The Halloween Hottie of the Day

I tend to watch shows in the "marathon" form a viewing.  Meaning I watch them when A&E is playing a marathon of them.  Ha!  Criminal Minds is one such show I can suddenly lose a whole Sunday to.

Dr. Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds is a TV character after my own heart.  Nerdy, Smart, Awkward, Quirky Wardrobe Choices That Can Only Be Described as "Grandfatherly," Wearing His G-D Watch Over His Sweater Driving Me Nuts....and that small dash of the tortured, a pinch of brooding...ya know, as far as you can get on a CBS show.  And Jane Lynch plays his mom.  So, if that doesn't tell you what an awesome character he is, well then, I am at a loss, my friends.

Dr. Reid, and the really, really, ridiculously good-looking actor who plays him, Matthew Gray Gubler...he's totally a male model too, you guys. (MerMAN!) are super-duper Halloween fanatics!  No joke!  Dr. Reid even showed up to the FBI workplace (I'm starting to think an FBI workplace is all sorts of zany fun when it's probably the total Fox Mulder opposite) donning a Frankenstein's  Monster mask on one Halloween-themed episode, and even bragged about going to see some "science-magic" phantasmagoria show during another Halloween-themed episode! I bet he would have freaked out about Tupac's Pepper's Ghost!

Anyway, beholden to you, your Halloween Hottie of the Day: Dr. Spencer Reid/Matthew Gray Gubler (he was also featured on Celebrity Ghost Story!  So, you know he's the real deal.)

*Can I also say how much joy "Halloween-Themed" episodes of television shows bring me?  Immense.  Immense joy.*

Steampunk Brainstorms

Since it is July, after all, my brain has now entered warp speed when it comes to Halloween-thinking.  My yearly marker, when Michael's Craft Stores puts out their Halloween whatnots happened last week so now I can begin to indulge nearly 24/7 in Halloween.  With that being said, my husband Jim and I have decided on our Halloween costumes since this year we are planning on going out on the Saturday before Halloween, Grown-Up Halloween (I already have a sitter lined up.) It will be the first time we went out in full-effect since 2007. 

We are going to be Steampunk.

Is that how that would be said, "Going to be Steampunk?"  I don't think that is correct.  We are going to be something within the Steampunk genre.  Is that better?  Maybe my lack of knowing how to speak about it has to do with the fact that I don't really know what Steampunk is, but I know it looks cool. 

At the risk of seeming like a poser I have decided to educate myself about Steampunk a little bit.  I'd hate to have a great costume I can't back up with facts, if that makes sense.  According to Wikipedia (Wikipedia is never wrong, right?) the genre started in the late 1980's and early '90's in literature, a version of alternative history or science fiction ("It's like if cyberpunk happened in the Victorian age," my exasperated husband is trying to explain to me as I stare at him blank-face.) And made its way into other media.  Hence the following conversation after Jim started with, "You know the book Neuromancer by William Gibson?"

"Okay, you know in League of Extraordinary Gentleman?"  Jim asks

"Nope.  Never seen it." I say.

"Okay, how about 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea...."

"Uh, no."

 "The Rocketeer?"

*head shake*

 He is no longer speaking to me at this point.

So maybe it's my lack of viewing mediocre movies that makes it so difficult for me to grasp.  Retro futuristic, maybe, is the best way to put it.  Lots of steam-powered instruments and gears and whatnot.  In the Victorian Era.  (Jim is now back to listing Steampunk movies to me, "The Prestige? Van Helsing? Hellboy? The Golden Compass?"  Well, I LOVE The Golden Compass book, and we all know how I feel about Hellboy, but I feel some of this list is a bit on the broad side, but whatever.)

Understanding the genre, while not beside the fact entirely, isn't as important has creating a kick-ass costume.  So I consulted a costumer!  My friend and co-worker Megan, who has made a splash in all sorts of amazing costumes, and just won an award at the Twin Cities Sci-Fi and Fantasy convention, Convergence, for her "Victorian Lady Dr. Who" costume:

I don't get it myself, since I don't watch Dr. Who and I'm pretty sure he's a dude and he travels through time while having sex with everyone (pan-sexual, or is that someone else?  Dr. Jack?  I dunno, like I said, my Dr. Who knowledge is slim to none.) But, Megan looks fly and always does when it comes to costumes, so I checked in with her. 

