English teacher known for wildly creative Halloween costumes

A man draped in caramel-colored fabric and a red sash dons aviators, chunky golden rings and a glittery gold chain with a money sign dangling from a hook. This isn’t a scene from a Bollywood movie about gangsters, nor is it the New York City subway, it is Halloween in AP English Language teacher Ken Nguyen’s classroom.

Nguyen is known for dressing up in wild, creative costumes for Halloween–this year he dressed up as a  mixture of a “Hip Hop Buddha” and a “Ghetto Dalai Lama.”

According to Nguyen, he has been dressing up in eccentric costumes for Halloween every year for as long as he has been teaching — 12 years. To him, Halloween is his favorite holiday because it promotes creativity and is not centered around making purchases.

“Halloween really doesn’t have anything to do with money or consumerism. It’s all about fun, make-believe and imagination, so I’ve always thought dressing up on Halloween has been fun.”

The most difficult Halloween costume that Nguyen has ever created and worn required him to order an authentic costume from overseas and change his hair color.

“The anime character from Naruto that I dressed up as about five years ago [was the most challenging costume],” Nguyen said. “I was the character of Kakashi sensei, which was difficult because I had to make my hair very white. I sprayed it with a silver hairspray color and I ordered a ninja costume from overseas.”

Nguyen believes that he has received the most positive reception with the anime characters he has dressed up as.

“Either the anime characters that I have been, or  I thought my costume this year was pretty entertaining—the Hip Hop Buddha or the Ghetto Dalai Lama,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen’s love of dressing up as anime characters on Halloween has been spurred by his longtime love of comics and anime, as well as his interests in the study of English.

“I have read a lot of comic books all the way through my teenage years, and as someone who went onto school to major in English and teach English, I see comic books and stories related to the comic books like anime as a distant cousin of mythological stories we learn about in school,” Nguyen said. “What are superheroes if not mythical heroes from Greek myths with their special powers?”

Nguyen confesses to be an anime addict, and has enjoyed watching a variety of these action-packed television shows known for their creative characters and convoluted storylines.

“I started watching Naruto several years ago and I got addicted after watching five or six episodes in a row,” Nguyen said. “I have been watching that show ever since and turned me onto other anime like Death Note. I just think there is a lot of entertainment to be had with watching anime.”

Nguyen’s love of anime has opened the floodgates to his creative side, since he combines art with imagination every Halloween night.