Brides and Glooms

Having been over a month since my last post, I figure it is due time to post once again. This blog was originally in my head as one about life on the Emerson campus. Then my favorite holiday happened and the rest, as they say, is history…

PART I

First and foremost, thanks are due to a certain Paul Moody, whose benevolent spirit and thoughtfulness brought me home for the wedding of my dear friend Sarah Freel, who needed some extra Moody-ness in her life. Pshhhh. :P
In any case, this was a wedding for the books. I mean, really. Due to the ever-gracious Kane Klan, there was a beautiful backyard space, decked with white tent, chairs, the whole bit. But what was marvelous was the weather. Everything looked just right in the speckled sunlight filtering through the trees and, for October, this was a mini-miracle. Gorgeous wedding. Could not have been better.
So, thank you Paul for flying me in for Sarah. I know it was a great gift for her, but it turned into an incredible gift for me as well. And also my friends and family (ahem… Mother) who got to see that Boston hasn’t killed me yet, and there’s no plan on that happening soon.

PART II

Flash forward four weeks to the day of October 31st. On this day, the planets aligned and God gave a miracle to the world. At least it was a miracle for me, as I always find Halloween to be.
How can this celebration be a miracle, you ask? Let’s start with this: I was in Boston and it was 70 degrees on Halloween. Yes, 70. It was perfect. The trees had all pretty much turned their assorted shades of burnt orange, muted red, or bright yellow, with those dabs of green mixed perfectly in between. It was enough of fall to feel the bite in the air and cause leaves to descend any time the wind blew, but enough of summer leftovers that all us scantily clad beings didn’t freeze.
Another part of the miracle- Halloween was on a Saturday this year. This left everyone all day to get ready and all night for the make up to fall off. Awesome.
Into this perfect setting emerged two beings- a boy and a girl. Both wore shades, both hair straightened, but the boy’s gelled. Both had foundation smoothed on and mascara highlighting the eyelashes beneath the sunglasses. The boy- a brunette; the girl- a blonde. Boy wore a black polo with the collar popped (lending an ever so pompous air to his attire) and khaki shorts, with simple flip-flops. Girl wore a black and gray dress, with black flats (for comfort) and assorted pink jewelry. On the waistband of her dress was taped a swirly pink “B.”
No, this is not an episode of The Pink Letter: Sequel to the Scarlet Letter. This is Barbie and Ken. And somewhere beneath all that makeup and stuck-up attitude are my friend Christine and, unbelievably, myself.
The two of us crossed the Common with pillowcases in tow, passing all the other random people in costume. This city is truly into Halloween. We reached our destination: Beacon Hill. We were confused. Few pedestrians were on the sidewalks, and neither of us was familiar with the ritual of Trick-or-Treating in these foreign parts. We decided to wander around till we found others doing the same.
Then it happened. We walked up the right side street and emerged into a world that could actually be described as Halloweentown. Thousands of people crowed the shut down streets, and all the inhabitants of the luxurious townhouses were sitting on their doorsteps handing out candy to little kids. Most of these candy-givers were in full garb, complementing those of the children and parents to which the candy was given.
Furthermore, most houses featured decorations, cob-webs strung from every tree to some wall or doorway, lights popping up random places, ghosts or spiders descending from trees, and smoke issuing from any vent the ground could hold. At this point I let out the first in a series of squeals over the next hour.
Anyone who knows me can imagine what this meant to me. To walk around in this organized mess for an hour was a dream come true. I felt younger than I feel at Disney World, and that’s saying something. We meandered to and fro for the length of an hour (in which we found John Kerry’s house and snatched candy from his grimy paws) and then were obligated to return to campus, having taken more than our fair share of the goods.
Let me interject here and interesting note: Northerners have often been called “snobby” or “rude” by people I know in the South. I challenge you all to come to Beacon Hill one Halloween and decide otherwise. The sense of community and fun is overwhelming and the Bostonians put Southern hospitality to shame.
The rest of the night consisted of watching “The Nightmare Before Christmas” with Lauren and going to my first (and uber-lame) college party. Surprise- I hated the party. I never want to return. But let this day be remembered as the miracle Halloween. It will for me. Whoever said that Halloween was the devil’s holiday should either: a)come to Boston and change their mind; b)talk to a child dressed up on Halloween and consider their input; or c) stop smoking the crack they must be on to think that.

