The North Hollywood icon sprawls across 17 acres and is set to be demolished
Colorized photo of Valley Plaza in the 1950sPhoto: Photo by NzimpferViewing the new signs at Valley Plaza in 1957 are, left to right, Norman Caldwell, manager of May Co., Bob Symonds, realtor; John Hawkins, manager of Sears Valley store; Miss Anita Gordon, honorary mayor of Valley Plaza, and Verne Tullberg, manager Alexander’s Market.Photo: Courtesy Valley Times Collection/Los Angeles Public LibrarySears Valley Plaza shortly after construction in 1951Photo: Courtesy Valley Relics Museum
The Los Angeles Board of Building and Safety voted this week to declare the Valley Plaza shopping center in North Hollywood, a “public nuisance” in the hopes of demolishing the buildings and redeveloping the site. The iconic outdoor mall, one of the first of its kind in Southern California, sprawled and expanded throughout the 1950s and 60s and eventually filled a reported 100 acres. Today, the site encompasses some 17 acres along Laurel Canyon and Victory Boulevards. Some elements, including the 9-story Wells Fargo bank tower (built by architects Honnold and Rex in 1960) will remain.
Valley Plaza under construction in the 1950sPhoto: Courtesy Valley Relics MuseumValley Plaza during construction in the 1950sPhoto: Courtesy Valley Relics museum
Efforts to modify and update the center’s vast array of disparate properties have risen and fallen for decades. Today, the mishmash of abandoned, forlorn and barely hanging on storefronts attract the poor and homeless – and film crews looking for post-apocalyptic landscapes. Only six properties on the site were identified by the councilmember in his testimony, but it appears that the entire site is set to be revamped.
Julie Adams, fresh from starring in “The Creature From the Black Lagoon,” cuts the ribbon at Hartfield’s at Valley Plaza in 1955Photo: Courtesy Valley Times Collection / Los Angeles Public Library
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It was a great big, beautiful tomorrow 75 years ago when a new Sears store was proposed for the San Fernando Valley. The new “Valley Plaza” shopping center would grow to become one of the largest of its kind in the west, eventually adding more department stores, multiple supermarkets, a movie theater, and amenities like its own helicopter station. An automotive repair shop once boasted that it alone could accommodate 4000 vehicles. When future president John F. Kennedy made his whistle stop campaign tour through Los Angeles in 1960, he cruised by Valley Plaza in his convertible Ford Skyliner.
Grand opening of Campbell’s Valley Plaza in 1956Photo: Courtesy Valley Times Photo Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
The heart and soul of the center was always Sears. The massive, modernist retail giant dwarfed the mom-and-pop retailers that had long clung to the rural roads of the agricultural version of the San Fernando Valley. This one provided parking for thousands of shiny tailfinned cars that had come to consume! consume! consume! The roaring economic boom of the decade after World War II that transformed American cities and saw the rise of suburbs took place largely at brand new shopping centers.
Sears at Valley Plaza, seen in 1957, was designed by architect Stiles O. ClementsPhoto: Courtesy Valley Times Collection /Los Angeles Public Library
Valley Plaza was one of the myriad of entirely new suburban designs that were auto-oriented, sanitized and corporatized. These stores were brand names you might have seen on television – or at least they took out lavish advertising spreads in the newspaper. McDaniel’s market even had a little Scottish character chiding you to save money. The corner market could never offer that.
McDaniel’s Market at Valley Plaza in the 1950sPhoto: Courtesy Valley Relics Museum
If you squint hard enough, you can still see the sleek lines of Stiles O. Clements 1951 Sears store hiding behind the Ross Dress for Less that has occupied its hollow husk for the last half decade. Gone are the modernist lines and flat planes of Sears. The Utah stone, marble panels and Roman brick are all hiding under beige stucco. Clements’ signature twin Sears palm trees still blow in the wind, in scale with the original façade, now about three sizes too big for little Ross. They have a little help from Target in trying to fill out the north wing. The long, sad downfall of Sears deserves its own eulogy, just as the iconic store’s Burbank location, the chain’s final outpost in Southern California, closes at the end of this month.
1965 officers of the Valley Plaza Merchants and Professional Association Photo: Courtesy Valley Times Collection/Los Angeles Public LibraryA 1964 strike at Thriftimart in Valley PlazaPhoto: Courtesy George Brich/Valley Times Photo Collection /Los Angeles Public Library
“We are ready, willing and able to go forward and demolish these buildings,” Fred Gaines, an attorney for property owner Charles Co. said at the city meeting. The Los Angeles Times reports that Charles Co. is owned by Mark and Arman Gabaee, the paper noted that Arman Gabaee was sentenced to four years in prison for a bribery case in 2022.
Dedication ceremonies for North Hollywood postal station at Valley Plaza in 1960Photo: Courtesy George Brich/Valley Times photo collection/Los Angeles Public Library
City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, who represents the neighborhood, blamed the owners for the deterioration and indicated that would like to see new housing and retail replace the aging shopping center.
A fire in 2022 destroyed shops along Laurel Canyon BoulevardPhoto: Courtesy Chris Nichols
For the moment, there are a few old-time holdouts at the mall. Tandy Leather still attracts crafters, folks drop off mail at the post office, and the North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has an office next to the abandoned movie house. I wonder if they still have all those groundbreaking golden shovels and grand opening oversized scissors from Valley Plaza?
Neon from a former Van de Kamp’s coffee shop in Valley Plaza was salvaged by the Valley Relics Museum before the building burned in 2022Photo: Courtesy Steve Devol
After there was no winner in Monday night’s drawing, Powerball’s jackpot climbed to an estimated $643 million ahead of Wednesday’s drawing. The numbers pulled in Wednesday night’s drawing were: 31-59-62-65-68 Powerball 5 The Powerplay Multiplier was 2xThe $643 million figure was already the 13th largest prize in the history of Powerball. The last jackpot was already the largest of 2025 as the lottery has gone without a winner since May 31.Preliminary data from the Multi-State Lottery Association, which helps facilitate the Powerball lottery, shows Powerball sales are 40% higher than they were at this point last year.”As the jackpot increases, we expect ticket sales to increase,” the association said.While the size of the jackpot and the ticket sales have risen, the odds of winning the top prize have not. The chances of winnings the jackpot stand at about 1 in 292 million.If someone wins in the next drawing, they’ll get to choose between the jackpot amount, which is paid out in 30 annual payments, or a one-time cash option of approximately $290 million.
After there was no winner in Monday night’s drawing, Powerball’s jackpot climbed to an estimated $643 million ahead of Wednesday’s drawing.
The numbers pulled in Wednesday night’s drawing were:
31-59-62-65-68 Powerball 5
The Powerplay Multiplier was 2x
The $643 million figure was already the 13th largest prize in the history of Powerball. The last jackpot was already the largest of 2025 as the lottery has gone without a winner since May 31.
Preliminary data from the Multi-State Lottery Association, which helps facilitate the Powerball lottery, shows Powerball sales are 40% higher than they were at this point last year.
“As the jackpot increases, we expect ticket sales to increase,” the association said.
While the size of the jackpot and the ticket sales have risen, the odds of winning the top prize have not. The chances of winnings the jackpot stand at about 1 in 292 million.
If someone wins in the next drawing, they’ll get to choose between the jackpot amount, which is paid out in 30 annual payments, or a one-time cash option of approximately $290 million.
The white, clumpy curd was all the rage in the early 20th century, but it has recently made a comeback. Young people are putting it in everything from dips and pastries to ice cream. While once pushed as a meat alternative during the First World War, its current craze seems to be rooted in Zoomers’ quest to achieve #fitlife. So, what makes cottage cheese the protein-packed star of the moment?
(Photo: Left: Canadian-American actress Ann Rutherford (1917 – 2012) prepares herself a pineapple and cottage cheese salad sprinkled with paprika, circa 1939, Archive Photos/Getty Images; Right: Cottage cheeses: Trader Joe’s, Daisy Brand, Good Culture; Design: Ayana Underwood)
Published August 6, 2025 03:00AM
I have a confession: in the middle of my 75 Hard spiral—a social media-sanctioned self-optimization grind disguised as a fitness challenge—I made queso. Not just any queso. Cottage cheese queso. This is a sentence I never thought I’d write.
I started the challenge this past February—partly to beat the winter blues in the Northeast, and partly because I needed a reset after taste-testing one too many of Santa’s cookies. I was committed to said challenge. This meant: doing two 45-minute workouts (at least one of them outdoors), reading ten pages of a nonfiction book, and drinking a gallon of water . . . each day. Most intimidatingly, I was supposed to stick to a diet of my choosing. I went all in: HIIT training, 4.5-mile runs, Becoming Supernatural queued up on my e-reader, and a squeaky-clean keto plan that had me eating organic, grass-fed (and grass-finished) beef that I could barely afford. I tracked macros and considered electrolyte ratios. I had come to terms with the fact that I’d become someone who used the term “electrolyte ratios” in casual conversation.
And then I burned out.
Somewhere around Day 42, I traded mountain climbers for Yin Yoga. I prioritized taking long walks, watching white-tailed rabbits hopping alongside the estuary near my home in Boston, Massachusetts, over chasing yesterday’s personal best. The diet? That crumbled when I tried to justify the cost of avocados and eggs and failed. (Within the last year, the price of a single avocado rose by 75 percent, and the usual three bucks I’d spend on a carton of eggs turned into five.)
Still, I wanted to eat well(ish), which for me, means protein-heavy, low-effort, and ideally not financially ruinous. So, like any overstimulated elder millennial trying to avoid decision fatigue (and wear sunscreen, and hydrate, and remember to call mom), I turned to Instagram.
Welcome @KetoSnackz to the chat. With 3.5 million followers, Rick Wiggins shares quick, high-protein recipes meant to satisfy cravings while staying protein-powered. His creations looked suspiciously easy. His voice was refreshingly monotone. I was in.
As I scrolled, one ingredient kept popping up, an ingredient I found personally affronting: cottage cheese. It was white and lumpy. It was wet. It was everywhere. Rick blended it into pizza crusts, brownies, and pancakes. And it wasn’t just on Rick’s page. TikTok, too, had fully surrendered to the curd—which was confusing. Because for me, I never saw it in my Caribbean household growing up. My parents didn’t eat it. We didn’t cook with it. To borrow from Mariah Carey: I don’t know her.
So when I made queso out of it (blended with cheddar, cream, taco seasoning, and hot sauce) and served it to a friend while hanging out, I didn’t tell them what was in it. They liked it. Called it “fire.” Then I broke the news.
They looked at me like I’d confessed to putting mayonnaise in brownies: “Wait . . . like, real cottage cheese?”
“Yes. From a tub. Bought on purpose.”
I was surprised, too, because the queso was, in fact, fire. But I was also curious. Because how did goat cheese’s sad, curdled step-cousin become America’s newest protein-packed heartthrob?
I. TikTok, but Make It Clumpy
In April 2023, holistic nutritionist Lainie Kates—@lainiecooks on TikTok and one of the creatorscredited for the renewed interest in cottage cheese—posted a high-protein peanut butter cheesecake “ice cream” recipe. In it, she blended cottage cheese, peanut butter, chocolate chips, and maple syrup. Froze it. Ate it. Her video went viral. The internet was flooded with cheesecake bowls, ranch dips, and “protein donuts”—most of which starred cottage cheese. It didn’t matter that the texture was off-putting. It blended well. It hit macros. That was enough.
Then brands caught on. In 2024, Daisy, sour cream’s shepherd, partnered with The Bachelor’s Daisy Kent to promote the brand’s equally famous cottage cheese.
Just this month, Trader Joe’s dropped Ranch Cottage Cheese Dip. Good Culture, a brand started in 2015, was literally born out of the desire to bring a revamped, better-tasting, and healthier version of cottage cheese to the public. A few weeks ago, they put out a meme-laden statement on Instagram saying that they can’t keep up with the demand for their iconic cottage cheese, confirming the cheese’s renewed popularity.
“We’ve all been manifesting this partnership for a while, and I’m thrilled to officially announce it. Not only do we share a name, but Daisy is my go-to brand that I have been eating since I was a kid.”— Daisy Kent (Photo: Courtesy of Daisy Brand)
In the early 1900s, the U.S. had a problem: meat was scarce during World War I. To help conserve it, the U.S. Department of Agriculture promoted dairy as a substitute. Posters encouraged people to “Eat More Cottage Cheese.” It wasn’t just a suggestion; it was patriotism.
(Photo: Left: Government-issued wartime educational poster encouraging Americans to eat more cottage cheese in place of meat, 1917, USDA National Agricultural Library/Getty Images; Right: The USDA’s pamphlet of cottage cheese-based dishes, 1918. U.S. Department of Agriculture via The Food Historian. Design: Ayana Underwood)
By the 1950s, cottage cheese had migrated from the war effort to weight-loss plans. It was low in fat, high in protein, and flavorless enough to avoid overindulgence. You could measure it. You (probably) wouldn’t overeat it. Thus, it was ideal for calorie counting.
That’s right around the time when the “diet plate” made its way to America’s diner menus—usually a scoop of cottage cheese, a ring of canned peach or sliced tomato, maybe a wedge of iceberg lettuce. It wasn’t really a meal. It was more of a performance. A way to show you were being good. These plates lingered well into the seventies and eighties, eventually evolving into the “Lite” menu I remember seeing at Long Island diners during my childhood in the nineties. Same scoop, same canned fruit—just rebranded for the next generation of restraint.
By 1972, Americans were eating about five pounds of cottage cheese per person each year. Even Richard Nixon was known to pair his with ketchup. YUM. He had such a lust for lactose, in fact, that he reportedly requested cottage cheese at his 1969 inauguration dinner. And when he resigned from office in 1974? His final White House lunch was cottage cheese with pineapple and a glass of milk. A presidency bookended by curds.
Richard Nixon’s last White House lunch. (Photo: Robert Knudsen/Nixon Library)
III. Who Was It Really For?
Not everyone was eating it. Rather, not everyone was meant to be eating it. Mid-twentieth-century food campaigns primarily targeted white, middle-class women. Cottage cheese came with a message—eat this, stay thin, stay beautiful, stay in control.
Cottage cheese was sold as a democratic food: cheap, accessible, healthy. But it never belonged to everyone.
Even when it showed up in government campaigns and school lunches, it wasn’t a staple in every home. It simply didn’t catch on in many immigrant, Black, and working-class communities. Part of that was logistics. Cottage cheese requires refrigeration, fresh milk, and a cold distribution chain, not always available in rural or low-income areas.
Look at the ads. White women in full makeup, smiling at tubs of cottage cheese like they’d just invented it. One Eden Vale ad shows a nuclear family floating through a suburban utopia, landing at a table set with cottage cheese salads and a big tomato. A Knudsen ad features a flawless woman offering a tub of “VELVET creamed cottage cheese,” promising sweetness, lightness, and domestic perfection. Borden’s went all in: cartoon cows, crisp lettuce, and cottage cheese rings studded with peas and carrot sticks. No spice, no mess—just a carefully styled portrait of control, domestic order, and cultural exclusion.
