October 31, 2006
Halloween... DIY.
Homemade costumes are absolutely dominant once again this year in Madison, Wisconsin. No one thus far has turned up in a store-bought packaged costume. I just had a group of girls who were the characters from the game Candyland. Before that were two boys. One was "a blue screen" -- do you know what that is? yeah! The other was Gordon Freeman -- "a research scientist." I'll have to look that up.
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My wife reports that we ran out of candy after an hour. Oops. Under bought.
Hmmm... I'm not getting that much. I've turned on all the lights, but I don't have a pumpkin. I'm afraid kids are passing up my house.
Halloween in my 'hood simul-blogged.
I live in a very blue town, so last year, I toyed with putting on a robe and going around with the kid as the (then recently-confirmed) Dread Justice Roberts. Nightmare on First Street NE! But I don't think that there are enough nerds who love The Princess Bride to make the reference stick.
Plus, I had a ponytail at the time, which wouldn't have worked.
Am I allowed to suggest a related topic? If you had to dress as your favorite character from a court decision, who would you pick?
I'd be Mrs. Palsgraf, with some scale weights hanging from me. Palsgraf was the first case I read in the first year of law school that made no sense at all.
My son trick or treated over in the Heights this year, crossing over to the north side of Regent Street for the first time. He came back with more candy than he'll ever eat. Almost half a standard sized pillow case. He eats maybe one piece a day. -- why he didn't inherit his parents' sweet tooth is a mystery. Then in March we throw everything out.
I'll have to look that up.
Somehow that just struck me funny.
I know blue screen too well.
I'm feeding the demanding little tricksters as I comment tonight. Looks like a record turnout for my neighborhood, probably because the apartments down the street are now fully occupied.
To folloow on Simon's riff, as for costumes here in a very red portion of a blue state (that is going to vote for a blue congressional candidate while the state votes Reds into most statewide offices), the mix is about 75% store bought.
Wow. Those are some cool costumes.
To quote Charlie Brown, "I got a rock."
One set of kids and that's it. Nada. Zip. The pumpkin's carved and fired up. Got a flashing skull in the window. But it's just our house and maybe two others on the block that are decorated. I think people just pass right by our corner because it looks dark.
Bummer.
Ti-Guy said...
"What'd you dress up as Ann? A dull, insipid, solipsistic, talent-free, Hamdan-decision-fumbling law professor?"
You know, one of the most interesting things about this blog, in contradistinction to most other popular blogs, is that the crowd of regular readers and commenters are not, for the most part, united by any particular shared philosophical commitments or politicaly views, or any particular affinity for the host's (or in this case, hostess') political and/or legal views. This is the furthest thing from an echo chamber you can imagine. Rather, I think most people are drawn here by, in greater part, an affection for reading what Ann has to say, and in lesser part, for the pleasent coffeehouse atmosphere that she's fostered here. But If you have such a low opinion of Ann... What are you doing here? Why waste the time to get that statement off your chest, "Ti-guy", when no one here really gives a flying fuck what you think?
Elizabeth - I know how you feel. For years, I only got a handful of kids at the door despite living in a tract teeming with children because almost everyone at my end did not have kids and few were home.
When I moved further out in the country a couple of years ago, where the land is decidely NOT level and the houses spaced a few hundred feet apart, I expected very few kids and ended up running out of candy really early. Go figure.
MadisonMan -
Every time we go to throw the surplus out, the kid shouts "no, no, I'mgoing to eat it." We still have a small plastic pumpkin nearly full of candy from last year. :p
Simon: Throw it out while they sleep.
I'm so mean.
Here in Hamden, CT we got a TON of kids between 6 and 7, then very few and none at all after 8.
I'm only 36, and when I was a kid we went out at the first sign of a streetlight coming on, and we stayed out until 11 or so. Without parents! We'd come back with pillow cases filled with candy. It was like a job to us...we were serious about costumes, we hit every neighborhood within 5 miles.
Now it's barely an hour, and every kid has one or two parents watching from the bottom of the steps worrying that this is going to be the house where their kid gets snatched. Sad, really.
