Facing Our Fears
So, today’s Halloween.
You’re probably trying to figure out what you costume you’ll wear to a party tonight, and, by the way, have you stocked up on candy?
(I’ve been joking that instead of candy, this year I’ll be giving out toothbrushes. Hey, I’m all about what’s good for kids, even though I don’t have any.)
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about the spirit of fun that Halloween injects into our daily lives. I hadn’t actually experienced this festival until I moved to the US; we have so many festivals in India, replete with gods and demons (which my family enthusiastically participated in despite being a fervently Christian one), that Halloween – at least, at the time – was given short shrift.
Having now lived in the US for more than a decade, I still see that spirit of fun whenever Halloween comes around. Heaven knows we have more than our share of worries to deal with every other day of the year; why not be a kid for a day and throw caution to the winds?
More than that, though, I’ve come to see that, with all its ghouls and ghoulies, beasts and besties, Halloween gives us a chance to face our fears.
Filed under Personal, Shonali Burke | Tags: face our fears, halloween, samhain | Comments (29)Weekly Roundup: Trick or Treat
Today’s Hallowe’en.
Ghouls and ghosties and Lady Gagas and I’m sure several Sarah Palins will abound as they go door-to-door, foraging for sugar, wondering if they’ll get scared out of their lives.
Given as how I’m nursing a cold (or bronchitis, or pneumonia, please NOT pneumonia), I might doff the witch’s garb this year and opt for peace and quiet.
Especially since my hounds don’t realize that those little ghoulies are just kids and set up a caterwauling wild enough to make a banshee cry.
But in the spirit of the day, here are seven posts for your Hallowe’en hilarity.
1. Trick or Tweet? Some Halloween social media fun for a good cause, from Beth Kanter.
Filed under Public Relations, Shonali Burke, Social Media, Weekly Roundup | Tags: halloween, Social Media | Comment (0)Let’s Halloween Up PR
Growing up as a middle-class kid in India, Halloween was fascinating to me. We didn’t really celebrate it there as one does here in the U.S. and other countries (though it might be a different story now, I don’t know). It felt a little forbidden, probably because of its pagan roots, so that was appealing in itself. Over and above that, the idea of dressing up as something completely outlandish that I loved. Probably not surprising when you think of the horrendous school uniforms my friends and I had to wear all the way through high school (and no, I don’t have a photo and if I did, there’s no way in Hades I’d let you see it).
When I moved to the U.S., the first Halloween I marked was in San Francisco. Though you could argue every day is Halloween in SF, I remember my head spinning at the costumes I’d see on the street from 9 to 5′ers all ostensibly going about their daily business in a perfectly nonchalant way.
Even more amazing to me was that businesses weren’t just ok with their employees coming to work in costume, but that they got into the spirit of the day and actively encouraged it. I remember one year I was headed out on a business trip on – you guessed it – Halloween. Somehow getting my boarding pass issued by a witch or warlock made a typically cringe-inducing process fun. The airline staff was even – shock and awe – nice.
“Grownups” don’t go trick-or-treating any more, (at least, most of the grownups I know) but I think we love Halloween because it allows us to go outside the usual perception of ourselves. We can be kooky or dour and behave in a generally uncharacteristic manner for a day – and it’s ok. It lets us communicate a facet of ourselves that others might not generally know about, and often that helps break down barriers, just a little bit.
Filed under Communication, Public Relations, Shonali Burke | Tags: communications, halloween, pr, Public Relations | Comments (2)