(Photo: Left: Eden Vale Cottage Cheese Ad, A stylized print ad emphasizing Eden Vale as a fresh, healthy household staple. Source: Alamy – Stock Photography Database; Middle: Knudsen Cottage Cheese Ad (Mid-20th Century) features a smiling white homemaker presenting cottage cheese in a pristine kitchen. Source: Pinterest – Vintage Recipes Archive; Right: Borden’s Cottage Cheese Ad (1951) Features “Elsie the Cow” and showcases salad-topped cottage cheese with the tagline: “Lift the Lid…” Source: Alamy Stock Photo Archive; Design: Marisa McMillan)
These images weren’t neutral. They reinforced the message: this is who eats this, and this is how you serve it. In her 2011 book, Food Is Love: Food Advertising and Gender Roles in Modern America, historian Katherine J. Parkin argues that mid-20th-century food advertising reinforced narrow ideals of femininity, pressuring women to equate thinness, domestic perfection, and family nourishment with personal value.
But the bigger issue was taste. Cottage cheese didn’t reflect the ingredients or textures of most non-white food cultures.
My Caribbean family’s fridge, for example, held sorrel, pepper sauce, and mango chutney, not clumps of dairy. So, when I brought home a container of Good Culture to recreate my (self-proclaimed) famous queso, they looked at it suspiciously. Then they asked what I planned to do with it. When I said “queso,” they raised their eyebrows and sucked their teeth. They weren’t offended. Just confused. It’s understandable because the marketing never spoke to them. And it wasn’t designed to.
IV. Cottage Cheese Loses Its Steam
Even among the people it was supposedly for, cottage cheese couldn’t hold on.
By the 1980s, its popularity started to slide—quietly edged out by a new dairy star with smoother texture, stronger marketing, and fewer identity issues: yogurt. High in protein, rich in backstory, and aggressively rebranded as a probiotic superfood, yogurt didn’t just enter the chat—it took over the conversation.
Cottage cheese didn’t know how to compete. There were no new formats, no updated flavors, no attempt to win over younger shoppers. It stayed in its big old tub, parked on the fridge shelf. Meanwhile, yogurt was out living its best life—popping up as Go-Gurt in school lunchboxes, and with glass jars with foil lids in meal-preps. One became a lifestyle product; the other stayed a buffet-line staple at your grandmother’s favorite salad bar.
The texture didn’t help. In a 2012 study published in the Journal of Dairy Science, researchers found that texture was the biggest barrier to cottage cheese acceptance, especially among younger consumers. The graininess, visual lumpiness, and curdy mouthfeel turned people off, even when the fat and protein content hit all the right numbers. Even versions labeled “low-fat” or “high-protein” couldn’t overcome the basic sensory mismatch. People didn’t hate what it stood for. They just didn’t want to eat it and feel it on their tongues.
At the same time, yogurt brands were investing in stories. Chobani was founded by an immigrant entrepreneur who turned a struggling factory into a billion-dollar company. Dannon built a whole campaign around Georgian centenarians and the secret to long life. Yogurt had a point of view. Cottage cheese didn’t even have a spokesperson.
By the 2010s, yogurt was outselling cottage cheese nearly eight to one. And cottage cheese wasn’t just fading in market share—it was fading in memory. It stopped being an expectation. For most people, it stopped being an option.
So when it started trending again—sneaking into dips, desserts, and TikTok reels—it felt less like a comeback and more like a glitch. Cottage cheese didn’t evolve. It was just repurposed. And maybe that’s the clearest sign of its legacy: it survives not by being loved but by being useful.
V. Diet Culture, Rebranded
Today’s cottage cheese wave still centers on the same values: control, efficiency, and self-regulation. The language changed, but the pressure stayed. It’s no longer “stay thin for your husband,” it’s “optimize your macros.”
The look changed, too. It’s not a scoop on a peach slice. It’s whipped, blended, hidden in dips, ice creams, and sauces. It’s in a glass bowl, drizzled with chili crisp and tagged #highprotein on an influencer’s “What I Eat in a Day” reel. But the performance is the same: eat this to prove you’re doing the work.
We used to count calories (some people still do). Now we count macros. We used to tally Weight Watchers points. Now we use apps and fitness watches to track calories burned. We used to aim for thin. Now we say lean.
Blending until smooth is a requirement. The texture is still a problem, it’s just one we’re now expected to fix. And the brands know that.
Modern cottage cheese branding sells function first: gut health, low carb, high protein. The packaging often mirrors wellness trends—clean lines, block fonts, neutral palettes—the same aesthetic you’d find in a Scandinavian furniture showroom. Some lean into compliance culture, highlighting Whole30- or keto-friendly ingredients. Others soften the message by adding flavor cues, but even then, pleasure is usually positioned as a bonus, not the point.
Take Trader Joe’s ranch cottage cheese dip: “a fantastically flavorful dip,” yes—but only after mentioning its protein content, versatility, and use in pancakes, pasta, and frittatas. The indulgence comes with an asterisk. It’s not just tasty—it’s functional.
I’ve tried the Good Culture stuff. It’s fine. It blends well. But cottage cheese itself still needed a rebrand—not because it was forgotten, but because it was never truly loved. It has to justify itself because it can’t rely on flavor or nostalgia.
Maybe that’s why it fits so well into modern wellness culture. We’ve replaced calorie charts with meal-prep hacks. But the goal remains: Build a better body. Be a better person. Stay in control.
Cottage cheese still fits that mold. Just like it always has.
VI. Reflection: The Cheese That Refused to Quit
I didn’t expect to end up here—with a half-used container of cottage cheese in my fridge and a short list of recipes I’m not embarrassed to share. I still don’t love it. I don’t crave it. But I’ve learned to respect it.
That respect came from looking back. Cottage cheese didn’t trend because a TikToker froze it into a dessert. It’s been around for over a century, always showing up when we decide food should prove something. War, weight loss, wellness—cottage cheese shows up to work. (FYI: I explain some even more extraordinary uses for cottage cheese in the video below.)
Once it was about thrift. Then self-denial. Now it’s optimization. But the message doesn’t change: If you eat this, you’re trying. You’re disciplined. You’re doing it right.
And that’s why it still makes people uncomfortable.
You don’t have to explain why you like donuts. But cottage cheese? You need a reason. High protein. Gut-friendly. You don’t just eat it, you earn it.
Whether I’ve earned it or not, I’ve blended it into queso. Stirred it into pancakes. Eaten it—very reluctantly—by the spoonful. Once. I’m not a fan.
But I’m not against it anymore, either.
Marisa McMillan is a first-generation Caribbean-American writer, podcast host, and relationship management professional with a passion for storytelling, social justice, and asking the questions that often go unspoken. With a background in eCommerce strategy, client partnerships, and digital communication, she brings curiosity, humor, and heart to every conversation. She hosts a podcast that explores women’s health through honest dialogue, generational storytelling, and the kinds of questions rarely asked out loud. Rooted in a love of nature, movement, and meaningful connection, Marisa sees storytelling as a bridge—elevating overlooked narratives and creating space for empathy, growth, and impact. She holds a B.A. in English and Political Science from Boston University.
William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, was the last commander in chief born a British subject and the first member of the Whig Party to win the White House. He delivered the longest inaugural address in history, nearly two hours, and had the shortest presidency, being the first sitting president to die in office, just 31 days into his term.
Oh, there is one more bit of trivia about the man who gave us the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” Harrison was the last politician to lose his first presidential election and then win the next one (Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson managed that before him). Richard Nixon lost only to win way down the road. (Grover Cleveland and Trump are the only two to win, lose and then win again.)
Everyone else since Harrison’s era who lost on the first try and ran again in the next election lost again. Democrat Adlai Stevenson and Republican Thomas Dewey ran twice and lost twice. Henry Clay and William Jennings Bryan each ran three times in a row and lost (Clay ran on three different party tickets). Voters, it seems, don’t like losers.
These are not encouraging results for Kamala Harris, who announced last week she will not be running for governor in California, sparking speculation that she wants another go at the White House.
But history isn’t what she should worry about. It’s the here and now. The Democratic Party is wildly unpopular. It’s net favorability ( 30 points) is nearly triple the GOP’s (11 points). The Democratic Party is more unpopular than any time in the last 35 years. When Donald Trump’s unpopularity with Democrats should be having the opposite effect, 63% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the party.
Why? Because Democrats are mad at their own party — both for losing to Trump and for failing to provide much of an obstacle to him now that he’s in office. As my Dispatch colleague Nick Cattogio puts it, “Even Democrats have learned to hate Democrats.”
It’s not all Harris’ fault. Indeed, the lion’s share of the blame goes to Joe Biden and the coterie of enablers who encouraged him to run again.
Harris’ dilemma is that she symbolizes Democratic discontent with the party. That discontent isn’t monolithic. For progressives, the objection is that Democrats aren’t fighting hard enough. For the more centrist wing of the party, the problem is the Democrats are fighting for the wrong things, having lurched too far left on culture war and identity politics. Uniting both factions is visceral desire to win. That’s awkward for a politician best known for losing.
Almost the only reason Harris was positioned to be the nominee in 2024 was that she was a diversity pick. Biden was explicit that he would pick a woman and, later, an African American running mate. And the same dynamic made it impossible to sideline her when Biden withdrew.
Of course, most Democrats don’t see her race and gender as a problem, and in the abstract they shouldn’t. Indeed, every VP pick is a diversity pick, including the white guys. Running mates are chosen to appeal to some part of a coalition.
So Harris’ problem isn’t her race or sex; it’s her inability to appeal to voters in a way that expands the Democratic coalition. For Democrats to win, they need someone who can flip Trump voters. She didn’t lose because of low Democratic turnout, she lost because she’s uncompelling to a changing electorate.
Her gauzy, often gaseous, rhetoric made her sound like a dean of students at a small liberal arts college. With the exception of reproductive rights, her convictions sounded like they were crafted by focus groups, at a time when voters craved authenticity. Worse, Harris acquiesced to Biden’s insistence she not distance herself from him.
Such clubby deference to the establishment combined with boilerplate pandering to progressive constituencies — learned from years of San Francisco and California politics — makes her the perfect solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
Her choice to appear on Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” for her first interview since leaving office was telling. CBS recently announced it was terminating both Colbert and the show, insisting it was purely a business decision. But the reason for the broadcast network’s decision stemmed in part from the fact that Colbert narrow-casts his expensive show to a very small, very anti-Trump slice of the electorate.
“I don’t want to go back into the system. I think it’s broken,” Harrislamented to Colbert, decrying the “naïve” and “feckless” lack of “leadership” and the “capitulation” of those who “consider themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy.”
That’s all catnip to Colbert’s ideologically committed audience. But that’s not the audience Democrats need to win. And that’s why, if Democrats nominate her again, she’ll probably go down in history as an answer to a trivia question. And it won’t be “Who was the 48th president of the United States?”
L.A. Times Insights delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles.
Perspectives
The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.
Ideas expressed in the piece
The Democratic Party faces historic unpopularity, with a net favorability 30 points lower than Republicans, driven by widespread dissatisfaction among its own base over losses to Trump and perceived ineffectiveness in opposing his policies[1].
Kamala Harris’ political challenges stem from internal Democratic factions: progressives blame her for insufficient fight while centrists view her as emblematic of leftward shifts on cultural issues, both detractors united by a desire to win[1].
Harris’s VP selection was viewed as a diversity-driven symbolic gesture by Biden, limiting her ability to build broader appeal beyond traditional Democratic coalitions, as seen in her 2024 loss[1].
Her communication style is criticized as overly generic and focus-group-driven, lacking authenticity required to attract Trump voters, while her ties to Biden and reluctance to distance herself from his leadership are seen as electoral liabilities[1].
Historical precedents suggest candidates who lose once rarely regain viability in subsequent elections, with Harris’ potential 2028 bid viewed skeptically in light of this pattern[1].
Democratic messaging under Harris risks pandering to niche progressive audiences (e.g., her Colbert interview appeal) rather than expanding outreach to swing voters, exacerbating perceptions of elitism[1].
Different views on the topic
Harris remains a strong potential front-runner in the 2026 California governor’s race, with analysts noting her viability despite a crowded field and lingering questions about Biden’s health influencing her decision-making[1].
The Democratic Party is actively reassessing its strategy post-2024, focusing on reconnecting with working-class voters and addressing core issues like affordability and homelessness, suggesting a shift toward pragmatic problem-solving[1].
Harris’ announcement to forgo the governor’s race has been interpreted as positioning for a 2028 presidential bid, reflecting her ability to navigate political calculations with long-term ambition[2].
Internal criticisms, such as Antonio Villaraigosa’s demand for transparency on Biden’s health, reflect broader party debates about leadership accountability rather than a rejection of Harris’ Senate or VP legacy[1].
Other rising Democratic voices, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Gov. Tim Walz, embody alternatives to Harris’ messaging, indicating the party’s capacity to diversify leadership beyond established figures[2].
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., June 2, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico, today announced the launch of “Preserving Pillars of American Strength: Restore the Redstone & Terrier,” a crowdfunding campaign to restore two significant artifacts in its collection: the Redstone Missile and the Convair RIM-2 Terrier Surface-to-Air Missile.
These towering missiles represent pivotal moments in American history, embodying the nation’s ingenuity in rocketry and its commitment to defense during the Cold War. The Redstone, the first large liquid-fueled ballistic missile, paved the way for the U.S. space program and launched the first American astronaut. The Terrier played a crucial role in national defense as a vital surface-to-air missile.
However, decades of exposure to the harsh desert climate have taken their toll. The vibrant insignia on the Redstone is fading, and the Terrier suffers from weathered paint and surface degradation. To prevent further deterioration and ensure these artifacts continue to educate and inspire, the Museum is undertaking critical restoration efforts.
“The Redstone and Terrier missiles are more than just static displays; they are tangible links to our nation’s past and powerful tools for inspiring future generations in STEM fields,” said Jennifer Hayden, President and CEO of the Museum. “Preserving these iconic artifacts honors American innovation, reminds us of our nation’s strength, and upholds our responsibility as stewards of history.”
The restoration plan includes meticulous touch-up of the Redstone’s insignia, gentle buffing of its surface, and comprehensive sanding and repainting of the Terrier. The campaign aims to raise $40,000 between June 2 and July 4 to cover the costs of specialized equipment, museum-grade materials, and the dedicated time and expertise of conservation staff and volunteers.
The crowdfunding campaign will engage patriotic citizens and history enthusiasts nationwide, offering them the opportunity to directly contribute to preserving these vital pieces of American heritage. The campaign page will provide detailed information about the missiles’ historical significance, showcase their current condition, outline the restoration processes and costs, and offer various levels of engagement and recognition for contributors. Regular updates on the campaign’s progress and the eventual restoration work will also be provided.
“We invite everyone who values American history and innovation to join us in this important mission,” added Jennifer Galloway, Director of Development. “Your contribution, no matter the size, will play a crucial role in ensuring that these pillars of American strength continue to inspire and educate for generations to come.”
