Well, Fall weather is finally creeping in around the edges down here in middle Georgia -- now that it is November.
We all had a pretty good Halloween. The Hatchers live on a big freakin' five lane highway (two lanes either side, turn lane in the middle) which swarms with logging trucks and UPS vans at all hours (you get used to it), so we get zero trick-or-treaters and, of course, do not walk up and down the lane visiting the neighbors. So we scrambled across those five lanes and down the street of a neighborhood across the way, but no luck. Things were totally dead. And not in a good way.
So we went over to a sort of upper middle class neighborhood in Macon proper -- where Sarah was trick-or-treating with a friend from school -- and the place was just getting the spill-over from an adjoining street which, for some reason, has become the most popular street for folks indulging the "hop in the car and hit as many neighborhoods as possible" approach to trick-or-treating. Hundreds of cars make their way down Ridge Ave. with their lights on, intermittently parking along the edge of the street while kids run here and there in packs. Sort of a good thing. Sort of a bad thing. The headlights are blinding. And the benefits of revisiting your own neighborhood transformed by Halloween aren't much there. But at least trick-or-treating hasn't disappeared altogether -- a distinct possibility around here as the number of local churches putting on H-alternative Fall Festivals has tripled since last year. (That may explain the dead neighborhood across the street.) A lot of folks go to the church festivals because of some faint residual suspicion that it is dangerous to trick-or-treat; at least they know their fellow church members at the festival, etc. Kind of an odd trade off. The church Fall Festivals aren't very spooky in my experience. A tad contrived. Kind of like when public television decides to "celebrate Imagination".
"Drive-by trick or treating" is probably worthy of some sociological inquiry. For one thing, Ridge Ave. is predominantly white (by far) and on Halloween all the kids from the poor neighborhoods – predominantly black – get their Moms to drive them over to Ridge. It's an odd sort of candy-driven desegregation. Lots of older black kids galluping around with no costume and a pillowcase full of candy, lots of white folks afraid to say, "Where's your costume?" Etc. Fortunately, the little kids are always decked out in some sort of costume and get most of the attention -- which keeps things on a positive note. I wonder if this is a Southern thing or if similar situations occur across the country. Kind of like that "day of inversion" thing which used to be part of some Christian festivals -- the fool becomes king, the poor receive a bounty of Butterfinger bars, etc.
What happened this Halloween with you guys?
About ye olde podcast: frankly, I get depressed since there are so few comments. I have two wonderful friends, Kathleen Lundquist and John Morehead, who regularly drop a note when I announce a new episode. And then there were those guys from TheJADEDVisalian who popped their heads in from time to time (much appreciated, guys). But that's about it. I feel like Linus in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. "Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see." But where's the Great Pumpkin?
Did anyone with OCD benefit from that 2 part podcast that I wrung out of my fervid little brain? Surely, it helped somebody. And what about all those Christians out there who lie awake at night wondering if their love for Tor Johnson movies has any part in their Christian faith? Well, maybe there aren't that many of those us out there. But still...
I will mount a large metal icebreaker to my forehead and forge ahead. Part three of the Kitsch overview is slated to appear this weekend -- probably Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, check out http://www.christianhalloweenfan.com .
Lint
P.S. Why the photo? I thought it provides a good example of why "Ju-on, the Grudge: American Style" just wouldn't work.
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7 comments:
Hi Lint,
Just found your blog and sites, after spending an afternoon looking over my old WONDER magazines and wondering what you guys were up to these days. Wish there was a straight forward way for you to "market" these sites, but alas, I don't know much about the web 2.0 style sites that would be a natural for your excellent writing. I've ordered the Magic 8 Ball book and look forward to catching up with all the goings on in the (former) wonderworld.
Jim Erskine
HomeschoolRadioShows.com
(you'd only know me from my loc re: the Monster Fan 2000 article back in Wonder)
Thanks for the comment, Jim. I hope you enjoy the book. If you are interested in a slightly revamped Monster Fan 2000, try http://www.christianhalloweenfan.com . Lint
Hey there, Lint - thanks for your post. G and I were just thinking of you - a friend of ours just sent along some lyrics to a song her 5-year-old boy made up to celebrate Halloween. It's so cute and funny that she's a little proprietary about it; I'll ask her if I can send them along to you for your enjoyment.
And don't despair about your podcasts, my friend. I burned a CD copy of them to give to my (retired psychiatrist/psychologist) parents, and they thought them quite good. My friend Monique, who also has some psychophysiological struggles, also found them helpful. And heck, so did I. A good straight-up tonic for a cobwebby mind. Well done.
We'll email soon with more news. Ta-ta for now...
Kathleen
Greetings Lint!
I just started listening to your podcast last week. I found it as a result of googling around for geeky Jesus things!
I started with the "Apocalypse on Aisle 4" and thought I was really onto something, then listened to your two episodes of interview with Peter Kreeft and started to get hooked (I'm a big Lewis (and Tolkien) fan, my favorite being his Space Trilogy). I then moved on to the latests two episodes (Kitsch), and was thoroughly hooked and thoroughly blessed!!! Thanks so much!!! You help me remember to love the Robot Monster (part Spirit part Flesh) that God has made me!!! I'm in the middle of your Infinite Crisis episodes and am enjoying it. I have always believed that pretty much where ever you look, you see evidence of the Creator and something about his nature. You have taken that concept to some really neat corners of our culture!!! Again thanks so much!!! I love your insight mixed with Theology and humor!!! I also love exclamation points!!!
Looking forward to Kitsch III! (or Kitsch 3D!!!)
Paul the Baptist (way up here in Maine)
Lint, I for one really love your podcasts, I was a Wonder subscriber since issue#2 and your writing has kept me on a good path all these years. When I get way too serious about things it always refreshes me to hear about the things I love - monster movies, imagination, etc. And I too have OCD and have benfitted from the 2 podcasts. So you are very much appreciated.
I also could not open the Kitsch part 2 podcast, do you have to have an I pod to hear it?
Paul the Baptist, Kathleen the Faithful Friend, and Robin the Unable to Open Kitsch Pt2,
Thanks very very much for your comments! I had forgotten to check back every now and then and see if anyone wrote in. You have given me the strinth to go on! (That's "strength" in Southern Speak.) Robin, I don't know why your file didn't work. Although, I did mess about with mp4 -- since that was the default setting in GarageBand when I recorded. Hmmmmmm... I will generate an mp3 version and post it. That should do the trick.
Thanks,
Lint
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