Halloween Howl in the Modern Jungle

Week 9 Observations

It is nearly 2 o’ clock on a Thursday afternoon and the Modern Jungle is packed full of more people than I have seen in any of the previous weeks. As I walk in from the entrance in the Feeding hole, I notice several people are still eating or buying food, even though it is well past the lunchtime that normally occurs here (usually about noon or 1:00PM). Out of curiosity, I follow the groups of people in front of me out to the walkways where I see booth after booth advertising every type of business or organization you can think of. All of these new booths were not here last week and must have just recently, sometime this week or today, been set up. Based off of the many costumes I have seen purchased by the people in the Jungle walking in and out of Spindles and Haute Tiger, these booths decided to set up here this week because they assumed more people would shop at the jungle in order to buy costumes, makeup, etc.

I want to confirm my suspicions as to why so many people are here shopping (as I mentioned before, I think it is because of the Halloween holiday), so I walk towards Spindles where several costumes are sold and being advertised. Walking, I pass booths advertising the community college, banks, sports, small businesses, etc. in this city. Before going to the end of the mall to check out Spindles, I see an older woman and a lady much younger looking enter a clothing store, so I follow in after them to see what types of people are shopping here and for what products. The older woman is probably in her late 60s and the young lady she is with looks like she is around 23 years old. I overhear the young lady call the older woman’s attention with “Grandma!” and when the she turned around from looking at a rack of clothes, the young lady holds up a small, black tank top covered in red sparkles and has a giant grin on her face. The grandma smiles condescendingly as she waves her finger back and forth and walking towards the lady. I see the young lady sigh, shrug her shoulders, and then continue looking through the racks of clothing. By the time I leave the store, the older woman is paying for a festive outfit for the young lady at the cash register. In this case, the grandmother seems to be buying her granddaughter an outfit for Halloween which illustrates their relationship and the nurturance the grandmother gives her grandchild.

Now that I have left the clothing store and made it past more booths to Spindles, my assumptions are confirmed. At least 10 people are in this store specifically looking for costumes and theatrical makeup to paint their faces. I see a teenage boy buy a clown costume and a giant face painting kit, two teenage girls look at black stockings, and several others looking at outfits. It has been a little over an hour now, so I make my way towards the exit. The booths are still setup and people are swarming around picking up pamphlets and free gifts such as pens or water bottles advertising each booth’s company name. I avoid the booths and walk closer to the wall instead of the center of the walkway and finally make it back to my car and leave the Jungle.