Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4559 )

• Halloween Spirituality

  

  October, well September and October—actually June through October, took many unexpected twists this year.  I’ve had to lean heavily on Halloween spirituality... Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• October’s Child

  

  The thing about films is that there are so many of them, and they come into existence in so many ways. Back when I was a kid, you learned about movies through... Read more

  Posted on 30 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• With Spiders

  

  It gets October right, but Cobweb leaves quite a few unanswered questions. One of the queries I always bring to movies is “where did it happen?”. This isn’t,... Read more

  Posted on 29 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Halloween Tale

  

  Halloween movies are hit or miss. Anthology movies are the same. My interest in holiday horror keeps me coming back for more nevertheless. Tales of Halloween ha... Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Witching Season

  

  I can’t be sure I understood White Is for Witching, but Helen Oyeyemi’s novel grew on me once I started to piece together what was happening. A long sit in a... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Learning Too Late

  

  Threads of this, crumbs of that.  My life has been a grasping at small bits.  I know the things I like, but which circumstances keep me from.  Nobody is paid... Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ginger Wolves

  

  I’ve known about Ginger Snaps for years but the reason I finally watched it was a rainy fall weekend. The kind of day that suggests imminent winter and you... Read more

  Posted on 25 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Please Slow Down

  

  I’m always happy to respond to emails from friends.  Lately, however, my account has been so cluttered that emails fall off the top page as more and more... Read more

  Posted on 24 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Not Grant

  

  Grant Wood’s painting, “American Gothic,” is undoubtedly his most famous work. The image is so evocative and suggestive that countless interpretations have... Read more

  Posted on 23 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• An EAP

  

  It may be superstitious, but one of the best ways to assure something else going wrong is to say, “I need something to go right just now.”  This year, since... Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• What Message?

  

  The search for autumnal horror movies is a never-ending one. Can it really be that auteurs just don’t—drenched in the California sun—get that October feeling? Read more

  Posted on 21 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Don’t Stare

  

  Having people just outside your window all day is a bit unnerving.  We don’t have central air and I keep my windows open when possible in the summer. Read more

  Posted on 20 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Something Wicked

  

  There comes a morning each year, pre-dawn, that it happens. I crawl out of bed and things feel slightly chilly. The furnace hasn’t been turned on yet, and ever... Read more

  Posted on 19 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Frightening Legacy

  

  Like The Wicker Man, The Exorcist also turns fifty this December. I was caught up in this half-century mania and so I got ahold of Nat Segaloff’s The Exorcist... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Small Bits

  

  A doctorate in the humanities involves learning as much as possible about a limited subject and being able to demonstrate that you know it intimately. Read more

  Posted on 17 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• An October Movie

  

  October means different things to different people. I know what it feels like to me and I suspect, and hope, that there are others who experience it like I do. Read more

  Posted on 16 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Final Thoughts

  

  You feel kind of special running stop signs and red lights.  I’ve never driven in a funeral cortege before but this one is somehow taking place on an... Read more

  Posted on 15 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Hotelling

  

  Perhaps I’m just sleep-deprived, but staying in a hotel is a collective experience.  It’s a place where communal consciousness should run high.  You’re stacked... Read more

  Posted on 14 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Horror Therapy

  

  It’s Friday the 13th. Like Barbra and Johnny I’m driving to rural western Pennsylvania to visit a cemetery. It must be October. Read more

  Posted on 13 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Personal Psalms

  

  I haven’t heard it yet, but a New York Times article encourages me to. Paul Simon has joined the ranks of those aging music stars to record albums presaging... Read more

  Posted on 12 October 2023 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY