The Candy Bar Conspiracy...

....Hard Evidence Of East Van-Halen's Changing Demographics

BangingOnDoorsInTheDeadOfNight
NoPolsAllowedVille


Frances Bula, using her extra time and space most wisely on her blog, serves up the story:

I’ve always loved Hallowe’en in a special way. First, it’s the one festival that’s really about connecting with strangers or casual acquaintances rather than family. Really, when else do you go out banging on random neighbours’ doors asking for something — or open your door to random groups of strangers in weird outfits? And people see it as a sign of neighbourhood health, usually trading numbers of kids the next day as a badge of honour.

I also love it because of the way it gives you this once-a-year sociological snapshot of your neighbourhoood. When I first moved into the house I’m in now — a much more inner-city neighbourhood near Fraser and Broadway than the previous near suburbia I’d been in close to the PNE — the stream of people on Hallowe’en was wild and surprising......

{snippety-doo-dah}

...This year, it felt quite different. It seemed to be the year of the guys taking out their kids. I couldn’t, in the brief time we had at the door, figure out if there’s been a sudden influx of gay parents into our ‘hood, what with all the pairs of adult males standing on the sidewalk monitoring the little ones’ interactions at the door, or whether they were just buddies who’d teamed up while their respective wives stayed at home. There was also just more, the gay/buddy dads included, of a west side feel to the crowd. I spotted any number of people who looked like they belong to masters’ swim clubs or run triathlons (that’s code for boomer professional, in case you don’t get it).

As someone who used to live on Lotusland's Westside and who last night spent a whole lotta time both handing out candy and walking the Eastside streets with littler e. (who decided sometime early this week that she wanted to be a pineapple), I can attest to the fact that Ms. Bula is onto something....

OK?

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My sloppy drums comments thread response to Ms. Bula's post is here.
littler e. always seems to come up with wicked costuming ideas, none of which can be purchased at either Wal-Mart or the Stupid Store.

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