burrow beneath a fake tree stump on a stage. He is pulled out at 7:25 a.m. to make his prediction. According to the statistics, Phil is correct only a depressing 39 percent of the time.
The oldest reference to Groundhog Day in American literature is from February 4th, 1841 and can be found at the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center at Franklin and Marshall College.
In 1993, Columbia Pictures released the film “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray as a TV weatherman who relives Groundhog Day every time he wakes up. Since the movie’s release, attendance at the real event has expanded. In 1997, approximately 35,000 visitors arrived in Punxsutawney to join in the Groundhog Day festivities.
Punxsutawney Phil’s handler, local funeral director Bill Deeley, said Phil weighs 15 pounds and thrives on dog food and ice cream in his climate-controlled home at the Punxsutawney Library.