Gordon Gazette
written and produced by Middle School students
Special Halloween edition!
issue number seven October 26th, 2011
Hot Topic
An Ancient Celebration
Halloween. Middle school. People are talking. Are you going to dress up? Go to a party? Have a horror movie marathon? The big question is: Are we too old to trick-or-treat? The answer is no.
Halloween originated over 2,000 years ago
By 43 A.D., the Romans had conquered
(sow-in). On November 1st, the Celts
centuries. Roman festivals were
Ever since you were a baby, whether you liked it or not, you have probably gone trick-or-treating in some snazzy costume. Why stop now? Face the facts: the fun of Halloween is all in putting on a costume and getting candy from strangers. When put like that, it makes the holiday sound creepy and awesome, doesn’t it? So take advantage of your childhood and get some candy.
winter- the time of year they connected
Of course, it’s always OK to celebrate Halloween in other ways, such as a party, or a movie marathon, but don’t ever let Halloween off of your radar screen. When you are older, after your glory days, when you are lugging around your giant orange pumpkin costume (with your baby inside of it) all night, you are about 94.57% likely to think back to the days when you were a youthful ball of fun. Or in your case, a moody child in that awkward “Am I at teen or a tween?” stage. You might regret the October 31sts you wasted in the basement playing video games. Or locked up in your room, working on that project. That project which is due December 23rd. So don’t have those regrets. Halloween is for fun. It is for sugar-highs. It is for changing costumes and going back to the houses that give the most candy. It is for cracking up with friends when you realize you are lost and may just have to spend the night right there, on the street. It is for parties, and candy, and costumes. And walking around your neighborhood trying to lose your parents. The point is, you only have one day a year to re-fill your candy stash. So use it well.
with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, celebrated their New Year, the end of
summer and beginning of the cold, dark with death. The Celts believed that on the night of October 31st the chasm between the worlds of the living and the dead
melded and the ghosts of the dead, both
evil and kind, returned to earth. Some evil spirits could harm crops and cause other problems.
The Celts also thought that the presence of spirits made it easier for their
Druids priests to predict the future. People depending on the whims of nature for
survival found these prophecies to be a
comfort and guide during the long, dark winter. The Druid priests built sacred
bonfires, where people gathered to burn sacrifices to the Celtic gods. During the celebration, many wore costumes of
animal heads and skins and tried to tell
each other’s fortunes. When the night was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which
they had put out earlier that evening, with flame from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the winter.
most Celtic territory and ruled it for four combined with Samhain: Feralia, a day in
late October when the Romans commemorated the passing of the dead and a day honoring Pomona, the goddess of fruit
and trees. Since Pomona’s symbol is an apple it probably explains the tradition
of “bobbing” for apples practiced today.
Eventually Christianity replaced Roman
pagan religions. By the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs.
All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the
traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later
Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into our modern, secular and communitybased celebration with child-friendly
activities such as trick-or-treating, parades and parties.
Information from: www.history.com/topics/halloween en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween www.theholidayspot.com/halloween/history.htm
Teacher Costumes Have you ever wondered what your teachers wore for Halloween when they were kids?
Mrs. Spence’s favorite costume was her cat costume. A timeless classic, and the only costume she could remember wearing. Mr. Carson kept with the spooky theme and was a gravestone with RIP written on it. Or should I say on him?
Mr. Rempis was rain one memorable
year. How, you ask? Why all the credit goes to his mother.
Mrs. Kravitz’s favorite costume was a clown. Was it an evil clown? Or was it a happy clown? I forgot to ask.
Mr. Kravitz, following that same gen-
Mrs. Whinery was an owl when she
Ms. Hodgin was the Big Fig Newton
Mr. Karpf’s most memorable year was
eral idea, was once a female tennis player. That was when he was an adult. That’s Mr. Kravitz, not Mrs. Kravitz.
was eight years old. She had horns and everything. I bet she made a super awesome owl!
once upon a time. All I can say is to look up the old commercial on YouTube if you don’t fully understand. It will be worth your while.
when he and his brother decided to go Star Wars. Mr. Karpf was C3PO and his brother was R2D2. Who doesn’t like robots?
Mrs. Ginn and Mrs. Bowman
a paper mache tail and was very proud of it. That is pretty awesome.
dressed up one year as Ms. Pronunciation and Ms. Spelling. They were both grown up at the time.
Mr. Wales was a skunk one year. He had
Down
Crossword
1 original Scottish name of Halloween 5 percent of candy sold annually in USA is purchased for Halloween
Mr. Henry dressed up as Mickey Mouse one time. It was his absolute favorite costume. He wore it multiple times until “it started ripping in the buttocks area” and he had to get rid of it.
Mr. Hamer was Batman one year.
Apparently that was the trend for about three years in a row.
