unhappy halloween

Salem, MA is known by it association to the witch trials in 1692. Unfortunately, that historical event's reality of injustice and religious extremism does not relay into the marketed Salem image of WITCHES and HAUNTED HAPPENINGS. So, I live next door to the capital of Halloween. 

And this year my Halloween lacked the one truly redeeming factor of the "holiday"- babies in costume. I did not have even one moment to interact with the cuteness that is children in costume. I love me some dress-up- I had an AWESOME dress-up tub growing up, and entertained myself with it for hours. Imagination and creative play? Yes, please. I'm a theatre artist for goodness sake. My theory is: kids+costumes=good.

My theory addendum as of this year? Adults+costume=iffy. Add alcohol and public transportation to that mix and there are bound to be innocent bystanders. 

Last night, I was the innocent bystander. 

And I was repeatedly retracting yesterday's post title in my mind.

There's this karma that follows me in public transportation. I don't know what it is, but that loud person always sits immediately behind me. Reading quietly or talking in hushed tones on the phone apparently calls for disruption and entertainment. Do I look pathetic? Do I subtly call out for spicing up? 

Last night that loud person was an incredibly drunk man in his mid-thirties, dressed in faux-bloody clothes, face-painted in faux-bloodly-bullet-holes, and carrying a 3 ft. wide paper machè mask. The entire train car found out how desperately this man needed to use the restroom, how much Halloween rocks, and how he needed to go home to hug his dogs. (Is there a DCF for dogs?) Of course he’d been one of the thousands flooding the streets of beautiful, historical, coastal Salem to celebrate it's shining star of a "holiday,” Halloween. 

Why Salem? Why couldn't you choose Arbor Day or something? I'd so much rather ride with a train full of tree-huggers. And why must every adult walking your streets feel inspired toward gore or raunch? Aren't there more characters to imitate than the dead and the promiscuous? 

I want the days of pumpkin costumes and chubby 1 year olds in lion get-ups. Fairy wings and glittery face paint. Give me some of that Halloween. I can do without the other one.