The New Yorker bids all a Happy Halloween

Well, it's that time of year again. Where mischievous children dress up as ghouls and demand candy at doorsteps, and fall leaves rattle eerily down the pavement pushed on by a whispering wind.

In recent years I have often complained about the fact that Halloween for people in my specific age demographic is fairly lackluster. It is a holiday I love, but am no longer sure how to celebrate. Below is a proto-blog of mine that I wrote a couple years back on this spooky day. I emailed it to some friends to express my Halloween joys and frustrations. And now I share it with all of you...

what Halloween means to me: (ahem)
All Hallows eve, truly the best holiday ever invented, full of
everything that is good and crisp and fall and sweet and scary. I
mean candy AND scary movies -somebody up there in the great big blue
knew me too well.

I was the eighteen year old who still went trick or treating, I was
the one who would wear orange and black all day before I donned my
costume at night (I'm actually wearing a bright orange sweater, and
halloween socks today )

and now what? At twenty three, with little free time left to my
name, I have no tricks or treats up my sleeve -no really original
costume -no real plans of any sort. I don't live in a neighborhood
where there are lots of little kids, so I can't look foward to
passing on candy to little ones dressed in sheets and witch's hats.
And that makes me sad.

what does Halloween mean to me?
Halloween is one of the holidays that is inextricably linked to my
childhood. The way the moist inside of a pumpkin would smell when I
carved it -the last look I'd give in the mirror before heading out
the door with makeup all over my face making me look delightfully
deathly.

And there is nothing better than coming home -bag full of candy in
hand- counting my winnings on the rug -snuggling under a blanket
with hot apple cider as I watch someone get stabbed reapetedly in
the chest on TV by Michael Myers, Freddy, or some other monster.

Perhaps I can find my own fun tonight -in this devious city of Los
Angeles, where the innocence of a childhood is like a smoggy vision
one can barely make out -I can still conjure what it is I love so
much about today.

So go bob an apple, bake a Halloween cookie, eat some candy corn.
Enjoy being snug and warm in your home, as the ghouls and ghosts in
the world, both real and pretend, stalk the streets tonight. And
try to picture me dressed as a colonial era safari guide at age 17, surrounded by ten year olds.…It'll make you laugh -I promise.


But seriously guys. Do something. Go eat some candy. Rent Poltergeist. TiVo Scream. For God’s sake keep the Halloween spirit alive.

Just remember to check your closets before you go to sleep tonight...