THIS IS HALLOWEEN, THIS IS HALLOWEEN!  HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! I’ll stop there but only because, unfortunately, I’m not allowed to write down all of the lyrics to every song in “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” unfortunately. Halloween is a time of change in many ways. It is the changing of leaves (that is, in places with actual “seasons,” something we Southern Californians have never experienced.) It is the shift into the beloved holiday season, the ease out of summer with its cold beach waves and warm sun into fall with its cold breezes and warm sweaters. Best of all, however, is the most exciting day in all of autumn: Halloween. Rivaled by Christmas as one of the greatest holidays ever conceived, Halloween is one of the pinnacles of the year; so why do I, with all of my love for this holiday and its season, feel a heavy weight upon my chest with the coming of the 31st? This is because I am a teenager. We, the general student body of CHS,  receive the short end of stick on Halloween; unable to dress up like the good ol’ days and too young to attend parties where dressing up is acceptable again, we are presented with the question of what to do on this spooky holiday.

For people our age it is essentially frowned upon to dress up for Halloween. Only for the adorable kids much younger than us who dress up as their favorite heroes and princesses, and for the adults whose costumes are almost solely based upon how promiscuous or comical they are, is dressing up acceptable. Elementary school presented optimal costume-wearing excuses and class parties, filling the day with showing off your costume to your classmates and exchanging candy. Middle school comes along with the turbulent spectrum of emotions and hormones, emphasizing everyone’s insecurities and thus, hardly anybody dresses up on Oct. 31st for those two years. High school presents a wide and interesting array, including aspects of both the elementary and middle school displays. There are those that no longer care what others think of them, dressing up how they please-within school dress code restrictions, of course-and fully embellishing the Halloween spirit. Then there are those that have had their self-esteem restored after the horrors of middle school, but no longer care for the holiday nor its associated festivities such as dressing up. For the most part, most do not dress up, and if they do, they throw on their onesie from last year’s 31st and call it a day, which is all well and good until someone’s tail is caught in the door. Nearly reaching the prime of my youth, I welcome all of the ambiance of the month but find myself with nothing to look forward to on the actual day of Hallow. The past few years have come with questions that everyone of this age has to face: when am I too old to trick-or-treat? Is it rude? If I cannot trick-or-treat what am I to do? We are stuck with the ghost of our childhood memories, stranded between no free candy and yet, still unable to experience the festive, adult Halloween parties.

Fear not (pun intended), there are alternatives. Staying home and having a scary movie night with friends is an ideal way to spend the night, including eating popcorn and discounted candy to your heart’s desire. Or simply passing out candy for the trick-or-treaters, enjoying the kids’ radiant smiles when you compliment their costumes. Of course going and prank-scaring your friend is also an option, as long as you are not wandering around their house at night or else you will be accused of being a juvenile delinquent, or confused for a creepy clown. There are still parties, I am not totally oblivious to this fact, but people do not dress up for them and if they do it is most often not with the same fervor and relish that those younger and older than us do.

Where am I going with this article? Who the Halloween knows. If anything I would say that I aim to express my love of Halloween while simultaneously complain about the factors of being a teenager during the Halloween season. Therefore, if you are like me and not as specifically excited for the day of Halloween as you once were, be sure to remember to enjoy the occasional orange leaf and the hot autumn air of California that we’re going to pretend is brisk for imagery purposes. Those of you that wish to dress up in costume once again, do it. If you no longer feel urge to do so, then you do not have to, just eat some extra candy corn for me, will ya? We both know it only tastes decent during this month anyways. As for you onesie-wearers, I appreciate your effort, no matter how minimal. Overall, try to enjoy the spirit of the holiday season, with or without trick-or-treating and festive parties. In this town, we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song.