Daydreaming about autumn.

[Pumpkin_Head]

I sure will look into it. There are so many people who are scared, but more are getting tired of the government intrusions in our lives. I don't want to make this about politics, so I'll stop here. I do agree that we had a booming economy less then 4 months ago, and it's going to be very hard to get it back on track once the Covid 19 crises is over. A lot of small business are closing for ever, and a lot of people have lost good jobs. It's really tragic. The ones who are really suffering are the school children. 8th graders and High School seniors who can't go to their graduations, proms cancelled, sporting events cancelled, their last chance to hand with their school chums taken away, all because of fear mongering.
It's enough to make a dog bite his father. My grand niece is STILL waiting to get her HS diploma in the mail. She graduated at the top of her class, and she didn't even get online recognition for her accomplishment. She couldn't invite friends to her graduation party, and I felt really bad for her.

Having a fun, creepy, spooky Halloween is one thing. Fear mongering is quite another. It's fun to get the daylights scared out of you at the movie theatre or on an amusement park thrill ride, but real fear of catching a disease, or of government reprisals for not wearing a mask or opening a 'non essential' business is nothing to joke about. Oh, and the college graduates are getting the short end of things, not only with no graduation ceremony, but with the economy the way it is, they'll be lucky if they can put their college degrees to work at McDonalds for minimum wage. Like I said, I feel so bad for them. End of rant.

Mike

[Andybev01]

My niece just completed her masters degree in psychology at the University of Oregon, and the entire amount of pomp & circumstance was an email on how the order her documents.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, I cannot tell you how grateful I am that my daughter, my youngest, graduated college last year. I have been so sad for the high school and college grads. Since my husband teaches high school, we are still connected to that crowd. His school is planning an outdoor graduation ceremony in late June (one mo late). Normally it is held on the local college campus at an indoor athletic facility, but this year it will be on the athletic field of the high school. I don't know if all the class will show, but I think it is better than no graduation. There is talk of a delayed prom, too. I don't know how many will be able to take advantage of that, though.

Mike, I agree with you that there is a world of difference between the make-believe scares of Halloween and the genuine anxiety about a new, contagious disease, coupled with a crashing economy. I have never really gone in for the scariest aspects of Halloween, anyway. I like spooky, eerie stories and images, and I like humor. I especially enjoy seeing skeletons posed in everyday, relaxed poses--toasting a marshmallow over a silken fire, playing a guitar, hoisting a Coke.

In some on-line commentary I have read, I have run across the term "fear porn.". I know Covid19 has been deadly for some, and that its victims can seem somewhat random (they are not all nursing home patients in hospice care). That is unsettling, to say the least. Nevertheless, I have felt that the wall-to-wall media coverage has had the effect of ginning up fear. This is not the first time our nation has faced a pandemic. My mother could remember the Spanish flu (she was four), as well as the mid-century polio scares. Never before have we shut down like this. There are human costs to destroying the economy, too. We have to balance competing claims--public health, the right to property and other civil liberties, like making a living. It's tough.

[Pumpkin_Head]

My father missed 2 years of school because of the Spanish Flu. He graduated from high school in 1929, and he was 20 years old. He graduated just 3 months before the Crash of 29 which triggered the Great Depression.

I heard of 'fear porn,' too. It seems to be all the rage these days. Fear is being used as a motivator by a lot of people any more and I'm getting tired of it. As far as the economy is concerned, I have a comfortable pension and I'm living okay for now, and though I would like to get a full time job, I'm not hurting at the moment. However being almost 60 years old, coupled with a 14.7% unemployment rate, it won't be easy.

I think the whole world is in for some very hard times. The chaos breaking out everywhere, including here in Illinois, reminds me of a lot of the old news reels I watched of the Great Depression. At any rate, I certainly hope this crises ends soon so we can get back to some semblance of normalcy. I would even be happy if I could start going to Mass on Sunday again. A trip to the Harvest Moon Drive In Theatre would also be nice, as would a trip to my local movie theatre here in Streator, all though I think they're out of business for good. Online streaming put a major crimp in their business before Covid 19. Covid 19 was probably the 'coup de gras' for them. Too bad, because it's one of the nicer theatres I've been to.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I have heard that drive-ins might make a comeback, since people can "socially distance" there.

I, too, worry about which businesses might be gone for good.

[Pumpkin_Head]

I do know that as soon as I trade in my old beater, I will be making a bee line for the Harvest Moon if there's a good movie playing there. Heck, even if there's a lousy movie playing, I'll just go for the Funnel Cakes and hamburgers.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

That sounds yummy!

[Pumpkin_Head]

It is. That drive-in theatre has some of the tastiest funnel cakes, elephant ears, hamburgers and hotdogs I ever had.
To boot, you can also have the Pizza Hut across the road from the Harvest Moon deliver pizza to your car while you watch the movie. For a 5 dollar fee, you can bring your own food and a small grill and cook your own. It's more then just going to a movie. It's a real outing.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

That sounds like so much fun!

[Pumpkin_Head]

I took my grand nieces and nephew there to see "The Lion King" once, and they had a ball. We even brought the family dog with us, and she made friends with two other dogs.

I went to see Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows" there, too.

Mike

[Andybev01]

Burton did a nice job re-imagining that storyline, as well as 'Sleepy Hallow'.

I'd love to take a vacation in his mind.

[Murfreesboro]

Lol, a vacation n Tim Burton's mind!

My daughter and I enjoy all his films. They have a dark side but always have happy endings. He is at heart an old-fashioned movie maker, in a good way.

[Pumpkin_Head]

I don't know. I still would have preferred if "Dark Shadows" had stayed with it's original horror format rather then being made into a comedy, but I very much did enjoy it, and I do have it on DVD. I will be screening it come the Halloween season, too. It also has an awesome sound track.

Mike

[Andybev01]

The opening credits set to 'Nights in White Satin' was brilliant.

[Murfreesboro]

Well, the original Dark Shadows scared the bejesus out of me. But then, I was 12 or 13. Nothing much scares me now. However, I will always argue that the Barnabas Collins-Josette/Maggie Evans-Angelique storyline was genius and far more influential than most people acknowledge. Every modern conflicted vampire goes back to Barnabas, and none of them is better.