Nelson Mandela's Letter To Our President-Elect

TransGriot Note: I've been comparing this historic election of our first African-American president to the 1994 one in which South Africans stood in long lines to elect Nelson Mandela as South Africa's first Black president. Here's Nelson Mandela's congratulatory letter to our president-elect.


5 November 2008

Senator Barack Obama,
Chicago

Dear Senator Obama,

We join people in your country and around the world in congratulating you on becoming the President-Elect of the United States. Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.

We note and applaud your commitment to supporting the cause of peace and security around the world. We trust that you will also make it the mission of your Presidency to combat the scourge of poverty and disease everywhere.

We wish you strength and fortitude in the challenging days and years that lie ahead. We are sure you will ultimately achieve your dream making the United States of America a full partner in a community of nations committed to peace and prosperity for all.

Sincerely,

N R Mandela

Duanna Johnson Found Dead

TransGriot Note: Remember Duanna Johnson, whose beat down by Memphis cops was caught on tape a few months ago and led to a lawsuit against the Memphis Po-Po's?

She'd been having a rough time lately in Memphis. Unfortunately she was found dead November 9, and we'll be adding her name to the long list of people we honor when we have the Remembering Our Dead ceremonies in a few weeks.

Here's the commentary from the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition


TTPC Reacts to Murder of Duanna Johnson in Memphis


It is with great sadness today that we must report the murder of Duanna Johnson in Memphis. Miss Johnson is the transgendered woman whose beating by members of the Memphis Police Department on February 12, 2008, was captured by a surveillance camera.

Memphis Police are asking anyone with information about Duanna Johnson's death to call Crime Stoppers at (901) 528-CASH.

The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition wishes to extend our condolences to the family and friends of Duanna Johnson.


"We consider this latest crime to be a real tragedy," said Dr. Marisa Richmond, President of TTPC. "We urge any and all individuals with any information about this crime to step forward immediately so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice. It is also time for the State of Tennessee to add 'gender identity or expression' to the Hate Crimes Enhancement Factors in Tennessee Code Annotated 40-35-114 (23), and for the Federal Government to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act," continued Richmond.

This latest tragedy is just one more in a growing number of anti-LGBT hate crimes across Tennessee. It is also the third murder of an African American transwoman in Memphis in less than three years.

The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition insists that the February 16, 2006, murder of Tiffany Berry in Memphis be prosecuted aggressively and that the courts reject the anticipated 'trans panic' defense.

We also urge the Memphis Police Department to step up its investigation of the July 1, 2008, murder of Ebony Whitaker.

In other parts of Tennessee, we insist that local authorities aggressively investigate and prosecute additional hate crimes including the murder of Nakia Baker in Nashville on January 7, 2007, the ongoing harassment of a gay man at his home in McMinnville, and the tragic shooting in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, and other crimes motivated by hate based on a person's sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. All of these events show that there needs to be increased education across Tennessee about the LGBT community, and a more serious look at hate crimes covering both sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) is an organization designed to educate and advocate on behalf of transgender related legislation at the Federal, State and local levels. TTPC is dedicated to raising public awareness and building alliances with other organizations concerned with equal rights legislation.

For more information, or to make a donation, contact:

Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition
P.O. Box 92335
Nashville, TN 37209
http://ttgpac.com
TTGPAC@aol.com
(615)293-6199
(615)353-1834 fax

Bye CU, Hello Louisville

I'm back in Da Ville after a wonderful weekend in Boulder taking part in this weekend's Transforming Gender Symposium. Thanks to Stephanie, Andee and Angela for the invitation and all the volunteers and panelists who helped make this weekend a well run and informative one.

It was also an honor to finally meet and talk to Katastrophe, Ryka, Krista, and Michelle and to continue the conversations we started during this weekend. It was also neat to have a Canadian perspective on some of these issues courtesy of Krista and Michelle.

I was also surprised and pleased to receive a visit from Liz, one of my TSTB sisters. We spent a few hours laughing and talking about a few issues until we both started dozing on each other around 11 PM MST.

But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and I had to reluctantly hug and say goodbye to Liz since I had to get some sleep and get up at 3 AM for my shuttle which was picking me up at 3:30 AM. I had a 6 AM MST flight out of Denver International to Chicago-O'Hare and my connecting flight to Louisville.