Cool Things Daniel Did This Month:
I know you’ve all been waiting, so here is what I was up to while I wasn’t writing this blog (besides, of course, going home for the weekend, celebrating Halloween, and studying longer than I thought was imaginable).

1. Here Comes the Bride- Aside from the wonderful Freel-Moody wedding, two of my other dear friends got married: Jim and Pam. Yes, from The Office. We take that show seriously here, so there was a wedding cake and champagne (aka sparkling cider) to complete the festivities. Amazingly, we crammed about 25 people into our common room which was, admittedly, one of the worst and hottest experiences of my life. See Facebook for a few pics.

2. Fireburnin, Fireburnin on the River- Due to the bountiful graciousness of my suitemate Ian, I made it to Waterfire in Providence, RI, along with Christine and Emma. This is a festival which involves lighting huge bonfires up and down the river in the city at night while opera and classical music plays. It was altogether very romantic (not that that helped any of us) and quite beautiful. I was really more excited to visit the smallest state in our great union- the Island that is not an island.

3. Johnny Appleseed- Ryan’s church goes to an apple orchard every fall, has a church service and then has fun around the orchard. Who’da thunk it? So, I went along and got my first taste of apple picking, cider donuts, and even got to see a pig! Our friend Stefany had never been on a hay ride (or even seen hay for that matter- she’s from Miami) so I went with her on the bumpiest, but probably prettiest, hay ride of my life. Yeeeehaw.

4. Grab Your Brooms- It’s time for Quidditch season here at Emerson. Truly an amazing spectacle that takes place on the Common. Yes, in public. Now, I had already attended a scrimmage earlier this year, but this was my first real game. And these people are intense. Seriously fascinating. See the pictures on my Facebook for a true idea of how ridiculous this looks. It’s amazing.

5. BBFs for Life- Yes, the Boston Book Festival, first ever, happened just weeks ago. My friend Monique from Governor’s School came in from Providence to go with me. There are some seriously great authors around this area: Anita Diamant (The Red Tent and The Last Days of Dogtown), John Goodman (guy from the Mac commercials that plays the PC: now a published author), Anita Shreve (The Pilot’s Wife and The Weight of Water), Ben Mezrich (who wrote the book that inspired the movie “21” and I missed) just to name a few of the attendees. Great event (minus the SpokenWord poetry which sucked big time).

6. Curtain Call- Over the past two weeks, I was privileged (ahem… forced) to see two productions done by our school’s theatre company Emerson Stage. I’m so glad to finally be at a school with a real theatre program! The two plays I saw were Incorruptible, about corruption in the Catholic church (shocker), and Six Characters in Search of an Author, one of the creepiest plays imaginable which provokes thoughts about the separation between theatre and life, what is reality and what is fiction. Truly incredible productions for a college crew.

7. Caught in the Frenzy- I finally got to attend my first Boston concert! And what a great one it was. A Fine Frenzy showed up just in time, and my friend Mercedes and I went along with Monique from Providence. Opening for her were Among the Oak and Ash and Landon Pigg (who sings that Breaking up in Coffeeshop song), both from Tennessee. How very ironic. Of course, AFF played her dear song “Almost Lover” that made us all want to cry. She’s one to catch if you ever have the chance.

What Daniel Missed This Month:
The actors and director from “Boondock Saints” were on our campus and I didn’t get to see them! I had class right up till when the event started and it was full by the time I got there. They were also giving out screening passes to “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” which were far gone. Sad day. Oh well.

NOTE: The “People I Met” section is being discontinued for the time being since I mainly hang out with those already mentioned. If something significant happens, you will all hear about it through the rest of the blog, I’m sure.

POSTSCRIPT
Tomorrow, I celebrate my first birthday in my new location. It’s one of those weird times where you’re used to being home, but know that this is where you want to be. I’m turning 19, my last year with –teen attached to my year. This is different; this is perfect. I miss you all and thank you for your support and mail and packages. It makes this time easier and happier. I couldn’t ask for more.

As always, thanks for reading.