Best Halloween costume idea I’ve heard so far this year? Dress as a woman you admire. Here are some women I admire:
- Hillary Clinton
- Chelsea Clinton
- Shulamith Firestone
- Jill/Twisty Faster
- Natalie Goldberg
- Sappho
- Emily Dickinson
- Katharine Hepburn
The only problem with some of these costumes is that they’d be pretty difficult to pull off without explaining first, who you are, and second, who your costume is, to people all evening. The thing with costumes is they’ve got to be archetypal, or at least near-instantly recognizable. Admirable women with great achievements under their belts have a lot less social currency than, say, “sexy nurse” or “sexy policewoman.” And therein lies the problem.
Who were you? Who would you be if you dressed as a woman you admired?
I think any of these would be hard to do without a mask. I find it very hard to change my identity. No actor genes, I guess. It's a good idea, though.I wanted to go to a party as Dina Martina, but I realized no one around here would "get it."
Margaret Sanger- maybe a period nurses outfit with a copy of Woman Rebel?
Hattie – Dina Martina would be a most excellent costume. You could always get a name tag and write "Dina" on it.Jenni – I feel as if props would be necessary for most of these costume ideas – books, name tags, masks, etc. I don't do well with props, as I always lose them for semi-obvious reasons. Did you dress up?? Are you going/did you go trick-or-treating?
Adrienne Rich, no question.
Ohhhh and now I have a new poet I must read. I wish all of you lived in my town, we could all get together and have boozy dramatic readings of all the literature we love. It would be fantastic.
Tina Brown would be mine. all i would need is a pencil skirt, a white button down (collar popped) and some stilettos. ohhh wait…and a blackberry which i'd have to check every 2 seconds. That's Tina.
Tina Brown = perfect. It would be so easy to pull off, too, because you could simply wear a work outfit!
she had some brrrilliant-famous essays and speeches too, big name in lesbian feminist thought.and that would be wonderful. sigh.
Ooh! I would be Emma Goldman! But next year I'm going as Carmen Sandiego. If I can find the right hat.
Nah, we didn't do much this year. It's been a tough year and we're tired but also my kids are at that in between age where they are really too old to be trick or treating (their call not mine) and yet too young to really go party. We did a craft pumpkin with some lollies for the few kids we have around here and spent the night watching scary movies and trying to scare the stew out of each other. Now Christmas, on the other hand, is my fave holiday, I'm already planning for that one!
Shoshana, I meant to respond to you earlier, but then I got distracted trying to remember the name of that one union leader lady who instructed her followers to position themselves "at the doors of the rich, and shoot or stab them as they come out." Love her. Emma too. ^_^Jenni – Well there's always Halloween in April..
What kinds of things do you do for Christmas? I've tried livening it up with hot toddies, but honestly Christmas is usually something of a bore for me. Dunno why… I do like sending cards!