Open Thread: It's Fall Y'all!
Requesting and discussing fall and horror-themed posts.
Yes, the title is obnoxious, but it got you to click right?
Much to the chagrin of many children the post-Labor day season is a return back to school. The end of summer can be quite depressing for many people as it’s one of the only times that people may relax and take off from work and spend time with the family.
Personally, I’m not too big of a fan of summer. It’s hot, you get all sweaty, and it just feels like the sun is blazing down on you as if to say, “today’s the day…”
Anyways, aside from allusions to baking in the sun fall is one of my favorite seasons. The air is cooler and smells of the desiccated leaves falling from trees that just wafts through the air. The sun sets at just the right angles to create those elongated shadows that drape over much of the outdoor scenery.
It’s also the signal for the start of the holiday seasons including one of my favorites- Halloween.
I’m pretty sure I’ve annoyed my friends with talks of the fall and Halloween immediately after July 4th. One of my friends even sent me this meme, and quite frankly I couldn’t help but feel personally attacked (of course, in jest!)!
And even when Stephanie Brail commented that she was watching “Christmas in July” films to take her mind off of everything going on I commented that I was trying to watch Halloween-themed films- at least Halloween is a closer holiday, although I’ve noticed that Christmas decorations are already going out right now...
On one visit to Walmart to find clearance planters I walked into the gardening section and stumbled upon employees lining the shelves with Christmas trees (legitimately, A LOT of trees! I don’t think there was anything gardening-related left aside from the succulents shoved into the corner). It sort of felt like stumbling upon some undercover conspiracy between the North Pole and retail employees. It’s a little ironic because last year after being “let go” I decided to start decorating in early September1 and even then Christmas decorations were already being put out! How are we jumping over entire seasons?!
Apparently one family has already put up their Christmas decorations:
Alright, aside from ranting over the continuous encroachment of Christmas earlier into the year I wanted to use this coming season to have some fun and talk about different topics outside of COVID.
Although there’s still much to discuss with COVID, personally I’ve reached the point of feeling quite mentally fatigued from COVID (like my play on the phrase? No? Ok, nevermind). It’s a bit hard to try and scour the literature for little bits of information and try to read through so many articles, and on most days it almost feels as if I’m glossing over many of these papers.
And as seen in recent weeks the ever lingering morose feeling over Substack is one that deeply concerns me. It feels like the only posts that are published- likely because they are generally the only posts that get attention- are ones that stoke fear exacerbate the suffocating feeling of melancholy and despair that pervades our feeds.
As such, I think having posts that aren’t just informative but also help alleviate some of those negative feelings may be critically important now.
If this sounds familiar, I asked this same thing in February as well, although most of the comments were still asking for COVID-related topics.
So I want to take this time to see what random, in-season topics that people may have wondered but would like to have some answers or an interesting, scientific perspective.
Here’s a few examples that I’ve been thinking:
The science of fear- why we enjoy being scared.
What’s the deal with garlic and vampires? Finding a scientific rationale for the association.
Witch burning and hallucinagens: seeing what I can find about hallucinagenic agents and their influences on the such historical phenomena as the Salem Witch Burnings
Fall is in the air: Where does the smell of dying, desiccated leaves come from?
What is Witch’s Hazel? (This one is a bit loose with the topic mostly because the etymology for witch here doesn’t appear to have come from the magical beings).
Pumpkin pie spice and why the viral obsession.
Hopefully this sort of gives you an idea of where I am heading with these posts (i.e. anything fall or horror-related). I want them to be fun, seasonal, informative posts that people can enjoy and take a break from all of the COVID talk. Note that this doesn’t mean that COVID talk will end, but I want to offer something different.
In reality, these types of posts are actually the type of posts I would like to take this Substack. There’s no telling when exactly all of this craziness will end, but I would like to mix in a few of these types of posts.
So with that being said, I’d like to hear what posts people would find interesting and I can see what I can gather. If I can find enough information I’ll construct a post around such a topic. I’d love to hear some suggestions and feedbacks!
Once again, apologies for the horrible title! I suppose even cringey clickbait is still clickbait right? I’m also working on my “August” post which I hope to release in the coming days.
But let me know your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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And yes, my Halloween decorations may be going up right now…
Got a smile on my face from the word play :-) and I like the humor!
Regarding fear. I really liked listening to the Mattias Desmet interview on The Highwire last week https://thehighwire.com/videos/inside-the-mind-of-the-masses/ as I found it a quite positive and hopeful piece, especially at the end. And he spoke to you're concerns regarding the fear mongering on "our side of the fence". He pointed out that those opposed to the mandate, especially those who want retribution, create their own mass formation, which leads to the same oppressive outcomes, as they rely on their "experts" to tell them what's so. Maybe that's why he's being attacked by the Breggins and others.
As you've noticed, very few people actually want to do the work to figure this stuff out, and prefer to let some authority tell them what's so. As The Who sing it, Won't Get Fooled Again: https://youtu.be/RDVdomcsjBA but of course, everyone gets fooled by their own preconceived idea of reality.
As for the holidays, I don't do xmas, but Halloween and Day Of The Dead! Those are my celebrations. Met my wife 12 years ago at a Halloween party, instant karma, then we officially married 5 years later on the same day.
BTW, I miss the fall foliage and fall aromas here in the tropics, but I sure don't miss the cold. A low of 70 in January is about right for me.
As for future subjects, forget the witches and do the hallucinogens. Give us some up close personal points of view and enjoy the unedited perceptual awareness, as well as what the research is saying.
Aloha!
I agree. I am getting angry and burnt. It seems like everyone is sniping at everyone else. I think we called it battle fatigue in the Army. I was in combat but was a troop trainer. Thank you for the break. We used to simply get drunk. You offer a better option.