Halloween!

The weeks leading up to Halloween were so much fun. We had our Class Bonfire, a pumpkin carving contest, a Halloween dance, and had kids come ‘trick or treat’ at the dorms.

To start, I had some quality time with friends at the Class Bonfire. We definitely ate too many s’mores, but that’s a given at any bonfire. We also played some volleyball, however, it ended quickly because it started getting dark and could have been hazardous. My friend Lucy very much enjoyed standing by the fire but was very disappointed that she couldn’t play her “Cowboy Playlist.” (Maybe next time, Lucy.)

Afterwards, we went to the Rec Center for Halloween activities. Originally, we hadn’t planned on carving a pumpkin, but we found ourselves entering in a pumpkin carving contest within three minutes of being in the Rec. We had no concept for our pumpkin, were bad at the actual carving, and probably spent less than 30 minutes with the entire process. We ended up carving a cute little smiley face into our very large pumpkin and named the masterpiece “Buddy.” One of the judges was very critical of our choice. He would circle our pumpkin try to see if we had an actual design on the other side. We didn’t ,and we were very proud of “Buddy.” Others also enjoyed our design. They enjoyed it so much that we ended up winning ‘Peoples’ Choice’ in the contest. Not to brag or anything.

The next day I spent some time in Goodhue with my friends who had decided to host for the kids who were coming to trick or treat. They had some minor stress about how to decorate their doorway, but after that everything went smoothly. We played card games in between knocks on the door. I learned how to play Gin Rummy which I was absolutely terrible at. I think I started to get better by the second game. However, I’m still terrible at the game. What lifted my spirits after each loss was the adorable costumes of the trick or treaters. Those kids absolutely killed their costumes; each one was amazing, but I guess that the parents should be credited for that. Towards the end of the trick or treating fun kids started to cycle back to all the dorm rooms they had previously visited. They also started getting aggressive with their knocks and grabbing. I get it though, trick or treating is high stakes when you’re a kid, and I’m glad we got to help those kids have a fun Halloween.

Despite all the Halloween fun, I always have issues with the holiday. Every year, I always have the thought in the back of my mind that someone is using my culture for a costume. I realize that I shouldn’t let these thoughts consume my mind and that I should instead have fun with my friends, but I hate knowing that the main representation of Native Americans is a headdress and warpaint.

Accurate representation of Native Americans is hard to come across, and often times we’re painted as things of the past — people who only showed up in the Wild West. However, there’s over 500 tribes in the US and more than 600 First Nations Bands in Canada. We still exist — and we still exist within modern settings. We are students, teachers, journalists, doctors, lawyers, and so much more; but we most certainly are not costumes. I hope for accurate representation of Native Americans in the future, because invisibility is detrimental to our psychological well-being. I know that my friends at other colleges hope that they can bring accurate representations to Native people. I hope that I can be a positive representation of my people at Carleton. I’ll keep doing my best to break the negative stereotypes of Native Americans.

Zia is a first-year student from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Though, despite growing up among the 19 Pueblos, her tribe is the Canim Lake Band from British Columbia, Canada. She is interested in studying Biology and, hopefully, giving back to her people while bridging the gap between the medical field and Native communities. Aside from academics, she loves watching re-runs of The Office and Parks and Rec and keeping up with the latest music from Aminé, Brockhampton, Rex Orange County, Omar Apollo, GoldLink, and many more. Meet the other bloggers!