“All of this has something to do with a girl named Marla Singer.”

–Fight Club

Halloween when you’re a child is one night of the year and it’s the highpoint of your calendar. Halloween when you’re in college is a month of festivities every weekend once you hit October. By the end of the month, you’re pining for the next holiday. 

For Halloween this year, I went as Marla Singer from Fight Club.

My brother and I watched Fight Club when we were in middle school after we found it on TV and caught hell from our mother for being up so late watching TV. 

I read the book in high school but didn’t finish it. 

One of my teachers told me that it would be hard to read a book about how capitalism was destroying our society when you still listen to One Direction. 

Regardless, I went as Marla. I love a messy female character, which makes Helena Bonham-Carter’s body of work perfect every Halloween. Everyone thought that I was someone from The Devil Wears Prada or a witch of some kind. 

I made slutty brownies for the party. Slutty brownies, for those who don’t know, are brownies that have oreos and cookies in the mix. They’re indulgent, hedonistic brownies and they’re a big hit. 

The next night, I had another party to go to. The assignment was to come dressed as your favorite writer, so I went dressed as myself.

I wasn’t sure if it was iconic, cringey, or just pretentious, but I thought it was funny and easier than putting together an Edgar Allen Poe costume at the last minute.

So how did I dress to be myself?

A black turtleneck, black boots, cheetah print coat, red nails, and giant sunglasses on my head. In other words, I dressed as a parody of myself.

I also thought that there was a 90% chance that everyone else would dress like themselves as well, but no. David Foster Wallace, Nabakov, disgraced J.K. Rowling (a person wore a bag over their head), and Edgar Allen Poe, just to name a few.

Continuing the festivities, my friend Julia and I carved a pumpkin, whilst watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown,” a proper Halloween tradition.

Olivia and I went to a party in midtown in which I knew no one there, but I nonetheless walked around, explaining my costume to everyone anyway. 

On Halloween night, I went with my roommate, who was dressed as Chef’s Kiss, and her friend, who was dressed as Reverse Cowgirl, to Columbia’s gay-straight-alliance party at a nearby bar. We spent the night getting free drinks from a bartender that was dressed as Bob Ross, and meeting people who did not get our costume references.

Then, I brought the curtain down on my Halloween season, 2024.

It wasn’t a wild Halloween filled with an in-costume bar crawl, but I did damage to my liver as part of my favorite holiday. 

I can’t wait for Halloween 2025.

The Tragic Queen,

Raquel

P.S.: Read about the Halloween that I spent in Italy and went to a nightclub dressed as a character from Rocky Horror Picture Show in Creature of the Night