WHERE THE SCARY THINGS AREHALLOWEEN 2011

ALEX VAN DRIESEN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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FRIGHTS ’N DELIGHTS

The University brought more than

just tricks and treats this past

week with Halloween parties,

houses for charity, the haunted

Lipman House and the eighth

annual “Monster Mash.”

PHOTOS BY ALEX VAN DRIESEN, JENNIFER MIGUEL-HELLMAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERSAND ANASTASIA MILLICKER / ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

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Event draws in morethan 1,000 attendees

BY LISA BERKMAN ANDANASTASIA MILLICKER

STAFF WRITERS

From ghosts to princesses,more than 500 children trick-or-treated in the Cook/DouglassRecreation Center Friday nightduring the eighth annual“Monster Mash,” hosted by theResidence Hall Association.

Alexandra Cupello Waters, theassistant director of ResidenceLife on Cook/Douglass campus,said this event marks its eighthyear in existence and the fifthyear that the Residence HallAssociation on Cook/Douglasscampus has sponsored it.

“The purpose of the event is tobring [the surrounding communi-ty] to Cook and have them interactin a different way with the RutgersUniversity students,” she said.

Waters said this year drew alarger crowd than last year withmore than 1,000 attendees.

“Last year, we had around1,000 people attend with 400 to500 kids and the rest parentsand grandparents,” she said.“We ran out of treat bags, andwe made between 500 and 600 ofthem, so I would say we hadover 1,000 people.”

Christin Nassar, a ResidenceLife apartment assistant, said“Monster Mash” added a tentthis year to allow for more activ-ities and to accommodate thelarger turnout.

“There’s definitely a lot ofthings to do,” said Steven Hill, athird-grader from Woodbridge.“There’s a lot of cool costumesand candy prizes and food.”

Waters said the event wouldnot be possible without the workof the student volunteers whohave been planning since the firstweek in September.

With more than 120 volun-teers and 115 organizations, theMonster Mash Committee con-sisted of members from theResidence Life staff, apartmentassistants, residence hall assis-tants, professional staff from theUniversity, Residence HallAssociation councils andUniversity volunteers, saidNassar, a School of Social Workgraduate student.

“There are different types ofjobs [for students to do],” saidDana Margulies, a School of Arts

and Sciences sophomore. “Forexample, we’re directing trafficand helping people if they need toget there, and volunteers alsowork the candy machines, thepopcorn machines.”

Other activities includedTwister games, “Ye Olde” targetgame and sand art projects.

Janine Rubin, a School of Artsand Sciences sophomore, said vol-unteering was a rewarding oppor-tunity. Rubin and the CookApartment Hall Government spon-sored a balloon game where chil-dren matched faces on balloons.

“It’s good and a lot of fun,”she said. “It’s definitely a goodidea by providing a place wherekids [have] a safe alternative [totrick-or-treating in the surround-ing area].”

Lizmairy Manana, a School ofArts and Sciences first-year stu-dent, said she was excited for theevent because she was able toshare it with her family, especial-ly her younger sister.

“If you come over here, it’s alot safer than New Brunswick,”Manana said. “It’s a really greatevent, and I wanted my sister toappreciate it. I said, ‘Hey, comeon down here.’”

Some children thought theoutside tent and haunted housewere great additions to the“Monster Mash.”

“This year is definitely a lotbetter than last year,” saidJamie Little, a 9-year-old fromEast Brunswick. “There’s morestuff to do, and there’s a haunt-ed house and candy and it’sreally good.”

Karen Little said she bringsher children every year and orig-inally found out about the eventfrom a school flyer.

“I’m glad that Rutgers holdsan event like this every year. I’vebeen coming since the first yearwith my older daughter, and it’sbeen getting bigger and bettereach year,” Karen Little said.“Last year it was a little cramped,but it’s definitely gotten better.”

Michelle Lee, a parent of a 4-year-old son, said this was herfirst year attending “MonsterMash” and was glad that her sonwas having a good time.

“This is a great event. I planon coming back next year,” shesaid. “He’s having so much fun. Idon’t want to make him leave.”

Raíces Cultural Center celebrates Day of the DeadGIANCARLO CHAUX

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Examining the concepts oflife and death, New Brunswickresidents celebrated El Día delos Muertos, “The Day of theDead,” Friday evening duringan ar t exhibit at the FirstReformed Church.