Today is Monday, Nov. 4, the 309th day of 2024. There are 57 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Nov. 4, 2007, King Tutankhamen’s face was unveiled for the first time to the public more than 3,000 years after the pharaoh was buried in his Egyptian tomb.
Also on this date:
In 1922, the entrance to King Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered in Egypt.
In 1979, the Iran hostage crisis began as militants stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran, seizing its occupants; for some of the hostages, it was the start of 444 days of captivity.
In 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan won election to the White House for the first time as he trounced President Jimmy Carter.
In 1991, Ronald Reagan opened his presidential library in Simi Valley, California; attending were President George H.W. Bush and former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford and Richard Nixon — the first-ever gathering of five past and present U.S. chief executives.
In 1995, Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli minutes after attending a peace rally.
In 2008, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois was elected the first Black president of the United States, defeating the Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
A curator at a museum in New York City has discovered a previously unknown waltz written by Frédéric Chopin, marking the first time that a new piece of work by the Polish composer has been found in nearly 100 years.Video above: Archaeologists excavate historic site in Gloucester, MassachusettsThe waltz, written on a small manuscript measuring about 4 inches by 5 inches, was first discovered by curator Robinson McClellan in 2019, who then sought outside expert help, according to a statement from the Morgan Library & Museum on Monday.“He found it peculiar that he could not think of any waltzes by Chopin that matched the measures on the page,” reads the statement.“Chopin famously wrote in ‘small forms,’ but this work, lasting about one minute, is shorter than any other waltz by him,” the statement says. “It is nevertheless a complete piece, showing the kind of ‘tightness’ that we expect from a finished work by the composer.”McClellan asked Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg, associate dean for arts and letters at the University of Pennsylvania, to help authenticate the waltz. “Extensive research points to the strong likelihood that the piece is by Chopin,” according to the statement.This research included analysis by paper conservators who found that the paper and ink match those that Chopin normally used. This dated the manuscript to the 1830s, a museum spokeswoman told CNN on Oct. 29.“The penmanship matches other examples of Chopin’s handwriting,” said the spokeswoman. “The score contains fingerings and dynamic markings, suggesting that Chopin thought the piece might be performed someday.”The Morgan Library & Museum believes the fact that the manuscript is so small could mean that it was meant to be a gift that the recipient would have kept in an autograph album.Chopin was known to sign manuscripts that were gifts, but this one is unsigned, which the museum says suggests that he ultimately decided against giving it away.“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens new questions for scholars to consider regarding when he wrote it and for whom it was intended,” said McClellan in the statement.“To hear this work for the first time will be an exciting moment for everyone in the world of classical piano.”The museum spokeswoman said that the work “offers a look into Chopin’s creative process,” particularly given its short length and “some interesting dynamic markings.”“We can see Chopin trying things that would become hallmarks of his style,” she added, highlighting the fact that the manuscript would have been written when Chopin was in his early 20s.A discovery of an unknown piece of work by Chopin has not happened since the late 1930s, according to the museum.“Our extensive music collection is defined by handwritten examples of the creative process and it is thrilling to have uncovered a new and unknown work by such a renowned composer,” said Colin B. Bailey, museum director, in the statement.The Polish composer was born in 1810 and was best known for solo piano pieces.Chopin died in Paris, France, at the age of 39. He’s one of Poland’s most famous sons, and his name adorns the airport serving the capital, Warsaw, as well as parks, streets, benches and buildings.His works and image are ubiquitous across the central European country, and his residences bear unmissable plaques. Busts and statues of his likeness are dotted across several major cities.Even his heart, preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849, is sealed into a wall of Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church.But recent suggestions about Chopin’s private life collided awkwardly with Poland’s staunchly conservative traditions and have caused some to question whether the story of Chopin that Poles are told from a young age is true.According to a Swiss radio documentary released in 2020, the composer had relationships with men, and those relationships were left out of history by successive historians and biographers — a potentially thorny charge in one of Europe’s worst countries for LGBTQ rights.
A curator at a museum in New York City has discovered a previously unknown waltz written by Frédéric Chopin, marking the first time that a new piece of work by the Polish composer has been found in nearly 100 years.
Video above: Archaeologists excavate historic site in Gloucester, Massachusetts
The waltz, written on a small manuscript measuring about 4 inches by 5 inches, was first discovered by curator Robinson McClellan in 2019, who then sought outside expert help, according to a statement from the Morgan Library & Museum on Monday.
“He found it peculiar that he could not think of any waltzes by Chopin that matched the measures on the page,” reads the statement.
“Chopin famously wrote in ‘small forms,’ but this work, lasting about one minute, is shorter than any other waltz by him,” the statement says. “It is nevertheless a complete piece, showing the kind of ‘tightness’ that we expect from a finished work by the composer.”
McClellan asked Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg, associate dean for arts and letters at the University of Pennsylvania, to help authenticate the waltz. “Extensive research points to the strong likelihood that the piece is by Chopin,” according to the statement.
This research included analysis by paper conservators who found that the paper and ink match those that Chopin normally used. This dated the manuscript to the 1830s, a museum spokeswoman told CNN on Oct. 29.
“The penmanship matches other examples of Chopin’s handwriting,” said the spokeswoman. “The score contains fingerings and dynamic markings, suggesting that Chopin thought the piece might be performed someday.”
The Morgan Library & Museum believes the fact that the manuscript is so small could mean that it was meant to be a gift that the recipient would have kept in an autograph album.
Chopin was known to sign manuscripts that were gifts, but this one is unsigned, which the museum says suggests that he ultimately decided against giving it away.
“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens new questions for scholars to consider regarding when he wrote it and for whom it was intended,” said McClellan in the statement.
“To hear this work for the first time will be an exciting moment for everyone in the world of classical piano.”
The museum spokeswoman said that the work “offers a look into Chopin’s creative process,” particularly given its short length and “some interesting dynamic markings.”
“We can see Chopin trying things that would become hallmarks of his style,” she added, highlighting the fact that the manuscript would have been written when Chopin was in his early 20s.
A discovery of an unknown piece of work by Chopin has not happened since the late 1930s, according to the museum.
“Our extensive music collection is defined by handwritten examples of the creative process and it is thrilling to have uncovered a new and unknown work by such a renowned composer,” said Colin B. Bailey, museum director, in the statement.
The Polish composer was born in 1810 and was best known for solo piano pieces.
Chopin died in Paris, France, at the age of 39. He’s one of Poland’s most famous sons, and his name adorns the airport serving the capital, Warsaw, as well as parks, streets, benches and buildings.
His works and image are ubiquitous across the central European country, and his residences bear unmissable plaques. Busts and statues of his likeness are dotted across several major cities.
Even his heart, preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849, is sealed into a wall of Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church.
But recent suggestions about Chopin’s private life collided awkwardly with Poland’s staunchly conservative traditions and have caused some to question whether the story of Chopin that Poles are told from a young age is true.
According to a Swiss radio documentary released in 2020, the composer had relationships with men, and those relationships were left out of history by successive historians and biographers — a potentially thorny charge in one of Europe’s worst countries for LGBTQ rights.
A curator at a museum in New York City has discovered a previously unknown waltz written by Frédéric Chopin, marking the first time that a new piece of work by the Polish composer has been found in nearly 100 years.Video above: Archaeologists excavate historic site in Gloucester, MassachusettsThe waltz, written on a small manuscript measuring about 4 inches by 5 inches, was first discovered by curator Robinson McClellan in 2019, who then sought outside expert help, according to a statement from the Morgan Library & Museum on Monday.“He found it peculiar that he could not think of any waltzes by Chopin that matched the measures on the page,” reads the statement.“Chopin famously wrote in ‘small forms,’ but this work, lasting about one minute, is shorter than any other waltz by him,” the statement says. “It is nevertheless a complete piece, showing the kind of ‘tightness’ that we expect from a finished work by the composer.”McClellan asked Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg, associate dean for arts and letters at the University of Pennsylvania, to help authenticate the waltz. “Extensive research points to the strong likelihood that the piece is by Chopin,” according to the statement.This research included analysis by paper conservators who found that the paper and ink match those that Chopin normally used. This dated the manuscript to the 1830s, a museum spokeswoman told CNN on Oct. 29.“The penmanship matches other examples of Chopin’s handwriting,” said the spokeswoman. “The score contains fingerings and dynamic markings, suggesting that Chopin thought the piece might be performed someday.”The Morgan Library & Museum believes the fact that the manuscript is so small could mean that it was meant to be a gift that the recipient would have kept in an autograph album.Chopin was known to sign manuscripts that were gifts, but this one is unsigned, which the museum says suggests that he ultimately decided against giving it away.“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens new questions for scholars to consider regarding when he wrote it and for whom it was intended,” said McClellan in the statement.“To hear this work for the first time will be an exciting moment for everyone in the world of classical piano.”The museum spokeswoman said that the work “offers a look into Chopin’s creative process,” particularly given its short length and “some interesting dynamic markings.”“We can see Chopin trying things that would become hallmarks of his style,” she added, highlighting the fact that the manuscript would have been written when Chopin was in his early 20s.A discovery of an unknown piece of work by Chopin has not happened since the late 1930s, according to the museum.“Our extensive music collection is defined by handwritten examples of the creative process and it is thrilling to have uncovered a new and unknown work by such a renowned composer,” said Colin B. Bailey, museum director, in the statement.The Polish composer was born in 1810 and was best known for solo piano pieces.Chopin died in Paris, France, at the age of 39. He’s one of Poland’s most famous sons, and his name adorns the airport serving the capital, Warsaw, as well as parks, streets, benches and buildings.His works and image are ubiquitous across the central European country, and his residences bear unmissable plaques. Busts and statues of his likeness are dotted across several major cities.Even his heart, preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849, is sealed into a wall of Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church.But recent suggestions about Chopin’s private life collided awkwardly with Poland’s staunchly conservative traditions and have caused some to question whether the story of Chopin that Poles are told from a young age is true.According to a Swiss radio documentary released in 2020, the composer had relationships with men, and those relationships were left out of history by successive historians and biographers — a potentially thorny charge in one of Europe’s worst countries for LGBTQ rights.
A curator at a museum in New York City has discovered a previously unknown waltz written by Frédéric Chopin, marking the first time that a new piece of work by the Polish composer has been found in nearly 100 years.
Video above: Archaeologists excavate historic site in Gloucester, Massachusetts
The waltz, written on a small manuscript measuring about 4 inches by 5 inches, was first discovered by curator Robinson McClellan in 2019, who then sought outside expert help, according to a statement from the Morgan Library & Museum on Monday.
“He found it peculiar that he could not think of any waltzes by Chopin that matched the measures on the page,” reads the statement.
“Chopin famously wrote in ‘small forms,’ but this work, lasting about one minute, is shorter than any other waltz by him,” the statement says. “It is nevertheless a complete piece, showing the kind of ‘tightness’ that we expect from a finished work by the composer.”
McClellan asked Chopin expert Jeffrey Kallberg, associate dean for arts and letters at the University of Pennsylvania, to help authenticate the waltz. “Extensive research points to the strong likelihood that the piece is by Chopin,” according to the statement.
This research included analysis by paper conservators who found that the paper and ink match those that Chopin normally used. This dated the manuscript to the 1830s, a museum spokeswoman told CNN on Oct. 29.
“The penmanship matches other examples of Chopin’s handwriting,” said the spokeswoman. “The score contains fingerings and dynamic markings, suggesting that Chopin thought the piece might be performed someday.”
The Morgan Library & Museum believes the fact that the manuscript is so small could mean that it was meant to be a gift that the recipient would have kept in an autograph album.
Chopin was known to sign manuscripts that were gifts, but this one is unsigned, which the museum says suggests that he ultimately decided against giving it away.
“This newly discovered waltz expands our understanding of Chopin as a composer and opens new questions for scholars to consider regarding when he wrote it and for whom it was intended,” said McClellan in the statement.
“To hear this work for the first time will be an exciting moment for everyone in the world of classical piano.”
The museum spokeswoman said that the work “offers a look into Chopin’s creative process,” particularly given its short length and “some interesting dynamic markings.”
“We can see Chopin trying things that would become hallmarks of his style,” she added, highlighting the fact that the manuscript would have been written when Chopin was in his early 20s.
A discovery of an unknown piece of work by Chopin has not happened since the late 1930s, according to the museum.
“Our extensive music collection is defined by handwritten examples of the creative process and it is thrilling to have uncovered a new and unknown work by such a renowned composer,” said Colin B. Bailey, museum director, in the statement.
The Polish composer was born in 1810 and was best known for solo piano pieces.
Chopin died in Paris, France, at the age of 39. He’s one of Poland’s most famous sons, and his name adorns the airport serving the capital, Warsaw, as well as parks, streets, benches and buildings.
His works and image are ubiquitous across the central European country, and his residences bear unmissable plaques. Busts and statues of his likeness are dotted across several major cities.
Even his heart, preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849, is sealed into a wall of Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church.
But recent suggestions about Chopin’s private life collided awkwardly with Poland’s staunchly conservative traditions and have caused some to question whether the story of Chopin that Poles are told from a young age is true.
According to a Swiss radio documentary released in 2020, the composer had relationships with men, and those relationships were left out of history by successive historians and biographers — a potentially thorny charge in one of Europe’s worst countries for LGBTQ rights.
A new Mayan city, lost in the dense jungle of southern Mexico for centuries, has been discovered from the computer of a PhD student hundreds of miles away. This is the story of how he did it.
The settlement, named Valeriana after a nearby freshwater lagoon, has all the characteristics of a classic Maya political capital: enclosed plazas, pyramids, a ball court, a reservoir, and an architectural layout that suggests a foundation prior to 150 AD, according to a newly published study in the journal Antiquity.
And how did Tulane University graduate student Luke Auld-Thomas find it? The answer lies in lasers. Until recently, archaeology was limited to what a researcher could observe from the ground and with their eyes. However, the technology of detecting and measuring distances with light, known as lidar, has revolutionized the field, allowing us to scan entire regions in search of archaeological sites hidden under dense vegetation or concrete.
Let’s travel back in time. It is 1848 and the governor of Petén, Guatemala, Modesto Méndez, together with Ambrosio Tut, an artist and chronicler of the time, rediscovered Tikal, one of the most majestic archaeological sites of the Mayan civilization. In the middle of the 19th century, little was known about this advanced culture—which calculated lunar, solar, and Venusian cycles, and invented hieroglyphic writing and the concept of the number zero with hardly any tools.
The dense rainforest surrounding Tikal and its lack of roads made it extremely difficult to reach the remains. But the Guatemalan government went deep into the heart of the Petén jungle anyway, in search of its cultural heritage. Guided by the rumors of the locals, machete in hand, along with tape measure and compass, they entered the Petén jungle on an almost impossible mission. Arriving at the Tikal site, Méndez and his team were amazed at what they saw: gigantic temples and pyramids, mostly covered by the jungle. The most imposing constructions, hidden by nature, towered above the tree canopy. Tikal, although partially buried, retained its majesty and gave clues to the enormous size of the city.
