Two more entries on haunted places. I don’t think my apartment has a formal Halloween party. I may just walk around the city a while in my scariest costume, myself.
Washington Irving wrote of “a drowsy, dreamy influence” that “seems to hang over the land and to pervade the very atmosphere” in “The Legend of Sleep Hollow,” his 1820 short story about a lovelorn schoolteacher. I have been to New York City a few times but don’t really know the upstate parts of the area. They appear to be very beautiful; an the entry says Irving was “enchanted” by the area. I thought this story was very funny, but one of my grad school classmates who was better read said Irving was racist. I thought “Rip Van Winkle” was an interesting story because it seemed to imply the American revolution was a mistake, yet it was written by an American.
Angkor Wat is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu in Cambodia, built in the 12th century. It is now part of a 154-square-mile park with ruins from the Khmer Empire, which lasted about six centuries until the 15th century. The site is “the world’s largest religious monument and an architectural work of art.” Heads in the sculptures “smile so mysteriously they might just make the Mona Lisa look like Kim Kardashian.” The temple gives visitors “an overwhelming sense of awe and disorientation.” Cambodia has a pervasive belief in ghosts and the supernatural, especially in agrarian areas. The quietness of forests at night seems to reinforce this. Weapon bearing scarecrows, called ting mong, scare away evil spirits who haven’t entered heaven because “they are still very angry.”
Two jokes:
What do religious people chant at Church protests? “Hell no! We won’t go (to hell! No!”) “Hell no! We won’t go (to Hell! No!) …
“Shut the f— up!” “No, shut the f— down and give me 20, wait, no, 50! You’re not athletic, but I hear that while it’s hard at first, it gets easier and is pleasant after a while. I’ll watch.”