Getting in the Halloween Spirit: Local Attractions Offer Wide Array of Options for Halloween Revelers October 27, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , 1 comment so farPatrick Wall, Style Editor
Who says Halloween is just for kids? While the kids might be the ones who get to dress like superheroes and not get laughed at, college students can have just as much fun.
George Mason University, Washington, D.C. and the northern Virginia area have several events planned for Oct. 31.
If you’re looking for something to get you and your pals into the Halloween spirit, check out these events, both on campus and off:
On Campus
For those who want to have some holiday fun without leaving campus, Mason has Halloween covered. On Oct. 27, Mason Housing will be providing mini pumpkins for students to paint. The event is open to everyone. On Oct. 29, the Northern Neck dorms will play host to a Halloween party. The event will feature prizes for best dressed and scariest costumes.
For those who prefer to rock out on Halloween, Mason is offering a little something for the metal head in all of us.
On Halloween night, cartoon metal band sensation Deathklok will be sharing the stage with Mastodon at the Patriot Center.
Tickets are on sale now and are available for $35 and can be purchased at the Patriot Center Box Office or at www.ticketmaster.com.
Most residence halls will be hosting mini parties the week of Halloween. Many RAs are showing scary movies and hosting get-togethers. For more information on what’s happening in your building, talk to your RA.
Off Campus
Six Flags America, located in Mitchellville, Md., is hosting its annual Fright Fest. In addition to kid-friendly fare, the park offers something for the grown-ups.
The park is featuring haunted pathways called Scare Zones, and the Paranormal Studios haunted tour. Tickets for the haunted tour are $5 a person, and the price of Fright Fest is included in the general admission price of $50.
If driving to an amusement park isn’t your style, don’t worry. There are plenty of events happening closer to campus.
Tour group Washington Walks takes visitors on a tour of the haunted places around Lafayette Park. Tours are given every Friday at 7:30 p.m. as well as the 27th through the 31st. Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased the day of the walk.
Just because Fairfax is a bustling city doesn’t mean there aren’t farms to visit. Cox Farms, located at 15621 Braddock Road in Centreville, hosts events daily.
Known as the Fall Festival, the farm features hay rides, a corn maze, slides and of course, a pumpkin patch.
On Friday and Saturday nights after 7:30 p.m., the farm becomes the Fields of Fear attraction. Tickets are $15.
For those looking for something more offbeat, The District’s annual Drag Queen Race will be held Oct. 25 at 9 p.m. between P and S streets. And don’t forget the burgeoning area tradition – free Chipotle burritos. All patrons who dress up like a Chipotle burrito and visit the restaurant on Halloween will get a burrito on the house.
Repeat Offenders: Six Overused Halloween Costumes You Should Avoid October 27, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentJulia Harding, Broadside Correspondent
Every year, college students are faced with the challenge of choosing a costume for their Halloween adventures.
Unfortunately, most students continue to make the same mistakes over and over again: Wearing the same ridiculously lame costumes from years prior.
Halloween is the best holiday to show off uniqueness, so people should take advantage of it instead of wearing the same attire their best friend wore last year. To help out, Broadside is here to talk about which costumes to avoid this year. Unless, of course, you want to be part of the average, boring and ultimately lame agenda. Here’s a list of the top three most overused, annoying costumes for men and women.
Men
Pimps: Really, guys? Do men actually think that this is appealing to women, even on a night of fun? Sorry gentlemen, but your grills and pimp cups aren’t much of a turn-on for the ladies. Seriously though, this is definitely one of the most overdone costumes because every man who wears this outfit is obviously out to stroke his own ego.
Perhaps men think that their cheap, bedazzled pimp canes are an extension of their manhood.
The answers to why men degrade themselves with this silly outfit are left unknown, but beware ladies. If he is dressed as a pimp, he is probably interested in finding employees to suit his job.
