Sweater weather, No Shave November and discounted Halloween candy aren’t the only things happening this month. If you’re among the writing inclined, then you may be participating in the ultimate challenge: National Novel Writing Month.

Established in 1999, the nonprofit organization NaNoWriMo presents the challenge of completing a 50,000-word novel in the 30 days of November. Writers from all over the world participate, hoping to reach the goal within those four short weeks and add their name to the growing list of published authors who found their roots in NaNoWriMo.

An anticipated 500,000 writers will be participating this year, including some of our very own Bruins. Several members of the UCLA Writer’s Den plan on making their novelist dreams a reality this month. (more…)

—Jessica Korn

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Four score and seven years ago, that cat/zombie/superhero/________ costume that you’ll be freezing your buns off in this Halloween was not even a twinkle in your eye. Those were the good ol’ days. Your report card was all +’s and ✓+’s and your biggest worry was getting the extra credit word on your Friday spelling test right.

Back then Halloween was the greatest holiday ever. You got to dress up all fancy in a child’s size small costume, stay out late trick-or-treating house to house and get chocolate wasted. Now what we do is … dress up all fancy in child’s size small costumes, stay out late going house to house and get (chocolate?) wasted. And our biggest worry is whether we’ll actually wake up in time for our midterm Friday. OK, maybe Halloween hasn’t changed all that much, but it’s still awesome. So sit back, relax and chow down all 12 of those pumpkin-shaped cookies your roommate convinced you to buy from Ralphs as we celebrate this Throwback Thursday in Halloween style! (more…)

—Stephanie Orpilla

Tags: #halloween, #tbt, UCLA

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When I say “Costco,” you say “Wholesale.”  Costco! Wholesale!

A recent petition started on Change.org establishes an interesting proposal for UCLA Housing. The petition calls upon UCLA to close down the recently renovated Dykstra Hall in order to create a – you guessed it – Costco, and cites reasons such as the convenience of a Costco and the use of the food court to students. There are some flaws to this petition. For example, I’ve taken a quarter and a half of economics and even I know 100 signatures from college students isn’t a solid base for opening up a franchise. Additionally, the use of Change.org, a website typically used to advance social change and challenge public policy, seems a bit questionable.

But really we’re just bored, creative, young and hungry college students who are supposed to propose silly ideas like these, so here are some things we’d like to see on campus instead of certain buildings. (more…)

—Jake Rosen

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You better have some fun on Halloween before your parents arrive for Parents’ Weekend. Escape campus and check out all of the spooktastic spectacles going on around the LA area.  (more…)

—Sarah Greenwald

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It’s a dessert. It’s a snack. No, it’s caramel corn. Even superman can’t beat this tricky treat. A super sidekick to a Halloween bash or a perfect pick-me-up for a night stuck with the books, this caramel corn can dress up any occasion. (more…)

—Amy Giroux

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