Halloween . . . drag . . .

Already there is Halloween stuff for sale at Menards.  No doubt this is because there isn't much to buy for Labor Day and they don't really do school supplies.  This year I'm less interested in the use of pumpkins to mark the boundaries of land and more in the phenomenon of costumes.  Perhaps someone will want to dress up as a laborer for Halloween, rather than as a cowboy or a Disney Princess.  If so, Menards would be place to go for the outfit.  Or, to draw upon current use of the term, to buy the clothing for one's drag.

We are what we wear?  Yes or no.  Discuss.

Clothing is important in Ragtime, especially for Coalhouse, but not only for him.  Clothing is really important in Gay New York.  After all it is from this context that we get the term "drag."  AmCon students may recall my use of my own clothing as costumes last year during Week One as well as the clothing which Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere  wore in their portraits. All of us using clothing to signal something about our identity and expectations for behavior.

As we consider how America (and Americans) re-make themselves.  We'll do well to pay attention to clothing.