Torch

Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Kevin Su

Cancer is a mortal menace in today's society. However, there is hope. Many people and organizations, including the American Cancer Society (ACS), have undertaken a battle against this terrible illness.

The ACS is "the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service." It was founded in 1913 by 15 physicians and has been instrumental in the fight against cancer since its inception. This is not just a struggle to be fought by doctors and scientists, though; ordinary people are helping out as well.
One St. John's University student is joining the fight against cancer in a rather unique manner. Jonathan Pflug, a sophomore at St. John's, is auctioning off the right to cut his hair in any fashion you want. All proceeds from this auction will be donated to the American Cancer Society.

The idea for the auction came to him out of the blue. He didn't know what to do with his hair because it was getting long when, as he noted, "It hit me. Why not use this hair for good?"
There is one stipulation: if you are the winning bidder, you are not allowed to cut any crude images or words into his hair. Other than that, it's fair game. Jon will only keep his new hairstyle for a week, but he will keep it up to 3 weeks longer than that for an additional $5 per day.

"I think that if I had to pick one hairstyle that I would like the least, I would have to say it would be having it all shaved off except for one small spot of long hair," he said. "It's okay though, because when people see it, I can explain that it's for a good cause and raise awareness."

Andrew Conde, a fellow St. John's sophomore and friend of Jon's, said, "I admire his initiative to do something good for others and his willingness to embarrass himself for a good laugh and a good cause."

When asked what hair style he would give Jon if he won the auction, he said, "Well, I hear a lot of people would like to see him with male-patterned baldness. I'm probably going to jump in that pool."

Jon has many reasons for auctioning off his haircut. "I was just plum bored," he joked. "But also, one of my main reasons for doing this was that my aunt, Marcella, is a cancer patient.

"I was working with her the entire summer, helping her move stuff for her job, and just being around her was really tough because the cancer really made her tired. She gets fatigued really easily and you can just see the toll it was taking on her. She lost a ton of weight and her ankles get fatigued really easily."

Continued...

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