Homicidal Maniacs: Going as the Scream murderer this year? Thanks for the trip back to the 90’s. Honestly, nobody is intimidated by the same psychotic killer each year. Get a costume with some originality. Just because Hollywood can’t produce a new slayer doesn’t mean that the rest of society has to follow the same pathetic trend.
Pirates: Everyone loves Johnny Depp, not the people that imitate him year after year. It was cute and fun the first time around, but please put a stop to everyone else’s agony. Don’t forget about that sexy plastic sword or that matted beard. Hot!
Women
Naughty Occupational Costumes: Whether your costume is a nurse, librarian, policewoman, French maid or schoolgirl, it’s all old and overdone. It doesn’t matter which costume you chose, they all rank pretty high on the skank-o-meter.
Sorceresses or Witches: These costumes are as old as Halloween itself. Typically, unless the outfits rank into the naughty section (in which case, the offenders of the number one overdone costume are delighted), they go down to your ankles and are jet black. So have fun looking like a great-grandmother at a funeral since that’s so ingenious and imaginative.
Disney Princesses: How adorable . . . if you’re eight. Seeing an adult woman dressed as Cinderella just looks like she’s working at a Disney theme park. Why don’t we leave the magic carpet rides and talking tea cups to those who actually watch the movies?
Halloween Playlist October 27, 2009
Posted by Sonya Hudson in : Style , add a commentEmily Sharrer, Editor-in-Chief
The drinks have been bought, girls have found the smallest costumes they could possibly fit into and the Facebook invites have been sent out. So, with Halloween just around the corner, it’s come time for frat bros and general party throwers everywhere to begin making crucial choices about what songs to put on this year’s “Halloween Mix ‘09.” But not just any songs will do. To make sure your guests stay longer than the drinks hold out, your Halloween mix has to be equal parts funny and cool, conventional and current. To give your party the right vibe, I suggest pulling from this list of Halloween-inspired songs. Enjoy!
“A Nightmare On My Street” – DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince
“Monster Mash” – Bobby “Boris” Pickett
“Thriller”- Michael Jackson
“Spooky Scary Skeletons” – Andrew Gold
“Don’t Fear the Reaper” – Blue Oyster Cult
“Ghostbusters” – Ray Parker Jr.
“Hell Sent” – Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
“Bat Out of Hell” – Meat Loaf
“Black Magic Woman” – Santana
“Werewolves of London” – Warren Zevon
“Dead Man Walkin” – Bruce Springsteen
“Somebody’s Watching Me” – Rockwell
“People are Strange” – The Doors
“Suicidal Thoughts” – The Notorious B.I.G.
“Abracadabra” – Steve Miller Band
“She Wolf” – Shakira
“Sympathy for the Devil” – The Rolling Stones
“Interview with a Vampire” – Ras Kass
“Disturbia” – Rihanna
“Psycho Killer” – Talking Heads
“Bad Moon Rising” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
“Murder was the Case” – Snoop Dogg
“Season of the Witch” – Donovan
“Boris the Spider” – The Who
“This is Halloween” – Danny Elfman
“D’Evils”– Jay-Z
Dress Up on a Dime: Look Ghoulish Without Breaking the Bank October 27, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentGabriella Leone, Broadside Correspondent
Halloween costume prices can be just as scary as the holiday, but with some do-it-yourself tips you can have an original and affordable costume this year.
The first place to look is your own closet. Be creative! Look at what you have and try to put something together. For example, if you want to be Michael Jackson this year, you probably already own some key pieces.
Black pants, black flat shoes, a simple white t-shirt and white socks are items that can typically be found in your closet. Now all you need is a metallic glove, a flashy black jacket or blazer and a black hat.
You can pick all these items up at a costume or thrift store for around $30 and jazz them up with glitter glue. You can even be Thriller-era Michael Jackson with red pants and a red jacket or vest, two items that you can get for a total of $30 if you look at department stores like Kohl’s, Macy’s and Sears.
The Joker is a popular costume, and an easy one, too. Instead of buying purple pants and a blazer, wear a dark suit with a green shirt and dark tie. The makeup is what really makes this costume, and a set at Walmart is around $5.
