Long Hair

DEAR ABBY: My hair falls nearly to my waist. Many of my friends, both male and female, have grown out their hair over the years and donated it to cancer charities. While I think it's a beautiful act of selflessness, I have never felt the calling to donate my hair. I have recently been criticized for wanting to keep my long hair for myself and have been called selfish and a hypocrite. Abby, cancer runs in my family. I donate money and volunteer for my local Relay for Life every year.

I read with interest and chagrin the belly-aching of Michael McShea and Dan Rispo (March 15) who feel miffed because their Catholic school is "teaching them to be gentlemen. " Poor guys! They have to trim their shaggy hair and comply with a dress code which makes them appear neat and clean. They would prefer to dress "casually," according to McShea. This usually means a tank top with suitable obscene logo, a wrinkled army fatigue jacket, jeans (which look like Mom spilled the Clorox bottle on them accidentally)

O'Brien's got to part with the hair Michael O'Brien (Guest Opinion, Sept. 16): Grow up and get a job. Being a male with long hair is something you have control over. You compared yourself to African-Americans or Hispanics. Their skin color is out of their control, and cannot be changed. I have been disabled and confined to a wheelchair for over 10 years, yet I have been working and successfully promoted since I was able to go back to work over eight years ago. Sure, there's discrimination out there over many things that people have no control over, but if everyone made up excuses, this country would be a sad place.

Throw together pyrotechnics and cosmetics, and it was time to "Rock and Roll All Nite. " Three nights, really. Kiss, the 1970s hard-rock group, performed three shows last week at the CoreStates Spectrum. Kiss' tour, one of the biggest attractions in arena rockdom this year, marks the first time the group has played in 13 years. In full makeup, Kiss added to the spectacle with smoking guitars and fireworks. Painted faces. Long hair. Leather outfits. For the fans, the Kiss Army, the concerts were a chance to relive memories of their idols.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a 40-year-old female in the military who has been married for a few years. When I got married, I was slim, had a full head of beautiful, long hair and hardly any medical problems. Over the last couple of years I have developed a host of medical issues, all related to the harsh conditions of my deployments. My husband is shorter than I am, thin and three years younger. I have gained more than 40 pounds due to steroid treatments. I had to cut my long hair because it was falling out from stress.

Warning: Playing a stoner on TV can be hazardous to your health. The placebo you're forced to smoke is intentionally harsh. "It's the worst stuff," says Blake Anderson. "I think it's actually like hops. They want you to really hack and cough. "We were filming some promos a couple of weeks ago," says Anderson, one of the stars of Comedy Central's ironically titled sitcom, Workaholics , "and they were making me just rip some bong hits. It was tearing me up, absolutely killing me. I suffer for my craft.

Hello there Ashley and Matt, now both 26, grew up hearing stories about each other. She lived in Mount Ephraim, he in neighboring Haddon Heights, but they had mutual friends, including Ashley's cousin Beau. "There were probably times when we'd been at the same parties, or in the same group hanging out," Ashley said. None are memorable because they would not have had much to talk about back then. She was a cheerleader who took the homecoming crown. He was a skateboarder who bleached his long hair blond.

In 2006, Debora finished her first year of painting and drawing studies at the University of the Arts. Eight years before, she had immigrated from Portugal to South River, N.J., with her mother, Maria Eduarda, who is known as Eddie, and her two older brothers. Debora loved her family, but was determined to stay in Philly that summer. She signed up for summer classes so her mother would go for it. Debora's first adventure was hair-related. She had always had long hair, but took her roommate's offer to cut it short.

As a former hippie and career liberal, I think it's my duty to support the younger generation and their various trends and fashions. So, if I'm walking around town and happen to see a young person wearing a brass ring through his nose, rubber plugs in his ears, and The Last Supper tattooed on his upper body, I make a point of smiling warmly, as though I were in complete sympathy with his fashion and political statement. The secret truth is I am not. I simply cannot understand the need to so drastically alter the body to make a statement, when you could just as easily walk into Bloomingdale's, buy a marabou vest, wear it with a kilt and chains, and there you are - and you are not married to it for life.