Down 6 rhymes with fool 8 sugar rush 10 one-thousand eight hundred ten and one-half pounds 12 member of the gourd family and also a fruit
Mr. Burnstein, believe it or not, was
a nun one year. Yes, you read that right. A nun. In seventh grade.
Across 1 common fruit of the season 2 they come in different sizes and shapes, and scare you! 3 festival on October 31 4 don’t go in 6 occupants of haunted houses 7 sound made when frightened 9 down to the bone 10 cave dwellers 11 traditional holiday colors, also colors of Cincinnati Bengals 13 _______ please give me some food to eat 15 carve them up 18 who is - where is my head?
Across
Down
21 we all dress up in these 23 ingredient in candy 24 original French name for pumpkin
14 candy bar named after baseball player 16 they keep birds away 17 blood suckers 19 horror film character 20 popular candy maker in Pennsylvania 22 witches were thought to live here
Halloween Horror-scopes Aquarius
January 20-February 18 Halloween candy: Twizzler If you are intending to take pictures of orange pigs in the middle of somewhere in a certain place, I would advise against it. The people living there will probably chase you away by letting their rabid llamas unleash their wrath on you. Brushing your tongue is extremely important this October, especially on the 24th and the 28th. Watch out for vampires wearing garlic necklaces and riding around in horsedrawn carriages. They are trying to confuse you and it will probably work. You might want to stay away from Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and the flavors of their ice cream. Magic Brownies could be dangerous!
Pisces
February 19-March 20 Halloween candy: candy corn Riding bikes on wide roads with bushes and trees and flowers with the sun setting in the background as slow as you can possibly go, uphill with no cars around you, is the way to ride your bike this October. You might get sucked into another dimension sometime this month, probably on a Saturday (sorry, you won’t get to miss school), but maybe on a Friday at 6:19 pm. Make sure you eat carambolas daily. I predict that the moon will shine down in the middle of your yard in the shape of a Vesica Piscis.
Aries
March 21- April 19 Halloween candy: Skittles Are you an alien? Your tin foil hat will give people the impression that you know a lot about aliens and they will start asking you questions that you don’t know the answers to. Watch the movie Monsters vs Aliens and think up answers based on what you know from the movie. It’s possible that you will get something soft thrown at your face this month. It might be a pillow thrown by Reese Witherspoon. You might be honored to be in the presence of Reese Witherspoon, but it’s not always fun to randomly have a pillow thrown at your face.
Taurus
April 20-May 20 Halloween candy: Gummy Bear Someone is going to call you and give you an award for answering the phone. If you want to show them who’s boss, don’t answer and they will leave you a message saying that you will get an award for not answering the phone. If you answer the phone, pretend to be surprised that you are getting such a fantastic award. Donkey kicks, duck walks, and star jumps are the exercises for you this month.
Gemini
May 21-June 20 Halloween candy: Laffy Taffy Viking helmets are all the rage this month. Even if you are feeling like a blue fish on any given Saturday this month, put on your happy flying gurnard fish face. You share the same dreams as Snape from Harry Potter (wanting something that you can’t have). In a rather peculiar circumstance, you will finally achieve your dream. Embrace rabid people no bigger than a kindergartner, because their teeth shouldn’t be pointy.
Cancer
June 21-July 22 Halloween candy: Jelly Beans Lots of old movies and shows are being re-made, so DC Brown and Chuck Lorre will have the chance to sing about turtles again. For a reason I cannot speak of, you will have the sudden urge to eat a sautèed grated squash every Monday sometime between 10:24 am and 7:13 pm. It is possible that you will see a photoshopped picture of yourself wearing green and orange zig-zag overalls with one strap down.
Leo
July 23-August 22 Halloween candy: caramel circles Use Borage Seed oil for frying stuff (especially peaches), massages, and polishing your bokhylla. It might not be sunny enough for you to get a sun tan, but you can just get a cloud tan instead! If you don’t have time to tan during the day, you could always star tan at night. You might choose to watch a scary movie to celebrate Halloween, but be warned! You might have nightmares of a diseased Elmo chasing you through a saltine maze. It is very likely that you will find opera pumps lying on the street at one point or another this month.
Virgo
August 23-September 22 Halloween candy: Starburst Your words of the month are flibbertigibbet, hemidemisemiquaver, lagopodous, and troglodyte. You will find a piece of gunk on your shoe whilst you are walking down the street, but it will need to be poked with a clip-on tie. Nothing will happen when you poke it so don’t be disappointed. Put it in a trash barrel so sea turtles don’t think it is a jellyfish and eat it. That would make them sad. If you have no idea how to make spaetzle, you shouldn’t try to learn how this October.
Libra
September 23-October 22 Halloween candy: Dots Big and little amounts of cabbage are good, but when you take a medium amount of cabbage is when you mess things up. You especially don’t want a medium amount of cabbage on the 1st and 4th Tuesdays of October. Bunnies are great companions this month because there is a chance that they eat cabbage. You or someone you know will walk under a ladder and nothing will happen. A bouffant would look nice on top of your head this month.