If you want to be a little scarier, try an old classic: The vampire. You’ll just need to buy fangs and white makeup. Wear black lacey or leather clothing, spread some red paint around your mouth and wear your outfit with a mysterious, sultry attitude.
Creativity is important on Halloween. Some fun ideas include a crayon, an iPod commercial or a bad yearbook picture. For a crayon, wear a dress or outfit of your favorite color, use some black felt and cut out the word “Crayola” in black felt.
Paste the letters down your outfit, make a cone shaped hat and presto, you’re a crayon. Being an iPod commercial is easy – just dress in all black, paint your face black, grab your iPod and headphones and Velcro a large, square neon foam board to your back.
If you don’t have an iPod, be a bad yearbook picture. Dress normally, but do your makeup and hair to look awful.
Take a cardboard box and cut a hole on the bottom for your head, and cut out the front of the box leaving a 3-inch border.
Glue a colored fabric inside the box for the picture’s background, two places for your arms to stick out, and decorate the border to look like a picture frame. All that’s left is to stick your head through and make some funny faces.
Before blowing your whole paycheck on a costume, try to think outside the box and make your costume all your own.
Bunny Man: Fairfax’s Own Urban Legend October 27, 2009
Posted by Sonya Hudson in : Style , 3 commentsEmily Sharrer, Editor-in-Chief
Since at least 1903, area residents have been haunted by the legend of the Bunny Man, Fairfax’s own urban legend, fueled by many different incidents reported in Clifton, Va. for over 100 years.
While most Northern Virginians are familiar with the age old tale of the Bunny Man and the infamous Bunny Man Bridge, an overpass of the Southern Railway located on Colchester Road about 20 minutes from George Mason University, many out-of-staters are unfamiliar with the tale.
So for those who don’t know how the story goes, I’ll give you a brief run-down of the legend of the Bunny Man. There are many different variations of the tale, though most involve a man dressed in a bunny suit attacking people with an axe.
In 1903, there was an asylum in Clifton, a small town of no more than 300 people. Residents passed a petition to move the facility to a new location, called Lorton Prison.
On a fall night in 1904, the convicts at the Clifton asylum were loaded onto a bus and driven to the new facility. Somehow, however, the bus swerved off the road and many convicts escaped into the night. Police were able to account for all but two convicts, Marcus A. Wallster and Douglas J. Grifon.
Upon their search for the two men, police kept finding mutilated and half-eaten rabbits, hanging from trees or from Bunny Man Bridge. Wallster was then found dead, similar to the way the rabbits were found and Grifon became known as the Bunny Man.
When police finally found Grifon, he nearly escaped, but was hit by a train right above the bridge. It is said that if you go to the bridge on Halloween night, two bunnies will run under the bridge.
Right when the clock strikes midnight, the Bunny Man’s soul will appear in a flash of light on the railroad tracks above the bridge and then appear standing in the bridge tunnel.
His soul lights up the area so bright that you can’t see him until he slits your throat, slashes your chest and hangs you from the edge of the bridge.
According to local myth, you can even see the spots of the bridge that are worn away from where the bodies were swinging.
Now, every year around Halloween police block off the one-lane bridge since many people try to go find out if the legend is true. Another variation of the tale springs from two incidents in 1970.
On Oct. 20, 1970, around midnight, a couple on their way home from a football game parked near Bunny Man Bridge to talk. They noticed a man behind the car and seconds later, their passenger side window was smashed in.
While driving away, the man yelled at them about trespassing, and the couple found a hatchet on the car floor. The second occurance involved a security guard who approached a man in a bunny suit who was chopping at a porch post with an axe and threatened to hit the man on his head for trespassing.
