Halloween

H-A-Double L-O-W-Double E-N

That was the song we learned when we were six or seven in school. I still recite the song every time I spell the word. Maybe because I am a terrible speller (which I am.) Or maybe because it is simply fun.

When I was a kid my dad used to hand make costumes. Once he made me a racoon suit. I think I still have the tail or the hat or something stripy.

Once I was a half boy/half girl. That was silly.

One year I was Alfalfa from The Little Rascals. Anyone who knows me knows I have curly hair. Now making curly hair stand straight is no easy feat. Only one recipe would work. It was grandmas idea. Mayonnaise. Worked like a charm.

Then followed several years of fake skin, fake blood, fake scars, and simply bad special effects. These were the three or four years where I had to come up with a costume. Any costume. Just to look cool. Well...really just to extend my Trick-or-Treat years to get more candy. And to look cool. I think it worked. These were the fun years. I really had a good time with the holiday during these years.

Soon after, the whole idea of costumes came to an end. Halloween simply became a day to party. Hell, we even had an excuse to show up late to class. We could stay out late and smoke by the market. If times (and weather) allowed...we would toilet paper someone's house.

Then college came and the idea of wearing a costume suddenly became cool again. It was as if we were old enough that the memories of childhood were ancient. Looking back, I think the freedom of college just made us act like kids. I would go all year without any plans of having a plan. Then three hours before night fall on Halloween I would scramble to put together something. Anything would suffice at this point.

I think two years ago I was Peter Pan. With a cheesy, and frankly, creepy mustache. I even wore tights.

Today I photographed kids being kids. In costumes and sugared up. It was surprisingly wonderful. They were little Halloweenies. It was cute.

I also took pictures of a race. The Halloween Hustle. Pretty lame. I think 100 people ran the three miles. And it was cold. Only a few had costumes. There was one guy painted as a skeleton. Oddly enough he was a bleeding skeleton. But a skeleton none the less.

On my way home I stopped for a burrito near the university. The students were out in full force. For some reason, and I could never figure this out even when I was in school, Halloween seems to simply be an excuse for many girls to wear nothing. A slutty maid. A slutty nurse. A slutty...slut. It always struck me as weird.