October 31, 2008 - Vol. 37 Issue 4

Editorial: Halloween should be celebrated responsibly
By Valerie Weilert, so.
for the editorial board

Halloween is the scary and thrilling holiday that comes about once a year at the end of October. Several people of all ages dress up as fictional characters or maybe even just frightful entities. Candy is received, costumes are worn and a good time is had by most. However, people’s opinions of a good time may vary.

Sometimes on Halloween there is the problem of cars and houses being egged and toilet-papered. This causes the house and car owners to spend much of their precious time and effort cleaning off things that should not have been there to begin with.

Older children and teens should act maturely and responsibly if they are going to go out at night. They should be good role models for the younger children who are out trick-or-treating and walking around with friends.

While the editorial board agrees that people should be allowed to run around, have fun, and enjoy their night, Halloween should not be an excuse for a lack of good judgment.


Click on image for larger view.

Nowadays, Halloween is the night when all sorts of people dress up, go out, and cause mischief. While it is a fun, exciting holiday, several people have lost sight of what Halloween truly was in the first place.

Many people would think twice about celebrating a pagan holiday where costumes were worn to try to scare away the evil spirits destroying crops.

In today’s world, people dress up for a completely different reason. They wear hilarious and fantastic costumes to receive candy and scare others. They do not wear them to protect their crops and ward away evil spirits.

Although Halloween has lost most of its original meaning, it is still a fun holiday for people of all ages to participate in.

We, as an editorial board, believe that there is no reason why Halloween should not be celebrated. As long as the people taking part in the festivities act responsibly and have good intentions, people should continue to celebrate Halloween.

Pro: Halloween is fun, harmless, traditional celebration
By Scott Sollars, sr.
Reporter

What comes to mind when the word “Halloween” is heard? Most people would think of candy, costumes and fun. That is precisely what Halloween is about.

Halloween is the one night of the year small children and teenagers can live out their fantasies through their costumes. It is the night when people’s fears walk the streets and children bury themselves in candy. Halloween gives almost everyone a chance to dress up, act silly and hang out with friends.

Sometimes, however, people tend to act irresponsibly on this night. This may only be because teens are caught up in the fun of being free to run around and be with friends. This should not prove to be a real problem as long as kids can keep themselves under control and act responsibly.

Also, since Halloween is a night of scary and frightful things, children and adults who cannot handle this should not go out at night. We should not stop celebrating Halloween and having fun because some people cannot handle scary things.

Halloween is a night of thrills and excitement. This should not be ruined by those who are scared easily. If they do not want to participate, then they should stay at home and, perhaps, hand out candy.

Everyone should continue to celebrate Halloween because it does no harm to anyone. It is a good time for all who want to have fun.

Con: Halloween gives teens excuse to act irresponsibly
By
Reporter

Of all the holidays, Halloween is probably the least necessary. The entire idea of Halloween is to dress up, scare little kids and get free candy. Why do people celebrate something so pointless?

About 2,000 years ago the Celtics, in what is now Ireland, originally started Halloween. The point of their Halloween was to celebrate the New Year, ward off evil spirits, tell each other’s fortunes and honor their gods. Today, the holiday is merely a cheap way for kids to get candy. How could Halloween turn from a day of honoring the gods to a night of free candy for everyone who dresses up at night?

Halloween is also another excuse for older kids to scare the living daylights out of younger children. This causes a large amount of unneeded stress for the kids’ parents and could cause the child to be scared of the dark. Why would anybody scare a small child just for laughs?

Halloween also brings about some negative attitudes and actions from teenagers. Every year on Halloween several cars end up egged or toilet-papered, and usually a house or two receives the same treatment. This causes the owner of the house and/or car to be fairly upset. This is immoral, wrong and illegal. Students may enjoy doing this, but it is extremely negative and irresponsible of them.

While Halloween may be fun for most teenagers and younger children, the concept of the holiday in today’s world is ridiculous and pointless. People should not celebrate something that does not have a true purpose behind it.

Halloween remake goes beyond original
By Alexis Hosack
Feature Editor

Although remakes often fail to live up to the glory of the original, Halloween, based on John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher film, was an enjoyable film to watch.

The new version of Halloween, directed by Rob Zombie, by far exceeded the original both in horror and element. John Carpenter’s version begins with Michael Myers killing his older sister on Halloween night, but the new version gives more background information about Michael that is vital to explaining the motives of his actions.

He lived with his mother, his two sisters and his mother’s boyfriend, who was crippled and unemployed. An unstable family life, as well as trouble with bullies, leads Michael to take his anger out on animals, torturing and killing them while wearing a Halloween clown mask. The only two people he shows any affection toward are his mother and his one-year-old sister, Laurie. On Halloween night, he tortures and kills his older sister and his mother’s boyfriend. Michael is then sent to a mental institution and kept under high security.


Cartoon by Valerie Weilert
Click on cartoon for larger view.

While he is there, his mother commits suicide, and Laurie is adopted into another family. Michael escapes from the institution 17 years later. As a grown man, he is equally psychotic and twice as dangerous as he was when he was admitted at age 10.

Upon escaping, Michael returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois. The rest of the movie follows Dr. Samuel Loomis’s pursuit of Michael. Loomis is a psychiatrist who has been trying to get through to Michael ever since he was admitted into the institution.

Unlike many remakes of classic films, the new Halloween is even better than the original film, mainly because adult viewers can see more of the factors that influenced Michael’s actions.

In fact, one who watches may feel a bit of sympathy when they see that he was really just a troubled kid who grew into a horribly mixed-up adult. Any horror fan will agree that this movie brings back all of the original’s excitement and more.

Cub Voices

Do you think that we should celebrate
Halloween?
Todd Hauser, sr."Yes, you get to scare people and get candy.” Bianca Barksdale, jr."Yes, because Halloween is one of the most popular holidays.”
Taylor Fitzmaurice, so.“Yes, it’s one of the most exciting holidays there is, and dressing up is fun.” Jeremy Setter, fr."Yes, as long as it’’s done in an appropriate way and isn’t distracting at school.”

Lance Carlson, sr., teacher, teacher"Yes, because I like it, and it’s fun.”

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