Fairfax County Police investigated the incidents, though the investigations were closed due to a lack of evidence. In the following weeks, more than 50 sightings of the Bunny Man were reported. To learn more about the 1970 sightings, check out the following articles from The Washington Post: “Man in Bunny Suit Sought in Fairfax” (October 22, 1970), “The ‘Rabbit’ Reappears” (October 31, 1970), “Bunny Man Seen” (November 4, 1970), and “Bunny Reports Are Multiplying” (November 6, 1970).
The Fairfax urban legend has even shown up in popular culture. The 2001 movie Donnie Darko takes place in Middlesex, Va. and the character Frank, a scary man in a bunny suit, is said to be based loosely on the Bunny Man.
To learn more about the Bunny Man, read Fairfax Public Library Historian Brian Conley’s The Bunny Man Unmasked: The Real Life Origins of an Urban Legend, which can be found online.
The Terrifying 10: Our list of the Scariest Movies of All Time October 27, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentRoss Bonaime, Staff Writer
As Halloween rolls around this week, it is time to reflect on a yearly mainstay of the season: the scary movie.
While Saw VI comes out with its latest iteration on how to convolutedly kill people within a ragged plotline, I implore you this Halloween to check out some of the films that are actually frightening. With that, here are the top ten greatest scary movies.
10. Let the Right One In
Vampires may have regained popularity with Twilight, but this Swedish film did it much better.
Oskar is a kid who falls in love with Eli, a little girl who moved in next door, and just so happens to be a vampire.
The film succeeds by not glorifying vampirism and showing how horrifying and lecherous being a vampire truly could be.
9. The Blair Witch Project
This low-budget handheld horror film redefined how easily movies can be made and just how terrifying a movie with a small budget about three friends lost in the woods can be scarier than the typical big-budget horror fare. Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity – say thank you.
8. The Sixth Sense
Remember when M. Night Shyamalan was being called the next Hitchcock?
Before he made movies about killer air and swimming pool elves, Shyamalan made this eerie study of a child who could see dead people.
Shyamalan made audiences as scared as a little Haley Joel Osment and supplied them with one of the greatest movie twists of all time.
7. 28 Days Later
While George Romero became renowned for his world full of zombies, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later showed a much more realistic and frightening reality where zombies have taken over the world.
The story of four survivors working their way through England not only was creepy but also had a great emotional backbone to it as well.
6. M
One of the greatest serial killer movies of all time, director Fritz Lang utilized the chilling styles developed through German Expressionism used in earlier horror films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu and made this stunning look at a child-killer and the small town trying to track him down.
5. Scream
The best parodies work when the film is also an exceptional addition into the genre they are lampooning.
A perfect example is Scream, which builds on the audience’s previous knowledge of horror films and even uses it to trick and trap the characters within the movie.
Scream took a hilarious look at scary movies while also becoming one itself.
4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Like The Blair Witch Project after it, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre became a unsuspecting independent film that went on to revolutionize horror films and become one of the first slasher films.
The film follows a group of five friends on a road trip who end up in the house of a bizarre, cannibalistic family, protected by the horrendous Leatherface.
The audience has just about as much knowledge of what’s going on as the friends, and that combined with the iconic Leatherface makes this a great classic.
3. The Shining
If anyone could make a thought-provoking, intelligent, yet still unnerving horror film, it was the late, great Stanley Kubrick. Jack Nicholson leads his abused family into a summer resort to watch over it for the winter.
However, Nicholson starts to become unsettled by the house and starts to go crazy. The Shining’s study of Nicholson’s psyche as he drifts into insanity makes it not only a great scary movie but a great mind-bender as well.
2. The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s tale of losing religion and look into the depths of human psychology also created one of the most chilling horror icons of all time: Linda Blair’s possessed Reagan MacNeil.
In Friedkin’s exorcism, the camera stays in the room, forcing the audience to go through the same experience as the shaken priests.
The unrelenting, shocking film based on true events deserves its place as one of the greatest horror films of all time.
1. Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock was the master of thrilling, scaring and downright terrifying his audiences for six decades. The greatest proof of this is Psycho.
