Right now I am going to tell you that Halloween in Athens, OH is a gauche display. It is over-the-top in every way, and that is just the way we like it. This is my last year attending an Athens Halloween, and I would like to take a minute to reflect. I recently read an article/slideshow in the Huffington Post that makes jest with all the inappropriate costumes to wear. Writers Alex Leo and Katla McGlynn write "Just remember, no matter how bad you may feel about whatever you come up with, as long as you're not dressed in one of the costumes below, you're all set." The worst, truly "inappropriate" (by who's standards?) costume was probably the child dressed as a suicide bomber... but what I saw it I didn't feel offended so much as confused as to why a child would ever want to be that. Anyway, the rest of the costumes are pretty much crude penis jokes socially insensitive puns. To the Huffington Post I say: Just come to Ohio University.

Here we fly our crude costume flags proudly. It is the one time of the year our strait-laced Judeo-Christian society lets go of the politically correct and socially acceptable for a night. Men go out proudly dressed as women without fear of reprimand; college students proudly show off their sexuality, Any other day of the year a skirt so short would only gain looks of scorn, tonight girls will compliment each other on how cute they look as a school-teacher-by-day-hooker-by-night.

And so, I plan to revel in our most celebrated day of social aberration. But before I do, I would like to curse those that can't handle this amount of freedom from the norm, even for a night. For tips about how to stay safe this weekend, check out Amanda King's article. To her advice, I would add: Stay away from the horses. If you mess with them you can be charged with assaulting an officer. If you are wearing heels, bring flats. Who knows if you will be doing a lot of walking or if you get too drunk to walk in heels. Police will look for people that stand out from the crowd. If you are the person tripping a lot, odds are in your favor you may recieve more attention than you want.

Ah, the smell of fall. Halloween is days away and I am thinking what everyone else must be thinking... weddings. Here is my thought process: Halloween, costumes. Costumes, wedding dresses. Wedding dresses, weddings all over the world.

I have already been exposed to some interesting wedding traditions in the past. For instance, at Jewish weddings I have been witness to the groom smashing a glass at the end of the ceremony. But I really do not know much about universal wedding norms. I would think it would not be okay to kiss the bride if you are not the groom, but even this has been tradition in different cultures. Maybe it's just me, but I would think you should take off your wedding veil before you do a keg stand.

It isn't tradition to wear white all over the world, even red and black are popular in some countries. In the U.S.A I am consistently disappointed by our cultural windfall. But we also borrow many really interesting traditions from other cultures to dress up our own tired white gown, best man, ring bearer, Wagner's Bridal Chorus shtick.

Below you can check out some of interesting wedding norms (and trends) that exist across the world. If you are interested in further knowledge (of which there is a ton) check out this interesting site.


View Wedding Norms Worldwide in a larger map

Here is a lower quality version of the post with AUDIO this time!! I really am not sure why youtube stripped the video of music. It said it was unapproved, but I didn't receive any flags.

Eating from Jess Tyroler on Vimeo.