MadisonMan-
Unfortunately, I've discovered that parenthood is often the art of straddling the fence betwixt being mean and being practical. Sometimes it can be a real pain in the ass. In retrospect, to be honest, I don't know that I was as ready for it as I thought I was.
jimk, I don't know where you grew up. If my kids hit every house within 5 miles, they'd have to take full-sized garbage bags along to stash the stuff. And out 'til 11? They're up at 6:45 to get ready to go off to school! If the son doesn't get 9 hours of sleep, he's a wreck.
jimk, I'm 46, and my childhood was much the same. We'd cover miles, and get home about 10. I usually went with my older brothers standing guard for a small group of us. I didn't live in a big city; often, I was on a military base and there was a presumption of safety there that probably was naive. But my memories of childhood are largely of being free to roam and play with minimal interferance from adults. I really pity kids these days, with everything scheduled and monitored. Of course, I also pity the kids who have no one watching them. I suspect there was more supervision than I was aware of at the time.
I loved Halloween. It seemed to rain a lot of the time but it didn't distract me. I was always a Hobo.
I did my trick-or-treating just 42 miles west of where Ann does her fantastic blog.
Fo-
lolowing up on an earlier thread, 5 young girls just serenaded me with a delightful rendition of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!" And, earlier this evening, a couple of wiseacres cracked jokes while reaching for candy. I guess I now know whose parents read the NY Times!
Here on the Left Coast, the number of trick-or-treaters has declined markedly in the last 5 years. There used to be hundreds (a decidedly suburban neighborhood) each year; last year, perhaps 50 and so far this evening (8:30 PT) only about 30, even though the house is BRIGHTLY lit up and decorated.
When I grew up long ago, my folks wouldn't have THOUGHT of walking me around; times have indeed changed. And not for the better.
Anyone found any razor blades yet?
Just asking.
Peace, Maxine
We had less than twelve knocks on the door for about two-dozen trick or treaters. This is very low for our area. It was cold, but not raining. There's also usually groups of teenagers that come around 9:30 and we dump the rest of our candy on them. Didn't happen this year. Very peculiar.
I'll have to look that up.
Lady, there's a lot of shit you have to "look up."
I'm afraid kids are passing up my house.
Who wouldn't?
Gordon Freeman! Multidimentional, PhD wielding hero. I like the kid already.
Lots of small kids with their parents around my neighborhood. Very cute. Gave them little packets of euphamistically-named "fruit snacks." Reconfirmed my belief that girls mature much more quickly than boys.
Maxine Weiss, I just don't know what to make of you.
Altoids, I was just joking.
Love, Maxine
Gordon Freeman?
Sweet!
I am surprised at the turnout mentioned by some people here, though it reminds me of my neighborhood as a teen in Queens:
Back then kids would hit the streets in groups, some with parents, some without. Generally everyone recognized each other from the neighborhood and it was not uncommon for a mom in one group to check up on another unsupervised group.
Those of us who were above 12 or so, and feeling too old for trick or treating, resorted to mild crime, spending the darkening day throwing eggs at each other, or shooting one another with Nair or shaving cream.
When not hitting up someone's younger brother for loot, we spent the time looking for "the girls" or running from our siblings' older brothers, who hunted us down in vans to pelt us with eggs or spray us with strange goop from modified fire extinguishers.
But everyone knew who everyone was, and generally, the streets were alive.
But Phoenix today was a million miles from there. At my slightly downscale complex in North Phoenix, filled with Mexican families and biker/trailer types, nobody knocked on the door (not that I would have answered anyway), and only once did I hear any kids walking by.
Earlier I took the 7th Street bus down to central Phoenix, and saw but two families (both hispanic) taking their young costumed kids somewhere.
Then, on the return, two young white females, both around 20 or so, got on the bus, each holding a baby, and with a girl of six or so in tow. The older girls were in short dresses, apparently the "sexy" version of goldilocks or Swiss maid or barmaid or who knows what.
One of the girls, fiddling with the stroller at the front of the bus, apparently didn't realize that her costume did not really allow for her to bend over.
Several male eyes became intently concerned about the forward progress of the bus and turned their heads frontwards, no doubt to make sure all was progressing nicely. (And it was. The bus headed west down Bell Road, as certain eyes rested on the distant setting sun, and the vivid female moon).
Sad really. The costumes for kids, cheap and plastic. The holiday stolen by adults. Horror for sex.
-numbers were down at my place too so I got to pig out later...
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