While we seem to have our etiquette hats fastened on tightly when it comes to the bigger holidays � Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving � the Halloween dos and don'ts often get lost in the door-to-door shuffle. (Craig White/Bradenton Herald/MCT)
November 2, 2011
Tanusree Munshi
Halloween has always been a time of celebration, whether it’s with Halloween festivals or with trick-or-treating. However, recently parents have become worried about sex offenders out on this night and started to wonder if there should be a curfew law.
On the night of Oct. 31 I always go trick-or-treating and stay out late, roaming the streets with my friends. Many kids and young adults enjoy embarking on their candy-scouting journeys after dark, when it gets spooky; they also love to stay out late so they can get to all of the good houses with the best decorations. There has always been debate about letting children out alone at night so they can receive candy from people they don’t know, but lately another issue has been brought to attention: sex offenders. As their kids go out to celebrate Halloween, concerned parents can’t help but think of possibly dangerous strangers.
“I don’t think there should be a trick-or-treating curfew that is mandated by the government, [though] the idea of a general curfew is smart,” said senior Cheryl Lee. “Promoting [awareness] of sexual offenders luring innocent trick-or-treaters in would be smarter than simply creating a curfew. People always have the right to deny opening their door for trick-or-treaters regardless of when they come.”
Trick-or-treating is a universally loved tradition which people of all ages look forward to every year. Acknowledging the dangers of sex offenders in the night is something which must be done, but setting a specific curfew seems to be going too far. Some cities take precautions; for example, Sacramento monitors 2,000 sex offenders during Halloween night so they can’t cause trouble. Doing simple things like this to keep kids safe would be a must better solution to the problem than enforcing a law that no one wants to follow.
Photo Credit: Ilma Husain
Halloween decor set out in a local neighborhood to set the tone of cheer and mischief.
October 31, 2011
Ilma Husain
Photo Credit: (Paul Tople/Akron Beacon Journal/MCT)
A Jack Russell jack-o'-lantern is a fetching Halloween decoration.
October 31, 2011
Coleana Mount
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October 20, 2010
Dylan Mahood
What is taking Halloween too far? Is it the macabre costumes, the boisterous late-night parties, or the TPing pranksters? Actually, there is something much darker.
When I was a kid I always felt like Halloween was watered down and the mischief promised to us by pop culture was unrealistic. It was fun repeating “Trick-or-Treat!” as an empty threat with the masses of kids bearing their lost-tooth smiles, but I always thought it would be fun to see some actual Halloween pranks.
One year, however, I walked out to our front yard the chilly morning after Halloween, and found the remains of my pumpkins stuck to the street like the sticky candy ground into my molars from the previous night. Maybe as a teenager you wouldn’t be surprised if someone smashed your jack-O’ lanterns, but put yourself back in the shoes of a young, naive, six-year-old kid.
Azevada Elementary School was not going to have enough money to take its kindergarteners on the annual pumpkin patch fieldtrip—so several classes planted pumpkins last spring for the incoming kindergarteners. Parent volunteers took care of the plants over summer, but this September some vandals snuck into the school to massacre the pumpkins against the Azevada buildings. Now the school is paying money that is increasingly precious due to the budget cuts to purchase new pumpkins, and the kids are left feeling cheated.
I can understand why in theory it might seem reasonable to smash pumpkins after Halloween when the pumpkins will just get moldy soon anyway, but just because something “sounds like a good idea” doesn’t mean it’s justified. People have to take into consideration the hard work and time that went into carving the pumpkin and the emotional value something like that has to a little kid.
The vandals may snicker at the ignorant fools who leave their pumpkins outside and vulnerable on porches and feel a barbaric sense of power from the act of splattering thier guts across the asphalt, but, how much esteem can you really extract from breaking a child’s holiday project?
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November 13, 2009
Keerthika Ramakrishnan
The amphitheatre packed 500 to 600 students for the Halloween rally, and almost 800 students and faculty members were fed.
“The Halloween rally at lunch on October 30th attracted the biggest crowd I have seen in all my years at Washington,” activity director Helen Paris said.
There were barely any seats available for students who came late to rally. The Halloween rally has been a tradition at Washington High School for the past 20 years.
Unlike other schools in Fremont who usually have international kitchen for a week, Washington hosts barbeques throughout the school year. The rally is funded by money from ASB cards. Most of the money collected through the buying of ASB is returned to students in the form of rallies. Students purchased food for a $1.00 without a costume and $.50 with a costume; teachers in costume got food for free.
In general, the Halloween rally usually consists of a costume competition, pumpkin carving and bobbing for apples.
The Halloween costume contest contained a wide range of costumes, from a Roman goddess to Po from Teletubbies.
First prize for pumpkin craving went to junior Kaitlin Loob, and senior Alex Tyler won first prize for apple bobbing.
The funniest costume went to the costume group, “Irony,” with two prisoners and a cop.
The most creative costume was sophomore Alex Rich’s hitchhiker.
The spookiest costume award went to the mimes, senior Emily Ives and senior Dylan Jarvis.
For the first time at lunch time, there was a live performance by a new R&B group called New Era who sang a couple songs to end the largest Halloween rally in Washington history.
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October 15, 2009
Judy Wu
This Halloween, French teacher Jennifer Pardini is going to her cousin’s birthday party located in a barn at Santa Cruz. She plans to be dressed as a flapper. Usually, she would dress up, pass out candy and then head to The Castro, located in San Francisco. This year, however, Pardini has decided to not go to the district filled with stylish restaurants and stores. But she can still recall many great Halloween moments she has had.
