Saturday, December 11, 2004

Shaving as protest (and support)

Saw this story from WANE-TV:
The assistant to Notre Dame's president has shaved her head to protest Tyrone Willingham's firing as football coach.

Chandra Johnson says she'll remain bald until the Irish win a national championship, something that hasn't happened since 1988.
Shaving one's head has often been used as a form of protest. Now that more people shave their head regularly, it doesn't stand out as much as it used to, but since this was a woman shaving her head, I think people will notice and ask her about it.

Johnson's protest is in support of a colleague. Shaving heads is often used as a show of solidarity too. I've read a lot of stories lately about people shaving their heads to support someone with cancer. Like this story:
After chemotherapy treatments, the 7th-grader at Stillwater Junior High School noticed his hair falling out in clumps. Within a day Jake’s good friends, Cody Jansen and Jesse George, came over to shave their heads with him.

Luke Buerkley, a traveling basketball teammate, suggested that all the players shave their heads to show support.

More than 70 people gathered at the Martells’ house Oct. 8 for a Friday night barbecue and impromptu head shaving party, Jake’s dad, Larry Martell said. [...]
About 24 people, adults and kids alike, shaved their heads that night.
People can support organizations this way too.
Jill Saward, 39, who was brutally raped at her Ealing Vicarage home in 1986, will be raising much needed funds for Abused People's Help In Sexual Trauma (APHIST) based in Wolverhampton, by shaving off all her hair at their Christmas fair on Friday, December 10.

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