Sweltering heat, record high temperatures, a lack of 4th of July festivities, rain deprivation, and an interesting photo craze known as planking made this summer notable.

Planking is not having a surly pirate guide you to your demise off the plank of a ship, but is simply laying in a horizontal position for a picture.

Used before as a type of entertainment when boredom struck, it has evolved into an art form, in which the photos are creatively taken, often times in unique locations. All that is necessary is imagination, a camera, and some core body strength.

Though it serves an entertaining purpose, some have gone to the extreme for these poses. A man in Australia died after falling from a seventh story balcony.

There have also been several encounters with the law due to some of these “plank-pranks.” As a wise planker, precautions should be taken with poses to avoid getting thrown into jail for a simple picture.

Ulises Rosales, a Seward freshman, said he originally heard about planking on Facebook.

He helped with a planking video his friend made and joined in because he thought it would be fun and interesting.

He commented that a picture taken on the bridge on Highway 54 was their highest plank, but they always practiced safe-planking.

Planking was a part of his summer. “Like many fads it comes and goes,” Rosales said. He would plank again, “If I saw an interesting spot that just needs to be planked.”

Sophomore David Carillo was the creator of the plank video compilation Rosales mentioned.

“At work, the FedEx man asked if I had made a planking video, because he saw the location was Liberal.”

‘Yeah, that’s mine,’ Carillo said. He thought that making a video would reach a wider audience, and having music in it was a plus.

He originally heard about planking on Facebook also, and said it reminded him of “Ed, Edd ’n’ Eddy,” a cartoon show that had a character named Plank. The video was a result of boredom, and he and his friends decided to go around town for a night of planking in areas no one else had used. He said he hasn’t planked since, and his latest fad is ‘The Kobe’ which can be seen on his YouTube channel: 80Rosco.

Planking led to other fads. Since then ‘owling’ has emerged. This pose consists of perching like an owl in strange locations.

‘Horsemanning’ is also relatively new. This pose was inspired by the headless horseman and involves two people — one appearing to be headless, the other free from a body.

CrusaderNews.com is currently sponsoring a Planking Challenge. To enter, ‘like’ Crusader News on Facebook, then submit your photo to Facebook.com/CrusaderNews. The photo will be posted and will be voted on through “likes.”

The most liked photo will be the winner. The contest is scheduled to end on Sept. 9. Prizes include SCCC/ATS merchandise such as a hoodie, tote bag, T-shirt, and lanyard.