Zombification by Midterm: A Call for Students to Dress Funny This Week

Halloween is on a Saturday. This only happens every few years, so it should be a grand affair. Keyword: should. I always forget that, for normal people, Halloween is a mere boost in sales for candy companies and a chance to be ludicrously, cough, risqué rather than creative in their dress. I also forget that partying in Toronto usually consists of dancing in close quarters with alcohol. No one holds salons anymore, Liesl.

Events on campus are scattered everywhere on Halloween, as clubs big and small, student unions and associations all have their own events, sometimes advertised only to current members or by flyers/posters, that kind of thing. Googling "halloween, u of t, costume party" brings up generic dances and stuff from last year. I find Halloween stuff is kind of low-key, or you only hear about it if you look at the right poster at the right time. Example: on the 23rd, there was apparently a Zombie Prom at the Cat’s Eye. 🙁 Missed it! I’ve found only two large parties for U of T students so far, one of which is apparently cancelled?!* The other one is "Nightmare on Peter St.", held by UC, St Mike’s and Victoria College, on Thursday. Looks cool.

Every club/bar is having a costume party, of course. There will be lots of dancing in Toronto, off campus. That’s all good, but … for the paranoid, this lovely swine flu season might scare you off enclosed-space dancing and, in turn, being breathed on by strangers.

So, aside from swine flu scaring us from going out, and midterms blocking our ability to plan the greatest Samhain-inspired-Halloween-on-Saturday-parties-ever, there’s one more problem with Halloween this year:

You can’t wear your costume to class.

Well, hmm. Why not just wear one on Friday? Yes, you’ll get the initial weird look, but after six seconds or so, the gazers will think, “Oh yeah! Halloween is tomorrow! This fellow student is such a nerd that they have to wear a costume on Friday.” They will understand.

I, however, cannot. Why?

Because I have no class on Fridays.

Woe, woe. Whatever shall be done? Well, guess what. I, Liesl, am renowned for crazy ideas that never come to fruition. My class-less Fridays led me to a brilliant one. I bring it to you, dear reader.

I dare everyone who reads this blog to wear a costume every day of this week.

If you’re too chicken (like me), at least wear something strange. C’mon, it will be fun! If enough students do it, maybe we’ll generate enough eyebrow-raising to be a point of gossip on Monday.

Honesty. Midterms suck. We need something to brighten up the week. We can start a new tradition, Halloween-on–a-Saturday = Midterm Madness Week**, or something. We’ve gone so crazy, from academic stress and swine flu panic, that we’ll wear a costume every day. Nothing that will cause obstructions in class or insult anyone, but you already don’t do that on Halloween, right? 🙂

Need some inspiration? Keep it simple, so you can still study and write essays late into the night. Some easy-to-pull-off costumes/strange things to wear:

• The Zombie: Grab some face makeup, or white powder from Shoppers (sorry, I don’t know where to find the organic stuff), and wear your raggedy-est pajamas to class. In fact, grab said white powder and dust yourself before an all-nighter. You feel like a zombie; why not look like one too?!
• Your "True Self": I got this idea from here. You already know what this means for you, so why not?
• Old Lady/Man: Stereotypical lacy poncho, mom pants, or suspenders pulled up to the moon.
• Child: Pigtails, clothes from the last decade, and a stuffed animal.
• Actress in Disguise: A classy dress, shades and a scarf over your head.
• The "Opposite" Gender: Gender is just a performance***, anyway.
• A Fridge Magnet (black shoe box taped to your back), a clown (just the red nose), a tneduts (wear your clothes backwards), a mask (any mask), a cape (just a cape), a wig (funky colours are great), a pair of wings, a loud hat, your prom dress, an evening gown, a tuxedo, a Santa hat (incognito elf), Cirque du Soleil makeup, an insane street fashion, I can keep going.