- Kelli
Spooks and the City
Last year around this time, my roommate, Dylan, and I were rapidly decorating for our Halloween party (aptly themed: 'Til Death Do Us Party). We had so much fun planning it, we decided to make it an annual occurrence. But of course, flash forward a year, and COVID had other ideas.
We didn't want to let the holiday pass us by however without seizing the opportunity to dress up, so via strategically planned zoom meetings and text messages, we settled on inhabiting arguably one of the most toxic couples of all time - Carrie & Mr. Big from Sex and the City...2020 edition - involving lots of personality, lots of photoshop (because none of Florida mimics New York even in the slightest), and two very good friends who haven't seen each other in a hot minute.
Special thanks to Lauren Koval for snapping these photos, Tara McGurk for jumping in to assist with flower throwing, my neighbors for only gawking slightly as we frolicked through the street to Ariana Grade's new album, and Dylan for painstakingly and lovingly Photoshopping the shit out of each of these pics. It is not easy and he would have sat laboring over them for days until they were absolutely perfect if I didn't force him to let it go so I could get this post live.
I hope wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you find a way to celebrate or do something special this weekend, just because. In the bleak chasm that is the year two thousand twenty, I think there's extra unspoken permission to revel in some good, old-fashioned frivolity.
Happy Halloween!
"WELCOME TO THE AGE OF UNINNOCENCE. NO ONE HAS BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S AND NO ONE HAS AFFAIRS TO REMEMBER. INSTEAD, WE HAVE BREAKFAST AT 7AM AND AFFAIRS WE TRY TO FORGET AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. SELF-PROTECTION AND CLOSING THE DEAL ARE PARAMOUNT. CUPID HAS FLOWN THE CO-OP."
"MAN MAY HAVE DISCOVERED FIRE, BUT WOMEN DISCOVERED HOW TO PLAY WITH IT"
"THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN IS A COZY VILLAGE POPULATED BY MORE THAN 7 MILLION FASCINATING INDIVIDUALS WHO ALL BEHAVE LIKE THEY OWN THE SIDEWALK. BUT LATELY, IT SEEMED AS IF THE ENTIRE CITY HAD BEEN MAGICALLY REDUCED TO ONLY TWO PEOPLE: US."
"SOME PEOPLE KNOW THEY'RE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER. I KNEW I WAS MEANT TO GO HOME AND HAVE CAKE IN BED WITH BIG."
"SINCE BIRTH, MODERN WOMEN HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT WE CAN DO AND BE ANYTHING WE WANT: BE AN ASTRONAUT, THE HEAD OF AN INTERNET COMPANY, A STAY-AT-HOME MOM. THERE AREN'T ANY RULES ANYMORE AND THE CHOICES ARE ENDLESS, BUT IS IT POSSIBLE THAT WE'VE GOTTEN SO SPOILED BY CHOICES THAT WE'VE BECOME UNABLE TO MAKE ONE? THAT A PART OF US KNOWS THAT ONCE YOU CHOOSE SOMETHING - ONE MAN, ONE GREAT APARTMENT, ONE AMAZING JOB - ANOTHER OPTION GOES AWAY? ARE WE A GENERATION OF WOMEN WHO CAN'T JUST CHOOSE ONE FROM COLUMN A? DID WE ALL HAVE TOO MUCH TO HANDLE, OR WAS SAMANTHA RIGHT, CAN WE HAVE IT ALL?"
"IN A CITY LIKE NEW YORK WITH ITS PACE AND ITS PRESSURES, SOMETIMES IT'S IMPORTANT TO HAVE A 13-YEAR-OLD MOMENT - TO REMEMBER A SIMPLER TIME WHEN THE BEST THING IN LIFE WAS JUST HANGING OUT, LISTENING TO RECORDS, AND HAVING FUN WITH YOUR FRIENDS... IN YOUR VERY OWN APARTMENT."
