By Alex Kincaid

A shortened version of this story was published in the Ball State Daily News.

The Superhero: he does it because he feels like it

Austin decided he would do it. He would wear the cape to class. He draped the long black, stretchy fabric over his shoulders. A special strap looped around his arms and tied behind his back, securing the cape in place.

He put his backpack on over the cape and left his dorm room. The walk from Noyer to Robert Bell was short, but still long enough for people to notice. He debated taking it off at least a dozen times, tucking it away in his backpack as if he never had it on in the first place. But he pressed on, despite the stares from those he passed on McKinley.

Finally, he made it to the classroom door. He held his breath and walked inside. The classroom was arranged so the students already in their seats had their backs to those walking in the door. He slipped in and sat down nearly unnoticed, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. A few of his classmates caught a glimpse of him and shot him a quizzical look. But this was to be expected with wearing a superhero cape to class.

“I was nervous as hell,” he said.

Austin Zimmerman is a sophomore at Ball State University, but to some, he is a superhero.

Austin is one of the few who walk among us that don’t seem to care if they are different. He is someone who chooses not to conform to societal norms, usually at the expense of being misunderstood or deemed weird by the general public. In a society that seems so much alike, Austin chooses to be atypical, and encounters a variety of reactions from those of us who stick to the status quo.

Those who choose to stand out, like Austin, do it for a variety of reasons–some because they feel like it, some because it garners attention, some because it boosts their confidence. There are a myriad of reasons people try to be different.

Austin wears a knee length cape nearly all the time. The only times he doesn’t is if it’s too hot out for cape wearing or if he doesn’t think it works with his outfit that day–which is based on his mood on a day-to-day basis. He makes each cape himself out of stretchy, polyester fabric from a craft store. A cape takes only a few minutes to create, as he simply cuts them to the right length and then attaches his special strap–or sometimes a button–to fasten it either behind his back or around his neck. His color choices are red, blue, black, gray, purple, and white–because even superheroes need options.

Wearing a cape around campus gets him lots of attention, but despite the stares and confused expressions, that attention is mostly positive.

Austin wears a cape because he feels like it, and because to him, it is a symbol of overcoming obstacles. Austin was bullied throughout middle and high school–a social outcast, as he puts it. Once, on Halloween, Austin came to school dressed as a superhero–cape and all–and was picked on for dressing up.

Bullying also took the form of exclusion from fellow classmates–one time he was sitting alone at lunch and a popular kid called him a nerd in front of everyone. The bullying only got worse when it entered cyberspace. He found hateful comments written about him online from his presumed friends. He felt betrayed and alone–rejected even from his own friend group.

Austin never quite understood why society shuns those who don’t fit in. Today, he chooses not to trouble himself with the concerns of others, especially when it comes to wearing his capes.

“I am my own person,” he said. “I can’t be controlled by everyone else.”

It can be tiring to see downcast, averted eyes when he enters a room. Or worse, when intoxicated college students pass by him and yell at him to take his cape off. But, the positive reactions outweigh the bad, especially when others confront him and tell him they admire him for being himself. Some say he inspires them to do the same.

“Austin is his own superhero if you ask me,” said his friend, Riley Gray.

Austin is a theater design and technology major with a focus in lighting. He spends most of his time in the theater department, cape hooked around his neck or tied behind his back, being his own superhero.

 The Need to Belong is Fundamental, but is Influenced by Culture

People have an inherent need to belong and to be accepted, which can make it hard to understand why some people want to be different. Kiersten Baughman, a former Ball State professor in the department of psychology, said that just as humans need to eat, drink, and sleep, they also need to feel included. For this reason, people tend to conform to social norms.

The science behind conformity has been studied since the 1950s, when Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments to better understand how social pressure affects conformity.

Throughout his trials, Asch discovered that most people comply to group influence–even when they are certain that the group is wrong. Seventy-five percent of participants conformed at least once in his trials.

The Asch experiments also pointed to the fact that conformity reflects culture. In the 1950s when this experiment was first conducted, conformity was a social norm in America. When this experiment was replicated in 1980, only a single person conformed, showing a shift in cultural standards.

In the current age of social media, conformity might be encouraged, said Baughman. When people log into social media and see what others are posting, they typically want to do the same in order to fit in.

However, Western society tends to be individualistic. Personal freedom and independence are valued more so than in Eastern cultures. The need to conform is not as strong in the United States as it is in other parts of the world.

“We want to stand out,” said Baughman. “If you don’t make noise, you aren’t going to get what you’re asking for.”

