Zaneta Loh: Do you ever read The Daily Cougar?
Ell Ash: Every day.
Loh: Did you read Thursday’s paper about the cafeterias and all that?
Ash: No.
Loh: Do you ever eat in the cafeterias?
Ash: Sometimes.
Loh: Do you ever feel like that’s not the cleanest place to eat, or are you all right with it?
Ash: (shrugs) I’m all right with it.
Loh: Would you still eat there if you didn’t get free meal plans living in the dorm?
Ash: Yeah, I’d still eat there, $7 a buffet?
Loh: Seven dollars is a good deal?
Ash: (nods)
Loh: What (football) game are you most looking forward to this year?
Ash: Every last one of them, really. I just want to play. Whatever they got on the schedule.
Loh: You play Southern, you play Air Force, you play East Carolina…
Ash: Oh, you know the whole schedule. That’s cool.
Loh: Why’d you cut off your braids?
Ash: Got tired of ’em. I had dreadlocks. I got tired of ’em.
Loh: How long have you been growing out your dreadlocks?
Ash: About two years.
Loh: And you cut them off?
Ash: Yeah. I was at the house for New Years, and I was like, " I should cut it off for New Years."… and I just started cutting.
Loh: You cut it yourself?
Ash: Yeah. I just started snipping.
Loh: What was the reaction?
Ash: Everybody was surprised. They said my head was too small for my body.
Loh: Was it painful to watch the hair fall?
Ash: No, it’s just hair. It’ll grow back. I’m going to grow it back.
Loh: Like playoff dreadlocks?
Ash: Yeah, I’m going to do it different though. I’m going to have a Mohawk.
Loh: Like him? (points to Mauricio Lazo)
Ash: Yeah.
Loh: You should. But then how would you get your helmet on? Was it hard with dreadlocks?
Ash: No, it wasn’t hard, it used to slide off without the dreads.
Loh: Was (your head) bigger with them? Did you need a different size?
Ash: No, I’ll just put more hair in it.
