The Tricks and The Treats.
Happy Halloween—it's been a truly frightening month, plus the kitschy stuff.
October is a grind month. Back to school settles into a routine, the weather cools off, leaves change and our candy intake accelerates to prepare us for the blood-sugar spikes of the winter holidays. (Scroll to the bottom to see my costume.)
I usually round up all the books I read during the month, like here is September and August, but in this Halloween edition, I’ll begin with the truly terrifying things we collectively encountered.
Let’s confess folks, October felt a bit chaotic. I also did Sober October (no drugs, alcohol, or nicotine) this year and worked out every single day of the month, but I’ll share a reflection on that somewhat intense experience when my biceps stop hurting.
Here is what disturbed me this October:
Ye. Yeah, I felt so betrayed and saddened and frightened by the antisemitic words coming out of the artist formerly known as Kanye West’s mouth. I’m half Jewish/culturally Jewish so, NO. I watched all the interviews in their entirety like I was glued to the trainwreck of the Johnny Depp trial all over again. Even more troubling is that I was a MEGA Ye FANGIRL. Been listening to him since the song Gold Digger dropped and I attended his (incredible) Donda 2 premiere in Miami this year. He was my second most-played artist on Spotify (Lana Del Rey wears the crown.)
Very disappointing and just insane, though it made me challenge and question my own religious biases and reexamine how much shit I talk on the Bible and on Islam. Maybe I too need to take it down a notch. What about you?
Feel free to cry to me or share your thoughts on this topic. My Jewish girlfriends and I have been DMing about Ye non-stop.
I Am A Stalker (Netflix). This show is a brutal reminder of the prevalence of domestic violence that leads to the murder of women. It’s an extremely intense show, so watch it with emotional caution, but I’m glad that it was trending on Netflix’s top ten this month because people need to know the situation. We need to stop collectively treating domestic violence as an offense less punishable than having magic mushrooms or getting a DUI, and the docuseries goes into this.
I learned a lot about stalkers, domestic violence, the pervasiveness of strangulation, and the low penalties for these criminals while working on the film, Slut or Nut: The Diary of a Rape Trial, but I don’t think it’s common knowledge, so this series is shedding light on how these violent and mentally disturbed men get minimal sentences and then out of jail and murder and terrorize women over and over again and again and again and again and again and again! Enough!
Iran. Horrifying oppression is ongoing in Iran, women are being murdered, students are being taken to psych wards and tortured. Everything terrible you can imagine a government doing to its people is happening. Thankfully, people are fighting back, but it’s a treacherous and dangerous fight. My partner is Persian and we’ve got many Persian friends. My partner’s family is still in Tehran. Both of my novels have Persian characters and I feel close to the culture. It’s hard to watch what’s happening in Iran in part because we feel powerless to help. We can’t send money there because of the sanctions, so it’s challenging to support activists.
And isn’t it frightening that The Handmaid’s Tale (which I read and analyzed on my IG this month) was actually based on Iran? And still could be. I’ve been following along via Iranian writer and artist, Kali Shanti, and after discussing the situation with the Iranian people I know IRL this is how you can help:
Sign the petition banning Iran from participating in the World Cup.
Send an email or make a phone call to your local government rep (I emailed Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott, and Marco Rubio because I’m based in Florida.) Use the following text with your own details:
Hi,
I’m writing in regard to the people fighting for freedom in Iran. I am a XXX resident in the XXXX zip code. I would like to request that you speak on television or social media in support of the students and citizens in Iran fighting for freedom. I am strongly against the US negotiating or making any deals with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The government of Iran is committing atrocities, war crimes, and human rights violations and should not be supported in any way. Please speak out about this important foreign policy issue.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
The More Fun Stuff.
Whew. That was grim. Let me leave you with some more fun, lighter-hearted horror of things Halloween-related that I encountered this month:
Mandy. A movie recommended to me by fellow author Jonathan Koven and YIKES. Great. I loved it. Psychedelics meet horror. Was a lot of overlap with this book I’m writing called, Acid Christmas… Though I may change that title to—It Never Stops.
What We Do In The Shadows: OMG how did I not know about this show?? Speaking of Persians… this is a comedy series about a bisexual Persian vampire and his friends living in present-day Staton Island, NY and one of the vampires is an “emotional vampire.” It also involves Matt Berry, who I loved from the show Toast of London and it’s SO SO SO funny. We’ve been binge-watching it at home. SO FUNNY.
And finally books.
I read the following books this month:
Acid Christmas, by Charlotte Dune (Yeah, my forthcoming book, I read it over and over again while editing it.)
The Shutdown List, by Sharon Dukett (this was an advanced review copy)
Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison.
Chronicles 1-2, Ezra, Nehemia, and Esther—All books of the Bible I finished this month on my Bible reading project—which has been to read the Bible straight through as if I’m reading a novel.
I Choose Darkness by Jenny Lawson—Short audible-exclusive humorous piece on Halloween in the 90s.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood—WAY better than I expected. Brilliant, genius book. She said everything she wrote about REALLY happened somewhere, that she only included true events. Mind-blowing.
Content by Kate Eichhorn—I will surely write more about this disturbing non-fiction book on the content economy.
Trick or Treat!
So happy Halloween! And stay away from the fentanyl-laced candy! I’m just handing out candy tonight and taking my teen to her Halloween stuff, but I might dress up as “Karen-Shaman” haha where I hold a drum and yell at people for talking in the integration circle! Where everyone will have to wear all white and relinquish their cell phones except for me! Hahahaha. What are you dressing up as for Halloween?