The exhibition was organ-ized by Raíces Cultural Center,a nonprofit organization thatseeks to preser ve Latin-American culture, to shed lighton the lack of respect ances-tors are given in today’s cul-ture, Co-Director FranciscoGómez said.

“If somebody dies, then,within a generation or two, youfind that they become just ‘peo-ple that are buried in a ceme-tery,’” he said. “Día de losMuertos brings us all togetherto venerate our ancestors.”

Visitors were presented withabout a dozen different works —each one representing a differentperspective on the traditions ofDía de los Muertos.

Artists express their beliefswith the use of different plat-forms such as paintings, altarsand stories, said Gómez, whopresented an altar that was influ-enced by Caribbean and WestAfrican traditions.

Gómez said realizing thatmany of these traditions havemeshed together over time is akey to understanding them.

“If you see my altar, you’ll seea tradition that comes from Africaknown as the Egun,” he said.“From Africa, it arrived in Cubathrough the slave trade, where itcame together with other prac-tices. So what you have in the endis a mix of the different cultures.”

Gómez said many of theother traditions have a similar

history that goes beyond theborders of any one nation.

Susan Kramer-Mills, one ofthe pastors at the FirstReformed Church, said these events provide a

positive sense of multicultural-ism to the community.

“Events like this are a learningexperience. It’s interactive andyou can talk about it, discuss it

and open up your vision of the dif-ferent traditions,” she said. “It’smore than just Halloween.”

Mills said it could be hard toget University students to attendlocal multicultural events, eventhough it would be a beneficialexperience considering the diver-sity of the community.

“A lot of the students live nextto Hispanic and Latino people,and learning about the Día de losMuertos could help them gain anew perspective on the beliefs oftheir neighbors,” she said.

Amy Garas, the exhibit’scurator, said one of the goalsthat the artists kept in mind wasto clear up some of the miscon-ceptions associated with Día delos Muertos.

“A lot of people often think of itas something morbid, but it’sreally just honoring your lovedones that passed away, and every-one does that in their own way,”

she said. “The point of all this is totry and educate people aboutwhat it’s really about.”

Eddie Pastore, a local resi-dent, said Día de los Muertosretains a sense of meaning thatHalloween has lost in the mod-ern world.

“Unfortunately, Halloween hasbecome a marketing thing,” hesaid. “It’s all about how muchmoney you spend, how manylights you put out and how yourcostume looks.”

Friday’s exhibit marked thefirst of a series of events that the Raíces Cultural Centeris organizing to celebrate theDía de los Muertos holiday,Gómez said.

Other events include a“Family Arts Day” on Nov. 5 atthe First Reformed Church aswell as a “Festival for the Dead”arrangement on Nov. 12 at theCrossroads Theatre.

What is your favoriteHalloween tradition?Q:

BY ANASTASIA MILLICKER

“I volunteer to take kids living aroundmy house trick-or-treating every year.”

ANMOL EJAZSCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES SENIOR

ALEXANDER FIRMENICH — SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES SENIOR

“Every year we had a tradition of going out

and filling up a pillowcasefull of candy.

Doesn’t matter what ageand what time it was,

you didn’t come back homeuntil the pillowcase

was full.”

“Last night, I stayed in and watchedHalloween movies and baked cookies.

At least one day during the weekbefore Halloween, I watch Halloween

movies. I went out two of the three days [this weekend].”

JEM GOSCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES SENIOR

“I haven’t celebrated Halloween since I was 12. I wanted to go as a Pokemon

for Halloween but I couldn’t get the costume. I wanted to be Mewtwo.”

SUN LEESCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES JUNIOR

BY THE NUMBERS

The percentage of adults expected

to go trick-or-treating

50

The pounds of candy corn that willbe produced this year

35

million

1.5 billion

The amount of money spent on Halloween

costumes

Source: http://www.purpletrail.com

The amount spent on Halloweenparaphernalia

2.5

billion

“A lot of people often think of it

as something morbid,but it’s ... honoring

your loved ones that passed away.”

AMY GARASExhibit Curator

Aside from some last minutechanges, the event ran smoothlyon both days, Kaminsky said.

“The Rutgers FireDepartment informed us that wewouldn’t be able to use one of thefloors due to strict fire codes, sowe had to regroup to only usetwo floors instead of three asintended,” he said. “It actuallyended up helping the guestsspend more time in the house.

