Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

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October 4, 2022
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Wildness of Halloween should be experienced while still in college

westcampushallowen
Shannon Butler

This weekend, West Campus will get a little scarier.

The most wonderful time of the year is here. Skimpy cats, superheroes, half-assed celebrity impersonators and other last minute costumed people will prowl the streets of West Campus looking for tricks and treats. When it comes to celebrating the single most important holiday of our childhoods, students don’t mess around. Students trade the innocent princess costumes that defined the Halloweens of years past in for edgier, racier and more controversial ones because – let’s be honest – if your costume isn’t fun, the weekend won’t be, either.

This Halloweekend, expect to see some truly frightening things, including, but not limited to, intoxicated Charlie Strongs, crying hippies, comatose ballerinas and belligerent Spidermans.  West Campus has a trick-or-treating agenda of its own, including door-to-door parties and adult versions of your favorite Halloween candy, in which any and all ingredients are replaced with alcohol. Things will undoubtedly get spooky. Last Halloween, I spent half my night trying to escort a drunk girl home. She refused to allow me lead her to West Campus, so I was eventually forced to let her wander northward towards 30th (who knows if she ever returned).


So much of the way in which the University celebrates non-religious holidays involve being ridiculous, and it shouldn’t be any other way. As far as halloween is concerned, these few, short years are the only ones in which celebrating in the unique way that the University does is acceptable. After graduation, drinking profusely while the neighborhood trick-or-treats is not only ill-advised, but will most likely result in a call to the police. Oversexualizing your costume for dress-up day at work most likely won’t go over well in that 8 a.m. board meeting. There is only a tiny fraction of time in which it is OK to be ridiculous during Halloween, and that time is now. Soon enough we will all be picking out tiny costumes for our children and preparing ourselves to pass out candy to hundreds of sugar-addled youths.

This Halloweekend, go all out. If the impending doom that is real adulthood hasn’t already hit you, hopefully it has now, and will act as the catalyst for a fun Halloween. There isn’t much time left between now and the sad day when you can’t get away with all the things that are encouraged at UT during this holiday, so you might as well go out with a bang while you still can.

Berkeley is a Plan II and public relations sophomore from Austin.

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Wildness of Halloween should be experienced while still in college