The story of Norman Bates who loves his mother too much, and his hotel, became one of the most recognizable stories in cinema history and still stands up almost half a century later.
Hitchcock defied traditional motifs and with this one film, helped model the entire structure of horror films from then on.
Cobwebs and Cocktails: Halloween Recipes Sure to Bring the Spirit to any Party October 27, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentKatie Miller, Staff Writer
As the night for spooks and sweets approaches, many of you are scrambling to pick costumes, decorations, and of course, treats for your nightly Halloween festivities.
Being an ambitious and easily excitable cook, I like to go all out with party themes by incorporating the food into the overall package.
When I think of Halloween, I imagine the contrasting effect of bright orange pumpkins with jet-black cats; walls of cobwebs littered with multi-colored leaves; people dressed like our favorite movie stars walking next to our most feared monsters. All of these can be used to create truly Halloween-y party foods and drinks.
For those prospective Martha Stewarts out there, you may desire a more challenging approach to your Halloween eats.
My olive eyeball hors d’oeuvres are sure to both disturb and satisfy. Take your favorite soft cheese (feta, goat, mozzarella,) squish onto a serving tray (with or without crackers) and then top each blob off with a green olive, with the pimento facing up. The key here is to get the olives with the pimentos to give the full eye ball effect.
The more traditional among you may be looking for the ease of age-old Halloween favorites. Going with the colors of Halloween as the base for the food produces a very consistent and chic effect. Nothing catches the eye better than a clear color scheme.
Combined with simple black and orange streamers, having a table littered with pumpkins, leaves, bats, cats, witches and ghost sugar cookies; Halloween themed candies such as candy corn, orange, yellow and brown M&M’s, as well as simply filling a bowl with oranges or grapes draped in cob webs can give your party guests an impressive array of treats that are delectable, eye catching, and easy to do.
While food is the best way for all ages to creatively incorporate the Halloween feeling, themed cocktails add an extra flavor and punch for the lucky few of age. The Food Network recommends Candy Corn Cordials. All you need is a bottle of vodka, orange liqueur, several lemons, egg whites (sounds strange, but completely necessary) and candy corn!
For two drinks, first combine a half a cup of candy corn and one and a half cups of vodka in an airtight container and set it aside for at least three hours, the strain.
Next, pour four ounces of the candy corn vodka, two ounces orange liqueur, half of a lemon’s juice and one large egg white to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. After shaking for a little under a minute, pour into favorite martini glasses and enjoy!
Other drinks include The Zombie, which has four types of rum, two types of brandy, four different types of juices and an almond sryup called oregat.
Take one-fourth measure oregat, three-fourth measure lime juice, one-half measure light rum, dark rum, cherry brandy, apricot brandy, papaya juice, one measure golden dark rum and orange juice, and two measures pineapple juice.
Mix together in shaker with ice, pour into glasses, and then dribble glasses with one-third measure over-proof dark rum. It is sure to make you walk like the living dead.
Tricks for Treats: Students Weigh in on Scandalous Halloween Costumes October 27, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentGabriella Leone, Broadside Correspondent
In the movie Mean Girls, Lindsay Lohan’s character goes to a Halloween party dressed as a zombie bride by covering herself in a snowball of white fabric, a black wig, fake teeth and dripping blood.
Her costume is creative, but at the party people give her weird looks and ask her why she’s dressed so scary. Lohan’s character then learns that “Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.”
It’s nothing new that on Halloween women will be wearing lingerie, barely there dresses and exotic, fetish-like costumes.
There are dirty coppers, naughty nurses, vixen pirates and the oh so many, oh so wrong, sexy Disney-inspired costumes. In America, sex sells and gets you attention, but what kind of attention are women drawing to themselves on Halloween?
Most guys at Mason, and a few from other schools, expressed that they like how women dress on Halloween.
Mechanical engineering major and George Washington University senior Matt Mostafaei said he loves the way girls dress. “What other time of the year than Halloween do you get to see girls dress skanky and not get mad at you for looking at them? They get to look sexy and don’t have to worry about being labeled as trashy.”
