Carving pumpkin faces in new places

Sophomore broadcast journalism and documentary major Seth Karall decorates his dorm wall with bloody murder weapons in the spirit of the spooky season. NICK DE LUCCA, Assistant Features and Entertainment Editor

Back in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, Seth Karall and his family never missed a year visiting their favorite pumpkin patch. After picking out the biggest pumpkin he could get his hands on and munching on some apple cider donuts, Karall’s mom would take a picture of him next to a pumpkin-shaped sign that would measure children’s heights. 

Now, towering over that pumpkin sign, the sophomore broadcast journalism and documentary major can look back on those pictures, reflecting on his growth of not only height, but also maturity. These snapshots cause Karall to associate Halloween, and the fall season in general, with childhood nostalgia. 

“When I think of Halloween, I think of the leaves changing at home, I think of candy, but even more so, I think of my home — when my mom would make a homemade pizza on Halloween, my aunt would come over and we’d hand out candy to trick-or-treaters,” Karall said. “(I’d have) a bit of good family time, and then (I’d go) trick-or-treating with my dad. Those are very core memories.”

Last year, when Karall moved to Orange, he and his roommates decided to string bloody murder weapons across their wall to get into the Halloween spirit. However, after a 45-minute pain-staking process of putting them up, they decided to leave them there for the entire year, serving as a good conversation starter. Now, they’re back in season with no plans of ever coming down. Likewise, the various students on Chapman campus each have their own distinct traditions to get into the Halloween spirit at their home away from home. 

For sophomore strategic corporate communication major Taylor Bazella, Halloween in her hometown of XXX meant matching costumes with her father — her favorites being Hermoine Granger and Dumbledore from Harry Potter. 

“He’d walk me around and we’d be matching; even when we didn’t match, he’d still dress up on short notice, and that’s a fond memory for me — trick-or-treating with him,” Bazella said. “Halloween reminds me of my parents a lot, and if my friends would come over after, we’d dump all our candy out on the ground and give the candy we didn’t like to my parents.”

In Orange, Bazella has gotten into the Halloween spirit by visiting a local pumpkin patch with her Chapman friends and heading to Disneyland to see the fall decorations. She has even picked up the tradition of painting pumpkins with her friends. Paying homage to her and her father’s matching costumes, Bazella painted Harry Potter on her pumpkin last year. 

Constrastly, Tara Mann takes a knife to a pumpkin to carve designs apt for the spooky season. The senior creative writing major typically gathers with friends to make jack-o’-lanterns with frightening faces. 

“Last year, I made a pumpkin face more menacing than the regular triangle eye holes and half-moon mouth; I did jagged, sharp teeth,” Mann said. “My advice is to always draw the design out first before you carve. Digging right in is an amateur mistake.”

Back home in Monterey, California, Mann, her sister and her best friends would always have a sleepover (on Halloween night) to divide candy and watch Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Although COVID-19 gave her the opportunity to spend Halloween back home last year, she’ll have to modify her traditions for this year.

“We’re probably not going to be able to do our traditional fun activities this year, but we’ll still have a watch party of ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas,’” Mann said. “This year I’ll be doing all these activities with my roommates and new friends.”

With many students being away from home for the first time, they’ll have to put their traditions on pause and pick up some new ones. 

To aid in this process, Chapman University Program Board (UPB) put together a number of events to get into the Halloween spirit. On the evening of Oct. 8, UPB. hosted Paint-tober, an evening of guided painting. The board also hosted The Panther Pumpkin Patch on Musco Lawn Oct. 20, where all the pumpkins were gone within the first hour. After spending months preparing for the event, sophomore public relations and advertising major Brenda Lai was able to kick back and enjoy the event.

“The pumpkin patch was really lovely, I thought it was nicely decorated with the swing as a centerpiece and the hay bales surrounding all the pumpkins,” Lai said. “I was ecstatic to adopt my own pumpkin as well and enjoy the pumpkin pie and hot chocolate as a treat.”

Lai explained that with her role as a committee member in the marketing and special events branch of UPB, there is a lot of behind the scenes work that Chapman students don’t see such as budgeting and collaborating with vendors, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is creating a comfortable and welcoming environment. 

“It’s so important to have these events, because you feel that you are part of something special during these things,” Lai said. “I feel deeply connected with the Chapman community when I come to UPB events, and it’s amazing to make so many important memories in our home away from home.”

Chapman UPB also offered discounted tickets to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights and hosted Ghost Town of The Circle on the night of Oct. 22, providing a leisurely stroll through Old Towne Orange telling spooky tales. 

For Karall, UPB events have reminded him that Halloween can be enjoyable no matter the age, even though the time for trick-or-treating has passed him by. While reminiscing upon his photos next to the pumpkin height measuring sign, Karall has come to realize that maturity is stepping to the plate and playing his part in handing out candy to the young trick or treaters. 

“Although there will always be a part of me that really wants to go trick-or-treating, it’s still fun handing out candy, because you get to see all the kids in their cute little costumes, and they get so excited,” Karall said. “It makes me feel so good too, so I won’t back away from it when the time calls. But, part of me wishes I could go trick or treating one last time.”