The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced their recommendations that Americans should avoid Halloween celebrations that involve any in-person interactions.
The federal agency noted that traditional in-person Halloween festivities, such as an indoor costume party, going to a community haunted house, or doling out candy to trick-or-treaters going door-to-door, should be avoided this year to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
According to the report the CDC noted, they stated Many traditional Halloween activities can be high-risk for spreading viruses. There are several safer, alternative ways to participate in Halloween. If you may have COVID-19 or you may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, you should not participate in in-person Halloween festivities and should not give out candy to trick-or-treaters.
Then the report noted about what’s called “safer alternatives”-actions and events one can conduct to keep the Halloween activities alive (no pun intended!!) while keeping safe and secure over a virus that is scarier than something that goes bump in the night.
Those events and activities include such elements as carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household, carving or decorating pumpkins outside at a safe distance with neighbors or friends, decorating your house, apartment, or living space, doing a Halloween scavenger hunt where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations at a distance, having a virtual Halloween costume contest, hosting a Halloween movie night with people you live with, and keeping a scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treat search with your household members in or around your home rather than going house-to-house.
The CDC also noted other activities as categorized by health officials as “moderate risk” that includes participating in “one-way trick-or-treating,” where individually wrapped goodie bags are lined up for families to grab and go while continuing to social distance, hosting a small-group, outdoor, open-air costume parade where people are distanced more than six feet apart, as well as attending a costume party held outdoors where protective masks are used and people can remain more than six feet apart.
In one visits a community pumpkin patch or orchard, hand sanitizer should be used or be available before touching pumpkins or picking apples. Ditto for wearing masks so people are able to maintain social distancing.
As one can note from the above, the CDC is doing their best in making Halloween safe for all as the intentions are for the good. However, people are still hell bent in celebrating Halloween as they have since they began to make this holiday as the only one that matters. For many folks, Halloween is much bigger than Independence Day a.k.a. The Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, and all of the festive gift giving moments that fall within the month of December that’s been lumped under one name known as “The Holidays”!
Sure, it’s best to be safe and all. However, people have been spooked (and not just from Halloween) since St. Patrick’s Day because of lockdowns, shutdowns, re-openings, re-closing, cancellations, working from home, not working at all, and attending way too many meetings through Zoom that ranged from being dull and boring, to becoming Zoom-bombed! It’s enough to give anyone the heebie-jeebies as they stand–or fall!
But in spite of these measures, Halloween will still be here, and many sources are letting you know about it. Many of the candy companies started to market their Halloween candy as early as August! Even though folks tend to get their Halloween goodies usually the week of Halloween, folks are stacking up just to consume the candy for themselves! After all, when one is going through stress, anxiety, and other factors connected to this pandemic, they tend to eat! And what better way to ease one’s burden is to wolf down a whole bag of “fun size” pieces of Snickers, or to gobble down a whole load of Jujubes! After all, there are no movies to see in a theater, so why not scarf down a box or three while bingeing on episodes of Tiger King on Netflix?
Even people in the neighborhood are starting to put up their Halloween decorations rather early. One house near where this writer hangs his hat had their orange colored string lights, plastic jack-o-lanterns, and LED light sets of projected animated dancing ghosts as early as the Labor Day weekend! (That’s a Halloween fan bar none!!)
Of course, one can follow some of the CDC’s guidelines. However, it’s always safe to note that one has to use their own discretion when getting Halloween its fair shake of making it all happen!
Then again, there will be lots of costume ideas going around. One can play the political game since Election Day falls on the Tuesday after All Hallow’s Eve, so keep your eyeballs out for folks dressed up as Joltin’ Joe B., The Donald, or even Anthony Fauci! (He’s not running in the election, but he is the poster boy of the year!) And don’t be surprised to have folks dressed up as a COVID-19 virus speck! After all, one has to be creative!