This is clear to aspiring mascot Patrick Murphy, otherwise known as The Wizard of Ball State.

The Wizard of Ball State: he has a dream

Patrick Murphy dresses in a dark blue wizard gown that has star and moon trimming around the sleeves. It matches his pointed wizard’s hat that tilts slightly to the left atop his head. He adds a chest-length, stringy white beard. It is tangled and matted with grass sticking out in a few places. The final piece is a plastic wand that is split along the handle and no longer lights up.

Patrick is a member of Ball State’s Ultimate Frisbee team, which is where his wizard dressing began. The team jokes amongst themselves that they are wizards, and Patrick began dressing this way to entertain his teammates.

The wizard came to campus in September, when Patrick began dressing in his wizard attire every Wednesday. “Wizard Wednesday,” if you ask Patrick, a fan of alliteration. He has since deemed himself The Wizard of Ball State, which has become his personal mascot.

Patrick aspires to be Charlie Cardinal one day, as mascots have always fascinated him. He planned to audition to be Charlie this year, but he went on a bike ride before auditions, lost track of time and missed his opportunity. He plans to try again in the future.

For now, Patrick will focus on being the wizard. Dressing up makes him feel empowered. He stands out from the crowd, has the ability to make others happy, and can practice being a mascot in case future opportunities arise.

“It makes me different and unique in a way nobody else can be,” said Patrick. “It gets kind of boring looking through the same lens everyday. Everybody is the same.”

Although Patrick embraces his individuality and loves dressing as the wizard, sometimes the attention he receives can get to him. One day he intentionally sat alone in a corner to eat lunch, avoiding human interaction and hoping people would not notice the guy in full wizard attire.

To his surprise, someone had snapped a picture of him in that corner and posted it to Yik Yak, a social media app that is similar to an anonymous version of Twitter.

His picture received more than 150 up votes. Ball State seemed to approve of the wizard in an anonymous picture, but not as much when they encounter him in real life.

On Wizard Wednesdays, Patrick is met with unsure reactions from his classmates. They give him puzzled glances and keep to themselves, usually quieter than the days he is not dressed up.

“So, how long are you going to wear it?” classmate Rachel Russell asked.

“Every Wednesday,” Patrick said.

“Oh, really?” Russell asked with hesitation.

“Really,” Patrick said with a nod of his head.

The Wizard of Ball State can be seen walking around the Arts and Journalism Building, as he is a news journalism major. All that matters to Patrick is that he does what makes him happy. For now, that is being a mascot of his own creation. With his level of dedication, it is conceivable that one day the wizard might just work up some magic and become the mascot of his dreams.

Behavior Stems from Established Norms

Most people choose not to stand out in order to be liked and accepted by others, which is referred to as normative influence. The clout others have is powerful in the decision to conform to society.

There is research that points to the fact that human behavior is not independent, and is mostly due to the influence of others–which confirms Asch’s findings from the 1950s. Researchers Robert Schnuerch and Henning Gibbons found that humans often behave in certain ways simply because others have acted that way before them. A routine is established, and that routine guides future decision-making.

Some of these behavioral patterns stem from explicitly stated laws or implied rules that society has established–such as stopping at red lights, and mandatory shirt and shoe wearing in public facilities.

The Barefoot Bohemian: she likes the attention

Morgaine Briana French, or “Violet,” as she prefers, knows this rule all too well. In fact, she carries flip-flops in her cross body, bohemian-style bag just in case she is forced to put on shoes.

Her feet are calloused and dirty–although she washes them often. She doesn’t wear shoes because she likes to feel the earth beneath her feet. She says this is a spiritual connection that is inhibited by shoe wearing.

Violet has a slightly faded tattoo on her left foot of the molecular makeup of serotonin. A hemp anklet rests above it, and her toenails are painted silver. She said she can walk over glass without pain. Sometimes her friends stub out their cigarettes on her feet.

She brings along a walking stick–even when walking on sidewalk. It is scribbled with autographs from those who point out her stick in public, and from those she meets at music festivals. She keeps a sun-bleached, bluish-purple Grateful Dead bear in her other hand.

Her hair is dreaded, shaved on one side, and has pink streaks in the front. The dreadlocked half is a montage of beads, strings and buttons. One of the buttons that is visible through the tangled hair has a picture of Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.

“I know people stare at me when I walk down the street–that’s the point,” Violet said.

Violet was a tomboy growing up–she refused to even look for clothing in the girl’s section of stores. Her junior year of high school, she decided she was bored with her look. She swapped her all black attire for mismatching colored socks, crazy pattern combinations, and dyed her hair and got piercings.

