(Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolestjohn/3529439677/)

The Scholarship for Redheads (from the website)

Requirements for this scholarship are as follows:

•  Must be a Natural Redhead 
• Applying to an accredited 2 or 4 year college
• Reside in the United States
• A junior or senior in High School 
• Have a GPA above a 2.0

 Application For Scholarship

1. Two photos of yourself for proof of your hair color. Please have one of the photos be a current photo. 
2. High School transcript. Can be a photocopy. I don’t need you to go through your Guidance Consulars. However must be as up to date as possible.
3. For the third part of the Scholarship, its up to you. Create something that represents what it means to be Redhead. This can be anything from a academic essay to a drawing or youtube video. Play to your strengths. It can be a funny story or an experience that was caused by being a Redhead. There is no wrong answer.

How Winner will be Determined

We will be looking at academic standing, but the emphasis will be placed on the creative Redhead piece.

Lovely Laughter

Originally uploaded by mongoliandeathworm

We crimson-topped folk have suffered over 800 years of discrimination all because of our golden locks. For hundreds of years literary references warn against the unlucky and/or evil nature of people with red hair. The Proverbs of Alfred warned as early as the 1200′s that ‘the red man is a wicked man, for he will give thee evil counsel’. Throughout the decades red-haired men and women were thought to be poisonous, treacherous, bad luck, unhappy, unlucky to meet in the morning, before a journey on foot or upon a ship, and even for the fishermen. It was even thought that if a redheaded child or person visited on New Year’s Day that someone would die within that house by year’s end.

Tsk. So much fear of the unknown.

The way I see it redheads are indeed very lucky. We thrive despite the unlikely recessive genes needed to bring forth our fiery locks. We need less anesthesia during surgery and dental procedures. We are resilient evolutionarily, physically–despite our sensitivities, emotionally for most of us have endured some sort of taunting on account of hair color, alabaster skin or quirky freckles.

Seems to me despite what the masses once thought or may still believe–we are the lucky ones, fortunate to be of strong unique heritages and beautifully rare form. We are unique and ordinary, strong and sensitive all at the same time. We are the lucky ones born of parents of all hair colors, surviving despite the evolutionary unlikelihood, thriving despite the centuries of popular contempt against us.

From: RED HAIR unlucky by IONA OPIE and MOIRA TATEM
Source: A Dictionary of Superstitions, 1/1/1996.
Via: HighBeam™ Research
© A Dictionary of Superstitions 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996.

Do not despair! DNA WILL SAVE THE DAY!

Source: http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/dynamicImages/chromomap/mc1r.jpeg

The RedTracer DNA Test can spare you both the heartbreak. You can still remain true to your crimson beauties with this DNA test specifically targeting the MC1R gene responsible for red hair. You can order it for her, for him or for the both of you. According to the Alpha BioLaboratory, Inc. which offers this imposter-proof test,

There are at least 5 SNP’s (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) in the MC1R gene that result in red hair color. It is estimated that as many as 1 in 4 European descendants might be red hair carriers. The RedTracer DNA test can tell you whether you carry any of the most common changes resulting in red hair.

Now you can avoid the tacky questions without leaving it to chance.