The distinctive voice and sharp observations of Meghan Daum ring out from her column in the Los Angeles Times, as well as her novel The Quality of Life Report and her essay collection My Misspent Youth.

Her recent LA Times column examining the “porniness”/sexiness axis struck a chord and made me curious about her take on Halloween.

What do you love about Halloween in Los Angeles?

I love that in LA you don’t have to wear a jacket over your costume. I moved from Texas to New Jersey when I was nine and one of the worst things about it was when I got all dressed up in my Halloween costume and then my mother made me put on my coat. What kind of Indian princess wears a parka from Sears?

What did you dress up as for Halloween when you you were a kid?

I was actually never an Indian princess. One year I went as the
Statue of Liberty (take that, Glenn Beck!) Another year I was a Jawa
from Star Wars. Remember those flashing red glasses called Zany
Zappers? I wore those along with my father’s bathrobe. I was kind of
tiring of Halloween by that point.

Any hint on what your costume will be this year?

Not sure yet. It always fascinates me how on Halloween women want
to dress up like sluts and men want to dress up like women. Maybe
I’ll go as a man dressed as a woman dressed as a slut. But I’d really
like to get my hands on one of those vending machine costumes they
apparently use in Japan to avoid muggers.

What’s the scariest thing about LA?

My desk.

For more information about Meghan Daum, as well as links to her past LA Times columns, check out meghandaum.com

Photograph by Craig Wadlin