Not passing judgment seems to be the Halloween rule. Business major Azim Tariq agrees, saying that both girls and guys like this rule.
Although it seems like the majority of men would appreciate women’s sexy choices for Halloween, some don’t. “I wish girls were more creative and not risqué. I don’t think the spirit of Halloween is to see who can look the sexiest.” Global affairs major Aaron Li said. “I don’t mind but when it comes down to it…it’s kind of sad.”
So, do women dress in suggestive costumes because that’s expected of them? Pressure to look sexy and be attractive is force-fed to women every day through the media, and have you been to the Halloween stores?
Check out the costume display for women at any story and you’ll notice that Leg Avenue, a popular costume company, dominates the majority of the store with their “Sexy Line” of costumes.
We’re talking booty shorts, very short dresses, belly showing shirts, bustiers, bras, stockings and very high heels; clothing items that are usually found in sex stores. The section of creative, more covered costumes usually covers half of an aisle.
Halloween may be nights were women are allowed to dress proactively, but that doesn’t mean a lot of girls like it—just look at what some of the men who liked the sexy costumes said about them. They used words like trashy, slutty and skanky, words women don’t want to be associated with.
“I think some girls do take it too far,” said global and international health major Jacqueline Tañada, but marketing major Allison Jones looked at the way girls dressed differently.
“I think it depends on where people are going—a lot of people that go to house parties are more scantily clad than those that are going out to bars.” Jones said.
She also added that if girls feel comfortable in sexy attire, then more power to them but that “Halloween stores do makes people feel like that is the norm. That’s why I usually go for making my own.” Allison is dressing this year as a Crayon and a Dunkin’ Donut, a basketball player inside of a donut.
Women’s sexy Halloween costumes are controversial. Guys seem to either enjoy looking at women in their costumes or just think they are boring and begging for attention.
Women may not like them, but the majority of women still wear sexy costumes and in the last few years it’s been a competition. It’s not about who is going to wear the most creative costume, but who is going to look the sexiest and get away with it.
Halloween is not really a day where judgment won’t be passed because as soon as your Halloween pictures are posted on Facebook, everyone starts talking.
If you’re wearing a sexy costume, people aren’t likely to say you looked pretty, but that you looked slutty, trashy, sexy or hot just because you’re showing more skin than normal.
If those are words you want people to associate you with, then dress up in any sexy costume that you want—if not, then try to get more creative and fun with it!
If you want to be sexy without the labels, remember that sexiness can be portrayed in any costume, even scary ones because being sexy is all about confidence and charisma, not just your body.
The Stepfather has Daddy Issues: Remade Thriller Lacks the Depth, Suspense of Original October 27, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentJosh Hylton, Staff Writer
There is a brewing hatred for remakes across the movie landscape. Fans cry “foul” when their beloved memories are altered and filmmakers are troubled to see a new generation receive a watered down version of their work. Both should be equally upset over the newest remake, The Stepfather.
The 1987 original was a surprisingly tense little thriller that effectively explored the emotional distress and psychosis of its antagonist. The remake is teen fodder toned down to a PG-13 rating to bring in crowds of delusional high school students who can’t separate quality from trash like this.
The film follows David Harris, played by Dylan Walsh of Nip/Tuck fame, a mentally unstable man who cherishes family, yet does not have one of his own. To compensate, he finds single mothers with children and marries them, placing himself into a false reality as the new father.
However, when he becomes disappointed by their lack of togetherness, he murders them all, changes his identity and moves on to the next helpless family he can find. Eventually, he remarries a woman whose son has just arrived back from boarding school, an astute young kid who quickly realizes that something may be wrong with his new stepfather.
Terry O’Quinn, now most famous for his portrayal of John Locke on Lost, played the evil stepfather in the original film and was outstanding. He blended menace and charm perfectly, to the point where you came to actually like him, though you knew something sinister was brewing beneath his superficial veneer.
