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  • What's your fondest memory of Halloween in the past?

  • Some people say their fondest memory of Halloween is always the candy, and the fun, and the

  • pranks they could pull on people. Yeah, I just enjoy the pretending, and I like feeling

  • like people admire my creativity with my costume. Last year, I dressed up as a Smurf. Wow! It

  • was epic! People loved it, I think. It was surprising 'cause it's not traditional, and

  • it's kind of self-deprecating, you know. It doesn't make me look awesome or cool. I personally

  • love costumes where you dress up as benign or normal things like a "hot dog" outfit.

  • Someone dressed up in a "Wheaties" box, or something? A cereal box? This holiday has

  • been practiced in places like Scotland and, I think, throughout Scandinavia, some other

  • parts of the world, even in parts of Mexico, but what would you say is the most American

  • aspect of that holiday as we practice it?

  • I see a lot of kids dressing up as Superman, and firemen, and stuff that has cropped up

  • in our pop culture, like Star Wars and other movie characters, like Transformers, and things

  • like that.

  • The only memories I have are just dressing up like a cowboy, or I had one of those cheap

  • plastic outfits that you can get from the store with a plastic mask. It was a bear,

  • or something. I don't have a very creative background on costumes for Halloween.

  • Americans aren't completely united on their feeling about Halloween. Some folks think

  • it's uninteresting. Some folks think it's... [Satanic?] ...uh, Satanic, really, really

  • horrible. Some people think it's just irritating, and some people think it's a lot of fun, and

  • some people really, really love it. But, I remember here listening to Michael Medved

  • on the radio discussing Halloween, and he's pretty critical of the whole idea in the first

  • place. And, he was just debating his wife, who thinks it's a wonderful idea, you know.

  • And his point was that it teaches children how to beg. The whole ceremony of going to

  • each door and saying, "Trick-or-treat! Give me something good to eat!"

  • Well, that's what it was originally in Europe. Something where poor people and young children

  • would go door-to-door begging for either some treats like food, or even money in exchange

  • for saying prayers for the dead...[Yeah.] ...as a Catholic tradition. Today, I mean,

  • I just see most of it in America as being something that's entertaining. We have big

  • crowds in our neighborhood doing the Halloween trick-or-treating. Even some people turn their

  • garages into something of a haunted house.

  • I have a beef with people decorating their house. This is my soapbox for a moment, OK?

  • My homeowners association says I cannot leave garbage on my front lawn. But, there's one

  • month a year where everybody kind of has free reign to dump a bunch of garbage on their

  • front lawn, and try to make it look scary, but it just looks ugly. I'm talking about

  • skulls, and coffins, and cobwebs all over their trees. And it's a bunch of...looks like

  • a yard sale that somebody had last year that he never cleaned up. [Yeah.] It looks just

  • terrible. [I hear you.] And that's a minor quibble. Not a big deal.

What's your fondest memory of Halloween in the past?

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