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I Won’t Be Celebrating Halloween
On chocolate, calaveras and cultural appropriation
My neighborhood is slowly being lit with the glow of purple and orange lights on homes, mimicking the colors of our dusty, Arizona sunsets. Ghostly sounds have started emanating from craft store sale finds that decorate doorways on my street. Decorations are a good deal right now.
I used to love this. Once, I turned my front lawn into a graveyard. Made faux marble tombstones with clever sayings. Boarded up my windows with leftover wood from construction sites. Attached cheap cotton spider webbing to anything that would stay still for even three minutes.
This year, I’m not doing it. Something has soured me on it. It was a group of ignorant parents.
These parents put forth a petition to change the date of Halloween. Tens of thousands of people signed it. They contended that Halloween was a holiday for kids and should always fall on the last Saturday in October so that it’s not a school night, parents are less stressed and it’s safer.
Well, that’s some bullshit.