"You want to start with a character."  She told me, "If you start with the character I think you'll have an easier time creating your costume.  Plus, Steampunk is all in the accessories." 

A character!  My mind went immediately to my favorite of characters, witches!  Surely there is no such thing as a Steampunk witch, is there? 

Holy cats!  This girl is a superstar.  Look at that hat alone!  The bar, m'dear, has been set high. 

But, I am not sure if I want to pigeon-hole myself so much.  I was taken with a picture of a woman at Comic-Con this year, which made me want to do Steampunk in the first place:

I can't decide what I like more about this costume, the hat, the gun, the dress.  I think it's the dress.  I love the peek of the ankle and the rusty feel to the color.  It's a spectacular and beautiful piece of art, really.  

And these Steampunk ladies seem to be into the red hair, which I already have, so I'm halfway there, right?!  

And this dollface not only has a bird in her hair, she is also wearing something called a "neck corset."  While it looks lovely and elegant on her, well....

I don't think Steampunk costuming is it's traditional use, if you know what I'm saying...(and this was one of the tamer photos I found.)

I am intrigued at the idea of a neck corset as used in Steampunk costuming however since it seems it would eliminate any kind of wonky double-chinned-ness and may even give me some definition between my chin and neck, something I don't have in spades. 

Now, I have many options to work with on my Steampunk costume, but my husband, well, we are having a harder time nailing down a character for him, and I keep getting distracted by things like this:

 Steampunk Iron Man!  

Steampunk StormTrooper!  Ha! 

Megan suggested a Steampunk Vampire Hunter is actually a fairly popular male Steampunk character.  Jim was even able to find a Steampunk crossbow in the dark reaches of the internet.  But, would that mean I would have to be a Steampunk vampire?  Because that could be pretty cool.  I would just have to pop some fangs in! 

So many options, so little times (only 97 days until Halloween!)

The Halloween Hottie of the Day/Book Club Recommendation

Okay, try to follow my logic on this one.

 Last night I finished the book Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.  It was a really good book and I highly recommended it, but it is not for the faint of heart, and some parts towards the end really bummed me out.  Bummed me out to the point where I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep because I was like "....bummer..."  I usually only read at night before bed and because of that I tend to have really vivid dreams about whichever book I am reading.  I read The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, a book about America's first serial killer HH Holmes, a few years ago.  I had such a realistic, terrifying dream that I was stuck in HH Holmes house of effing horrors he built that I couldn't even finish the book after that. 

Like most (and for sure like my sister, who can average reading a book or two a week) I am now seeking out some lighter fare, and I am thinking about re-reading the Dead Witch Walking series (officially called The Hollows series) a book series by Kim Harrison I first read when I was pregnant in the summer of 2010 and pretty much lived in my bathtub.  I was terribly reluctant to read them because I was like, "What's with all the Clint Eastwood title references?" (Every Witch Way But Dead, A Fistful of Charms, etc.) But my love for witches was too strong and I was desperate to find something, anything, that would lighten my mood. 

The books are fun mood-lighteners.  The kick-ass female protagonist, Rachel Morgan, a witch and a bounty hunter living in the United States after a genetically-altered tomato crop was unleashed on the population and...wow....like I said, it's been two years since I've read them, I just remember them being fun and entertaining. 

And Rachel Morgan!  A redheaded, leather-clad witch who is all kinds of sexy, but not in that sultry, femme-fatale sort of way.  More of an everyday kind of sexy, ya know what I mean?

Rachel Morgan, you are The Halloween Hottie of the Day! (Yes, I know this a fictitious character and looks different in the mind of each individual reader, but I think this book cover model does a pretty decent job!)  Check out this book series, it's a fun one!