Walsh has the menace down pat, but he is missing the charm that is key to the character, though it may not entirely be his fault.
Every heartwarmingly appealing moment is accompanied by brooding music to remind us how evil David is, which prevents us from taking liking him. It never allows us to cling onto the character and feel sympathy for him, despite his wicked ways.
The original recognized this conflicting emotion because it hinted at his troubled past as a child, perhaps explaining why he cherished the traditional family so much. The remake ignores it altogether. It doesn’t want to bother with back story. It just wants to work as a tightly wound thriller, but too many loose threads prevent that from happening.
In the 1987 film, the characters start to catch on to the stepfather through realistic, albeit slightly farfetched, plot turns. In that movie, the brother of his previous wife is out to track him down and he has legitimate leads to do so. His perseverance and determination helped put a stop to him. Here, the characters catch on through arbitrary means that are brought up at the convenience of the screenplay rather than prudent timing.
As far as PG-13 horror remakes go, The Stepfather could be a lot worse. It never reaches that bottom-of-the-barrel quality that abysmal films like One Missed Call or Prom Night do, but eventually you grow wearisome from its contrived scenarios and repeated scare tactics.
If you really want to subject yourself to a mediocre remake full of plot conveniences and tired horror tropes, this is your best bet, but you would be doing yourself a favor by staying in and renting the original instead.
Mason Students Seeing Stars: Astronomy Night Gives Students a Look at the Heavens October 27, 2009
Posted by style in : Style , add a commentPras Gustanto, Staff Writer
Dr. Harold Geller and George Mason University go back a long way.
After getting his undergraduate degree from the University of the State of New York, Geller proceeded to get both his Masters and doctoral degrees at Mason.
He rose from being an adjunct faculty member to full-time faculty in 2000 and ultimately became the current observatory director for the College of Science.
Each semester, an estimated 1,200 students flock to Geller’s telescope for research and entertainment. As the director, he helps manipulate the campus observatory telescope in order to provide viewers with what he calls a “better vantage point above the fourth story roof.”
He adds that inquiring minds are able to see how a professional telescope facility works.
But it hasn’t always been easy for Mason to be able to see the heavens from this vantage point.
The first observatory telescope was built in 1975 by students Chipper Peterson, Bob Veenstra and John Whalan. Within four years, the observatory was torn down to make way for the Field House.
An observatory was built around the Baseball Fields in 1980, but it too was torn down due to damage from a truck accident. And due to lack of funding, Mason would be without an observatory tower for the next twenty five years.
It was during this astronomical down-time that Geller, then a graduate student, circulated a petition around campus to build a new observatory. Previous advocates included Mason big names such as Provost Peter Stearns and former Mason president George Johnson.
None of these attempts at observatory building worked. Astronomy lovers at Mason would make up for this by holding informal and improvised sky viewing sessions at noted locations around campus, including the hills which now make up the Johnson Center.
Approval for a new observatory tower eventually came through in 2004. Construction began the same year and the tower opened three years later.
It was the brainchild of Geller himself, who helped design and develop it.
According to Geller, the furthest thing he was able to see with the new telescope was the Andromeda Galaxy – 2.5 million light years away.
Now, Dr. Geller is able to hold sky observation nights for students and sky lovers.
Last Tuesday’s astronomy night session was packed with students wanting to get a peek through the looking glass of Mason’s telescope. Although it was a cloudy night, Jupiter was visible. Thanks to the telescope’s magnification, students were able to see the various moons and rings surrounding the planet. Other visible astral landmarks included the famous Summer Triangle of stars Altair, Deneb and Vega.
Geller hopes that this new tool will bring the stars closer to students.
“[Humans are all] made of the same chemicals that came from the interior of ancient stars that died before our own Sun was born,” Geller said.
Viewing sessions are held every other Tuesday until Dec. 1.
For more information, visit the astronomy observation night’s web page, at http://physics.gmu.edu/~hgeller/observing.html