This month's Bibliotheca prompt, in honor of Obon and summer camp, is about scary stories in the summer heat.
I love getting spooky regardless of the time of year, but summer makes it a little difficult. In my area, at least, the wet heat rises from the swamps and steams people alive like a crawfish. Layers of gothic black and mourning grey only add to the boiling feeling. Summers are only getting worse, too, thanks to climate change. So, why be spooky in August in the northern hemisphere?
Being spooky or morbid or gothic isn't really something I'm tempted to give up, no matter the weather. I've tried to wear normal summer clothes, but it's awful: I feel like every moment wearing beige and khaki is a moment that my soul is imprisoned.
That's because spookiness, to me, is as much symbolic as aesthetic. Accepting death is the ultimate form of accepting life in all its twists and turns, as well as at its end. My favored gothic symbols are the same: crows, ravens, spiders, and microbats are all rejected by most, but they play essential roles in the ecosystem. The world, for me, is not something that can be sanitized: it has to be taken as a whole.
August is as good a month to be gothic as any. The weather might work against some of the more elaborate outfits, but that's just part and parcel of dealing with life's ups and downs as they are. Besides, August here is a beautiful, deadly month: the cicadas are singing their last songs, the mosquitos remember the days of malaria epidemics, and the graveyards are flourishing with renewed life. August is when tomatoes, peppers, and melons are ready for harvest, the parent plant dying while the fruits lay ripe. Death and life are intertwined, and August is a great month to see it.
So I wear my knife earrings and skull socks, stay hydrated in the shade, and try to appreciate the beauty around my in all its phases. Staying safe and hydrated are essential, but there's no reason I should be inauthentic while doing so. Some of my greatest creativity comes from working together summer cuts with gothic themes, and being able to feel like myself, in whole form, is its own reward.
In simpler terms: IT'S HALLOWEEN, TIME TO GET SPOOKY
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