COLUMN: Cover up this Halloween
Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays. I can’t specifically say why though.
It might have something to do with the fact that when I was in elementary school, my mother made me dress up as a munchkin – complete with a big turquoise hoop skirt and lacy bonnet – for a party at school. To say the least, I was the laughing stock of the second grade. The skirt was so big I could hardly walk, and when I fell down, notice I said when, not if, it was next to impossible to get up without revealing everything I owned.
To add pain to punishment, one of the teachers thought my outfit was so cute she took a life-size picture of me, which ended up on one of the pages of the yearbook at the end of the year.
I don’t really like Halloween.
My opinion of Halloween hasn’t improved much since I came to college. I suppose my reasons are still the same. The costumes. It seems to me for many people Halloween is an excuse to dress scandalously, then parade around in public.
It’s a crazy concept that every Oct. 31 people who would never consider it otherwise suddenly find less-than-modest dress acceptable. This is especially troubling with the large LDS population we have around here. Being LDS myself, I know the Church holds to certain standards about dress and the standards don’t change simply because it’s a holiday.
It would seem that Halloween dresses some of us up as hypocrites.
This doesn’t apply to everyone, of course. There are many more people out there who consider Halloween to be just like any other day, a day when we get up and get dressed with all the appropriate clothing items.
This probably explains the increasing popularity of the Scream, the dance sponsored by the Logan LDS Institute, other the past few years. They have an enforced dress code that makes sure no one is left feeling uncomfortable.
Over the years, the Howl has built the reputation of being less than holy on Halloween.
But I have recently heard a rumor that the school is trying to change that. What a commendable change! Bravo! I hope it works.
I don’t mean to sound skeptical. I really do think the Howl could use a deep clean, and I think a good part of the community would support the change, and in turn support the school. However, the promise of no explicit costumes allowed has to be more than talk. It has to be true.
If the school is looking to turn the Howl into a party they can be proud of, they are going to have to set a standard, wherever they think is right, and hold to it even if it means turning people away.
Mikaylie Kartchner is a senior majoring in journalism. Comments can be sent to mikayliek@cc.usu.edu.