Wednesday Walk: Less Treats, More Tricks
Wednesday Walk: Less Treats, More Tricks
Rethinking Halloween, Winter Arrives, and Understanding Gaza through Maps
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As is typical every Wednesday, I’m bring you a smattering of topics that I hope will make you a bit more curious about the world around you and give you something to think about later. I call these Wednesday Walks, as it’s the type of conversation we might have walking down a path in the woods. Shall we take a stroll?
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A Chill in the Air
The cold weather has officially arrived in Massachusetts and as October turns to November changes are all around.
Yesterday morning when I was going to take my kids to school, the sliding doors on our minivan were frozen shut from the overnight frost! Temperatures below freezing can spell trouble for an RV if it’s not properly winterized so I was in a bit of a panic.
We had been camping in our RV just a week and a half ago and I hadn’t yet given much thought to winterizing, hoping we might still be able to sneak in another camping trip this season.
But alas, the cold weather put an end to any hope of one last trip for this year. I spent some time yesterday draining all of the water out of the plumbing lines and blowing any remaining water out with an air compressor, fully emptying the sewer tanks, and adding antifreeze to the plumbing traps to make sure we can get through winter without any problems.
Perhaps fitting with the suddenly cold weather, yesterday also marked the last day of the season at Hutchins Farm. I stocked up on about 12 pounds of cabbage (because you know I like my sauerkraut). I also picked up my bulk order of 25 pounds of carrots and 20 pounds of sweet potatoes, which I hope will last me through much of the winter.
It’s wild to think that just a few days ago, temperatures were in the mid 70s and winter felt months away. As the calendar changes, both RV season and stopping by one of my local farm stands have come to an end for this year. Winter will be here before long!
Trick or Treat
Of course, yesterday was also Halloween. I have fond memories of dressing up in costumes as a kid and running around my neighborhood collecting candy, but I’m not sure that’s exactly what I want for my kids.
The modern conception of Halloween (let’s say over the last 80 years or so) feels like it’s rooted more in candy company marketing campaigns that honoring any true holiday. It’s a day devoted to acquiring as much candy as possible and eating as much as possible.
The film Meet Me In St. Louis was released in 1944 and depicts life at the turn of the twentieth century. There’s a scene set at Halloween where candy isn’t even mentioned. Instead, the neighborhood children under the age of about 12 engage in mischief like creating a bonfire out of old furniture in the street or tossing flour into the face of a disfavored neighbor. (You can watch the whole scene on Vimeo if you’re interested). It’s chaotic, but at least it’s not about consumption.
These days, Halloween feels like more treats and less tricks. We’ve had a tradition for many years now of spending the holiday at my mother in law’s house, going door to door in her community.
There’s a lot that I like about the ritual of it all. It’s one of the few times we really get to see any of her neighbors and be involved in their lives in any way. I enjoy getting the little glimpses into people’s homes as they crack their doors to hand out candy, and I think the neighbors like seeing our kids grow year to year.
I feel fortunate that her neighborhood is fairly contained and we can complete it in about half an hour and not end up overloaded on candy. Still, they do still have more than we would like as we don’t like to eat or feed our kids too much sugar or processed foods. It’s inevitable that some of yesterday’s haul will get thrown away, which seems like a giant waste. (Our dentist collects it and exchanges candy for prizes, but I assume they just throw away what they collect too).
Making the waste of it all even worse are the questionable labor practices of the cocoa industry. John Oliver covered them at length on Last Week Tonight this past week, and as always, his show is a good primer on the issue. Most of the cocoa we eat is grown in West Africa, often using child labor or trafficked people. I don’t like supporting that, and feel even worse knowing that these practices may still wind up with candy in a trash can.
I wish there was some way to honor the good parts of the holiday, like being outdoors at night out of a normal routine and connecting with neighbors, that didn’t involve mediation from a chocolate conglomerate or any other commercial entity.
My wife and I do our best to let the holiday be fun for the kids, while trying to de-emphasize the overconsumption of it all. If you have strategies that work in your household for achieving that, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
And if you’re wondering, I dressed up as Luigi from Super Mario Brothers this year, a costume that I was able to put together last minute with clothes that I already had on hand. It may not look like the commercially available versions, but it made my kids’ eyes bug out with excitement, which is all that really counts.
Maps for Understanding
One thing I’ve learned over my years as a producer is that visual references can help break down complex problems.
I didn’t realize how much I was hungering for a few strong visuals to help me better understand the current situation in Gaza until I received a new newsletter issue from
in my inbox this week.The piece is titled “Gaza/Israel Maps That Make You Think” and it’s worth checking out. In some ways, it’s a fairly apolitical piece, presenting different versions of maps that have been published by various news outlets, the UN, and even user generated content.
But the effect of seeing all of these maps in succession and the story that they tell bring new perspective and understanding to what’s unfolding in Gaza that is hard to gleam from a single piece of news coverage or a single map in an article.
I found the UN map from September, 2023 especially useful. There’s a PDF download available here.
The map was made just prior to the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent retaliation, and it helps paint the picture of Gaza as an “open air prison.” There are only three border crossings into Gaza, two operated by Israel and one by Egypt. According to the map, these crossings are only open during daytime hours, access is limited, and they are closed some days each week.
Also on that map is the Gaza air strip, which has been deemed non-operational since 2002 and other graphics which show everything from population density to electrical consumption in the time before the current war.
Map Nerd’s article also includes overlays of Israel over New Jersey and Gaza over Manhattan to give a sense of size comparison, maps that show the Hamas tunnel system, and there are even user generated maps which show the challenges of the LGBT+ community in Gaza.
If you’re a visual learner like me, the article is incredibly helpful.
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Other Wednesday Walks
If you’ve missed past issues of this newsletter, they are available to read here.