“One Halloween, I took a picture of a couple of guys who were dressed as Hooter girls. The next day, I showed my students the picture and the boys kept denying that they were boys. They would say, ‘No, they’re really girls. Are you kidding?’ It was hilarious,” Pardini said.
Pardini has had countless funny costumes. One year, she dressed up as a target with fake knives stabbed into the costume; she even had an apple with an arrow on her head. Last Halloween, Pardini was dressed as Cinderella, complete with a blond wig and sparkly dress. This Halloween, Pardini says her costume at school will be a surprise.
Photo Credit: Raphael Ghieuw Sien
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October 14, 2009
Judy Wu
Government teacher Elizabeth DeWitt used to be an enthusiastic Halloween celebrator.
“My house was one of the most decorated houses in my neighborhood,” she said.
Since her children have grown up, she has not been as festive as she used to be, but she still remembers great Halloween moments she shared with her kids.
“My daughter was three years old and dressed as a witch with a hat taller than her body… She walked around, singing ‘This is Halloween’ from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas and would go into people’s kitchen to take more candy. It was chaotic, I had to stop her from going into people’s kitchens and still keep an eye on my son,” DeWitt said.
DeWitt might not be as interested in Halloween now. In addition, she is concerned about changes in girls’ costumes.
“When I was in high school, girls had your standard cute costumes,” she said. “Today girls are dressed as sexy police officers or French maids. The costumes aren’t traditional or funny anymore, but more sexual and suggestive. It doesn’t show who the girls really are.”
Photo Credit: Raphael Ghieuw Sien
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October 14, 2009
Chemistry teacher Shari Raymond’s usual Halloween routine includes decorating the house and passing candy out to trick-or-treaters. She often embellishes her home with candles, little ghosts hanging on the tree and pumpkins on the lawn.
She can still recall her daughters, Beth’s and Eryn’s first trick-or-treating experience. Beth was dressed as a pumpkin, while Eryn was a dinosaur. The funniest costume Raymond thought Beth wore was Nala from the Disney movie, The Lion King.
“It was funny seeing Beth dressed up as Nala. It was really hot that Halloween, and Beth was sweating a lot. She wouldn’t take it off even though she was so hot,” Raymond said.
Beside her daughter’s funny costumes, Raymond too, has had her fair share of funny costumes. One year, she dressed as a hobo.
When Raymond was in high school she attended Halloween parties, but she and her classmates did not trick-or-treat as much as students do now.
Photo Credit: Celina Cesena
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October 14, 2009
Sarah deLanda
For senior Celina Cesena, Halloween gained its allure after elementary school. Once she was free from the countless, oppressive Disney princess costumes, Celina discovered she had both a love and talent for putting costumes together.
“Wigs really are the key,” Cesena said. “That’s what everyone looks at – the hair!”
However, her hair is not the most time consuming part of the process. The planning and searching that goes into making her costumes starts as early as three months before Halloween. And actually piecing it together? Some of her more elaborate costumes have taken up to a week’s worth of meticulous work. With all the details, sometimes comes discomfort, the most extreme of which is attributed to her geisha costume.
“It always comes back to the geisha; that was the least planned one,” she said.
By the end of that particular day, wooden shoes, an entire coat of face paint and the restrictive dress itself could be felt a thousand fold.
Cesena takes pride in her costumes and they are well-received and appreciated. Donning a house and over a witch’s dress, striped socks and ruby slippers, she took second place in the school’s costume contest during the Halloween rally just last year.
“The Wicked Witch of the East was probably the best idea I ever had,” she said. This year, Celina already has her costume planned out and is particularly excited for the hair and persona it will demand of her. As for the future, Cesena admits that while college might force her into hiatus, she intends to continue making her costumes until it loses its fun.
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October 14, 2009
Amanda Nava
Most people have experienced undeniably embarrassing moments. But when you add costumes, candy and people running around at night in costumes, the humiliation seems more potent than ever. It is as if though the holiday that represents the unusual and supernatural makes the simplest situations complicated and awkward. Perhaps you weren’t the person who became embarrassed, but you might have caused someone else to feel humiliated. Regardless, all embarrassing Halloween moments are one thing: entertaining.
Your most mortifying Halloween memory could have happened last year or ten years ago. For junior Jenny Krasnovskaya, it occurred when she was seven. Krasnovskaya went door to door, ringing each doorbell, eager for candy. At one house, a man in a mask jumped out.
“I was so scared I peed in my pants,” Krasnovskaya said.
In another instant, junior Cristy Lee was trick-or-treating one year and stepped into a house.
“I heard a voice that said ‘look up.’ I looked up, and there was a guy looking at me through a window. Suddenly, he threw an apple at me and I yelped. I stood there bemused that he just thrown a fruit at me. He proceeded to give me a piece of candy and told me he was just kidding, as if that would erase what just happened,” Lee said.
Other times, a mortifying event doesn’t happen because of the person who hands out the candy, but from fellow trick-or-treaters.
Last year junior Ryan Evans and his friend were on their usual route, dressed up as Barack Obama and John McCain. They ran into some people that they knew. Out of nowhere, one of the girls in the group started racing towards them. At one point she charged after them on all fours and snarled like an animal. Evans and his friend barely escaped.
The moment something embarrassing happens seems like the worst thing that has ever occurred—sometimes it is. But a person just has to look back on the event and laugh. Plus, once you tell someone about it, you usually feel better about what happened. Besides, your mortifying stories just might make another person’s day better.
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