In the mean time, enjoy the antics of October 31st! And on a side note, the week this edition hits the streets (so the speak), October 12th is the traditional Columbus Day–a day that has lost its luster in recent times. It’s also Thanksgiving Day in Canada! But we’re getting a head of ourselves as that stands!
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NEWS AND REVIEWS
TELL HIM IT’S JACKIE, a solo play about Jackie Kennedy’s emotional moments hours after the demise of her brother-in-law Bobby, and how she reflects upon her past and future, makes its premier in Woodland Hills.
Kait Haire appears as Jackie Kennedy. It’s the daylight hours of June 5th, 1968. Just a few hours before, Robert Kennedy, her brother-in-law, was assassinated in Los Angeles. It’s the second time she had experienced such a tragedy where her husband Jack fell into the same circumstances nearly five years before. As she cradles herself alone in her home in Washington DC, she begins to reflect upon what just occurred. She holds herself steady by taking upon drink and even through a few prescription pills. She becomes rightfully aware that she hales from a rather privileged background, yet becomes reflective to how her life was formed through her association with the family she marred into. Her thoughts and settlements has her verbally tell the story about her life, as well as how her husband Jack donned his way through politics as well as through other women he knew in more ways manageable! She has her children, and doesn’t quite know what their beings will become, now that they are part of a family dynasty known as the Kennedys. Through these times, Jackie is entering an hour of becoming stable while falling emotional apart. But there is a way out, even though this person that will become part of her second life has more years to his credit as well as the bank accounts that comes with the territory. Jackie’s times are far from through, although politics will now take a back end.
This new theater piece, written and directed by playwright Tom Dugan, shows a reflective period extracted from the life and times of Jackie Kennedy, a woman that was beloved (and pitied) by many of those that followed her being through the media of the era, mostly by way of television and the printed press–tabloid or otherwise! Kait Harie as the title character performs her role as Jackie as a person that is a cross of being somewhat charming yet not “sweet”, besides holding a persona that isn’t as independent or strong as others within her nature would take upon generations later. (Social media was light years away for such actions to even develop!) Tom Dugan uses an amount of fact that goes into Jackie’s stirring monologue where she speaks upon her life and times while adding a bit of “spin” for dramatic purposes. Whatever the case, the show is informative, amusing, and best of all, it grabs upon the period of a woman that may have had those silver spoons within reach, yet experienced a massive emotional hit due to tragic death and emotional destruction.
This show is currently performing not in a theater setting. It’s being presented outdoors in the back yard of a private home in Woodland Hills, meaning that a limited number of “seats” will be offered during this single act play. There is a stage area where Kait Haire as Jackie will be performing among a set that is very minimal. The seating itself is spaced out so patrons will be comfortably distanced apart. And yes, face masks will be required for all attendees! (For the record, Kait Haire will perform sans mask!)
As of this writing, there is no theater of any sort being performed anywhere within the Los Angeles region. So this production may be the only form of live theater being offered anywhere! It isn’t stating that one will be given no choice by viewing a mediocre presentation. In fact, the play itself is very well crafted, and Kait Harie does an impressive task of becoming Jackie on stage, even if the stage she stands upon is only a poolside deck! Although this play may be the only show of its kind offered in the region, it’s a showpiece that is of high quality, and very entertaining to boot!
TELL HIM IT’S JACKIE is also a loving tribute to one of the most beloved “first ladies” that this nation, if not the western world, has ever graced within the field of the political domain. It’s been often noted that a person such as Jackie Kennedy will never become companied by anyone else that will ever step into the public spotlight. In this day and age, there are many others that will become this “famous” for different reasons, through different platforms, along with the high tech apps that will make it all happen!
TELL HIM IT’S JACKIE, performs at the “Dugan Backyard Playhouse” located in Woodland Hills (91367) through November 21st. Showtimes are Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 PM. (It’s suggested that one brings a blanket along as the outdoor air may become a bit chilly!) The exact location of the Dugan Backyard Playhouse will be given when reservations are made (required) by sending an e-mail to Tom.Dugan@outlook.com
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