Read the signs

A 7-foot-tall bronze gorilla statue appeared briefly in Wall Street in front of the famous Charging Bull as well as Facebook’s headquarters in California as a protest against the dominating power of financial institutions and tech giants. The statue was created after the gorilla, Harambe, who was shot dead five years ago in the Cincinnati zoo when it was expected to endanger a child who had climbed into the enclosure. The gorilla was seen carrying the boy, before it was killed by the authorities. This created controversy as many said that the gorilla was not being aggressive but was protecting the child.

The statue was temporarily placed in Wall Street with a bunch of 10,000 bananas under the bull. “As a symbol of the outrageous disparity in wealth between the 1% and everyone else, 10,000 bananas will surround Wall Street’s iconic Charging Bull to illustrate just how ‘bananas’ Wall Street has become,” a sign said according to Marketwatch.

The organizers said in a press release that they used the symbol of the gorilla to represent all the people who suffer under the country’s capitalist system and how it “enriches wealthy elites and leaves the average person behind.” They were not technically permitted to install the statues, so it was more a mark of peaceful protest against capitalism. The organizers tweeted #WheresHarambeGoing, indicating that Wall Street was just a temporary stop for them.

Spooky trend

Representational image. Unsplash

After most parties were cancelled last year, people went all out this time to celebrate Halloween. Google Trends has released its FrightGeist report which lists the top most popular costumes in the country this year. Witch, rabbit and dinosaur costumes took the top three spots. Google’s breakdown by region shows Spider-Man to be most popular in Chicago, Washington DC and New York. Costumes not in the top 50 list are top in some states, like ‘space cowgirl’ in Montana. Celebrities were not far behind. Harry Styles performed at Madison Square Garden for his “Harryween” concert donning the costume of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Other celebrities were spotted at bashes with a myriad creative looks: Ariana Grande as a swamp monster, Lil Nas X as Voldemort as seen on Instagram, and Lizzo dressed up as Baby Yoda.

However, not everyone was as keen on celebrating Halloween. A school district in Massachusetts chose to “deemphasize” Halloween themes and events in the classroom this year and “shift... focus toward community building through fall celebrations,” according to a letter the school sent to parents. Newsweek noted that one parent launched a petition as a result on Change.org titled “Keep Halloween for our kids”. Over 3,000 people have signed the petition so far.

In Seattle, an elementary school cancelled a Halloween parade after some students “requested to be isolated on campus while the event took place,” according to a statement Seattle Public Schools shared with The Seattle Times.

Hidden meaning

If you hear someone pump the air and say the words “Let’s go, Brandon!” it’s probably not what you think. It may sound out of place, but the phrase has emerged as a coded slang used by right-wing conservatives to insult the president of the United States of America, Joe Biden.

Even high-profile politicians are indulging in this trend — the senator, Ted Cruz, was seen posting a “Let’s Go Brandon” sign recently. Mitch McConnell’s press secretary retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia. More recently, a Southwest Airlines pilot was heard saying the phrase over the public announcement system on a flight. Officials with Southwest have launched an investigation over the matter. Ironically, there was an Associated Press reporter on that flight and she reported there were audible gasps from the fellow passengers.

The real Brandon is Brandon Brown, a NASCAR driver who won his first series. He was interviewed on camera by an NBC Sports reporter who suggested, jokingly, that the crowd behind him was cheering for him saying, ‘Let’s Go, Brandon’, when it was actually taunting Biden. Donald Trump’s website is selling shirts with “Let’s go Brandon” above an American flag for $45 each. It has been chanted at football games, trended on social media and used anytime someone wants to indirectly criticize Biden for anything that goes wrong in the country at the moment.

Dearly departed

The Mexican holiday, Día de Los Muertos — or Day of the Dead — was celebrated on November 1 and 2. This day is marked by food, music, candles and festivity and is meant to signify the day the souls of the departed return to visit their family. Families usually decorate the graves and pictures of their loved ones with marigold flowers, bottles of alcohol and even strong scents meant to guide the departed souls to the families.

Many cities celebrated this day in its full glory. San Antonio celebrated with 20 decorated barges and parades with people in painted face masks, skeleton outfits and live music. In Los Angeles, the 15th Annual Día de los Muertos Festival included street vendors and special altars. Other events involved exhibitions by Latinx artists, performances by Spanish and mariachi bands and workshops on making masks, flower decorations and sugar skulls. The first day is typically focused on children and the second day on adults, a Smithsonian researcher reportedly explained to NBC.

Footnote

Reresentational image. Getty Images

The pest control company, Orkin, released its annual top 50 rattiest cities in the US list based on the number of new rodent treatments performed from September 15, 2020 to September 15, 2021 for commercial and residential properties. For the seventh year in a row, Chicago took the number one spot. The second and third were Los Angeles and New York, respectively. Owing to pandemic-related restaurant closures last year, rodents were reportedly seen in unusual places as they went scavenging for food.