History repeated itself in 2024—but with some important variations. Rather than a machete, Auld-Thomas armed himself with a search engine. WIRED spoke this week with him and Marcello Canuto, director of Tulane’s Middle American Research Institute, about the discovery.
TAB. SO FAR THIS YEAR, 23 PEOPLE HAVE DIED IN PEDESTRIAN CRASHES ACROSS IOWA IN THE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TELLS US THAT SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN THIS TIME LAST YEAR, THERE WILL SOON BE A LOT MORE PEOPLE ON THE STREETS TRICK OR TREATING. KCCI MARCUS MCINTOSH HAS A LOOK AT WAYS TO KEEP YOURSELF AND YOUR KIDS SAFE. MARCUS. BEN, WE’RE OUT IN DES MOINES WHERE TRICK OR TREATING IS NEXT WEDNESDAY, BEGGARS NIGHT. THE NIGHT BEFORE HALLOWEEN. BUT THERE ARE ABOUT A HALF DOZEN COMMUNITIES WHERE TRICK OR TREATING WILL TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY NIGHT. SO WE HAVE SOME TIPS FOR YOU TO AVOID TRAFFIC TROUBLE. WHILE TRICK OR TREATING. AT COLBY PARK IN WINDSOR HEIGHTS. THE SOUNDS OF KIDS HAVING FUN WILL RING LOUD AND STRONG AS THEY GO DOOR TO DOOR SATURDAY EVENING TO TRICK OR TREAT PARENTS, NO MATTER WHERE THEY LIVE. WANT TO MAKE SURE IT IS DONE SAFELY? IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT WE TRY TO WALK AROUND WITH GLOW STICKS OR HAVE SOME SORT OF GLOWING THING ON THE KIDS SO THAT NOT ONLY WE CAN KEEP TRACK OF THEM, BUT ANYBODY THAT’S THAT MAY BE DRIVING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD CAN ALSO SEE THEM. ALYSSA CONOR SAYS THAT IS HER NUMBER ONE RULE. SHE AND HER HUSBAND WILL BE WITH THE KIDS EVERY STEP OF THE WAY AS THEY GO DOOR TO DOOR FOR CANDY. THAT’S KIND OF HOW I GREW UP, WAS MAKING SURE THAT WE HAD THE SAFETY THINGS IN PLACE, HICKMAN ROAD GETS A LOT OF HIGH SPEED DRIVERS. LIEUTENANT MIKE AHLBECK WITH THE WINDSOR HEIGHTS POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFERS A TIP FOR DRIVERS WHEN THEY SEE THE TRICK OR TREATERS. I WANT TO BE CAUTIOUS BECAUSE KIDS DO TEND TO DART OUT. THEY’RE VERY EXCITED. THERE ARE CHALLENGES IN WINDSOR HEIGHTS THAT SOME COMMUNITIES DON’T HAVE, AND THAT IS HOW TRICK OR TREATERS AND THEIR PARENTS NAVIGATE STREETS WITHOUT SIDEWALKS. NOT EVERY STREET AROUND THE METRO HAS A SIDEWALK, SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE WALKING ON THE STREET, WALK AS FAR LEFT AS YOU CAN, PREFERABLY ON THE GRASS. NOW, LIEUTENANT URBIK ALSO ADVISES PEOPLE TO PUT THIS AWAY. WHETHER YOU’RE A TRICK OR TREATER, YOUR PARENT AND ESPECIALLY DRIVERS PUT AWAY THE CELL PHONE FOR A FEW HOURS AND HAVE FUN TRICK OR TREATING. WE’RE LIVE IN DES MOINE
In a first since 1938, Des Moines, Iowa, kids will trick-or-treat on Halloween
Updated: 3:17 PM EDT Oct 31, 2024
For the first time since 1938, children in Des Moines, Iowa, will go trick-or-treating on Halloween.Video above: Parents and community leaders share trick-or-treating safety tipsGoing door-to-door for candy on All Hallows’ Eve has long been commonplace throughout the country. But not in Des Moines, where Iowa’s capital city took a different approach more than seven decades ago in hopes of tamping down on hooliganism.Instead, Des Moines children don their costumes on Beggars’ Night, typically the day before Halloween. And besides screaming, “Trick-or-Treat,” children are expected to tell a joke before receiving a treat.This year, Beggars’ Night was set for Wednesday, but because of expected heavy rain and thunderstorms, officials delayed trick-or-treating until Thursday, which to the rest of the country is the normal Halloween.”To my knowledge, it has never been moved or canceled since it was established after Halloween in 1938,” Assistant City Manager Jen Schulte said. “However, the safety of our residents, families and children is always our top priority and led to the change in this year’s scheduled Beggars’ Night.”The city began its unusual custom at the suggestion of a former city parks director as a way to reduce vandalism and promote more wholesome fun for kids. Initially, children were encouraged to sing a song, recite poetry and offer some other kind of entertainment, but over time a joke became the most common offering.Beggar’s Night also has limited hours, typically running from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.Many of Des Moines’ suburbs also adopted the Beggars’ Night tradition and chose to shift the celebration to Halloween this year.”I didn’t realize we were that much of an anomaly because for us, this is normal,” said Debbie Westphal Swander, who owns a costume shop in West Des Moines. “We’re going to be in sync at least for this year with the way the event is celebrated everywhere else.”The big picture for me is, it’s absolutely about the kids. That’s the most important thing.”
DES MOINES, Iowa —
For the first time since 1938, children in Des Moines, Iowa, will go trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Video above: Parents and community leaders share trick-or-treating safety tips
Going door-to-door for candy on All Hallows’ Eve has long been commonplace throughout the country. But not in Des Moines, where Iowa’s capital city took a different approach more than seven decades ago in hopes of tamping down on hooliganism.
Instead, Des Moines children don their costumes on Beggars’ Night, typically the day before Halloween. And besides screaming, “Trick-or-Treat,” children are expected to tell a joke before receiving a treat.
This year, Beggars’ Night was set for Wednesday, but because of expected heavy rain and thunderstorms, officials delayed trick-or-treating until Thursday, which to the rest of the country is the normal Halloween.
“To my knowledge, it has never been moved or canceled since it was established after Halloween in 1938,” Assistant City Manager Jen Schulte said. “However, the safety of our residents, families and children is always our top priority and led to the change in this year’s scheduled Beggars’ Night.”
The city began its unusual custom at the suggestion of a former city parks director as a way to reduce vandalism and promote more wholesome fun for kids. Initially, children were encouraged to sing a song, recite poetry and offer some other kind of entertainment, but over time a joke became the most common offering.
Beggar’s Night also has limited hours, typically running from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Many of Des Moines’ suburbs also adopted the Beggars’ Night tradition and chose to shift the celebration to Halloween this year.
“I didn’t realize we were that much of an anomaly because for us, this is normal,” said Debbie Westphal Swander, who owns a costume shop in West Des Moines. “We’re going to be in sync at least for this year with the way the event is celebrated everywhere else.
“The big picture for me is, it’s absolutely about the kids. That’s the most important thing.”
To die, to sleep—to sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub, for in that sleep of death what dreams may come. —William Shakespeare
One, two, Freddy’s coming for you Three, four, better lock your door Five, six, grab your crucifix Seven, eight, gonna stay up late Nine, ten, never sleep again. —Popular nursery rhyme
Freddy Krueger has scared the hell out of us for the past 40 years, and he knows why. It’s not his disfigured face. It’s not the glove he wears that’s outfitted with razor-sharp knives. And it’s not that he is, as one of the vengeful parents who burned him alive affectionately called him, “a filthy child murderer.”
What’s terrifying about Freddy is where we meet him: in our dreams. “You could be a victim in your own nightmare,” says Robert Englund, the man behind the bogeyman since 1984. “It’s a very personal thing, your subconscious being invaded by this predator.”
With A Nightmare on Elm Street, writer-director Wes Craven came for audiences at their most vulnerable. Ever since it hit multiplexes, falling asleep peacefully has been harder. “We’re told as kids when we’re scared, we hide under the covers,” says Thommy Hutson, author of Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. “But under the covers, in a way, is where Freddy gets you. … Sweet dreams? Those don’t exist in this world.”
At a time when slasher flicks were brainlessly spilling fake blood by the gallon, Craven took a more psychological approach—without sacrificing gore, of course. “Wes knew how to write such realism, and then he has this dream landscape that is just so crazy,” says Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy Thompson, the teenager with the brains to finally outwit Freddy. “It’s never been repeated in such a seamless and beautiful way.”
The film almost looks homemade at times, but that only adds to its lore and to its status as a VHS-era rite of passage. “Dad had the kids, and he let them rent it at a mom-and-dad video store. He let them bring it home, and then he put steak knives on his fingers and scratched the windows late at night to terrorize them,” Englund says. “Or they saw it on a video that was dog-eared and passed around in a dormitory. You’ve gotta see this movie, man.”
New Line Cinema
Elm Street didn’t just change horror. Since the ’80s, it’s had a place in the pop culture pantheon. “Johnny Carson was doing Freddy Krueger jokes,” Englund says. Kids started dressing up as Freddy for Halloween. Video stores couldn’t keep the movie in stock. And cable TV played it nonstop. It spawned six sequels, a crossover with Friday the 13th, a television series, and a blockbuster reboot. But before becoming America’s collective Nightmare, it was just a creepy-sounding idea that no one wanted. That is, until New Line Cinema—an independent studio best known at the time for producing John Waters films—stepped up to the plate, hoping to turn out a hit on the cheap. Making that happen, though, was, at times, nightmarish. “The real story of Nightmare on Elm Street is actually as scary as the movie,” New Line founder Robert Shaye says. “Almost.”
Part 1: “Wes Was a Very Kind of Diabolical Guy.”
By the early ’80s, Craven was known as a director who made horror movies that were both transgressively violent and shockingly smart, like The Last House on the Left (1972)and The Hills Have Eyes (1977). In the early ’80s, he wrote a script that drew from real life. He had read L.A. Times articles about Southeast Asian immigrants who reportedly died while having distressing dreams. Growing up in Cleveland, he had nightmares himself. His father, a Baptist fundamentalist, was “a scary person”; he was bullied by a kid named Fred. And one fateful night, he had an encounter with a frightening stranger that stuck with him forever.
Wes Craven (writer-director, in 2008): He was a drunk that came down the sidewalk and woke me up when I was sleeping. I went to the window wondering what the hell was there. He just did a mind-fuck on me. He just basically somehow knew I was up there, and he looked right into my eyes. I went back and hid for what I thought was hours. I finally crept back to the window, and he was still there.
Then he started walking almost half-backwards, so that he could keep looking at me, down to the corner and turned, and I suddenly realized, “My god, that’s the direction of the entrance to our apartment building.” I literally ran toward the front door and heard, two stories down, the front door open. I woke up my big brother; he went down with a baseball bat—and nobody was there. Probably the guy heard him coming and ran; he was drunk, having a good time. But the idea of an adult who was frightening and enjoyed terrifying a child was the origin of Freddy.
Robert Shaye (founder, New Line Cinema): Wes was a very kind of diabolical guy. He reacted to a very strict religious life in his peculiar way.
Mimi Craven (Wes Craven’s second wife and a nurse in Nightmare): When I moved in with Wes, he started writing Nightmare on Elm Street. He would go out into the studio, which was back behind our house in Venice, and he would write all day long in a blue bathrobe and a pith helmet. And then he would come in at night, and we would read it and act out the scenes and scare each other. Then he would go and rewrite. So I knew that script like the back of my hand.
Sara Risher (head of production, New Line Cinema): Nobody sent us scripts. We were too low on the totem pole.
Robert Shaye: We were still in a loft on 13th Street and University Place in Manhattan, and we had managed to get a couple of films together.
Risher: [Shaye] came across the Wes Craven script, which he didn’t pass by like everybody in Hollywood.
RobertShaye: I came across the script through a guy named Mark Forstater. He produced Monty Python and the Holy Grail. One summer, he said, “You should go to Los Angeles.” I said, “Well, I don’t know anybody in Los Angeles. What should I do that for?” And he said, “Because this is what independent producers do. You have to go out and meet young directors. I know three or four really interesting young directors, and I can help you get an appointment with all of them.” Tobe Hooper was one of them. Another was Joe Dante. And then this other guy, Wes Craven. But I couldn’t get in touch with Wes Craven. And I finally got him on the phone just before I was leaving. He said, “Well, I’ve got one project that’s really pretty interesting.” I said, “What is it?” And he told me the story of Nightmare on Elm Street.
Risher: He went after it. He knew there was something great there.
RobertShaye: He sent on the script, and I said, “Well, can we maybe make a deal?” And it’s a little blurry for me exactly what happened, but Wes finally said, “I’ll make a deal with this guy. There’s nobody else around.” So we made a deal. I think I paid him 5,000 bucks for an option, and that was the beginning.
Risher: It took a good four or five months of work on the script. There was character work [needed], in my opinion, particularly for the young girl and the women. There was also the fact that we didn’t have the money that particular script needed.
RobertShaye: We were desperate for money. We had a lot of people thinking that we were going to go bankrupt. I said, “We’ll get a budget. We’ll start making the whole thing happen.”
Risher: Our budget was only like a million-four.
RobertShaye: Things progressed, and we thought we had some hustlers trying to help me raise some money.
Thommy Hutson (author, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy): This truly almost fell apart at the 11th hour.
RobertShaye: When I woke up every day, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach: This is out of hand.
Part 2: “Oh Boy, I Could Work With This.”
Meanwhile, A Nightmare on Elm Street needed a cast. There was barely any room in the budget to pay actors, let alone A-listers, who probably wouldn’t have wanted to be in an independent horror movie anyway. So Craven and the producers went with character actors and newcomers.
Annette Benson (casting director): We saw so, so many people. It was a way to start their careers.
Lin Shaye (a teacher in Nightmare): My brother said, “Put my sister in your movie.” That was that. And of course, it was really the beginning of my career.
(Nancy Thompson): Back then, an agent would get a breakdown: “Girl, 16 years old, high school, wholesome.” And I’m sure a lot of agents sent in the women in their client list. I went into one audition, and it was so low-rent. There wasn’t even any furniture in the room. I thought, “Oh no, this is much worse than I thought.”
Benson: Wes loved her right away.
Risher: She was so vulnerable. She was the girl next door, and she was cunning and clever, and figuring out ways back at Freddy as a young girl could do, setting traps for him. It was so realistic, and you were always on her side.
Benson: Johnny Depp came to me through Ilene Feldman, who was his agent at the time. She said, “Annette, let’s make magic. I’m sending Johnny over to you right now. You’re going to love him.”
Mimi Craven: He comes in, he reads. He sucks. He wasn’t an actor. He was a musician. So he leaves. Annette and I are looking at Wes, and he scratches Johnny’s name off. He said, “Well, he was terrible.” That day, Wes’s daughter and her best friend were in from New York. They were preteen. They were squealing [over him]. They were that high-pitched. Only dogs can hear the thing that young girls do. And Annette looks at Wes.