Some Thoughts On Aurora, Colorado

I hesitate to write about the shooting in Aurora, Colorado for fear of trivializing the event.  For fear of somehow making this about myself since it is something I am so far removed from.  Yes, I am a frequent movie goer, yes, I have been to midnight screenings of movies, and yes, I love Batman, but these three things alone do not connect me or tie me to this incident in any way, shape or form.  We have a tendency to make things about ourselves, which is okay to an extent.  Feeling that way about a 9/11, something that did affect the entire nation, but affected some of us greater.  I had dreams about the Minneapolis skyline crumbling or terrorist attacking a vehicle I was in shortly after 9/11. The Columbine massacre is a very similar incident (unfortunately both in Colorado) that occurred when I was in 10th grade and for that first week after, I thought I would catch a glimpse of someone standing in the hallway outside the classroom door poised to attack.  These incidents weren't about me, but I still applied them to my life, which is a human thing to do, I think.  We have to be careful though to not make it about us, to remember we weren't affected, to remember that we get to hug our friends and family today, and those who lost someone to this tragedy don't. So, I am attempting to write about this tragedy in a non-trivial or insulting matter.  I have a point to this blog post, let me just see if I can get there.  

Today we caught our first glimpse of the perpetrator in the Aurora shootings, James Holmes, post-massacre.  He came into the courtroom this morning wearing a jumpsuit, dyed red hair and could barely keep him eyes open.  My first and only thought about him was, "He is scary."  It was the entirety of him, the Manic Panic dye job, the constantly shifty facial expressions and heavily medicated eyes, the fact that he shot 71 people, murdering 12 of them, trying to figure out what might be going on in his mind.  This person, this kid, is being painted as something of a super-genius in the media.  A high-achieving former medical student.  The "shy, quiet" type.  In other words, a normal person.  They all are, though.  There is a report going around that he told the police when he was apprehended that he was The Joker.  I have also noticed that the media has been extremely careful not to connect James Holmes with any one particular character in the Batman universe.  When this all unfolded Friday morning I was watching the ridiculous, fear-producing Matt Lauer Hour, The Today Show, and they were interviewing a former FBI profiler whom they have had on the show several times.  The profiler said, "Some people are even saying he looked like the character Bane from The Dark Knight Rises," and Matt Lauer was near reprimanding this man for even saying that.  He stressed that they weren't going to make any connection to the films' characters at this time and to speculate on such a thing was inappropriate. Well, it seems like the only thing the profiler had wrong was which Batman villain he was trying to be.

Again, I was watching NBC when the live feed of James Holmes entering the courtroom was shown and this time Brian Williams was broadcasting.  He was discussing Holmes appearance, "He looks clown-like." he offered.  Only later stating, "He is trying to maybe even look like the Batman character The Joker."  Why the hesitation on making this connection?  Because Holmes dyed his hair the wrong color?  He told police he was The Joker, what else do you need?  The police found Batman collectibles in the guy's apartment, a poster and a mask, and he chose to carryout this shooting at the release of the latest Batman film.  He was a Batman junkie, the end.

As a regular viewer of The Today show I know what they're up to.  The goal of The Today Show is to make you afraid to leave your house every morning.  Everything is going to give you cancer, from your morning shower to your drive in to work, don't you all love that Call Me Maybe song? And a sexy cheerleader accused of having sex with her students is on house arrest, let's do 8 million stories about that too.  They are very obvious and that's half the reason I watch it, for a laugh.  So, naturally, I thought they would be the first ones to jump on this Batman connection but maybe they wanted to try and not seem like such assholes this time.  During the press conference on Friday the Chief of Police in Aurora, Colorado fielded some of the dumbest, most embarrassing questions I have ever heard come out of anyone's mouth, let alone professional journalists, "Why Batman?!" "Is it true The Joker was spotted in New York?!" (no joke on that one...) I has half expecting someone to ask, "Has anyone heard from Adam West?!" and "Do we have Catwoman's thoughts on this?!"  It. Was. Cringe-worthy.  Meanwhile, the Police Chief, busy as hell, was trying to keep his lid on and not tell all this morons to get the eff out of his city.  So, I guess, I can see at first why the hesitation to make the Batman connection, because it does seem a little silly, but its now legit.  Are they afraid to paint Batman fans with a bad stroke?  If so, does that even really matter?

