I woke up with a start at the beginning of this summer. I had dreamt that a human–sized pig saved my life and then looked me in the eyes to say: “Please don’t eat me and my friends.”
Thus began the summer I turned kosher.
I grew up in a family full of superstitions—though I’ll admit the lines between superstition and religion are difficult to cleanly draw. My family was never one for dogma, but they would take any and every precaution against the unknown forces of the universe. To this day, I never let my feet touch a book, and I try to avoid stepping over people’s legs to get around them. I’ve even adopted my own superstitions—like avoiding pork at any cost even though I grew up in a Hindu family that eats beef.
Personally, I find comfort in my superstitions, especially at college. When everything in life feels a little bit out of control, it’s nice to imagine that my lucky shirt might just give me a slight edge on my exam or the sardines in my BLT will grant me good favor as I enter the graduate school application process. Betting on luck has never hurt anyone.
This issue digs into all things spooky and superstitious. Focus beat Sadie Daniel examines the ethics of casual jogs in The Woodlands Cemetery. Print Managing Editor Jules Lingenfelter investigates a missing skull that was rumored to be in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts at Penn. And our Film & TV section is excited to announce the best horror movies to watch this Halloween season.
It can be embarrassing to admit you still abide by superstition—akin to admitting that you’re scared of the dark in your twentysomethings. After all, we’re supposed to be rational, listening to science rather than the imaginary boogeymen in our closets. But, still it’s hard not to believe in the unknown at times.
My mom got my astrology chart as a kid, but she didn’t tell me until I graduated. I laughed at the entire premise, finding it silly and misguided. But I reread it recently while working on this issue. Let me tell you, “Nitin” was onto something. Somehow he managed to read that I would get into a long–term relationship with a woman at the start of my junior year of college, that I would end up in a career in mass media, and that I would be drawn to leadership positions, where at my worst I could be a pushy and aggressive leader. Somehow my career at Street has answered all of those predictions. Call it luck. Call it karma. Call it a coincidence. However you want to explain it, there’s got to be something there.