Benson: Evidently, Wes’s daughter thought he was cute.
Mimi Craven: He hired him [to play Glen Lantz], but that was all Annette.
Benson: I mean, that was his very first acting job.
Amanda Wyss (Tina Gray): I auditioned for the role of Nancy, and I was called back for Tina. I was very disappointed. The funny thing was, my agents at the time did not want me to do it. They said, “It’ll ruin your career. Nobody does horror.”
Jsu Garcia (Rod Lane): The landscape was, Friday the 13th was the shit. Texas Chain Saw Massacre set the tone, Exorcist set the tone. But the next thing was Friday the 13th. They sold that film just on the title. But we were going to make a really quality horror film.
Editor’s note: In Nightmare, Garcia was credited as Nick Corri.
Wyss: The four of us went in and read together.
Langenkamp: Lo and behold, there’s Wes Craven. We totally didn’t expect that he would be there. And Annette Benson said, “OK, start from the top. We’re going to do this scene where we’re at Tina’s house.” When Johnny Depp is doing that funny little thing with the boom box.
Wyss: We all just meshed. And Wes told us in the room we had the part. Which never happens, or rarely.
Langenkamp: It was a dream audition. It never happened again. And it was just a simpler time in Hollywood. They didn’t have to pass it by a big room full of executives. Wes Craven had the sole job of casting his own movie.
At the time, Robert Englund was coming off a supporting role in V, a popular sci-fi miniseries that first aired on NBC in 1983 and quickly built a cult following. The L.A. native, then in his mid-30s, remembers thinking that the part would help him stop being typecast as a Southerner.
New Line Cinema
Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger): It must’ve had something to do with the way Hollywood thought I looked. I mean, I read several times to play John Schneider’s cousin in Dukes of Hazzard. I was just a Hollywood character actor. Nobody knew my name. I sort of thought, “Well, I’m going to be the kind of go-to nerdy science fiction guy.”
Benson: Robert Englund’s agent at the time, Joe Rice, called and said, “You’ve got to see Robert for this part.”
Englund: I’d read the script. It really led you along, and it was kind of hypnotic. And really, every element that was in Wes’s imagination sort of became consistent on the page. But I was anxious to work with Wes—not because of the script, but because I’d spent time hanging out in a bar in Hollywood on La Brea where they had these old black-and-white TV monitors on either side of the bar hanging from the ceiling. And on one side, it was clips from Eraserhead. And on the other side, it was clips from The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House on the Left. So I assigned a kind of David Lynchian quality to Wes. And I was curious to work for him.
Benson: I thought, “Oh my God, they’re looking for a David Warner type.” A really big monster type. And I knew Robert wasn’t the big monster type.
RobertShaye: Usually the villain or the monster in monster films are stuntmen because they’re falling all around. It was Wes who said, “I don’t think I want to cast a stuntman. I’m going to cast a Shakespearean actor.”
Risher: In Robert Englund, he saw the talent that the guy had.
Benson: He was an excellent actor. And my casting was always pretty much a gut feeling. He could do it.
Englund: I expected a kind of goth guy. And I walk in, and, of course, Wes looks like a young Don Quixote in Ralph Lauren. I was tan from surfing, and I had a lot of blond curls. I looked like Billy Katt’s older, uglier brother. And I remember greasing my hair down and putting a little bit of cigarette ash—it’s an old theater trick—under my eyes.
Risher: He knew how to make his voice menacing. And he had a great sense of humor.
Mimi Craven: It was written, but Robert brought Freddy Krueger [to life]. I mean, he gave him dimensions.
Englund: I just tried to play that old game where you don’t blink or you just stare at somebody. You know, the first person that blinks gets socked in the arm. I tried to do that with Wes because I knew it would make my gaze more intense. I think that helped. But Wes, when he was telling me his ideas for the movie, I knew that something special was going on.
Risher: He knew what he wanted. And he visualized what he wanted.
Mimi Craven: Thefreaky moment was during wardrobe for Robert, and I was there for that. He came in with that fucking Christmas sweater on.
Risher: I remember saying, “It looks like Christmas.” And [Wes] said, “No, no, these are iconic colors. These will work.”
Mimi Craven: And you could see everybody had goosebumps. Because Christmas, it’s so happy.
Jim Doyle (mechanical special effects design): Wes and I were meeting every other day. He was rewriting based on what [production designer] Gregg Fonseca and [cinematographer] Jacques Haitkin could do within the budget. We were trying to pull this whole thing together. And he said, “OK, now what do we do about Freddy’s weapon? What is this thing?” I said, “Well, I don’t really know.” He said, “But it looks like it has to be made in a boiler room by a guy with that level of skill. The picture I have in my head is long knives, like fingernails.” What he didn’t want was a lump on the end of the guy’s hand. I was like, “I think I can probably articulate this. If we can get it to work, we can articulate it.” And a couple of days later, I came back in with a sketch, and the sketch was pretty fucking close to what we ended up doing.
Englund: I didn’t realize it was going to have the incredibly seductive, iconic status that it has now in the world of horror, like the bolts in Frankenstein’s neck or the teeth on a vampire.
Risher: He had a long, thin, flexible body, so he wore all those fingernail knives around very easily.
Englund: And Freddy’s a little junkyard dog that when he puts that glove on, it extends his grasp. It’s an extension of his evil.
Risher: I remember looking at the makeup the first time and thinking it was too severe. And Wes said, “Well, he died from a fire. This is what it would look like.”
Englund: I’m out there in [makeup effects artist] David Miller’s garage, and he’s got an old barber’s chair in there which I spent days in, with a garage door shut, the air-conditioning on. And the first day, the thing that I remember most is not that the glue itched or the fact that it was cold or that David had cheaped out on the makeup brushes and they were a little crusty and sharp. What I remember was he gave me these giant medical books that he checked out of UCLA or some hospital library. And they were all burn victims. And he’s showing me what he’s going to do with the molds and the texturing and the prosthetics. And I couldn’t even look at the book.
But I sat there and watched the makeup evolve over the various sessions. Bob Shaye would come and look at it, and Wes Craven. I could tell they were getting nervous because in David’s little house out in the San Fernando Valley, I think he didn’t have it lit properly. He knew how to blend colors and he knew what it would look like on film, but Bob Shaye and Wes, when they visited us, they didn’t know that. And I couldn’t really tell, either. It looked too white to me. It looked too pink to me, too red. But David knew what he was doing.
I went through that whole process. And the more I did it, the more I was going, “Oh boy, I could work with this.”
Part 3: “Oh Hell, I’m in a Horror Movie.”
Nightmare on Elm Street had its monster. But there still wasn’t enough funding to make the movie. For a while, the production was touch and go. But even when things got hairy, the eternally calm Wes Craven kept things on track.
Risher: We were in preproduction, and I was out in L.A. pregnant with my son. And Bob called and said, “We’ve lost some of the money. The guy who had the home video [rights] backed out, and that’s like a third of our budget.” So he said, “I’m going to stay in New York and try to raise the money.” You can imagine the stress he was under. We had two weeks that we couldn’t pay the crew. He said, “Keep going,” so we kept going.
Robert Shaye: At the end of the day, nobody was coming up with the money. And I got a phone call from the production manager in Los Angeles saying, “I’ve got to warn you that the DP is quitting and the electricians are quitting and we don’t have any crew and they’re leaving in a week.”
Hutson: John Burrows was the production manager. He didn’t get paid for weeks. He actually helped pay the crew so they could keep going.
Risher: Believe it or not, they all stayed. They didn’t leave. I think they trusted that a pregnant woman wouldn’t lie to them.
Hutson: It was a very big deal. It was not like that Hollywood lore of every other movie that almost fell apart before it didn’t.
At the 11th hour, Shaye made a deal with Media Home Entertainment, a home video distribution company founded by producer Joseph Wolf. It wasn’t exactly favorable to New Line.
Robert Shaye (in Never Sleep Again): The tipping point was the devil’s agreement. I made an agreement with Joe, and he agreed to buy the video rights for a certain amount of money. But he made us guarantee that if we didn’t do certain things like buy additional prints and open in a certain number of theaters, that he had the right to take the film away from us and give us nothing for it. And that was the only deal I could make. That finished the financing for us.
Hutson: Everyone in the crew was like, “Listen, we can do this together. We can make this happen.” The crew not only believed in [Shaye], but believed in Wes and believed in themselves and what they were doing.
Mimi Craven: Wes would just show up. He would be like the thing that was standing still while everything revolved around him.
Joseph Whipp (Sergeant Parker): Nice guy.Never angry, never throwing things around. A little self-deprecating. When we were working on Scream, when I got there the first day, he said, “Yeah, I’m finally learning how to do this stuff.”
Lin Shaye: My first impressions of him were rosy cheeks and a guy standing in the corner watching very carefully, covering his mouth with his hand. There was a certain aura about him.
Langenkamp: Because he was so normal looking, I thought there must be something to this guy that he’s not showing. Because he would wear a necktie, he would wear khakis, and then he would often wear a checkered shirt. He just looked so much like a professor, and people made fun of him. I mean, this is Hollywood. Nobody wears a tie.
New Line Cinema
We would do pranks on him—we would all come to work wearing ties, just to pull his leg. He had such a wholesome sense of humor, as well as a very quick wit. I’m sure he had a dirty sense of humor as well, but his jokes were silly sometimes. He put everyone in such a good mood.
Wyss: He had children our age, so he was very facile with communicating to us in a way we understood. And he made us feel comfortable communicating back to him. He was a very preppy, professorial, avuncular kind of guy. Yet he could think of a million ways to kill you.
Langenkamp: I lived in Silver Lake, off of Griffith Park Boulevard, when I was making Nightmare on Elm Street. I couldn’t believe we were shooting so close to home. That’s the only thing I cared about: My commute was five minutes. I’m like, “Yay!” The first scene that we shot was that drive-up scene at John Marshall High. And it’s just so cute to watch it because we’re playing these teenagers that have been great friends forever. And the first day of work, basically, we all have jitters. We were all nervous, just watching Johnny jump over the side of the Cadillac and get out of the car.
Wyss: Heather and I clicked right away. We’d sit on the trailer steps every day and do the crossword puzzle.
Langenkamp: We went to Dodger games after the shoot. People wondered why we’re sitting in the nosebleed section because everyone thinks, “Oh, you must’ve made $1 billion,” but we were paid just SAG scale for that, for five weeks.
Garcia: Mimi Craven was our mother, essentially. She took us in. I loved her. We’re all at her house, they’re taking care of us. I was a starving actor. I was fed.
Mimi Craven: Fifteen years later when I ran into him at the Cannes Film Festival, Johnny still called me “Mom.”
Garcia: I would go over to Johnny’s house with Heather and Amanda and watch movies. Not Blockbuster rentals, but niche kind of film places. You’d pretty much get The Hills Have Eyes. They wouldn’t be in mainstream video rentals. We would sit there and just watch Wes’s old films and go, “Oh, wow, cool.”
Englund: They were being pampered by the glamour makeup crew while I was sitting next to them with a turkey baster full of K-Y Jelly on me.
Wyss: All four of us would be in the makeup trailer every morning, kind of watching Robert get his makeup done. I never had, “Oh, there’s Freddy.” It was always “Oh, there’s Robert becoming Freddy.”
Langenkamp: Robert is an entertainer in, literally, the best sense of the word. He wakes up every morning hoping he can entertain people, not only with his stories but with his experience and all the people that he’s met and all the movies that he’s done. That’s part of who he is. And I don’t think he would have been able to just sit over in the corner and be quiet. I mean, he really thrives off of attention and just helping people feel at ease in this weird world of Hollywood in 1984. He would say, “Oh my God, Heather, Heather, Heather, you have to go see the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”
Englund: The more I could be Robert around them, or the character of Robert telling you the dirty jokes around coffee and doughnuts, the easier it was to say, “Now, Heather, listen to me. I’m going to pretend to pull your hair here. Here’s the trick.” And “Heather, don’t be afraid to really pound on my chest hard.”
Langenkamp: We had so many intense scenes together. I really trusted him. He had knives for fingernails, of course, that he could’ve stabbed me a million times if he wanted to. Even though they were dull blades, they still could’ve done a lot of damage. So I had to trust him a lot.
Englund: At the last second, they tried to change my hat. I had to fight with Wes and Bob about keeping the fedora, which is Wes’s way of seeing Freddy. I had to prove to them how good the fedora looked in silhouette and how I could take it off and reveal my deformed bald head. Even though it’s not my idea, I just knew it was right.
Langenkamp: I didn’t think that was a big deal. I’m like, “Oh, he’s wearing a sweater, he’s wearing a hat,” but I never really had the visual. And I don’t think anybody did until we saw him on the set in his wardrobe and his hat and his makeup, which was really the first day we worked on the school set. When I go down the stairs in the school, that’s my first scene that I have with Robert. And it was terrifying to see him the first time. The smoke, the dungeon-y pipes. It was really, really scary. And I realized at that point, “Oh hell, I’m in a horror movie.”
Part 4: “Later in Life You Look Back and Go, ‘You Know What? I Could Have Died.’”
For a movie with such a low budget, A Nightmare on Elm Street had extremely intricate visual effects. Doyle and his team had their work cut out for them. To stage Freddy’s murder of Tina, the film’s first big set piece, they had to build a rotating set.
Doyle: Wes talked about the structure of the script being like a Shakespeare play, and I could relate to that because I was a theater guy to begin with. Shakespeare would have a tendency to introduce in the first act something that then builds the story for you, but then he drops that and goes into the story. He said, “Because we’ve got to do two things. We’ve got to introduce a character that everybody falls in love with. Then we’re going to kill her, and we’re going to remove her from the story.” And someone else in the story then has to become the lead character, and that would be Nancy.
Wyss: This is how I read the script: Tina dies. I literally skipped right over it, 100 percent. I think I read, “Tina is dragged up on the ceiling,” and I thought, “Oh, that’ll be interesting how they’re going to make somebody else do that.” It’s like the famous quote about shooting Gone With the Wind,and it said, “Atlanta burns.” And everyone was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s fine.” But it took like 30 days to shoot.
Doyle: Wes said, “How about at the end of the first reel, you scared the fuck out of people and you hooked them so badly they can’t leave?” And I said, “What if she was in her bedroom, and the whole bedroom goes Looney Tunes and it goes upside down?” He says, “You could do that?” And I say, “I can do it. I don’t know whether we can afford it.” And so I ended up making a deal with production that I would build the room, and then, at the end of the film, I’d keep it. And that’s what I did. I hired a crew, I built the room, we did all the production work on it, and basically everything up to installing the set was my risk. I was paying people out of my pocket just to get this thing up and running. Hopefully then I would be able to use it for other projects and make some money on it. And it turned out to be a pretty good decision because Tina’s death is one of the all-time top deaths in a film ever.
Wyss: Every single thing in this room was nailed down, shellacked, glued. Nothing moved, whether it was upside down or on the walls. It was just hardened into the room, and the room was manually cranked.
