THE RIDER WITH THE DREADS

Riding is his passion and dreads are his style. He is Russell Waldin, 24, of Tulsa. With flare in his style and attitude in his hair, Russell was walking into the Business Administration Hall on TU’s campus when I stopped him.

Russell looked entirely different than any other person I saw on campus. His bright orange, tightly fitted T-shirt and his Volcom jeans made him stand out. I asked him if I could ask him a couple questions for my news gathering class and, with a slight bit of hesitance, he said, “Sure, why not?”

“First off,” I asked, “how long have you been growing out your dreads?”

“Oh, for a couple years,' he said, while picking out one of his long, messy dreads. "They’re alright I guess.”

When he’s not working or attending classes in the art school, he rides. Riding is a hobby Russell takes great pride in. He has a sponsor, and has the priviledge of riding in competitions and traveling around United States.

“I’ve been riding forever," he said. "It’s just a lot of fun. It’s something I’m good at, and it’s an escape from reality.”

Feeding on my fascination with his hair, I asked more questions about his dreads: “Do you have dread locks to stand out from the rest of the riders, or did you just want them?”

“I’ve always liked the look of dread locks, but it’s nice because I get recognized because of my hair. It’s definitely my signature! It’s crazy. People I don’t even know, know me.”

Despite this recognition, Russell told me that he was thinking about cutting his hair off.

“My hair is getting heavy. I’d like to be able to put a shirt on with out hassle and it’d be pretty sweet to wear hats again.”

--Lindsey Naylor