By: Kellie Doherty

A portion of my hair is bright orange. That isn’t terribly big news here in Portland, especially around campus. We have some colorful characters. I’ve seen flame-red, neon green, rainbow, mermaid, galaxy, and even multicolored blocked hair. I’ve seen spiked hair a foot high, hair sheered completely off on just one side, and myriad other things.

I’m originally from Alaska. We have some rustic stylistic charms of our own, but I only saw hairstyles like these during the state fair. In Portland this is their everyday look. And I’m certainly not judging them by any means. It’s simply a different world than mine back at home.

And people don’t just experiment with hair. I’ve seen fellow students walking around in cloaks that look straight out of The Lord of the Rings, neon blue pants that look like they’re from the ’80s, and, I swear, a girl in a full-blown Pikachu outfit from Pokémon.

Again, not judging.

This is what’s great about being at PSU. You can be anyone you want to be. (Within reason. You can’t aspire to be a murderer or something.) You can transform yourself here, and the students will accept you, and may even have some serious mad respect for you. (I know I do.) It’s a great campus in that regard.

And sometimes, when I’m walking around PSU, even I get a smile from a fellow student. Yes, even I’m keeping Portland State University weird, and I’m proud of it.

How are you keeping PSU weird?