November Is A Rotting House

Waiting for Thanksgiving Week is a trap, don’t fall for it!

By Gabriel Matias Castilho

I always knew coming to Minneapolis I would have to learn to love freezing temperatures and snowy weather. It did not feel hard in the beginning as, coming from Brazil, I had hardly ever seen snow. I was filled with excitement when in late October of 2021, temperatures dropped below 30 degrees and I felt courageous going out to classes with regular T-shirts and shorts. Everything was new, but it got pretty old fast.

I was never a big fan of Novembers: Octobers in Brazil are known for Children’s Day and Halloween celebrations. There are only two real holidays—Hallow’s Day and Republic Day—in November since we do not commemorate Thanksgiving (though, weirdly, we have Black Fridays). However, Hallow’s Day is not really a celebration (after all, it is the day of the dead) and the Republic Day mostly is an event for those who appreciate military parades. November was always the month of transition between spooky Octobers and holiday-full Decembers: it did not stand out like those two.

Here, it feels even more devoid of meaning: it is the month when winter practically arrives and we have to start to either learn to love it or ignore the first 20 days. Yes, Thanksgiving week—an entire week without classes and exams—exists, but what happens in the time between Halloween and Thanksgiving? It feels like Halloween opens a portal to the void that is the interval from the first to the twentieth of November. And you know what those days are? The perfect opportunity to get even more exhausted and suffer from random static shock occurrences. You know things are bad when you memorize how static shock happens and brag about knowing it with your friends. Nevertheless, thank you year, but I would gladly return this “gift” that is the first 20 days of November. Not even the snow saves it.