Doyle: I saw the Poltergeist room, and it was this gigantic thing, and it had all these hydraulics and stuff, and I’m going, “If you just balanced that fucking thing, you could just turn it by hand.” Because the people are always going to be in the bottom, you don’t have to worry about their weight. So you just balance the room, and you should be able to turn something even of that scale by hand. And so I got big bearings, surplus, and one of my guys and I sat down and we built a model of it. We did basic calculations on the stiffness and all that. We got it all put together. And because the load capacity of the bearings was so high, once we got the thing put together, I mean, you could turn it with one finger.
Wyss: I was always on the floor, and at each turn of the room, I would go to the next floor. Sometimes it was the side wall, sometimes it was the ceiling. And Jacques Haitkin and Wes, I think they were in airplane seats affixed to the wall. So the camera always had the same point of view. We started out and I get pulled out of bed and I get dragged up the wall, and then the room spun, and then I’m on the ceiling. We had to rehearse that many times. I lost my sense of up and down and was very dizzy.
Englund: They had me there, and they thought they might need a point of view shot between Tina’s legs of what she was seeing that they would intercut with what her boyfriend was seeing, which is just her alone being dragged across the ceiling. Amanda Wyss couldn’t operate the camera, though, because she’s not union. But it just so happened that the first assistant camera was Jacques Haitkin’s wife, Anne. So Anne took her jeans off, got down there in her underwear and got the handheld camera, and we put blood on her legs. And I dragged her around, and they shot between her legs. That shot was so hardcore and so scary and so disorienting that they didn’t use it in the movie. But Wes used that sequence to get the censors to let him use other shots. It was sort of his trade because they didn’t know that he really didn’t care. He pretended like, “This is my favorite shot. If you’re not going to let me have it, you’ve got to let me have these two.”
Wyss: I was literally dragged with high-tension fishing line. I thought, “I can’t do this.” I felt my body heaving even though I was on the floor. And so Wes stopped and stuck his head through a window and was trying to explain to me that I was on the ground, and I just said, “I don’t think so.” I just couldn’t wrap my brain around it. You could have told me I was on Mars.
Langenkamp: That’s so gruesome. In fact, the new Ultra-4K HD DVD actually has eight more seconds to that scene, as if it’s not long enough as it is. That scene, to me, is the grossest horror movie scene of all time.
Doyle: We were trying to figure out how to kill Glen. And I was like, “Well, we’ve got this rotating room sitting here.” Wes was like, “Would it be possible to do something like The Shining?” And I knew, of course, he was talking about the elevator scene. I said, “Yeah, probably.” What we didn’t count on was there was going to be around 500 pounds of blood in the room.
Risher: It was so much blood you wouldn’t have believed it. It was like a river of blood. We could have drowned in it.
Doyle: The room is now sitting there with 500 pounds of blood on the ceiling. It was supposed to run down the wall and across the floor. Well, to unlock the room, we had to tilt it really slightly to pull a pin. And when we did that, we tilted it a bit too far, and the blood got away from us.
Langenkamp: None of the blood went down the walls like Wes had planned. Instead, it all went out the open door. They just put a wind effect to make it seem like there was some churning blood from hell.
Doyle: Now that blood was on the floor. And we’ve got hot electrical on the floor. I remember unplugging everything. We lucked out. It could’ve been really bad.
Mimi Craven: Somebody called. And I answered the phone, and they said, “Hey, just want to let you know he’s OK.” And I went, “All right, start at the beginning, please.” They strapped him in. But then the room kept spinning, and the grips lost the ropes. And Wes is inside this room spinning. They got the shot, thank God.
Doyle: It’s one of those things where later in life you look back and go, “You know what? I could have died.”
Part 5: “We Got Away With Murder.”
Not all of the scares in A Nightmare on Elm Street are so over the top. The film is built on smaller moments of terror, like when Nancy’s taking a bath and Freddy’s glove slowly rises out of the water.
Doyle: We had a second-story set. And one of the reasons it was a second-story set was because I had to have something under the bathtub.
Langenkamp: They built a bathtub on top of an 8-foot tank, basically. It was very, very rudimentary.
Doyle: The water was actually in the tank. And you get in and out of it by going into the bathtub.
Langenkamp: Jim Doyle was in scuba gear all day long in that, just putting his hand up and down, up and down.
Doyle: My assistant Peter Kelly was going to do that. Peter was 6-foot-4 and had really long arms. He had a degree in film, he knew about acting. But it turns out that he was claustrophobic underwater. So he popped in there and he popped right back out again and said, “I can’t do this.” And I was like, “OK, well, I guess I can.”
Langenkamp: It was freezing.
Doyle: We kept the warm water running, and then we were able to keep it at a comfortable temperature. It just took longer than we hoped.
Langenkamp: We’d get it to be probably like 89 degrees, and then I’d be like, “OK, you’ve got to add some hot water.” Then they’d boil water down and pour in some teapots full of water.
Doyle: We spent six or seven hours on it.
Langenkamp: Wes would bang on the tub three times, and then the hand would go up. Then he’d bang on it twice, and the hand would go down. So all day long, just banging on the tub.
Robert Shaye: One of the ideas that I had for the film that Wes deigned to let me include was the sticky stairs. Sometimes, I’d have a dream where I’d be going somewhere and I was caught in cement and I couldn’t move. You feel totally helpless. You’re in the bloody dream, and you’re going to die.
Langenkamp: I think it was oatmeal and maybe cream of mushroom soup. I just remember it being really sticky. That was the one he made us put in there at the last minute. We were just throwing things against the wall. But that was his nightmare.
Charles Bernstein (composer): On my work print on my VHS, I was watching the scene where the phone rings and Heather picks up the phone and [Freddy] says, “I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy.” And then a plastic tongue darts out of the phone. I hit the pause button right here exactly where I’m sitting, and I sat down and I thought, “Charles, what are you doing? Has it come to this?”
Doyle: I called David [Miller] and said, “I’ve got this idea. Could you do this overnight? Because we need to shoot it tomorrow.” So he came up, and he made the phone overnight. I got a reputation for being a little twisted with some of these ideas, just spitballing this stuff. We got away with murder.
New Line Cinema
Langenkamp: Wes was a reader. He read everything. He read newspapers from around the world. He read books. He had been an English teacher. He knew the Bible front and back. He was the most educated man I knew. He’d read that you can have these powers in your sleep to turn away from the nightmare and take it away and give it no power. And then he’d also read about the kid who tries to stay up to prevent his nightmares. It’s all plucked from newspaper headlines. It’s just nobody else has the ability to imagine it that way.
In the climax, Nancy indeed beats Freddy by taking away his power. But that’s not how the movie ends. The coda starts idyllically, with Nancy leaving her house the next morning. Her mother, Marge (Ronee Blakley), says goodbye as Nancy’s friends, who are all alive again, pick her up in a convertible. The car’s top then pops into place, and it’s striped like Freddy’s sweater. Nancy’s trapped. All of a sudden, Freddy grabs her mother and yanks her through the door window as nearby children jumping rope start singing, “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.”
Mimi Craven: They fought about that.
Robert Shaye: There was a big disagreement.
Risher:Bob wanted a real kooky, crazy, wild ending that could lead to a sequel. And Wes wanted a really beautiful poetic ending of the girls jumping rope, singing, with the kids going away in the car.
RobertShaye: I said, “Listen, you can’t do this in a horror film. There’s got to be some kind of thing that really kind of grabs them at the end.” So at one point, he said, “I can’t argue with you anymore. I’m exhausted.” I said, “Well, let’s shoot both things.”
Englund: We shot it several ways. One I remember: driving the car up and Heather comes out and it’s like a Disney movie. It’s a little brighter than reality. She gets in the car, and I’m there and the convertible top slams shut on the car. And the grips, the little things that lock on a convertible, they look like little Freddy claws.
RobertShaye: We had these little test screenings, not the fancy ones that they had in the real Hollywood, but in our amateur Hollywood. We tested all of the different endings, including the one that Wes wanted. None was particularly outstanding. We said, “Well, what are we going to do?” He said, “Well, let’s use them all. Let’s just finish this.”
Mimi Craven: Wes fought and fought and fought and fought and finally just had to acquiesce.
Langenkamp: The wayI’ve always interpreted the ending is that Nancy’s had this dream. She went into it with a very intense intent, to grab Freddy, bring him out. And so it seems like that’s really successful. She pulls him out of the dream, she sets all the booby traps, she turns her back. He seems to go away, and then she comes out into this beautiful day. And it looks like everything is normal again, but then it is not normal, and the car comes up.
It’s that same dream that’s just still continuing. And we don’t know how it ends. We don’t know how it ends for Nancy. The only thing we know is that she appears in Nightmare on Elm Street 3, so she didn’t die in it. She does continue to live.
Part 6: “A Kind of American Experience.”
Nightmare was released on November 9, 1984. In those days, Academy Award–nominated screenwriter Paul Attanasio was a film critic. “For such a low-budget movie,” he wrote in The Washington Post, “Nightmare on Elm Street is extraordinarily polished.” It went on to gross almost $26 million at the domestic box office and, according to Variety, $57 million worldwide. Before long, New Line earned a new nickname: “The House That Freddy Built.”
Risher: We had, I think, five or six theaters in New York. It did very nicely, and we were very happy, but it wasn’t a huge smash.
Bernstein: I was pretty convinced when I was working on it that it was not a hit. I honestly felt that. The zeitgeist thing did not kick in right away, but something did. There was a two-page ad in Variety, which I still have, which said, “Sleeper: Nightmare on Elm Street.” And it said how much it had made on its first weekend. That was a clue.
Risher: It was our head of distribution who came to us on Monday and said, “Let’s start writing the sequel.”
RobertShaye: As it happens often with really good movies, they become part of the zeitgeist, then they just continue.
Englund: Shortly after that, because I was big on V, I went to New York to sign autographs at a science-fiction convention. It was William Shatner and me. And Bob Shaye came to take me out to lunch, and he said, “Oh, man, I told you it’s big. I told you, Bobby.” He goes, “Look at this line.” And I said, “Bob, no, you’re wrong. These are my fans from V.” He goes, “No, no, no, no. It’s Freddy. They’re here for Freddy.” So we go out to lunch. I’m taking a break, and I have to come back and sign autographs. I walk out the front door of the Roosevelt Hotel, and there, standing in the rain for half a block, are hardcore punk rockers and heavy metal kids in black leather. They’re all there for Freddy.
Wyss: I was filming something. I never got to see it in the theater. The first time I saw it was on VHS. I personally don’t like being scared. I had to fast-forward through some of the scary parts, and I thought, “Wow, this movie came out really scary.”
Bernstein: The homemade intensity of it all, it just felt so like you could do it with papier-mâché and paper clips. But it did make it even more scary.
Risher: Everybody pitched in and gave ideas and helped figure out ways to do the stunts and the effects that were all in camera.
Doyle: Everything was physical. There was one optical effect in the whole film, when Freddy walks through the bars in the jail room.
Mimi Craven: Every dollar is up there. Every single dollar.
Doyle: I was just like, “Wow, this is doing really well. And wow, I didn’t keep any of the merchandising.” Nobody was making masks of Michael Myers, so we’re like, “Yeah, big fucking deal.” The first year after Nightmare came out, it was the most popular Halloween costume.
Wyss: That Halloween, I was at my mom’s house in Manhattan Beach, and there were little kids dressed up as Freddy, and I was handing out candy. True story. I would say to the parents of the kids, “I play Tina in the movie.” And every single one of them was like, “Yeah, right.” Nobody believed me.
Mimi Craven: I mean, can you imagine? It’s Wes’s creation. When he first saw Freddy costumes, he was just grinning from ear to ear.
These days,the cast and crew are happy to relive the original Nightmare. Now in their 60s,the four teenage stars are still acting. Englund played Freddy in eight films and continues to work regularly. Doyle is now the director of a company that designs high-tech water installations. Risher is an active producer. Turner Broadcasting bought New Line in 1994, and Shaye stepped down from the company in 2008. Craven went on to direct an Elm Street sequel and several more horror classics. In 2015, he died of brain cancer. His work, especially Nightmare, has influenced countless filmmakers, including Jordan Peele and the Duffer brothers. And 40 years later, the genre he ruled is finally ruling Hollywood.
Doyle: People in general are not confident about their connection with the dreamworld because dreams come out of nowhere. And I think Wes found something that was pretty universal. People don’t trust themselves to be cognizant when they’re asleep.
(writer-director, Fear Street trilogy): That idea is so good. It’s just so clean. What if your dreams became reality? And more specifically, what if they were your nightmares? There was no delineation between waking and sleep.
Robert Shaye: You don’t have any defense in your dreams. And if a scary guy says, “I’m going to kill you,” there’s nothing you can do. You can’t run away.
Janiak: There was just something about Freddy Krueger and his deformities. The fact that it felt vaguely sexual to me in a way I didn’t quite understand. Then there was the whole subtext that—I don’t even know how I knew this—maybe he had done something bad to kids. All of that just made me say, “What is inside this movie for me?”
Hutson: What Wes did so well was keep Freddy in the shadows. He barely speaks. He has an insanely little amount of screen time when you actually add it up, but he’s so omnipresent in that movie. The specter of evil.
Langenkamp: I hear so many great stories about people who just got over their own Freddy Kruegers in their life. I love it. I always ask what their story is, and there’s always one.
Janiak: I grew up in the ’80s, and that was the heyday of slasher films. I would watch them at sleepovers. But Nightmare, I was so scared of. I was so scared to watch it for a very long time, and I didn’t watch it until I was fully in my teens.
Englund: I think that there’s something about that experience in the ’80s, sitting on a couch at home on the weekend with that pizza getting cold and the beer getting warm, with Mom and Dad, or an older brother who was trying to scare you. I think that it became almost a surrogate family memory for an awful lot of the fans, a horror movie that you shared with your family. That really made it a kind of American experience.
Wyss: If you actually took the horror out of it, it’s really sort of a sad thriller. And it’s a movie about latchkey kids, the first generation from divorced parents. And I think there were a lot of real emotional connections to the film at the time. It’s not a traditional chop ’em up kind of thing. His glove slashes, but it’s not naked girls running in the woods. It’s this beautiful story of these kids creating their own family.
Langenkamp: There weren’t that many horror movies that were actually getting big audiences back then.
Englund: For a long time, we were sort of the movies that got the shitty table at the commissary.
Langenkamp: Now, I think every month there’s a pretty decent horror movie that’s making good money.
Wyss: I think that it’s almost a rite of passage now to star in a horror film. And it would’ve been great if that had been our experience, but it wasn’t. Our experience was its own thing.
Mimi Craven: There’s an autograph show in Indianapolis. Everybody was there. They all said, “Mimi, you say something about Wes.” And I said, “OK, here’s the story. I know what scared Wes Craven.” And you could hear a pin drop. I said, “What scared him was if when he died, he was only remembered as the schlockmeister.”
Englund: I remember “slasher movie” was forbidden on our set. We hated that. And they also used to call him a horrormeister. Wes Craven, he hated that. But A Nightmare on Elm Street is not a slasher movie. It takes place in the subconscious.
