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in Halloween Madison . . . I really don't know if the experience can be described in words. Those participating in the event (students) seemed to be rowdy and uninhibited. The police officers seem to be a bit more rigid looking. There are police officers every couple of business entryways and scattered through the crowd. There are also officers on horses riding through the crowd. Depending on which police officers you look at or talk to, it's sort of like the Mifflin Street Block Party, some are jovial and seem to be happy to be there, willing to joke around and take pictures with rowdy, drunk participants, and others seem to be on a mission to give out as many tickets or arrest as many people as possible. State Street smells like a dirty house party, meaning stale beer and sweaty alcohol, even though it's freezing outside. There is an ungodly amount of people all around and it's next to impossible to walk two steps without running into someone (or someone drunk actually running into you.) I'm not a claustrophobic person, but it got a little intense on State Street, it could have just been all of the people, but I think that it was more of all of the people plus the costumes. Every once in a while you'd see a random drunkard run down State Street one way screaming something, or you'd see some police officers dumping out a bottle or can and plastic-handcuffing the (usually) drunk person and carting them off to the University Hotel (a.k.a., the make-shift police station for the night). In his article, Sexton talks about the cultural ethos of the Cajun French as being laisser les bon temps rouler ("let the good times roll") and joie de vivre ("joy of life/living") . . . but that's not how it is here during Halloween. Our aphorism tends to be more "Work hard, play hard," and here at Madison, that's what we tend to do. How else would be we get not only the number 1 party school in the nation but also have some of the highest academic standards for a public university? Also, Sexton talks about how easily accessible liquor is in the south. Here, it's not that easy to get (depending on who you are and where you're at). In the south, they have drive through Daiquiri shops, liquor stores, convenience stores and gas stations, here, you can only buy liquor until 9 pm, and most places you go will ask for at least one form of id, if not a second also, then possibly try to quiz you what's on your id if they think it looks suspicious. Sexton also talks about how although some drinking is tolerated and sometimes encouraged in the Cajun culture; excessive drunkenness, violent behavior and inability to fulfill social and familial obligations are stigmatized. Again, during Halloween, that isn't so much the case here, in fact, it's kind of the opposite. From my experiences here with Halloween weekend, people try to get arrested or try to see who can black out first. Excessive drunkenness is encouraged during Halloween here, and if you aren't markedly drunk, you are stigmatized. Sexton also talks about the Tee Mamou Mardi Gras band, and how they are exclusively male, and how they are "run" by a captain who gets to lay out the rules before they go on their "runs." The only people that "lay out the rules" for Halloween are city officials and police officers that think they know what's going on or going to happen. I think that's the biggest problem with Halloween here, the people in charge overreact and try to stop things that aren't happening or aren't going to happen and put all of these ideas into drunk kids minds. It's like adding gasoline to a fire. The rioting has become a joke during Halloween, the kids expect to be sprayed with pepper spray, so why not do things to warrant it if it's going to happen inevitably? I'll constantly use the example of students drinking on campus. The kids who have the straight-as-arrow parents, who were angels in high school, never did anything remotely rebellious come here to school and freak out. Those are the kids that get so drunk they fall off balconies, try out illegal drugs and overdose, or get sent to detox before classes even start. They are like 3 year old children, the more you tell them no, the more they act out, or the second the "leash" is off, they run free and get into trouble! The difference between what Sexton described and what goes on here at Halloween definitely differs in males and females also. what From I read, Sexton described predominantly men participating in the events of Mardi Gras especially with the Tee Mamou group, again here, not so much the case. Both women and men freely participate in the Halloween festivities here on campus. I will argue though, that the men seem to get into more trouble and participate in much more idiotic activities. Take for example, the fires that were started the year before last, any picture you saw was of some idiot boys screaming and jumping around it (or over it for that matter). One thing I find particularly interesting is that during the Tee Mamou's "run," they take time out and eat. I think that is another one of the biggest problems with Halloween (mainly drinking) here. The people who participate in events like this start drinking early in the morning and somehow "forget" to eat, whether that is because they don't have enough money to go out and buy food because they've spent so much money on alcohol, or because they're too wasted to actually make anything for themselves, I don't know. I'm sure if there were designated "eating times" or free food at bars, people wouldn't get so drunk and potentially not get so stupid! I will agree with Sexton's argument though, about how its not necessarily how much a person drinks that contributes to their stupidity, and in fact, it's usually those that don't drink all that much that do the most stupid things. For some reason, just a little bit of alcohol seems to "free" ones inhibitions, and some people just seem to go crazy. As for Redmon's study, he seemed to study mainly females and their "lack of self control" during Mardi Gras. I think during Halloween at Madison, the males are more lacking in self-control, but to quote the greatest movie ever made; "Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it." I totally agree with that, and well, girls at Madison during Halloween definitely take full advantage of that. I don't think there is as much "flashing" as Redmon describes in his study about Mardi Gras, but definitely less clothing. Plus, the girls here for Halloween don't get beads like they do at Mardi Gras! Redmon did seem to find though that the more a person reported using drugs or alcohol, or the more times a person reported getting into fights, the more likely they were to perform a lewd act at Mardi Gras. This could be similar to Halloween here. I think the more students that drink every other day of the year, or the more students that have gotten drinking tickets of some sort before are more likely to get in trouble during Halloween weekend here. This year, I actually didn't stay on State Street long enough to see "the riot." But from my experience the previous year, I think the police definitely overreacted. They were armed and ready long before any real "riot" broke out. I'm not saying it's a bad thing for them to be prepared, but they definitely started shooting the pepper spray before anyone was really out of line. I think that was the main cause for the problems that happened in 2004, and any problems that happened this year also. Students were prepared this year too; they figured they were going to get sprayed anyway, so why not make the most of it, right? It's like if you know you're going to die in a few weeks, wouldn't you live your life to the absolute fullest and do all of the crazy and risky things you might not do if you didn't know that your life was going to end anyway? I don't think I took as much away from this assignment as I thought I would. Halloween in Madison isn't all that exciting to me, and honestly, if I wouldn't have had to do this assignment, I probably would have skipped it all together. I think I would like to know more about what the police are thinking during the entire weekend, and if at all they wish they could be on the other side, meaning, part of the party instead of part of the "clean up." I think that kids from other schools really ruin our Halloween festivities here more and more each year, and every year, the administration and the public officials are going to keep trying to clamp down harder and harder, and really, we're the only ones that are paying for it in the long run. The other kids get to go back to their schools and be fine, while we have to deal with the repercussions, and I don't think that's very fair.

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