It’s the month when the spirits cross into the land of the living. It’s all about beginnings and endings. So we’re beginning this month’s issue with a story about Lisa’s maternal grandfather. And ending with our Halloween recommendations.
🧟 GOING FULL SPECTRAL
Grandpa Vuong was a planner. One fall day, Grandpa went to the local cemetery with his youngest son to pick out a family grave plot. Being a popular burial location, only two choices were available that day. The first on the perimeter of the grounds, along the fence and next to the driveway of an elementary school. The other sat atop a quiet hill. The choice was obvious, but Lisa’s Uncle asked - mostly to be polite - “Which do you like better?”
Grandpa replied without hesitation. “The one by the driveway.”
“But it’s so noisy! So many cars and kids.” exclaimed Uncle, “Wouldn’t you rather be on the hill under that beautiful tree?”
“No,” said Grandpa. “I’m afraid of ghosts.”
Depending on how you feel about ghosts, a few options for getting the most out of your Halloween:
Buy 1428 Elm Street, the address where Nightmare on Elm Street takes place. Even though it is only $3.25 million.
Listen to the creepy sounds of rhubarb growing in the dark (fwiw, it’s from a whole Soundcloud channel of rhubarb noir tracks).
Play 20 questions: Ghost Edition with kids
Visit the Museum of Fear and Wonder in Alberta, Canada
Conduct research at the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University.
Compete in a Women’s Lawnmower Racing Association in Texas.
Allow a Seychelles giant tortoise near a baby bird.
Enter a coal mine without your canary resuscitator.
Walk through a doorway with a cobra hanging out in it.
🦂 A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH
Snakes aside, it’s Scorpio season! Scorpio represents the force of nature that killed the greatest human hunter, Orion. Although the mortal didn’t make it to zodiac status like his eight-legged nemesis, the two constellations are about 180 degrees apart in the night skies. That means the rise of Scorpio begins the descent of Orion below the horizon for the season.
This eternal pair of Hunter and Hunted symbolize the tenuous connection between life and death. If you don’t have an Ancient Greek or Mesopotamian handy to ask about it, try supercurious friend and cultural anthropologist, Kelly Swazey. Specifically her TEDMED talk on funeral rites of Toraja (pictured above), an Indonesian tribe where death is treated as a spectrum, and not a singular moment in time. Spirits continue to live in the body past their last breath. As such, the mummified body continues to live with the family until the funeral happens, sometimes years later. It is the divorce of the spirit from the body (the final funeral rite in Toraja) that marks the absence of life.
If that sounds strange to you, pause for a moment to reflect on humanity’s inevitable descent into the metaverse.
🐝 STING OPERATION
It’s hard to believe not even one full moon has passed since the company formerly known as Facebook bit the dust for a few hours, prompting Twitter’s rejoinder for the ages. But a silver tongue that stings is hardly unique:
Google’s PR heydey that the top search on Bing is… “Google,” including the stats in its defense strategy against a €4.3billion fine from the EU.
J.R.R. Tolkein’s 1965 rebuke of the novel Dune.
The colorful obit of Telluride ski bum, Uncle Bunky.
The bite of an African Tiger Mom, as portrayed by poet comedian Adéṣayọ̀ Tàlàbí.
Here’s someone who does not really want their foster cat to be adopted.
Portraits of North Americans in 1860s Japan by Utagawa Yoshitora and Utagawa Yoshikazu.
What do these seemingly frivolous glimpses into human nature all have in common? All are questions about legacy. The same questions that underlie everything from probing the origins of the COVID-19, to Facebook’s quest to achieve Microsoft or Apple’s orbit, or the Taliban’s renewed plans in Afghanistan (Taliban interview with supercurious friend, Shoma Chaudhury).
On a lighter note, even Scorpio falls prey to questions of legacy. When Romans switched from a lunar to a solar year 3,500 ago, they clipped the claws off the constellation. They wanted to make room for a 12th constellation, and so Scorpio’s claws became the scales of Libra. No wonder Scorpios are stereotyped as jealous!
🍬 TRICKS AND TREATS
Speaking of legacy, after a year off, Halloween is back on this year! Feeling the pressure of a last minute costume? Tips for dressing up, what to hand out to kids, and even a few weird pranks:
Rent Madonna’s cone bra from Jean Paul Gaultier.
Dress up in lost clothes from the laundromat you own, like this couple.
How about Quarantine Barbie? Oh, wait…
Hand out Cup O’ Noodle Soda, or really surprise them with a blackworm blob.
Try not to add to this list of stolen Ronald McDonald statues.
And after it’s all over, consider visiting the Oregon Zoo to literally go smashing pumpkins with elephants.
That’s it for this month. See you on the other side 👻 --- of this zodiac sign.🌟
Your curators,
Lisa and Jordan
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