None of this really matters.  The Batman connection doesn't matter, the politicians now coming out talking about gun control and trying to MAKE THIS ABOUT THEMSELVES doesn't matter, James Holmes doesn't matter.  What matters are the 71 people he shot.  What matters are the 12 people who died, and what matters is when The Today Show, and the rest of the media has left Aurora with everyone's survival story or heartbreak in their back pockets and everyone's names and acts of heroism are forgotten, we will still be talking about James Holmes and gun control and Batman, and we will still so desperately be trying to make this about ourselves somehow, and that is not right.

The Halloween Hottie of the Day

When I was first forced to watch Hellboy by my husband I mumbled and grumbled before giving in.  It's not that I don't like comic book movies, per se, I just had ZERO interest in Hellboy.  Well, color me surprised when I not only loved it, I was taken, yes, swept away by the character Abe Sapien.  Who is this fluid-moving fish-man?!  He is wonderful!  I assumed he was mostly some sort of  CGI.  Not so!  He was all actor Doug Jones.  Yes, an actual human.  I now had to see Pan's Labyrinth because according to the IMDB he not only plays Pan but also that white long-fingered creature with his damn eyeballs in his hands, ya know, this guy:

That is all make-up!  On Doug Jones!  And this American actor learned all his Spanish lines and spoke them beautifully.  Doug Jones is the real deal, you guys.

I even sat through some weird NBC horror mini-series/one-shot show that aired like two years ago where he played some ax-wielding crazy just because I saw his name in the beginning credits.  (I am currently scanned Doug Jone's IMDB and I cannot even recognize the name of that show...) And indeed I squealed with delight when his name popped up in the guest credits of some random Criminal Minds episode I was watching one night.  Also, my heart did a million summersaults when I discovered he played Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus, one of my favorite Halloween movies ever.

He's such a helpful zombie, that Billy Butcherson.

Behold, Doug Jones!  He is outstanding:

She's Crafty

The word "crafts" brings up a lot of emotions in me.  Frustration, lameness, hot-glue-gun related pain, more frustration, blinding rage,  ...I am not the craftiest person in the world.  I have attempted, many, many times to do a craft (is it do a craft, or make a craft?)  Crafting is a hobby for stay-at-home-moms, which I am, but ya know, I'm like, cool, so it doesn't count.  My theory is, "Well, why would I make something if I can just buy it?"  It used to be a cost-saving measure for a lot of people, but now the materials to make something costs just as much, and sometimes more, as it is to just outright buy something already made, and (most of the time) made well.

The crafts I have attempted run the craft gamut. I have made two Queen-sized quilts in my lifetime.  I have made fairy crowns, scrapbooks, stamped some positive one-word statements on terracotta pots, I can hot-glue stuff on to other stuff and make it look halfway decent, but I find it...well, frustrating.  And it highlights my lack of artistic flare.  The visual arts are not my strong suite.  I can barely draw a stick-figure and I tried to take up painting, because I felt it was less rigid, room for people who don't necessarily paint stuff that looks like anything (Jackson Pollock!) but, alas, I even sucked at painting nothing in particular.

I want to attempt crafting again because I apparently like to have high blood pressure.  I want to do (make?) a Halloween craft.  But, what to make (do)?  What are my strengths when it comes to crafting?  The hot-glue gun.  What are my weaknesses?  Everything else.  Hmmm...

Here is a small sampling of my foray into the world of crafting:

See that shit on the top of me and Cori's head?  Those are my fairy crowns.  Making things that are suppose to look like you found them in the woods is easy.  You don't have to worry about things like symmetry or any kind of precision.  Just slap a bunch of stuff on a (not even all the round) ring and stick it on your head.  Ta-da!  Fairy crowns.

Here is one of the fascinators I made for the Royal Wedding in April of 2011.  That is my daughter Violet.  I took a picture of her wearing it since the rest of us looked like hell since we got up so early to watch the Royal Wedding.

  August of 2009.  The first completed square of my Halloween quilt.  I had made a quilt before, in 2007 for my sister.  My mother-in-law is a Quilting Extraordinaire.  She is an amazing quilter (that is her sewing room I am standing in) and helped me a lot with my first ever quilt, but this one I was more on my own.  It was brutal.