Scorpio
October 23-November 21 Halloween candy: Jolly Rancher “I Was Looking Back to See If You Were Looking Back to See If I Was Looking Back to See If You Were looking Back at Me” is the song you’ll be singing all day, every day this month. If you’ve been having good fortune while standing on your head for excessive amounts of time, that will continue, except you will fall and not get hurt at 5:52 am sometime this month. Climbing Mount Everest, walking around blindfolded for an hour, swimming with sharks, and climbing a tree are 3.5285790314846% luckier this October.
Sagittarius
November 22-December 21 Halloween Candy: salt water taffy Burning your toast almost to a crisp is unusually lucky this month. There’s nothing better than a piece of toast that you cannot even bite into. You could be balding, but maybe not. Try washing your hair with soap this October, or use shampoo that comes in a purple bottle. BaiLiXiong Diamond brand tools are preferred for you this month. You must wait for the right time to come knocking on your door before you do that thing you’ve been planning. Or haven’t been planning. If you can help it, try to do it this month and not next month or the month after.
Capricorn
December 22- December 21 Halloween Candy: Runts Fairy tale time! If you are the prince or rescuer, practice your finger wiggling so you can climb walls like Spiderman or do whatever princes and rescuers do best. If you are the princess, learn how to save yourself, because your prince or rescuer may never rescue you. Who says you need rescuing anyway? If you are the security guard who lets the princess get rescued by a prince, a rescuer, or herself, you might want to get a job you can actually do well.
A Halloween story “Yes!” I said as my dad and my mom told me something I’d waited to hear for a long time. We were moving into a big house, and, for the first time, I was getting my own room. I had been sharing a room with my fifteen year old sister. “I didn’t know you were going to be this happy,” my dad said. “It’s wonderful! When are we moving, to where, and on what street?” I said happily. “We’re moving into the house the Gordon’s used to own, and I think it’s on, mmmmm, oh yes, Ghost Street,” my mother said. “But there is nothing to be afraid of. Isn’t it wonderful? It’s a big house with three bathrooms!” My smile dropped. I’d heard of that family. The boy, what was his name, Greg Gordon? Oh, I remember him. He was the boy who stayed at the corner of the field at recess. Everyone hated him, and he always babbled about ghosts and spirits.
He always said his father had drowned in a little pond that they owned. His mother, well, no one knows about his mother. She just wasn’t there he always said. One day he didn’t come to school, and the teacher said said what happened. He died in his house. I didn’t like him, but everyone is sad when someone dies. “What’s the matter honey?” my father said. “Remember Greg G?” I whispered. “Of course I do. He was a sweet little b...” My mother hugged me and I started to cry. It was moving day and the first thing I noticed was the little pond. I was helping bring my things in. Then we called our rooms. I got the room with a sign on it that said “GREG.” I felt a little chilly in that moment. I shook my head and tried to forget about it, but I couldn’t. I begged my sister to switch rooms, and I even told my parents that I wanted to share a room with my sister again.
They said “I don’t think so,” and slammed the door. That was when the creepy thing happened. I was setting up my toys, and I felt a chill on my neck. It felt as if some cold air had gone through me and I knew it wasn’t the wind because all the windows were closed. There was no air conditioning. I looked around and nothing was there. I headed for the door, and I felt it again. This time I freaked out, and I ran for the door. I tried to open it but it was stuck. I started to cry and I tried again, but it wouldn’t budge. I screamed for anyone. But everyone was probably outside. I screamed again and I heard my parents running upstairs. Oddly enough, when they opened the door, it slid right open like there was butter in the door or something. I told my parents what had happened and we hugged and talked, and they said that there were no such things as ghosts. I couldn’t believe it. But I wasn’t surprised. No one believes children, and no one would believe what happened next.
Fashion tips In the Middle School at Gordon we have a Halloween dress up day. It’s really fun but there are a few guidelines. For example, nothing too scary or political, and it must be dress code appropriate. Some easy things are just wearing all black and being either Goth or a ninja. Another is being your alter ego and just go crazy. (An alter ego is the exact opposite of who you are.) Or you could just wear your regular Halloween costume. Costumes that you will always see are various superheroes and celebrities, animals, and the occasional crayon. Stay Halloween fabulous.
Editor’s Note Hi everybody, happy Halloween! This is the second edition of the Gordon Gazette this year, and so far, so good. If you have any ideas for the paper, just tell me, or somebody else who is working on the paper. We won’t bite.
A lot of people have expressed interest in writing an article, taking pictures, and other things for the paper. If you have any interest in working for the paper, come to Mrs. Ginn’s classroom at lunch on Tuesdays. It’s never too late to join.