eyes tet Ces A Ae Ome | What gets your ghoul? » Good gourd, carve your pumpkins! Janis McMath Assistant Editor his Halloween season, I have noticed how common it is for people to buy pumpkins and simply put the gourd on } A. display as is instead of partaking in the fun carving tradition. This minimalist aesthetic bullshit eats me up inside (looking at you, Starbucks) because it is watering down a Halloween festivity that I love so much. Halloween is easily my favourite f a holiday because the day is centered solely around creativity. What other holiday encourages people into so many DIY project? There are other holidays that highlight creativity, but none so much as Halloween. You choose a costume that represents you with totally open parameters, you buy or literally make an outfit, you create a piece of art ona pumpkin, and you get to decorate within the very fun and inspiring theme of “spooky.” This unique holiday deserves respect for how it encourages everyone in society to create art. In a world where there is noticeable bias in schools (and everywhere) against the arts and an emphasis on sciences, this season is extremely near and dear to my heart. Halloween is for creativity, and anyone who refuses to use their creative muscles during the season disappoints me greatly. Don't get me wrong, I don’t expect everyone to be perfect at art. There are many people who don't practice creativity and I understand that making art can be daunting, but I still think that everyone has something to contribute to the season. You don't have to be good at art to make good art. Some of the simplest pumpkin What gets your ghoul? » People who don’t dress up for Halloween parties Jessica Berget Editor-in-Chief early every year I go out fora Halloween celebration. And nearly every year there is at least one person who decided not to dress up. And nearly every year I am disappointed that there are some people who show up to Halloween costume parties not wearing a costume. Seriously, why even go to a Halloween party if you're not dressing up? For one thing, it’s not that difficult to come up with or make a costume (unless youre planning a complicated one). Most of the time, it doesn’t even have to be good, it just has to bea costume. If you have to be a lame pun or pull together an outfit you just found in your closet last minute that’s fine; at least you tried. However, if you are not going to even try to dress up for a party, I think that’s super lame and the other party-goers who are dressed-up should be allowed to rag on you the entire night for it. To me, it’s more fun if everyone is dressed up. If there are one or two people who chose not to wear a costume it spoils the fun. There is a real sense of community when everyone is suffering the same pain of sweating and partying in their hot and uncomfortable get-up. Everyone should be on the same page and participate in the same rituals of the Halloween spirit. Furthermore, you should know that Halloween parties include dressing up. If you don't want to dress up, don't go. Some people may not want to dress up because they feel foolish, or that it’s too much effort for something so silly, and it is cc theotherpress.ca carvings are the best. I saw the tiniest and easiest smiley face carved into a pumpkin once—yet I still think about how much I love that pumpkin. I'd take a stupid face drawn on in sharpie instead of a straight up gourd any day. To me, that shows that you tried and that you respect the meaning of the holiday. Every time I see an uncarved pumpkin on display, I honestly feel anger. I'd rather you didn’t even participate in Halloween instead of just placing an uncarved pumpkin on display. I know my feelings may seem extreme, but the action to me represents disrespect for the moral of the tradition. By not participating, people who don't want to challenge themselves to create art are given an excuse to not be creative, and the cycle continues. As we all know, in time holidays change based on how people celebrate them. If some people don't push themselves to make something creative on Halloween, then other people will do it to, and then the holiday changes. Not carving your pumpkin could eventually cause the holiday’s important value of creativity to be lost in translation, and I never want that to happen—so carve your pumpkins, please! For one thing, it’s not that difficult to come up or make a costume. all of those things, but that’s what makes it so fun! Seeing everyone else’s creations, making your own vision of a costume come true with the smallest details, and then partying your ass off in it is the essence of this holiday—and my favourite part. It’s one of the only times of the entire year that you can wear whatever you want and have fun being creative and crafty. You can honour a favourite celebrity, video game character, television show, obscure movie— whatever strikes your fancy. Finally, if you don’t wear a costume for Halloween parties, you miss out on the best part of being in a costume—taking it off at the end of the night.