Day of the Dead vs Halloween

Octavio Paz described Mexican culture as being “seduced by death.” Sugared skulls, and the skeletal figurines (colacas) of humans in every conceivable clothing style and occupation seem to confirm this sentiment. Day of the Dead is primarily a celebration of the ancestors. Unlike Halloween, the goal of the flowers, altars, candy and skeletal array is to pay respects in the more creative, fanciful style of the people who brought us magical realism.

America’s Halloween differs from Day of the Dead in many ways. Number one is that Halloween is scary. In American culture death is not a natural occurence common to all life, but a fearful, traumatic end. When the dead come back, they are not pleased. They haunt and frighten us by making spooky sounds and rattling bones. Like the ever-so-popular vampire and zombie legends, the moral is always that it is preferable for all if the dead remain buried. Our culture gives a high priority to everyone staying in their designated place.

In Dia de Los Muertos, the dead are revered, not as superhuman, but with all the frailties and imperfection of the lives they lived. Altars, the tributes to the departed, often include whiskey bottles and cartons of cigarettes. These are not the trappings of saints. It is a time of memory and celebration. If these deceased returned for a visit, it seems that their friends and families would rejoice not cower.

When my mother was dying of ovarian cancer, the primary emotions she expressed were fear and, more puzzling, shame Fear seems a natural response to the unknown but her shame was trickier to comprehend. In retrospect, I believe it was about relinquishing control in front of her children. Being invulnerable was a necessary part of that definition.

Of course control is also a primary part of our philosophy of rugged individualism. “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul,” was a quote often repeated by my father. To be so ill that you can no longer steer your own ship is not only considered tragic, it is a disgrace.

If my mother had openly acknowledged how sick she was it would have been a relief to all of us. We could have begun initiating closure much sooner; expressing emotion and saying all the things that need to be said.

I don’t know how her death would translate in Mexico. But, on her altar, I would place a copy of Simone De Beauvoir’s, “Second Sex,” a bottle of scotch, and one of Sanka, a can of tomato juice and one of asparagus spears, a slice of rye toast, a pack of Kent cigarettes, a copy of the New Yorker, a steno pad, a credit card and an old typewriter.

Romney: The Scariest Thing This Halloween

Yes, I know that Obama has been a war-monger who has curtailed civil liberties and protections for everyone and yes, I would rather see a third party offer a true choice for all Americans. A Romney presidency would privatize life here in the USA and survival or the fittest would be our new national slogan. But as horrible as his “leadership” would be for immigrants, women, working and poor people in general, but it would be absolutely devastating to the well-being of LGBT Americans.

Romney has stated that the right to hospital visitation by a significant other would be up-for-grabs on a state-by-state basis under his administration. There would be more incidents like the Florida case where in April of 2010, Janice Langbehn was denied access to her dying partner of the past 18 years, Lisa Marie Pond.

Mitt has stated he will enshrine a marriage equals one man and one woman clause in the US Constitution and do everything in his power to take away same-gender marriage rights in those few states that have them.

He will ensure that the children of LGBT couples are discriminated against by noting on their birth certificates by striking out the words mother and father and writing in parent one and parent two. He resisted the printing out of gender-neutral birth certificates because this would be “detrimental to the family unit.” What would become of these “detrimental” families and their children is anybody’s guess but certainly not his concern.

When it comes to the issue of bullying in schools, Romney has opposed any administration-based efforts to oppose this practice or even to educate people about homophobia and gender-based bigotry.

Queer folks will need to kiss goodbye any hope of ending immigration and green card discrimination, housing discrimination, discrimination in access to “public” facilities, job discrimination and any other kind of anti-gay prejudice you can think of because Romney would try to take this country back to the days when gay sex itself was illegal.

In this era of hyper-nostalgia when all rights of women, religious and anti-religious minorities and immigrants are at stake it is important to draw the line somewhere. Yes, I know that the Obama administration is problematic in a multitude of ways, but the election of Mitt Romney would be an absolute nightmare.

Now as we are witnessing the effects of climate change first hand, we have a presidential candidate who has proposed to end FEMA funding too. Romney is a walking nightmare. I lived through the oppression of the fifties and have zero desire to repeat that experience now!