"World Goth Day" (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; Patt Morrison (SCPR.org)

WARNING: Mildly offensive language and sidesplitting humor.

 

May 22nd is WORLD GOTH DAY -- a time to wear true black, torn lace, toxic face powder, and smeared lipstick. 

It turns out the metaphorical human heart is liable to profound melancholy and infinite sadness, particularly if forced to listen to Willy Organ's Smashed Squashes. 

  

Trench coats on, sexuality out, cue the fog machine, and get pessimistic about everything. Nothing is too petty, such as the price of nail polish at Sephora. Nothing is too scandalous, such as having been molested. Only Dr. Gabor Mate both understands and sympathizes.

   

Are these Princes and Princesses of Darkness witches, Wiccans, Pagans, or pretas imperiled by their practices? Death comes soon enough and often lasts a long time. Why act dead now?

The ones at the Mall seem to be none of the above. But it is a worldwide phenomenon far beyond American shores. William Hughes, a Gothic Studies professor at England's Bath Spa University, explains it all to radio host Patt Morrison:

  

"Gothic in the middle ages, the architectural Gothic, was based upon the play of light and shade -- the alternation of darkness and light. And of course to some extent, Goth music today plays with that too."

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