OUR VIEW: Yell something to Scream and Howl over

Sometimes, we find something that really makes us want to scream. Or maybe yell. Scream? Yell?

Which sounds more like we mean it?

If you read the front page, you know the Institute’s Scream has been resurrected by other students in an apparently milder form. Despite what some of its creators say, it doesn’t sound like the same thing. And these Dr. Frankensteins sure weren’t taking any chances with that new name.

The Yell?

Why not the Shriek or the Screech or the Wail or Pit of Eternal Despair? Something a little more gripping than a vanilla-tasting Yell.

Or we could just keep going on the Howl – Scream – Yell descent. The next extra-ASUSU Halloween event could be called the Whine. Or the Mutter. Or the Noncommittal Sound.

The Scream hadn’t faded very far into the annals of history before the Young Single Adults of Cache Valley decided to fill the vacuum left by the canceled event. The dance sponsored by the Institute was canceled for a couple reasons, one of which was it competed with the ASUSU-sponsored Howl. The YSA Yell sort of defeats that purpose.

But the Scream did something for the Howl lots of people overlooked: it silenced the dissenters.

Those who hated the Howl and all the debauchery it involves would have had a lot more to say about it had they not had another option. If it had been the Howl or no Halloween party all these years, it would have left the more conservative members of the student body feeling left out – or, if they braved the Taggart Student Center on that crazy night, pretty uncomfortable.

So what’s the problem with giving those students a place to go for Halloween? ASUSU has taken steps to moderate the extremes of the Howl to lure in more Scream junkies. And that’s fine, but there will always be that other element that works against any efforts to keep things decent. Some people like their Halloween celebration to be risqué.

ASUSU has worked hard to plan the Howl, and with attendance dwindling over the past few years, they have been looking for ways to draw students back in. The cancellation of the Scream probably looked like an answer.

But will the Scream junkies take the bait?

Where before they had a party to call their own, now it looked like the Screamers must mingle with the Howlers. So the Yell stepped in.

Thank the Halloween gods.

Now everyone can celebrate this fine holiday in the way they choose, just like the Founding Fathers wanted it.

Thank you, YSA, for filling the gap. The monopoly on Halloween has not been formed. Each student choose the Howl or the Yell, or both.