The finished product.  If quilts could talk this quilt would say, "Roxy has a filthy mouth."  My sister suggested I make another Halloween quilt for my craft, but I said if I were to blog about it (which I plan on doing) the blog would just be a series of swear words.  Sewing is also a great weakness of mine.  The word "bobbin" makes me physically angry.  Oh, this quilt also wasn't officially "finished" until October of 2010.  I was nearly nine months pregnant and could no longer easily move so I  gave in and finished hand-sewing the backing on to this motherfuc....lovely piece.

In my search for something that I would not only enjoying doing but easily finished (why am I either bothering?) I went to Michael's craft store for some inspiration.  And they also start putting out their fall/Halloween merchandise out in July!  I can't believe I waited this long to go!

The Michael's I went to had most of their fall flowers out but not too much Halloween.  They were clearly in the midst of switching over endcaps and that sort of thing because merch sat in boxes next to the intended display area.  You know what that means!  I have to go back in a few days to see what wasn't out yet!  Ha!  They also didn't have their Halloween Village set up yet.  Sigh...c'mon guys, it is July 21st!  I put up my Halloween village in August last year, and I'm not trying to sell anything (my village is spectacular, I can't wait to share it with you guys!) But, all is forgiven, because even though I wasn't struck with any great inspiration for a Halloween craft, I did buy my daughter some Tinkerbell Halloween stickers on the cheap (a dollar!) but I also hung out for like, an hour just to take be around it all:

Ahhh....summer will end.  Eventually.

I would have squeezed each and every one of these, but there were other customers around.  And I didn't want to seem like anymore of a weirdo than I already am.

Hehehe, look at this wee little bird!

Violet was NOT into these guys at all.  She wouldn't even look at them,.

But look at what good use they are put to!  I though for a brief moment that this could be my craft...but I can totally just buy it already made.  Is it logic or laziness?

I'm just going to ride out the rest of the summer right here.

"No...you're not, Mama."

"You done yet? Because this sippy isn't going to entertain me much longer."

So I bought her some stickers if she let me live three months into the future a little longer.

I am going to scour the internet for my craft, I think.  I always wanted to make wine cork witches, because I drink a lot of wine and I love witches, so it seems kind of like a no-brainer, but I'm not sure.  Maybe I'll go on Etsy and see things I can never hope to even begin to make and then attempt one of them and get even more frustrated and angry towards the idea of crafting.

 It's a vicious cycle.

The Mayor of Halloween Town

Bjorn Skogquist was elected Mayor of Anoka, MN in 2000 when he was twenty-two years old.  When I was twenty-two years old I was living with my sister in an apartment where we would steal the wi-fi signal from the elementary school across the street..  We let our laundry pile up so high in the hallway the wall had like, a laundry stain on the wall when we finally broke down and went to the laundromat.

Bjorn was the second-youngest elected mayor in the state of Minnesota and served in that position until 2008, being re-elected three times by the fine people of Anoka.  While in office, Bjorn encouraged the preservation of Anoka's historic downtown area and preservation of our historic buildings, as well as open-air space preservation and open government.  Being mayor of Anoka also means being mayor of The Halloween Capital of the World!

Bjorn granted me the opportunity to speak with him on the garden patio of the local coffee house, Avant Garden, on Tuesday night. I wanted to know what it was like to run a Halloween town and a town I hold very dear to my heart.  As fun and zany as those terrible made-for-tv-movies and shows make small town government look, it's a lot of hard work.

Straight out of the gate I asked him how much the little hamlet of Anoka (population 18,000) really benefits from holding the title of The Halloween Capital of the World.  Does it benefit the town financially at all?   The "official" Halloween festivities are handled by a non-profit committee, Anoka Halloween, Inc. These official events include three (yes, three) parades, The Light Up The Night Parade, The Big Parade of Little People (kids...not ya know, little people) and The Grand Day Parade. There is also The Pumpkin Bowl, which is a football game between Anoka High School and an opponent from a nearby town (those high school kids go ALL OUT for this.  If you look out at the football field that night all you see is orange.) A wine tasting, that I have sadly never been to, a house decorating contest, medallion hunt, a pumpkin carving contest, and pre-school aged costume contest among other cute, if kind of uninspired events.

