Over last Halloween weekend, freshman at University of Akron and Lakewood alumni, Alex Schwarz, had an epiphany. When his RA (peer manager of that particular dorm) banned the carving and display of pumpkins, Schwarz got creative. A pineapple took place of the pumpkin this spooky season, especially at U of Akron. This simple (and quite frankly, hilarious) action of carving a pineapple and posting it on Twitter, caught the attention of his peers and other journalists across the web. BuzzFeed news reporter Brad Esposito from Australia contacted Alex Schwarz and asked to write an article, as well as many other sources.
When asked to take the pineapple down by a different RA, Schwarz asked to see the rule where he is not allowed to have a fruit carved in his room. Turns out, there isn’t one; at least there isn’t one for University of Akron. Unironically, Schwarz is studying food and environmental nutrition.
Schwarz gives a personal rendition of the pineapple incident.
“My dorm used to be lined with pumpkins. Not a ton on my floor but still a few. It was nice seeing them when you walked by. All the RAs in my dorm and the dorm next to us got an email saying ‘no pumpkins’ pretty much because they rot and could attract pests but the rule didn’t say anything about pineapples.”
Schwarz then goes on to talk about the reasoning behind this Halloween fun in an exclusive one-on-one interview.
“I’m always looking for loopholes and just different ways to have fun and kind of push people’s buttons. Not in a mean way just because it’s different and fun. Also the main reason I posted it on Twitter was because I put it on my Snap story and people kept on messaging me saying how it made their day seeing that, so I thought it would be great to share it with a bigger audience and hopefully make more people happy and just brighten their day a little bit more. Even if it may be very ridiculous and kind of stupid it’s still, in some way, making people happy and that’s awesome.”
So if you’re feeling down about the spooky season ending, carve a pineapple instead of a pumpkin! It might just make someone’s day.