Catholic League baseball observers had a rough time last season determining the identity of the talented, somewhat offbeat youngster who now serves as Archbishop Ryan's No. 1 pitcher. With any other Raider, the observers could have asked the fellow to turn around, then looked at his back. Not with Ed Jagaczewski. The lettering, "JAGACZEWSKI" (pronounced Yahg-uh-sheff-skee), was covered by so much hair, you would have thought that Ed had not visited a barbershop in years. And you would have thought right.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Police in Hamas-ruled Gaza have started grabbing young men with long or gel-styled spiky hair off the streets, bundling them into jeeps, mocking them, and shaving their heads, two of those targeted and a rights group said Sunday. It is the latest sign that the Islamic militants are imposing their strict practices on the population. Hamas has been slowly forcing its fundamentalist interpretation of the religion on already conservative Gaza since it overran the territory in 2007, but the new action against long hair and tight or low-waist pants - in several cases accompanied by beatings - appears to be one of the most aggressive phases of the campaign so far. The crackdown began last week, and two of those targeted told the Associated Press said they were rounded up in separate sweeps in Gaza City that included more than two dozen young men. House painter Ayman al-Sayed, 19, had shoulder-length hair before police grabbed him and shaved his head Thursday.

DEAR ABBY: My hair falls nearly to my waist. Many of my friends, both male and female, have grown out their hair over the years and donated it to cancer charities. While I think it's a beautiful act of selflessness, I have never felt the calling to donate my hair. I have recently been criticized for wanting to keep my long hair for myself and have been called selfish and a hypocrite. Abby, cancer runs in my family. I donate money and volunteer for my local Relay for Life every year.

Hello there Ashley and Matt, now both 26, grew up hearing stories about each other. She lived in Mount Ephraim, he in neighboring Haddon Heights, but they had mutual friends, including Ashley's cousin Beau. "There were probably times when we'd been at the same parties, or in the same group hanging out," Ashley said. None are memorable because they would not have had much to talk about back then. She was a cheerleader who took the homecoming crown. He was a skateboarder who bleached his long hair blond.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a 40-year-old female in the military who has been married for a few years. When I got married, I was slim, had a full head of beautiful, long hair and hardly any medical problems. Over the last couple of years I have developed a host of medical issues, all related to the harsh conditions of my deployments. My husband is shorter than I am, thin and three years younger. I have gained more than 40 pounds due to steroid treatments. I had to cut my long hair because it was falling out from stress.

In 2006, Debora finished her first year of painting and drawing studies at the University of the Arts. Eight years before, she had immigrated from Portugal to South River, N.J., with her mother, Maria Eduarda, who is known as Eddie, and her two older brothers. Debora loved her family, but was determined to stay in Philly that summer. She signed up for summer classes so her mother would go for it. Debora's first adventure was hair-related. She had always had long hair, but took her roommate's offer to cut it short.

NEW YORK - On Friday, the small-town Texas drama Friday Night Lights ended its five-season run as one of the finest, most humanistic shows on television. Though never a ratings success, the show gradually found a fervent following. Shot on location around Austin, Texas, and in a collaborative and improvisational style, FNL will be particularly remembered for its naturalism. Instead of elaborate sets and rigid blocking, scenes were typically captured by three cameras following the action of the many characters of Dillon, a football-obsessed town anchored by the moral centers of coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler)

Warning: Playing a stoner on TV can be hazardous to your health. The placebo you're forced to smoke is intentionally harsh. "It's the worst stuff," says Blake Anderson. "I think it's actually like hops. They want you to really hack and cough. "We were filming some promos a couple of weeks ago," says Anderson, one of the stars of Comedy Central's ironically titled sitcom, Workaholics , "and they were making me just rip some bong hits. It was tearing me up, absolutely killing me. I suffer for my craft.

Opening on Team USA? Dwight Howard said he might not play for USA Basketball at the world championships. It was the first time he has publicly wavered about playing in the games in Turkey scheduled from Aug. 28 to Sept. 12. He'd stayed firm on his commitment even as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and other stars expressed doubts. Howard said he would let USA Basketball know his intentions "soon. " Hair-raising action You may have noticed that Orlando forward Mickael Pietrus was wearing his hair long, and he had good reason.

Think of all the classic, goofy disguises athletes have donned through the years. Bobby Valentine's fake nose and glasses, Mike Schmidt's wig and Dwight Howard's Superman cape immediately come to mind. Ken Clausen went one step further, making his disguise a permanent fixture. Well, sort of. Two summers ago, the Virginia defender decided he'd get a mustache tattooed on his left index finger. Now, Clausen, a high-school all-American lacrosse player at the Hill School in Pottstown and a Downingtown native, can go from clean-shaven to scruffy in an instant simply by lifting his finger above his upper lip. "I got it for people to laugh at or with me," said Clausen, who is a junior at Virginia.

Scott Hartnell's long curly locks, his fun-loving personality, and his sometimes goofy decisions - he infamously threw his glove at Tampa Bay's Ryan Malone earlier this season as the forward was skating in on a breakaway - have masked the fact that the 26-year-old left winger is having a career season. Yet, when the Flyers host the Florida Panthers tonight, not much of the talk will center on Hartnell's personal-best totals in goals (27) and points (56). All because of his wild, bushy brown hair.