the Informer

Halloween seemed to disappear from the minds of most this year. Should a holiday that’s so easily forgotten even be considered a holiday? | Courtesy Of Terrortitans.Blogspot.Com

When it becomes possible to cancel a holiday, you start to think maybe it shouldn’t be one at all.

Due to the unprecedented outages that unfortunately blacked out the entirety of Halloween weekend, cities across the state postponed the holiday leaving mini ghouls and pint-sized pumpkins tricked, but not treated.

Perhaps even more horrifying were the would-have-been costumes that were swapped for flannel pants, dirty UHa apparel and sleeping bags that carpeted the game room floor of the student union.

As I pummeled through the stench of the walking unshowered in Gengras Halloween evening, I couldn’t help but think about whether I hated a campus full of hobos or a campus full of scantily clad police women more.

With the first Halloween weekend of my life that has more or less been completely absent from the year as a whole, I’ve realized how  dispensable a “holiday” it really is.

For children, of course, the one night a year where they get to pretend to be something they’re not while simultaneously ending the night with a bag full of thousands of grams of sugar is a dream come true.

So sure, postpone it until November to satisfy the hearts of candy-craving five-year-olds, but if it’s something that can be changed based on weather, why should it even be observed as a national celebration?

It’s like the governor saying: “Bad news. We’re postponing Christmas this year. No presents until Jan. 25 to give the Postal Service a little more time for deliveries, but only in the Northeast corner of the state,” which we know would never happen. With its absence this year, for college students it’s proven to be something as expendable as their Monday-Wedensday AUC.

For the average college student, Halloween means a set-in-stone weekend with guaranteed parties where the view from behind has a 75 percent chance of being more exposed than before. And don’t get me wrong, I love the occasional round of drinks while wearing an otherwise inexcusable costume, but the entire weekend is a bit of an overkill.

For even the most creative students, four nights of different costumes for the same holiday can get relatively overwhelming. There are only so many different animals a girl can pretend to be that lend themselves to both bare legs and an exposed bust.

After Thursday night’s devil costume, Friday night’s nurse, Saturday’s fire woman and the probable repeat costume on Sunday, not seeing a promiscuous doctor with a beer in hand for the next 12 months couldn’t be enough.

In reality, the weekend of Oct. 31 is no different than the biweekly “CEO and Corporate Hoes” get-togethers. With the nonexistence of costumed students making b-lines across the village and zombie-infested bars, those remaining on campus didn’t seem to miss the antics. It goes to show how inessential Halloween really is.