Halloween Year Meets Halloween Night

Published in West Volusia Beacon, November 5-11, 2020

In 2020, every day has been like Halloween. It’s been a year of scares and shocks. President Donald Trump making surprise his daily fare. Joseph Biden in fourth place in early primaries; Joseph Biden the Democratic Party nominee for president. A novel Corona Virus silently infecting millions, killing hundreds of thousands, and shocking the economy. And that’s just the US. A year with the most big-ticket disasters in US History—and there are still two months to go.

Is there room for any more shock?

Actually yes. The virus could take a more deadly turn. The shutdown economy could hurt more people. The fire season in the west and the hurricane season in the east still have months to go. In a nation closely divided, half are going to be hurting after the election.

Enter a night with dark visions of mysterious powers and scary creatures. It’s 2020 to the max. Like Aladdin at the end of his movie pulling the evil Jafar into one little lamp, Halloween is a chance to pull all our fears into a stylized exaggeration of our Year of Living Scarily. Halloween is a night for dressing up our scares, living them out, and then putting them away at the end of the evening.

Read the whole essays in the West Volusia Beacon [external link]