You are halfway there. Don’t give up now.

It’s almost mid-way through the hairiest month of the year. All around the country — and all around the UI campus — men are feeling more like men.

“No-Shave November” has grown into a nation-wide celebration of facial hair faster than it would have taken Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead to grow a new mustache. This week is the first major test of endurance for my fellow participants.

It’s the time when neck stubble turns into full-length whiskers. It’s the time when the uncomfortable mustache hairs start curling over your lips and into your mouth. It’s the time when moisturizing lotion and conditioner no longer relieve your neck of the seemingly unbearable itch.

Instead of giving up and letting yourself take that razor to your face, use the discomfort and dissenting view of your girlfriend as motivation. Even if you have a beard like Michael Jackson did when he was on trial, keep it going.

Every day it seems more and more no-shavers give in, making excuses of why they “have” to shave their beards: You have an office job, you’re going on a date, you can’t bear the itch, you’re grandparents will get mad if you rock that scraggily beard to Thanksgiving dinner.

My response? Deal with it.

Need motivation?

As college students, this could be the last time in years you’re able to see what you’re working with. Sure, there are always times to grow out another beard — your favorite sports team makes the playoffs, you go on vacation, or you just don’t bother shaving for a few days.

But, my friends, November provides us with a unique to become part of a community. Besides just the people you see on your way to class whose faces are just as fuzzy as yours, think about some of the names you can associate yourself with when you finally have a fully.

Chuck Norris: A martial arts master, and a man whose beard doesn’t hide a chin, but another fist.

Zeus: The ruler of the gods. With the power to toss lighting bolts, this guy meant business.

Sean Connery: The original James Bond — one of the manliest of men — has a beard that could steal any woman’s heart.

And Ben Roethlisberger: The man won the Super Bowl earlier this year. Enough said.

So, whatever your excuse may be, forget it. No Shave November is not for quitters.

It’s not for trimmers. It may not even be for swimmers.

No Shave November is for manly men, and manly men we will be.

—by Chris Clark