Letters for George: Welcome to the Land of Ghouls and Goblins

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Welcome to the Land of Ghouls and Goblins

Dear George,

Xmas might be the most exciting holiday of the year (i.e., with Santa and all those gifts), but Halloween ranks way up there. Not only do you get to dress up in amazing costumes for school, but then things get so scary come 6 p.m. What other holiday do you go out on pitch dark streets when you half-suspect that vampires and ghouls might be lurking in the shadows? We’ve learned from Hollywood that lots of people get murdered on Halloween night (mostly raunchy teenagers having illicit sex). And demented old men put razor blades in the cupcakes they hand out. Halloween derives in part from Festivals of the Dead many centuries ago in Europe. It was believed to be the night on which the doorway to the Other-World was left partially open and the spirits of the dead could return to roam the land and wreak vengeance on their bad relatives. Nowadays we use Halloween to teach children that if they can conquer their fears and confront danger they can reap unimaginable rewards (in this case, scads of Tootsie Rolls and M & M’s). Our Halloween in Cincinnati was messed up this year because of the midwestern aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Despite the crummy weather, our Clifton neighborhood was transformed into its own Festival of the Dead, with ghouls and skeletons galore. Here some photos of the Halloween season from the side streets around Ludlow Avenue (plus a few from the Party Store). Take a look, but be prepared to be terrified.

Love,

Dave

G-mail Comments

-Linda K-C (11-3): Another great letter and fantastic photos.

-Gayle C-L (11-3): David, Love the pics! The skeleton reminds me of when I'm training for a race and I don't eat for a few days !! Thx for taking them. Of course we did not have Halloween. Bummer ! The poor kids . Halloween is huge to them! I hear they might do Halloween in Princeton on Monday ,,, we shall see. Glad to see you survived the storm. I stayed at a friends w a generator for a few days. We were without power for a few days. And never this long in the past. Jersey is a mess. it s going to take a long time to recover. We're recovering in Princeton. Everyday it's getting better. Hope u all are well. I ll keep u posted. Lots of love XX. G

1 comment:

Terry ONovember 12, 2012 at 3:03 PM
I like Casper the Friendly Ghost a whole lot better!
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MARCH 2024 HOLIDAYS

MARCH 2024 HOLIDAYS

Sun., Mar. 10. Daylight Saving Time starts. Clocks move forward one hour at 2 a.m. // Sun., Mar. 17. St. Patrick’s Day. Celebrating one of Ireland’s patron saints and Irish-American culture in the U.S. // Wed., Mar. 20. Spring Equinox. One of two annual equinoxes in which the length of night and day are nearly equal. // Thurs., Mar. 21. World Poetry Day. Promoting linguistic expression through poetry. // Sat., Mar. 23. Purim starts. A Jewish holiday which commemorates Jews being saved from extermination in Persia. // (Source: wincalendar.com)

CINCINNATI NEWS

CINCINNATI NEWS

According to ratings by the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, Cincinnati ranks 4th best in parks among the nation’s 100 largest cities. 88% of Cincinnati residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. Neighborhoods where most people identify as a person of color have access to 4% less park space than those in predominantly white neighborhoods. Park amenities ranked high for Cincinnati in categories of basketball hoops, playgrounds, bathrooms, recreation, senior centers, and splash pads. Dog parks were much lower, only 1.6 dog parks per 100K people. Cities ranked higher than Cincinnati were Arlington, VA, St. Paul, MN, and Washington, D.C. (wcpo.com, 5-5-22)

EVERYDAY FOIBLES

EVERYDAY FOIBLES

I have one pair of prescription glasses for reading, one for distance (driving, movies). I also have a dozen $1.00 reading glasses from the Dollar Store so I can keep my prescription pair permanently on our dining room table. Of course I lost my distance glasses two years ago. I’ve been sure they was somewhere around the house, but I’ve scoured everywhere. Last week I got ready to go to my writers group and picked out a pair of reading glasses from my bedside table. One had orange and purple rims, one green and yellow, and one dark brown. I chose the conservative dark brown pair. At my group I tried reading with them, but everything was blurry. I was sure they weren’t Katja’s glasses, but they certainly weren’t my reading glasses. Back home Katja suggested that maybe they were my distance glasses. I looked out the window, and the house down the block was in clearer focus. So my lost distance glasses have been sitting next to my bed for the past two years.

FAMOUS POETS

FAMOUS POETS

Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1888. His father, a prosperous businessman, sent him to Milton Academy and Harvard where he excelled. At Harvard Eliot studied philosophy, earning a master’s degree under George Santayana. He then studied linguistics, poetry, and philosophy at the Sorbonne and at Oxford University, settling in England after his studies, working as a banker, and writing poetry. Eliot published his first masterpiece, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, in 1917, and he followed it with “The Waste Land” in 1922, a long poem that had tremendous impact on Western literature. Andrew Lloyd Webber adapted Eliot’s 1939 children’s book, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” into the stage musical “Cats”, one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1948, Eliot died in 1965. (Tessitore, Extraordinary American Writers, 2004)

MY WEEK (Mon., 4/15 - Sun., 4/21/24)

MY WEEK (Mon., 4/15 - Sun., 4/21/24)

Katja had appointments with her primary care physician and pain doctor. She had a fall at T.J. Maxx, banged her head, and was taken to emergency by ambulance but turned out o.k. We toured the new Clifton Cultural Arts Center, complained that they didn’t have our name in the wall of donors. I put most of my academic library out for graduate students in preparation for moving offices at the university. We had dinner out at Longhorn Steakhouse, chop steak for me, lamb chops for Katja. I shed a tear at Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office on PBS.