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Posted on Fri, Oct. 30, 2009 10:15 PM
Horrors! What’s really scary this Halloween
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I’ve experienced scary stuff in my time, including heart procedures, a near-death experience, and various muggings. Yet none scarier than the unshakeable specter this last year of … possible unemployment.
It was haunting enough moving to a new city, finding a decent job and going down to one income so my wife could study. Then a ghoulish phantom started visiting my company. Each week, more unfortunates eerily vanished into the land of the laid-off.
Then, Boo! Fridays off for everyone, and a 10 percent pay cut. Spooky stuff.
•••
Gonzo’s Ghost? Writers, deceased, often speak with continued clarity. Does a poem by Poe come to mind this time of year? Hunter S. Thompson’s voice reverberates across the news today. His 2003 book, “Kingdom of Fear” collected his essays with a thread of theme: America functions upon a fuel of fear, uncertainty. With Hunter four years gone, it’s as if he’s telling us, with a bit of candid prophesy, that things have not changed that much.
Writers like Hunter S. Thompson, and a living writer, William T. Vollmann, craft what they see as ugly realities, and let us sense the rough textures, smell the stenches, hear the suffering cries, see the landscapes, and taste the strange foods. They shake and jostle us like a great wooden rollercoaster, taking us somewhere while telling us about us. Sure the kingdom is scary sometimes. The kingdom is us.
•••
My daughter’s preschool has a rule regarding its costume party: “no scary costumes.” But it is not the vampires or grim reapers that frighten me. It is Halloween, after all. What I find difficult to stomach are the trampy costumes aimed at little girls, such as:
Cheerless Leader — A gothic cheerleader with a midriff shirt and fishnet short pants.
Wicked School Girl — Imagine Britney Spears in her “Baby Baby” video and add devil horns and high heels.
Drama Queens Major Flirt — Includes short dress, vinyl studded belt and glovelet. “Give them major attitude in this cool costume!”
I get that little girls like to play dress-up. There is a significant difference, however, between rifling through Mommy’s closet and purchasing sexy dresses in toddler sizes.
When I answer my door this Halloween, I hope to see mummies and werewolves. But I’m likely to see a “sassy pink punk pirate” with a little voice saying, “Twick-or-tweat”. That will send me screaming into the night.
•••
I see dead people! That line still pricks up the hairs on the back of my neck. However, there’s something that frightens me even more — nationalized health care.
I’m a cancer survivor. When I was diagnosed, the tumor was less than a centimeter. I chose my doctors, where and when to have surgery and the treatment afterward. I’m now a six-year survivor.
In nationalized health care, if panels are going to be calling the shots, we might actually be seeing “dead” people. They won’t know they’re dead. They’ll just be walking around, waiting for strangers to make the decision on whether they’re “worth” keeping alive.
That’s really scary.
•••
One excellent fall in my youth, Mom made the very best Spider-Man costume. She cut and sewed the whole thing herself, and I’m pretty sure I had super powers while wearing it. There is absolutely something special about being able to don your hero’s uniform, walk the neighborhood with friends — in the dark — and have home after home open their doors. What other form of play nets such wonderful rewards for a child?
By Arturo Mora, Midwest Voices writer By Tom Ryan, Editorial Board Reader Adviser By Tina Morrison, Midwest Voices columnist By Danette Gamble, Editorial Board Reader Adviser By Doug Allen, Midwest Voices writer By Heidi J. Moyer, Midwest Voices writer By Larry Marsh, Midwest Voices writer
Posted on Fri, Oct. 30, 2009 10:15 PM
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