Rossana Woo
Standing atop a trash can in Hollywood, with hundreds of onlookers gazing up at her, Pierce College student Jen Donnell pauses for a moment, scissors in hand.
With her long, brown, curly hair sectioned off into ponytails, Donnell promptly begins chopping off each section with little hesitation.
She’s done this before.
Donnell, art student at Pierce, was at a peace protest at the Hollywood and Highland intersection on March 17, in front of a Virgin Records store. She was cutting off her hair to send people a message.
Since the United States’ occupation of Iraq four years ago, it’s not hard to imagine what Donnell’s message is.
“The main purpose in doing it is to bring consciousness to the cause. Here, it is very easy to go about our everyday lives. It’s good to be peaceful, breathe peace and live peace, but at the same time we can’t forget what’s being done in our name,” she said.
That day, Donnell cut off 18 inches of hair, which was donated to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization created to make wigs from donated hair for children who lost their hair due to cancer treatment.
Today, her shaved head acts as a way for her to spread her message of peace.
“I’m not here to decide what anyone should think about, but I think it’s better for us to be awake and aware of what’s happening, rather than pretending it does not exist,” she said. “I support our soldiers completely and I feel like it’s my job as a citizen to question the actions of the government and support my soldiers by demanding they come home.”
Donnell believes that going to Iraq and bombing the nation will not quell problems and bring peace to Iraqi citizens or to U.S. soldiers.
“I know that the situation there is very complex, but I also know that, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., ‘We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.'”
Four years ago, when the bombing in Iraq began, Donnell protested in front of the federal building. That night, she shaved her head for the first time.
She decided to grow her hair out until the occupation in Iraq ended, in honor of the peace movement John Lennon lead during the Vietnam War.
However, having long hair did not send out the statement Donnell was trying to communicate.
“I was going to wait [to cut it], but the protest itself kind of changed, being a woman. Hair being longer became idealized; it became envied,” she said. “For me, the message of cutting it was supposed to be a positive one once the war was over, but then everyone’s energies were shifting. People loved it long.”
That’s when Donnell decided she would reverse her nonviolent protest and shave her head once again.
“Some people may consider cutting my hair as violent, but I don’t. To me, it is control over myself, control over my body,” she said.
These days, Donnell gets a broad range of responses in reaction to her buzz cut.
“Some people have been inspired, some people have been appalled,” she said.
Getting less attention from males is one reaction she has gotten. But, since she’s married, she doesn’t seem to mind.
Donnell, who teaches art to kindergarten through sixth grade children, has gotten some responses from her students that have brought up gender issues.
“Some of my kids [who I teach] were like, ‘Why did you get a boy’s haircut? Now you look like a boy,'” she said.
Donnell responded by saying, “There’s a lot more to being a man or woman than how long your hair is.”
Negative responses don’t seem to hinder Donnell. She maintains that having a shaved head has taken nothing away from her femininity. In fact, she asserts how it saves her a lot of time.
It’s interesting, Donnell notes, how people get so upset over her hair-cutting, but don’t become as upset when she discusses issues about the war.
In addition to attending nonviolent peace protests and shaving off her hair, Donnell is very much involved in voicing her beliefs.
When election time rolls around, Donnell participates in voter registration campaigns. She also writes to state representatives, talks to people as much as she can and votes in every election.
“It’s really about bringing awareness to the consequences of what’s happening. Consequences of voting and not voting-all those things are interconnected. I think it’s important that we all feel like we have a voice because we do.”
When asked if she would cut her hair again, Donnell immediately answered, “Yes.”
“It’s all dead anyway. And it grows back. In the scheme of what matters, it’s just appearance,” she said. To her, there are many more important things in life.
Jen Donnell (top) with her hair grown since the U. S. has occupied Iraq and (above) after she cut it again in protest. (Beck Brister)
(Beck Brister)