Her refusal to wear shoes started long before that. In middle school, Violet realized the dress code handbook did not specify that students had to wear shoes. In an act of rebellion, she came to class without them in the eighth grade.

Her teacher insisted that she put shoes on, and when she refused, the principal was called. While the principal was walking to the classroom, the other students also took off their shoes. Violet pointed out the handbook to the principal, and he couldn’t do anything to stop her. She didn’t wear shoes for the rest of middle school.

Her immediate family has never minded her behavior. When she was young, she and her father once dressed up in Halloween costumes in April and walked around in public. She has been encouraged to be different throughout her life.

However, she is met with resistance from older family members. They think she should tone it down a notch, and tell her she is failing at life and is letting her family down–especially for dropping out of Ball State.

“Nobody wants to be told that they’re wrong,” said Violet. “If you stand out, somebody is going to think that you’re wrong.”

Fortunately, most of Violet’s family accepts her, as do most of the people she encounters. Her favorite hobby is meeting new people, who she greets with hugs and wide-eyed enthusiasm. She says her out of the ordinary look gives her an edge in meeting new people–who usually stop her to ask questions about her unconventional style.

“She’s always happy,” said her boyfriend, Caleb Hawkins. “She spreads energy and good vibes everywhere she goes.”

Violet thinks people shouldn’t care so much about what others think of them, and should do what they want. Although, if more people stood out from the crowd along with her, she might not get as much attention–which is one of her favorite things about being different.

Baughman said that some people who choose to stand out might be seeking attention, but this attention is paradoxically a way for them to fit in. Human beings want to belong and crave attention from the group they are a part of. For some, standing out is a way to attract that needed attention.

Even if standing out from the crowd yields negative attention, negative reinforcement only encourages this expressive, nonconformist behavior. For some individuals, standing out is just as good as fitting in.

The Artist with Antennae: he spreads happiness

Colby Golden, a graduate student at Ball State University studying art and animation, wears pipe cleaner antennae. They are twisted together and then wrapped around his glasses. They protrude out from the sides of his head like antlers–and attract the attention of those he passes in the hallways.

Colby has been wearing his antennae for around seven years now. It all started one day when he was working at a daycare center. His glasses broke, and for the time being, the only way to hold them together was to wrap them in pipe cleaners.

It was a few months before he could get new glasses, so he wore his antennae everyday. When he finally got new ones, a few of the kids were startled by his ordinary appearance.

“You’re not Colby,” he recalls one kid saying.

Thinking quick on his feet, Colby dashed into a supply closet to his side and grabbed pipe cleaners. He wrapped them around his glasses and then sprang out of the closet. Haphazardly placed yellow antennae stuck out from his head.

The kids were content now that Colby had his antennae back–they had clearly become a part of his identity. He was not the same person without them.

Colby continued to wear his antennae everyday, changing them up from time to time–despite the pleas from his mother to stop. Once, he attached googly eyes to each one. Right now, they are a spiral of pink, blue and yellow–the color scheme for a wedding he recently attended. Although, the color-coordination was accidental.

Colby refuses to take off his antennae because after contemplation, he realized that they were a part of him, and they always had been. He was an odd kid, never fit in throughout school and always seemed a bit out of place. Metaphorically, he’s always had antennae that made him different.

Although his antennae are a subtle twist on conformity, he fields a variety of reactions. Some laugh, some smile, some make fun of him. There is the occasional person who is completely freaked out. Once, two kids made cow noises at him as he walked by–assuming the antennae were bullhorns.

Colby said the antennae make him feel like a celebrity. People will stop and stare as he walks by like they would a movie star. Once, an elderly lady followed him around a grocery store on a motorized scooter. He said she was straining her neck to get a better glimpse of the antennae on his head, trying to be inconspicuous.

“I like knowing I make other people’s day a little bit brighter,” said Colby. “Whether they’re laughing with me or at me, I was still the reason they laughed that day.”

The need to be accepted by others is related to a person’s self-esteem. Humans want to feel worthwhile and like they have a place in the world, said Baughman.

Colby feels worthwhile when he creates a work of art, and when others notice his antennae. Antennae are used in our society to transmit signals and send out information. Colby’s antennae function in pretty much the same way; they allow him to transmit happiness. Whether people approve of them or not, Colby can bring joy to those who notice his antennae–which makes him feel good in return.

Although Colby can’t say for sure if his antennae will stay forever, he has no plans to stop anytime soon. As long as they continue to make him and those around him happy, the antennae are here to stay.