Snow said many people wereimpressed with how the eventwas done.

“On Tuesday night, some stu-dents waited in line for almostthree hours just to go throughthe house and when asked at theend, all agreed it was worth thewait,” she said.

Kaminsky said it was amazingand fulfilling to see the reactionsfrom the guests.

“We didn’t see a single personwho looked bored or comfortablethroughout the entire houseeither night,” Kaminsky said.“Some people’s legs gave out andthey dropped to the floor cryingin a fetal position, while someothers walked into the house,saw the scene and ran straightback out the front door.”

Shinal Patel, Rutgers-NewarkBusiness School junior, said shedoes not get scared easily, butthe haunted house challengedher fears.

“This was one of the bestexperiences Ihad at a hauntedhouse,” she said.“I loved theb a c k g r o u n dstor y and littlesnippets thatthey includedfrom popularmovies.”

K a m i n s k ysaid this yearwas more suc-cessful in everyway.

“Our budgetincreased five-fold from last year, sothe house, scenes and actors weremuch more detailed,” he said. “Wealso took everything from last yearand built upon it to produce an evenscarier attraction.”

All proceeds will be donatedtoward marine science and med-ical charities, Kaminsky said.

Some funds will go to a projectwith the Coral RestorationFoundation in Key Largo, Fla.,Snow said.

“Other funds will be donatedto various charities such as theALS Association, the Leukemiaand Lymphoma Society, theTurtle Hospital and the ManateeSighting Network at DauphinIsland Sea Lab,” she said.

Planning the event, workingon the house, building things,setting up and training actorstook more than two months toprepare, Snow said.

“Many of us who were signifi-cant in the planning and design ofthe event will be graduating, butwe will be encouraging and col-laborating with the younger clubmembers to keep the eventgoing,” Kaminsky said.

O C T O B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 1 T H E D A I L Y T A R G U MH ALLOWEENH4

25to50%ALL COSTUMES

Valid until 10/31/11.

We have a full line of costumes that you’ve seen on the internet...

stop in and see.

Fog Machines

Oceanography Clubhosts haunted house

BY RIDA AHMEDSTAFF WRITER

After a biological viral experi-ment went wrong, University stu-dents became cannibalistic, feed-ing on others during the secondannual “Haunting of LipmanHouse: The Feeding,” sponsoredby the Oceanography Club.

“We take pride in providing afun and stress-relieving qualityhaunted event aroundHalloween,” said DaveKaminsky, head of the event.“This is our biggest annualfundraising event and it’s a greattime for the Rutgers studentbody to come together for a funnight with their friends.”

The event, funded throughthe School of Environmental andBiological Sciences GoverningCouncil, also served as a greatopportunity for the members ofthe Oceanography Club to bondthrough the team-building activi-ty, said Kaminsky, a School ofEnvironmental and BiologicalSciences senior.

Amelia Snow, OceanographyClub president, said this year’shaunted house was more success-ful than last year, with about 550students showing up between theevent’s two nights, which werelast Monday and Tuesday

“We had over 200 more people gothrough the haunted house com-pared to last year,” said Snow, aSchool ofEnvironmental andBiological Sciencessenior. “There wasdefinitely a buzzaround campusleading up to theevent and a lot ofpeople were look-ing forward to com-ing for a greattime.”

K a m i n s k y ,OceanographyClub vice presi-dent, said whenplanning the haunted house, theclub took the specifics of designand quality into account.

“We didn’t want a hauntedhouse where the actors jumpedout, said ‘boo’ and ran away,” hesaid. “We spent a lot of timedesigning the theme, scenes,props and scares around whatpeople might fear rather than justloud noises that might startlethem for a split second.”

Snow said positive feedbackfrom last year helped in planning atheme and layout within the house.

“There were various scenesinside the house, such as the labwhere the mishap occurred, bed-room scenes, the kitchen whereremains were prepared andcrypts where bodies were held,”she said.

Actors also played variousroles, including the scientist thatcaused the virus and studentsdisplaying various symptoms ofthe infection, Snow said.

It was a huge team effort,Kaminsky said.

“All of the actors and staff out-side the house were OceanographyClub members,” he said.

“We didn’t see a single person

who looked bored or comfortable

throughout the entirehouse either night.”

DAVE KAMINSKYSchool of Environmental

and Biological Sciences Senior