  "I don't know if Halloween, Inc. makes a lot of money, if any."  Bjorn said, "They have a budget of probably around 150,000 dollars for all their events.  And if they work within that [budget] with all the big things, the pageant and the royal ambassador program year-round, gray ghost run, parades...it's not a huge money-maker.  From a stand-point of identity, every small town has their festival and this is ours and it just happens to be really big."  I asked Bjorn if, since Anoka does hold the title of The Halloween Capital of the World,  we could do more.  We claim stake to this title and I feel, as a Halloween Lover, that Anoka cannot begin to complete event-wise with places like Salem, Massachusettes and their Haunted Happenings celebrations that takes place over the entire month of October.  Granted, Salem has more of historical lore and tourism draw, and probably a lot more change in the kitty, but that doesn't mean we can work to make ourselves a destination during the Halloween seasons too.

"We don't think big [in Anoka]. We think small."  The former mayor said.

"We should do more!" I said, being my idealistic, far-fetching self.


"I agree with you.  People aren't as creative as they could be with Halloween," Bjorn said, "Or they aren't letting the creative people come in and run with it.  The people with the money, the people in elected positions, they're all scared to try any thing new."  


The city of Anoka is an older-aged population for the most part.  These senior citizens are now looking to get rid of the maintenance and responsibilities of home ownership.  Currently, the city is building a brand-new senior housing high-rise in the shadow the the historic Anoka State Hospital (which was, at one point in time a scary Shutter Island-esque, lobotomy performing mental hospital....I love your view, Grandma!) This would be the third senior high-rise in the city.  There are countless other senior communities dotted throughout the city, mostly single-family homes that have been converted into multi-person assisted living facilities.  Bjorn sees this as a bit of a problem, "Is senior housing going to be our industry?  That isn't as important as making sure young famalies come here to live in our houses."  When Bjorn says, "our houses" he is referring to the numerous hundred year old-plus homes that have been beautifully restored in the city of Anoka and will soon be empty when Grandma goes to live in one of the bajillion senior communities in town.  "The city wants us to tear these [houses] down and build townhomes, because that's what the market wants." he continued, "For people in their fifties and sixties who want no maintenance, then yeah, townhouses but, that's just more senior housing.  Instead of that, why don't we do more artful things, more music, a bigger Farmer's market.  There is that fear of, 'We don't want young people, they're noisy, they don't pay their rent, old people, that's the way to go.'"  


"But, there going to die..."  I said.


"It's an end of life thing..." Bjorn offered.  


As for Halloween, I asked Bjorn what he thought about people, (mostly those "young people" boo! hiss!) trying to create their own events, not going through the official channels.  Is there a benefit to going through the committee, do you have access to more resources? Or is it worth taking the risk and striking out on your own if you feel like you have a great idea for an event?  


"Just because there is a committee and they copy-write it doesn't mean they own Halloween in Anoka."  He said, "Where the committee is a good idea, if it's going to be about Anoka and make everything bigger and better for everybody, then great.  But, if they are just going to get in the way of events, [events] are hard enough to do anyways, you don't need someone getting in your way."  


I told Bjorn about an idea I was kicking around with a friend of mine, of a Halloween Carnival for families (the only official Halloween event for kids and families, besides the parades, was some silly "Halloween Fun at the Library." We ate candy, listened to a story, then had a "parade" where the kids marched around the library in their Halloween costumes, annoying the creepy dudes using the free internet at the library on a Saturday morning.)  "I would imagine getting park space for that type of event would be incredibly difficult."  I said, "The problem with public space is that it's never guaranteed," Bjorn said, "for something like that you would be better off finding private property of a business or something that would benefit from your event.  Because if they benefit from it, they'll have you back year after year, and once your're established, it's hard to get rid of you."