Langenkamp: He just always loved being smart. He loved being funny. And sometimes you feel like you have to hide your fire under a bushel basket, but he never did. He always was just who he was.
Hutson: After my book was done, I went to Wes’s house and I took him copies, and he sat there and was just paging through it. Then he looks at me, he goes, “Can I just sit here and read this? Are you OK if I read a little?” Then he turns to me and he says, “Will you autograph my copy?” It was a really powerful moment for me as someone who wanted to be in the movie business. What I didn’t do was have him sign my copy. What a dolt, right?
Today is Thursday, Oct. 31, the 305th day of 2024. There are 61 days left in the year. This is Halloween.
Today in history:
On Oct. 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi, India’s Prime Minister for more than 15 years, was assassinated by two of her own security guards.
Also on this date:
In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation making Nevada the 36th state, eight days before the presidential election.
In 1913, the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile highway across the United States, was dedicated.
In 1941, work was completed on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, begun in 1927.
In 1950, Earl Lloyd of the Washington Capitols became the first African-American to play in an NBA game; Lloyd would go on to play for nine seasons, winning an NBA championship in 1955 with the Syracuse Nationals.
In 1961, the body of Josef Stalin was removed from Lenin’s Tomb as part of the Soviet Union’s “de-Stalinization” drive.
In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard.
In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.
In 2011, the United Nations estimated that world population had reached seven billion people (world population is greater than eight billion today).
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Lee Grant is 99.
Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather is 93.
Actor Stephen Rea is 78.
Olympic gold medal marathoner Frank Shorter is 77.
Kevin: When we went to do the IPO, it was very, very clear that the digital side was far more valuable than the magazine side. That was the beginning of the craziness. Here’s a magazine that has a lot of revenue, respectability, great enthusiasm, and support from the readership. And here’s this really weird digital side that’s worth 10 times the magazine.
Jane: When Condé Nast bought WIRED and Lycos bought HotWired, the company combined was worth less than the company separated. To this day, we liken it to Nike deciding to sell their footwear to Puma and their apparel to Adidas. Why would you do that? Why would you take the premier brand that had both the technical credibility as well as the upside of the lifestyle and culture stuff and pull it apart?
Jeff: It was a very traditional and typical tech acquisition where the startup gets acquired and comes into the bigger corporate culture. It just doesn’t work very well.
Jane: Louis and I were so crestfallen, heartbroken, and devastated, and everyone’s like, “Yeah, but everyone got rich.” That was not the point. It was a very, very difficult time.
June: Almost all of us started to feel a pretty profound sense of loss and grief that the culture we knew, the values we believed in as innovators and creators, had been lost. That the industry was no longer about innovation, invention, creativity, and certainly not about democratization. That everything was about money.
Well, maybe. There are 5.45 billion internet users on planet Earth, and sure, some of them are bad actors—no argument from WIRED. But most of us are still raving around the internet, hanging with pals, cruising for jobs and mates, catching up on gossip and news, buying and selling stuff, and finding fellow travelers who share our woes and our passions. And, yes, a slice of us are into fraud, abuse, and bad ideology. Did HotWired not anticipate that humans would be human?
A day at the HotWired office
Photograph: Courtesy of Julie Chiron; TREATMENT: JAMES MARSHALL
Ian: Back in those days, we’d say, The nice thing about the internet is how safe it is. Everybody’s there to help you, and everybody just wants to do good things. People asked, Why require passwords for stuff, because who’s going to do anything terrible on the internet?
Kevin: Today, a new thing comes along and people immediately say, “I don’t know what it is, but it’s going to hurt me. It’s going to bite me.” That’s definitely a change that wasn’t present when we were starting.
Jeff: But nostalgia can be dangerous. It was really hard what we did, and stressful, and we didn’t know what we were doing. When people say, “If we could only go back to then,” I’m like, no, we only had modems. It was terrible.
John P: As a business, HotWired failed. But all that stuff that we were doing, it was scientific investigation.
Jonathan: We thought the internet was going to be good for people. We were wrong.
Jeff: I still feel like literally anybody with an idea can start hacking on the web or making apps or things like that. That’s all still there. I think the nucleus of what we started back then still exists on the web, and it still makes me really, really happy.
John: We were lucky with WIRED. With HotWired there was no choice, and we couldn’t do it differently if we went back and tried. But we were unlucky to be first.
Condé Nast eventually bought WIRED’s website too—in 2006.
Animation: James Marshall
Let us know what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor atmail@wired.com.
Modern culture has become dominated by sarcasm, irony, and carefully crafted personas. Sincerity and earnestness have become rare, but still powerful forces. Discover how embracing these qualities can transform personal relationships, enrich public discourse, and inspire acts of genuine heroism.
Sincerity is one of the most important yet under-appreciated traits in today’s world. It’s the simple ability to be open and honest about your thoughts, beliefs, and intentions, without needing to play games, try to manipulate, or retreat to humor or sarcasm when conversations get tough.
First and foremost, sincerity requires you to be honest with yourself and what really matters to you. It means you believe in something, and you are willing to speak and act on that conviction even if it makes you unpopular or unlikable. People will often see you as being genuine and authentic if you stand up for what you believe in, especially when it comes with social costs.
Philosopher Thomas Carlyle emphasized the importance of “sincerity” and identified it as one of the universal threads behind all types of heroes, including writers, political leaders, and religious figures. For Carlyle, heroes don’t just preach or philosophize; they embody their beliefs in every action, making them prime examples of what true conviction looks like. They morally refuse to run, hide, or cower in the face of opposition, even when their very lives are at stake.
Sincerity stands out sharply in our current environment, especially on the internet and social media where we are exposed to countless manufactured images and personas, driven by a general pattern of cultural narcissism and “fake it ’till you make it” philosophies. People believe as long as they can appear “happy” and “successful” on social media then it will become a reality in their actual lives. Lies, distortions, and deception are the modus operandi in today’s online world, you see it almost everywhere.
The scary truth for most people is that sincerity makes you vulnerable and open to criticism. It invites others to judge you for who you are and what you really believe in. Negative feedback comes with the territory, and it will hurt because it will feel like a direct attack on you (and maybe it is). The alternative is to not be yourself – then you’ll never be attacked for who you are. That sounds safe and comfortable, but it’s also a form of quiet surrender.
Hiding Behind Sarcasm
One common way people protect themselves from this vulnerability is by being sarcastic or ironic in how they present themselves and their views.
Sarcasm and irony can become convenient cop-outs when you are confronted with opposition or pushback from others. Instead of staking your ground and defending your beliefs, you can always fall back and tell people, “I was just joking,” or “I didn’t really mean that.”
Nowadays it’s hard to tell what anyone really believes or doesn’t believe, which adds an extra layer of chaos and confusion in what is already a toxic environment for healthy dialogue.
Sarcasm is a common defense mechanism in teens and young adults when confronted with a difficult or uncomfortable situation that they aren’t equipped to talk about. In the movie Inside Out 2 (which I wrote a recent article on here), the character Ennui – who represents disinterest and boredom – was a fun illustration of how sarcasm is used to deflect attention away from more serious situations or conversations that a person isn’t ready to tackle head-on.
This is not uncharacteristic of the modern discourse we see in politics and culture, which is – at its core – childish, dishonest, and insincere. We are taught to not be too serious or care too much about the truth, but to focus on cheap wins, sensationalist headlines, silly memes, gotcha moments, snappy slogans, juicy scandals, and mean-spirited insults, trolling, and harassment. We are focused not on what is true, but what makes us “look good” or “feel good.”
In theory, the goal of a healthy debate is to share different perspectives, exchange information, test out your ideas, provide facts and evidence to support your position, and come to some common ground or understanding of differences. None of this is happening in today’s intellectual environment.
Sarcasm is just one way we avoid and shutdown these honest and difficult conversations. It can be a roadblock to understanding in both personal relationships and broader social and political issues.
Of course sarcasm has its place as a vehicle for humor. It can be especially effective when you are responding to someone who is insulting you, or trolling you, or is acting in bad faith and isn’t interested in a sincere conversation from the start.
At the same time, we need to try to give people the benefit of the doubt and at least try to have good faith conversations whenever possible. Without sincerity, there is no real path forward – only more conflict and hostilities.
Sincerity as the Mark of Heroes
As mentioned before, the philosopher and historian Thomas Carlyle identified “sincerity” as one of the universal threads behind all types of heroes, whether they be writers, philosophers, religious leaders, or political leaders.
In his work On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History, Carlyle champions figures like Martin Luther, the religious reformer who famously nailed his “95 Theses” to the church door, fully aware that it could bring him condemnation and peril. Luther challenged the powerful Catholic Church, especially its practice of selling indulgences, making his public protest an act of great personal risk. This unwavering belief in his cause, despite threats from powerful institutions, is a prime example of sincerity in action.
Similarly, Carlyle held Oliver Cromwell, the military and political leader of the English Civil War, in high regard for his conviction and honesty. Cromwell was often criticized for his decisions, yet he remained steadfast in his mission to reshape England according to his moral and religious beliefs. Carlyle saw Cromwell’s sincerity as his defining characteristic, even if it made him deeply unpopular.
Another chapter is dedicated to the prophet Muhammad. For over a decade, Muhammad faced ridicule, persecution, and exile for preaching his monotheistic beliefs in a society dominated by polytheism. Despite immense personal hardship, including the loss of family and status, Muhammad never wavered or compromised his beliefs, showing an unshakable faith in the truth of his message. As Carlyle writes:
“A silent great soul; he was one of those who cannot but be in earnest; whom Nature herself has appointed to be sincere. While others walk in formulas and hearsays, contented enough to dwell there, this man could not screen himself in formulas; he was alone with his own soul and the reality of things. The great mystery of Existence, as I said, glared in upon him, with its terrors, with its splendors; no hearsays could hide that unspeakable fact, ‘Here am I!’; Such sincerity, as we named it, has in very truth something of divine. The word of such a man is a voice direct from Nature’s own heart. Men do and must listen to that as to nothing else;—all else is wind in comparison.”
Regardless of how you feel about these historical figures, you can’t deny that they were sincere in their intentions and lived according to their values and convictions. These figures, according to Carlyle, demonstrate that heroes are people who not only believe in what they do but live and act upon that belief with wholehearted consistency, even in the face of tremendous personal and social costs.
Sincerity remains a rare force for truth and change, and we need it now more than ever.
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Last week, the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) released a expressing its regret that the US Copyright Office’s refused to grant an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to help preserve rare video games. However, the VGHF continued by saying it won’t back down and will continue advocating for improved video game preservation.
For some context, the VGHF had been a longtime supporter of the Software Preservation Network’s (SPN) petition to receive a for the sake of preserving video games, especially for researchers who need access to them and can’t do so due to unavailability. As the only currently legal way is to get a legitimate hard or soft copy of the game and play it on its corresponding console, researchers are encountering difficulties in progressing in their studies. Piracy would be illegal, of course, which is why the SPN is fighting for an exemption. However, there are those who don’t see things this way.
Despite not convincing the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the US Copyright Office, the VGHF doesn’t regret supporting the SPN’s petition for a DMCA exemption. Its goal, and that of several like-minded organizations (as mentioned by ), is to help preserve out-of-print and obscure video games for future generations to enjoy. The petition sought to allow researchers to access these games remotely from libraries and archives.
The ESA pushed hard against the petition, refusing to allow any remote game access whatsoever. ESA members have even ignored calls for comment on the situation, reports. As the VGHF says, researchers are now forced to use “extra-legal methods to access the vast majority of out-of-print video games that are otherwise unavailable.”
Three years of fighting for a cause and not giving up shows that the VGHF remains committed to video game preservation. The organization ended its statement by calling game industry members to support its cause.
Today is Sunday, Oct. 27, the 301st day of 2024. There are 65 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman shot and killed 11 congregants and wounded six others at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history; authorities said the suspect, Robert Bowers, raged against Jews during and after the rampage. (Bowers was convicted and sentenced to death in 2023.)
Also on this date:
In 1787, the first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the United States Constitution, was published.
In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while flying over Cuba, killing the pilot, U.S. Air Force Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr.
In 1995, a sniper killed one soldier and wounded 18 others at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (Paratrooper William J. Kreutzer was convicted in the shootings and condemned to death; the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.)
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch cut through the western Caribbean, pummeling coastal Honduras and Belize; the storm caused several thousand deaths in Central America in the days that followed.
In 2004, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor-comedian John Cleese is 85.
Author Maxine Hong Kingston is 84.
Country singer Lee Greenwood is 82.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is 79.
November is an important annual opportunity to pause and reflect on the rich cultural heritage, enduring traditions, and profound contributions of America’s indigenous peoples. As a teacher with Apache tribal heritage, I created this list of Native American Heritage Month activities to help fellow educators foster in our students greater respect, empathy, and appreciation for our nation’s indigenous roots.
Since the United States was built upon the ancestral lands of diverse tribal nations, it’s crucial that we take time to honor their legacy through Native American Heritage Month. We can show respect to the original stewards of this land we now all occupy by acknowledging the vibrant cultures, belief systems, and lived experiences of the indigenous people who have called these regions home for millennia.
Jump to:
What is Native American Heritage Month?
President George H.W. Bush signed a joint resolution in 1990 to designate November as Native American Heritage Month. During this month, all Americans are invited to deepen their understanding and appreciation of Native communities across the country. This commemoration provides a dedicated chance to educate ourselves, amplify Native voices, and find meaningful ways to support tribal sovereignty and self-determination. Whether it’s attending cultural events, reading works by Native authors, or learning about our arts and culture, this is the time to honor the first people of this country and ensure their rightful place in the national narrative.
Before You Get Started: Important Note From the Author
WolvesEye Photography, published with permission
As you celebrate Native American Heritage Month with your students, here are some important tips for approaching Native traditions and activities with the respect and reverence they deserve.
Respect the depth of Native traditions
As you seek to learn more about the rich cultural heritage of our Native people through Native American Heritage Month activities, it’s important to approach this exploration with a deep sense of respect and reverence. Native culture is not merely costumes or gimmicks to be donned for a fleeting trend—they represent ancient, living traditions that are profoundly personal to our families and our way of life. These practices and beliefs have been passed down through generations, carrying the weight and wisdom of the ancestors who came before. They are not to be treated lightly or superficially, but rather with the understanding that you are being welcomed into a world of profound spiritual and communal significance.
Engage with curiosity and humility
When you have the opportunity to engage with Native customs, whether through attending a local event or reaching out to a tribal organization, approach it with an open heart and mind. Rather than assuming you know or understand, be prepared to listen and learn. Ask thoughtful questions, be receptive to teachings, and participate with genuine curiosity and humility. Remember that these traditions are not mere performances but living, breathing expressions of identity, connection, and legacy. By doing so, you honor the resilience and perseverance of our people, who have endured centuries of upheaval and yet continue to keep our lifeways alive.
