An Outrageous Parade

Here in San Francisco, Halloween is the most revered holiday, a ritual, hallowed feast day, if you will. With sightings of the costumed an almost everyday occurance,much attention is given to cleverly revealing one's "inner thespian." Yesterday, The sun gifted the Haight-Asbury, a bastion of vintage and thrift shops, as the tribes hunted for fabulosity. No boa was left unturned in the quest for the sanctioned, form of revelation.

It has been a curiosity of mine that Halloween has morphed into an adult holiday, the last decade or so. In my prehistoric youth, I was chastised by my mother for trick or treating at the advanced age of twelve. My subtle disguise behind my father's faded army jacket was reluctantly shed by 8:30 that night. No amount of Sugar Daddy lollipops or Milkyway bars could assuage the embarrassment and self examination brought to the surface that night. My face burned with shame (perversely not unlike being caught masturbating) at being berated for my exuberance of escaping my "normal" self if only for a few hours...


One could say that I have gleefully continued to don costumes (in one form or another) since then.My current obsession with movies and fashion from the twenties and thirties has manifested itself in my short bobbed, "Marcel Wave" haircut,vintage jewelry and clothing. In my head, I am Jean Harlow,"parading" (the virtues of such a pastime Ringo extolled in "A Hard Day's Night").Does this desire to don a facade point to a reluctance to acknowledge the real or to make real the imagined?

Certainly, the trend towards adult Halloween has mainly to do with money on the part of the "bigbox" companies and the many Halloween warehouses, set up mostly in abandoned storefronts. But, what I find fascinating is how society has condoned this new emphasis on expected, adult participation. Historically, major holidays have picked up bits and pieces of tradition from other celebrations,as Halloween is no exception.It is oddly exciting to me to be living through this change of emphasis. Does the horror of our world mired in wartime,hunger,poverty,neglect and abuse exhort us to play dress up?