The biggest hindrance for Anoka, if we were to ever become a destination in October with a multi-day festival, is lack of lodging.  We have a beautiful Bed and Breakfast in town, Ticknor Hill, but that only has four rooms.  They are amazing and outfitted with awesome bathtubs (very important for me) but it wouldn't hold a whole lot of people.  "Debbie and David do an awesome job with Ticknor Hill," Bjorn said, "But not everyone is looking for that kind of experience."  The closest, average-rated hotel is just a town over in Coon Rapids, an AmericInn, but that kind of kills the romance of staying "in Anoka" for the Halloween celebrations.  "Billy's used to be a hotel, the Jackson Hotel, and could easily be one again.  And over a hundred years ago, up on Ferry Street, we had a big hotel.  But today, lodging is definitely an issue, how could you stay here comfortably for more than the day?" Bjorn said.  One hundred years ago Anoka also used to host the largest summer festival in the state, it was bigger than the state fair at the time and people would take the train to come to town."  Not anymore. Due to Anoka being the County Seat and housing the courthouse and county jail our Main Street is, as Bjorn put it "roaring" and our downtown isn't all that pedestrian-friendly.  "People argue that places like White Bear Lake are able to make their downtown friendlier and more [of a destination] because they have a lake...and we just have these gorgeous rivers we don't capitalize on.  And having that government presences in town and the courthouse, that can really kill the downtown [area]" Bjorn said. 


If Halloween falls on a weekday, the big day in Anoka is always the Saturday previous to the 31st. That is the day of The Grand Day Parade, along with a host of other activities, ending the night by hitting up the bars on Jackson Street, one of which, Serum's, throws a huge tent party with live music and a costume contest with prizes worth winning, like trips to Hawaii and stuff!  For the mayor of Anoka, though, that day is a whirlwind.  "That day is crazy. It starts at nine or ten in the morning, at the legion, ride in the parade, go to the post-parade banquet, go get cleaned up, do the Royal Ambassador Pageant, MC that, it's a twelve hour day of events after that and you're beat.  But yeah, you still go out at night, because it's Halloween and you have to."  

At the risk of making myself sound like a crazy person, I told Bjorn about the Limestone Theory in regards to Anoka.  According to local Paranormal Investigator Ross Beard the structure of Anoka around the rivers is key as to why we are The Halloween Capital of the World, not necessarily the Powers-That-Be in the 1920's getting together and trying to prevent the kids (damn young people again!) pulling pranks on Farmer Joe.  "[The land] contains three elements necessary to generate energy," Ross told me, "The first is limestone with many voids, cracks and fractures.  The second is the water.  The limestone allows the water to seep and flow into the voids, cracks and fractures.  The third is quartz crystal.  The water flows across the quartz crystal, that motion alone.  No one knows or has measured this, but many studies have taken place or are in the process to prove out this theory.  Next with the history and depth of character it has taken to build this community, for one reason or another, tragedy or triumph, certain entities have decided to stay, with the substructure acting as battery for them to draw from and coexist."


 I tried to explain this to Bjorn the best I could.  "That's....interesting."  He said, "I have never heard that before."  I then asked him what he thought about the paranormal in general.  "I'm not a very perceptive person." He started, "So I guess, about ghosts and that kind of things, I don't know."  He then told me of an incident where he had dreams of a family member that had passed away or had been sleeping and felt something, a presences of some kind in front of him and opened his eyes to see blackness, but in front of his face was a darker blackness, as if something was directly in front of him.  I understand his unsure answer, I think most people feel that way, the "maybe, maybe not" route when it comes to the paranormal.      


It was incredibly interesting to talk to Bjorn, especially about the political aspect (by "political" I mean "dealing with all the bullshit") of being the mayor of a small-town (we went more in-depth about things that wouldn't be interesting to people who either don't leave here or don't care about all this small-town going-ons.)  Being in that kind of power-position at such a young age, twenty-two, is a fast way to learn how things work, how people work together (or don't work together) and the flaws and strengths of your community.  "For all my sore spots," Bjorn said, "I love Anoka."  


I also love Anoka, and I think with the right people in the right positions of decision-making, and people with passion for their town and what we can accomplish, Anoka, with hard-work, can become the Halloween destination it should be during the month of October.