Seek out authentic cultural celebrations and connections
As you navigate this journey of discovery, keep an eye out for cultural celebrations and gatherings taking place in your area. Powwows.com is a great resource for events taking place all over the Native country. These events offer invaluable opportunities to immerse yourself in the sights, sounds, and spirit of Native communities. And if possible, seek out direct connections with local tribes, who can provide you with the most authentic and meaningful insights into their histories, traditions, and contemporary experiences.
Native American Heritage Month Activities
Thank you for taking an interest in who we are and what we are all about. Have fun and be safe with these Native American Heritage Month activities!
Warrior Up! Active Native American Heritage Month Activities
A warrior has to be strong, skillful, and sharp. There are many ways to train the mind, body, and spirit. Are your students willing to put themselves to the test and join in these fun yet challenging Native American Heritage Month activities? Come on then, it’s time to warrior up!
1. Hoop Dancing
WolvesEye Photography, published with permission
The Hoop Dance is one of many styles of dance that originated as a healing dance. The story tells us that each time the dancer passes through their hoop, a day is added onto the life of the sick individual they are dancing for. Everything from the shapes they create with their the hoops to the selection of wood is carefully considered in this sacred dance.
Today, the dance has grown in popularity and is now practiced all throughout the Native country. Hoop Dance competitions have also helped spread interest in this particular dance. The pinnacle of the Hoop Dance contests is the World Hoop Dance Competition hosted by the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. If you are in the area, this is definitely an event you’ll want to experience!
As a physical activity, you can use Hula-Hoops of various sizes to create your own shapes and dances. There are plenty of great powwow songs to listen to while dancing. Search “powwow music” on any music media source and you’ll find lots to choose from.
2. The Arctic Winter Games
The Arctic is one of the harshest environments on the planet. Despite the challenges of arctic life, the Inuit people have survived there for thousands of years. One way they maintain their strength and grit is through tough physical challenges. The Arctic Winter Games and the World Eskimo-Indian Olympic Games are two of the biggest competitions held in the region.
The Kneel Jump is an example of an elite Arctic game. The challenge is designed to teach people how to quickly get to their feet if a predator is nearby. Are you and your students up for the challenge? Watch the video above to learn the story of the Kneel Jump. Plus check out this video to learn about more games in the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics.
3. Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a fast-paced game that takes place on a large field. Two teams compete to shoot a small ball into the opposing team’s goal. The ball is passed and shot via a wooden stick with a small net on the end. Although the game has evolved slightly, its essence is still deeply rooted in the Native culture in which it originated. This game was practiced for centuries by our Native people. The story of its origins holds deep spiritual meaning for the tribes that practice lacrosse. Use the videos posted here to learn more about the game.
You may want to adopt fewer physical rules to play at school. For example, you can use Ultimate Frisbee rules, where a person can’t run when they have the ball. Therefore, they must pass the ball once they catch it. Coordinate with your P.E. teacher to see what modifications can be made to ensure a fun and safe experience for your students.
In Native culture, our tribes are grouped into clans. Each clan consists of a number of families. Depending on your tribe, you may identify with your father’s or your mother’s clan. Each clan is known for its unique characteristics and is identified by an animal or element. For example, my wife belongs to the Quechan tribe, one of the many diverse Colorado River tribes. The river was the main source of life for her people and therefore held great significance in their daily lives. She belongs to the Muskrat Clan. Muskrats are remarkably adept aquatic creatures, perfectly adapted to thrive in the rushing currents and tranquil backwaters of the mighty Colorado. Just as the muskrat is supremely comfortable navigating the river’s winding channels and submerged banks, so too are the Quechan people inextricably linked to this life-giving waterway.
Here’s your chance to group your class into clans. As a clan, each group will need to decide which element or animal represents them. Then, they can design a nameplate that is displayed during class. This month can double as not only a cultural month but a chance for team-building Native American Heritage Month activities and skills. You can award students points for exhibiting exemplary characteristics as a clan throughout the month. The clan with the most points at the end of the month wins.
Before you get started, watch the video above about clan structure and purpose.
Taste of Tradition: Native American Food
In Native culture, food is more than something we eat. Food is a way to connect to our ancestors. It is the medicine of the land. Food is our connection to our Mother Earth and our Creator. Food teaches us and reminds us of our place in the sacred hoop of life. Join us for some traditional dishes as you reflect on your own family recipes and what they mean to you.
5. Acorn Cookies
Have you ever had the pleasure of hiking through a beautiful oak grove on a cool fall afternoon? If so, you probably noticed the forest floor was littered with acorns. These special seeds were a staple of many California Native tribes like the Miwok, the Ohlone, and the Kumeyaay to name a few. Acorns are full of delicious nutrients that are important to our health. Preventing free radicals from forming in your body and reducing swelling are just some of the benefits found in acorn consumption. If prepared correctly, they also make a delicious, nutritious Native treat: cookies!
Is food more than just something we eat? Could food also be medicine? Sometimes we refer to our traditional foods as “good medicine” because it keeps our bodies in balance, strong, and healthy. One such food is corn, which is considered a sacred food in our Native culture as it is used in many ceremonies. You can use every part of the corn. For example, corn pollen is used as a prayer powder in the Apache Sunrise Ceremony.
Together as a class, enjoy the process of making your own corn dish. From measuring, mixing, and baking, you and your students will have a wonderful experience. If you’re feeling brave, grab a molcajete and have the students grind some corn kernels by hand.
7. Wojapi
As we enter the month of November, I’m sure you are only halfway through your Halloween candy. But did you know that nature has candy too? Yes, it’s true. I’m talking about nature’s berries and fruit, of course. A large number of tribes spend time gathering the local berries and preparing them in various types of dishes. Wojapi is a Lakota-style dish prepared from the berries that grow in their traditional lands that once ranged from North and South Dakota and into some neighboring states. Remember, before the colonies were formed on the East Coast, land was not divided by states but rather divided by geographic features and hunting territories.
Are you ready to gather some berries and prepare a delicious meal? Watch the video above to learn to make wojapi with our Lakota elder.
8. Potlatch
Potlucks are very popular ways to celebrate the harvest season in November. As Native people, we also have many gatherings centered around the sharing of food. One such gathering is the potlatch. Potlatch is a Nuu-chah-nulth word that means “gift” or “to give.” Traditionally the host tribe ensures that all of the guests are provided with an assortment of gifts, food, and entertainment. Creating good memories and good feelings is a cornerstone of our Native culture.
Now it’s your turn to host a potlatch. Together, plan the food, entertainment, and gifts you will exchange with another class. You may want to use some of the food and art ideas from this article. This might be a great way to end Native American Heritage Month in a grand fashion, but feel free to hold your potlatch at a time that best suits you.
To get started, watch the video above as a brief intro to the potlatch.
Get Cozy: Quiet Cultural Native American Heritage Month Activities
During the 1800s, tribal leaders met with the United States to discuss the new laws of the land. When United States officers and officials met with tribal leaders, they would sometimes meet several times over the course of a few days. The officers and officials were often impressed by how quietly and attentively our Native leaders listened, especially when they realized that the tribal leaders could recall everything that was said over the course of the whole meeting despite never having written anything down. Native culture is composed of oral tradition instead of writing. Elders and adults pass down lessons through stories and songs to the children. Being a good listener is a way of life, not just a skill to help us in school. Here are some quieter Native American Heritage Month activities that help explore our Native culture.
As you learned earlier in this article, food is sacred, and in the Southwest, corn is that food. Today, we can make a beautiful work of art to honor the corn plant. Pony beads are the main material for this art project. Unlike corn, pony beads were not native to this land—they were brought over in the 1800s by European settlers as a means to trade with the Native people. You’ll find pony beads and seed beads in multitudes of our traditional clothing and jewelry.
You can learn more about the introduction of glass beads on this continent by clicking on the link below. Let’s see what kinds of beautiful corn will come from your students!
November is the month in which we celebrate Native American heritage, but it’s also the month of Thanksgiving, a cherished holiday when we spend time with loved ones and give thanks for our blessings. Family lineage is an important part of our Native culture and is often presented when speaking to an audience or when introducing ourselves. Our lineage helps identify who we are, who we are related to, and where we come from.
What a wonderful time to reflect on your own family. Using these family tree templates, students can construct a family tree as you learn more about where they come from and the unique heritage of their family lineage.
11. Creative Writing
All Native people love hearing a good story by the warm firelight. We have stories about everything on this earth. From the tiny ant to the first fire to the stars in the sky, we have stories about how they all came to be.
First explore some of these magnificent stories of the Choctaw Nation. When you’re finished exploring, it’s time for students to write their own story. Using creative writing, have them describe how things came to be in their natural environment. Let their imaginations run wild with this one. Then gather together for some original storytelling as they share their writing with peers.
12. Read a Book
We Are Teachers; Stephanie Sanders
Books have the power to take us on incredible journeys and open our eyes to different perspectives. Native American stories, whether passed down through generations or shared in modern works, offer a unique window into the rich cultures, traditions, and histories of indigenous peoples.
Start by exploring this list of Native American books, each one filled with meaningful stories that reflect the diverse experiences of indigenous communities. As you read, ask students to think about the lessons, characters, and themes that resonate with them. When you’re finished reading, have students discuss the stories and share what inspired or moved them.
Get Crafty: Native American Heritage Month Crafts
Our symbols, colors, and designs all tell a story about who we are and where we come from. Do you have a story to tell? What will your art say about you? Let’s dive into some fun art-focused Native American Heritage Month activities!
13. Clay Pottery
As you explore the tribes across this country, you will find many forms of clay pottery. Clay is a natural substance found in the earth, usually near water. When clay is prepared correctly, it can be baked in an oven to harden and preserve the structural integrity of the vessel it has been formed into.
Check out these great videos to witness the magical process of bringing a piece of pottery to life. The video above is about Piipaash pottery, and the one below is about Catawba pottery of the past and today.
When you’re finished, grab some clay and have your students start making their own pottery. What designs will you add? What colors and symbols hold meaning to you? You can host a pottery art show when you are finished.
14. Turtle Island Crafts
The term “Turtle Island” is used all throughout the Native country. It’s how we describe the North American continent. Oddly enough, when you look at a map of the continent, it resembles a turtle. Here’s the weird part though: The story of Turtle Island is older than any historical map. So how did we know?
When exploring the art and culture of our Native people, you’ll see an array of beautiful designs and colors masterfully composed in various mediums. Something to consider, though, is that all of the colors, symbols, and designs have meanings and historical value. For example, often the color blue represents the water of a nation. Sometimes the color red can represent the blood of our people.
Then, ask students to think about their own designs, colors, and symbols. How will they represent themselves, their family, and their community?
16. Cave Painting
There are few works of art that can take us deeper into the past than cave paintings. Some cave paintings are estimated to be thousands of years old! What did the artists intend to communicate through their paintings and markings? Can you decipher the meanings? What would you want to tell people in the future about your current generation, your current world?
Check out the video above about Panel Rock in Utah. Then watch this cave art video with creative ideas. Finally, get your materials ready for students to create their own cave painting.
17. Cardboard Roll Canoe
A canoe is an essential vessel for coastal tribes that navigate the waters of their homelands. Tribal elders and leaders of the community teach the youth canoe-making as a spiritual process. Some of these traditional practices became rare, even extinct. Thankfully, some tribes are reviving the practice of birchbark canoe-making.
First watch the video above to see how this tribe makes their traditional birchbark canoes. Then learn how to make your own canoe craft out of cardboard rolls.
18. Fall Leaf Dwelling
Many Native tribes throughout history have skillfully utilized the natural resources found in their surrounding environments to construct their dwellings and shelters. For example, woodland tribes used logs and trees to construct longhouses. Alternatively, tribes inhabiting more arid, desert-like areas used clay, adobe bricks, and other pliable earth-based elements to build their homes, which helped insulate them against intense heat. No matter the specific landscape, our Native people possessed an intimate understanding of the ecosystems and could sustainably harvest the natural materials at hand to meet our essential housing needs.
Can your students gather from your local environment in a sustainable way to craft their own miniature dwelling? Start by watching this video on Native American dwellings. Then watch the video above to learn how to make a DIY Native dwelling.
19. Kachina Dolls
Kachinas are powerful spiritual beings that have existed with the Hopi people since the beginning of time. They have taught the Hopi about ceremonies and ways of life, and out of gratitude, the Hopi people honor the kachina with songs, dances, and kachina dolls. Each kachina is unique and has a name and a specific purpose. For example, Crow Mother is the guardian of the children. You and your class can learn more about kachinas from the videos below.
The talking stick is a great addition to any classroom. Tribes have been using the talking stick for generations. As a democratic society, we believed in letting all of our leaders speak in our lodges. Big decisions were discussed and agreed upon by the whole tribe, and in this way, we remained close together, unified in our movements.
A talking stick should represent the people. If you’re creating one for your class, first watch the video above to learn more about talking stick usage. Then you can invite students to bring in a small trinket to tie onto the stick. Other options may include colored beads, or paint that each child chooses. This way when the speaker is holding the talking stick, they are holding the attention and good intentions of all the people who contributed to it. You may want to try the talking stick in your class discussions. Let’s see how the talking stick can impact your classroom.
21. Huichol Bead Art
Upon first setting eyes on Huichol bead art, you’ll surely be drawn in by its complex, intricate designs and vibrant colors. But if you ask the artist about the meaning, you’ll be even more intrigued as you learn that each color and design holds a specific meaning.
Learn more by watching the above video as an introduction to Huichol bead art, with information about designs and meanings. Then, head to your local art supply store or go online to purchase a variety of beads to be used in your own Huichol-inspired art. You can ask students to bring in an object that will be covered and decorated with the beads, or they can simply compose the design on paper. Don’t forget your glue!
22. Totem Poles
The iconic totem pole has long been seen in American culture, but do we truly understand its historical meaning and significance to the people? Totem poles are used to represent families and their history. Each clan or family is represented by various elements and animals. The family lineage is then told by stacking these elements and animals on the totem pole. This beautiful tradition is still practiced today.
Start by watching this video on totem poles today. Then watch the video above with totem pole ideas, so your class can start making your own totem stories.
23. Garden Planting
If you’ve ever driven by an agricultural field, you undoubtedly noticed rows and rows of the same crop. For example, you might see hundreds of heads of lettuce when passing through the field in Yuma, Arizona, or hundreds of rows of strawberries when cruising through beautiful Watsonville, California. Differing from this practice, native agriculture uses various seeds in the same growing space. This is called companion planting because the plants help each other as they grow together.
The Three Sisters is a famous example of this model of growing. How wonderful would it be to start a small garden at your school? The Three Sisters Garden is an easy, fun way to start. Just be sure you are planning for the correct growing season. Usually, the Three Sisters—squash, corn, and beans—have to be planted in the spring. However, this can be a great time to draw a blueprint of your garden and start campaigning for donations, while also preparing the ground and building your gardening team.
You don’t have to go to a museum to see photos of Native Americans or to read their inspiring words. You can turn your school hallways into a museum experience by printing our photos and quotes of famous Native Americans and hanging them in the halls. Students will be inspired as the hallways come to life and speak into their lives with words of encouragement and wisdom.
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