Wear What You Want for Halloween

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costumes, dinosaurs, disney princesses, halloween, marvel, my little pony, pteranodon

A few days ago, a friend remarked on Facebook that he recently attended his child’s pre-school Halloween party, and one of the three-year-old boys was dressed as Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen, even wearing high-heels. My friend declared it “the ballsiest thing I’ve seen in a long while,” and complimented the kid and his parents for their bravery.

Witch, 1974

I could not help but think how sad it is that a three-year-old’s selection of a Halloween costume would be judged as ballsy or anything else. But in today’s polarizing culture, where every action is viewed as some kind of a political statement, a little boy dressed as Elsa probably is pretty bold. I know I would be a little nervous, as a parent, about what the other kids would say. Hopefully, everyone at the party was nice, and Elsa got lots of candy.

When I was three years old, I decided to be a witch for Halloween. My parents agreed and I went door-to-door with a pointed hat, blond wig, black sheet and an old broom. I don’t remember any of our neighbors making a big deal about it. Some of them might have thought I was a little girl. If my parents were embarrassed or worried about it, they never let on. It was simpler back in the early 1970s. Adults didn’t seem to fret about what kids dressed up as for Halloween, or anything else they did, for that matter. Today, we seem to be much more wrapped up in our children’s lives, as this recent Halloween story colorfully illustrates.

Ghost, 1973

Anyway, I was lucky to have parents who let me be who I wanted to be for Halloween. I’m also fortunate to have had a mom who enjoyed creating my costume most years. I’ve included photos of some of the early ones. My “Jack O’ Lantern/Scarecrow” outfit actually won a contest back in the second grade!

My son is only four years old, but I’m pretty impressed so far with his originality when it comes to selecting Halloween costumes.

Jack o’ Lantern, 1978

While many of his peers will dress up as Marvel superheroes or Disney princesses, my son wants to be a dinosaur. Specifically, he wants to be a Pteranodon. (If you aren’t up-to-date on your dinosaur names, a Pteranodon is a winged creature very similar to the more famous pterodactyl. In fact, I don’t know the difference between the two.) We ordered the costume off Amazon, and it seems to fit him pretty well. He can’t wait to spook his neighbors, and also educate them a little bit about paleontology.

Last year, my son went as a ghost, and that was a big success. We couldn’t find any toddler-sized ghost costumes, so my wife cut up a couple of pillowcases and layered his face with white and black makeup. He had great fun running through the neighborhood, a little white blur wearing silver and green tennis shoes. “I’m a ghost! I’m a ghost!” he shouted repeatedly.

Devil, 1976

I suspect that my son watches just as many movies and TV shows as any other kid his age. I’m a little surprised he doesn’t want to go trick-or-treating as a Power Ranger or a Minion or even one of the ponies from My Little Pony (still one of his favorite shows). I am sure the day is coming when he will fall into rank with what everyone else wants to be, but I hope not. Peer pressure is a powerful thing. It takes a lot of nerve, or even some balls, to be different in this day and age.

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Be Royal

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humor, kansas city, kansas city royals, major league baseball, san francisco giants, sports, Stephen Roth, world series

Today I have nothing to share except this:

And this:

That will be all. Have a wonderful Thursday.

The Crayon Box

I am re-posting this because my dear college friend, Michael Schwartz, has launched a KickStarter campaign to fund a movie he wants to shoot at locations around the world before he loses what remains of his eyesight. A truly inspiring and courageous endeavor that you can learn more about by clicking here: http://kck.st/ZF2RC9

A Place for My Stuff

I met Michael Schwartz during my first semester at the University of Missouri in 1989. We shared an English class with about 10 other easily startled freshmen. Our instructor was a slightly mad fellow by the name of Aristotle Baklava, who did everything in his power to turn English 101 into a left-leaning political science course. Each week, he had us write term papers on different chapters from a book called Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans Who Fought Their Way to the Supreme Court. We wrote about gay rights, freedom of religion, freedom of expression and the uniquely American right to burn the country’s flag at the Republican National Convention. I have to admit I learned a lot about writing in that class. Once my terms papers started taking on a decidedly liberal slant, my grade average magically rose from a low “C” to a solid “A.”

I…

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I Sure Am Going to Miss My Dad

Hard to believe, but it has been a full year since since Art Roth Jr. passed. I love and miss you, Dad.

A Place for My Stuff

Dad talking business; me playing with my stuffed giraffe. Some time in the summer of 1977, when I was a six-year-old happily growing up in LaGrange, Georgia, my mom took me to a fish and chips place for lunch. She ordered me a basket of hush puppies and explained that my dad’s job was going to be transferred to the headquarters of Milliken & Co., and that he would be moving to Spartanburg, South Carolina.

“Well,” I said after some thought. “I sure am going to miss him!”

My mother then went on to explain that she and I would also be moving with him to Spartanburg, and thestrange reality of an impending uprooting, away from all my friends and everything else I hadever known, slowly setinto my six-year-old mind. There would be other moves, all of them between South Carolina and Georgia, in my growing-up years as my father’s…

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Georgia on My Mind

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atlanta, barnes & noble, columbus, fiction, foxtale book shoppe, georgia, lagrange, lagrange memorial library, mercer university press, plot for pridemore, Stephen Roth, woodstock

One thing I have learned in my three-plus months as a published author: sometimes things don’t work out exactly as you had planned.

I was originally slated to speak about A Plot for Pridemore at the Georgia Literary Festival in Augusta on the weekend of November 7-9. Last week, I learned that the festival had been canceled for this year. This sent me scrambling to set up new gigs to fill up my weekend visit to Georgia.

Thanks to some understanding folks who were willing to work with me on just a few weeks’ notice, I have been able to pull together a few appearances in the Peach State:

At 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8, I will sign books and possibly do a reading from Pridemore at FoxTale Book Shoppe in Woodstock. FoxTale is one of the top independent bookstores in the Atlanta area, and has hosted many Mercer University Press authors over the years. I am thrilled that FoxTale is willing to fit me into its schedule on such short notice.

At 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 9, I will be signing books at the Barnes & Noble in Columbus. This will not be a formal author appearance, but I will be in the bookstore’s coffee shop to meet with people and chat.

Finally, at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10, I will be speaking and signing books at the LaGrange Memorial Library as part of its “Author Talk” series. This is especially meaningful because it is the first author event I have done in my hometown of LaGrange. I am really looking forward to catching up with friends I haven’t seen in a few years.

So that’s the plan for my trip to Georgia next month. If you happen to be around those parts on that particular weekend, or know someone who is, I would appreciate some company at any of my scheduled appearances. Can’t wait to get down there!