After two uneventful flights, I ended up at home about 2:30 PM EST. Dawn caught me up with local events before I trudged up to my room and opened my bag to see if my CU coffee mug survived the trip.

It did, and I drifted off to some well deserved rest after a long but satisfying weekend in Boulder.

Thanks for the invite CU GLBT Resource Center. I hope it doesn't take me twenty more years to return to the Denver area next time.

Still In Colorado

Hey people. Still in Boulder checking out the conference and will be heading back to the Bluegrass State tomorrow. I almost don't want to leave, it's so beautiful out here and on the CU campus.

Got a chance to walk around it yesterday. It is so close to the mountains. Was a little windy yesterday, but has calmed down today.

My keynote speech was last night and I'll post the full text of it later. I ended up having to cut a few pages. I always worry about not having enough speech to cover my allotted time, but it turns out I tend to have far more speech than time to deliver it.

Still getting compliments for it, so as long as the people attending it and the wonderful people who brought me out here liked it, then it's a success. I've also had fun meeting some of the CU students who read TransGriot and getting to know some of my fellow panelists.

Still tripping about how fast the fallout over the Prop 8 loss turned racist and ugly, spurred on and stirred up by Rush and his conservafriends. I wrote a post about it on Bilerico called 'Fallin' For The Okey-Doke' that I haven't checked for nasty grams yet.

While I'm saddened and disgusted about the Prop 8 loss, instead of getting pissed off at African-Americans in general, the GLB community needs to remember who the real culprits are: the folks who put this up to a vote in the first place.

Hope the GLB community remembers this and how they felt the next time they hear one of their own suggest that transpeople need to be cut out of ENDA.

On my lunch break before my 4 PM MST panel discussion, so I'm gonna rustle up some food. The hosts were feeding me, but its vegan fare and y'all know I like my beef.

Live From Boulder, It's Moni!

Finally made it to Boulder, CO after flying since 12:45 PM EST from Da Ville. Weather was beautiful for most of the trip down to DFW and up to DEN with very little chop. I was also pleased to discover that this hotel, the Boulder Outlook not only is within rock throwing distance of the CU campus, it has complementary Internet access.

As I mentioned in some earlier posts this is my first trip back to the area in 20 years. This town has definitely changed and Boulder is more beautiful than I remember it.

Only drama I had was when I was trying to make my connection out of DFW to my Denver flight and the gate info I was given turned out to be incorrect. I ended up in Terminal B instead of next door in Terminal C where my bird was departing from, but fortunately I got there early, and thanks to the efficient Skylink trains I got there in enough time to grab a barbecue sandwich before boarding my flight.

I'm revising the speech as I write this. A lot of what I'll be talking about hinged on Tuesday's election results, so although I usually like having these speeches done with plenty of time to revise and polish them, I'll have until 6:30 PM MST tomorrow to get it as close to perfect as I'd like it.

Speaking of working on speeches, guess I better get back to the room and handle my business. I've been operating on three hours of sleep and if the Phenomenal Transwoman is going to look her best, she needs to crash.

Headed To Boulder, CO!

Hey peeps!
Headed to Boulder CO to be the keynote speaker for the TRANScending Gender Conference kicking off tomorrow on the CU Boulder campus.

Will tell y'all about it either when I get back or if I manage to get computer access sometime during my stay there.

President Elect Obama's Victory Speech

The victory speech.

Yes We Did!

It's one time I will happily say (and will write the post on November 5 if it plays out) I was wrong about an issue. I've always told friends that I believed the United States was too obstinately racist to ever put in my lifetime an African-American man in the Oval Office. I've always believed for that reason the first African-American president would be a woman rather than an African-American man.

Monica Roberts, October 1, 2008

Okay, I'll say it. I was wrong. And I'm saying it with a wide as Texas smile on my face.

What my people have been hoping, dreaming and praying for to happen for almost 150 years has finally come true. We have an African-American president.

President Elect Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

Come January 20 the White House will have occupants who share the same heritage as the people who built it.

He didn't just squeak by. It was an electoral college blowout. He garnered 61 million votes, the most in US history. The victory was especially sweet because he also exorcised the ghosts of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004.

In one fell swoop the election of President-elect Obama (God, I love the sound of that) has begun the repair the damage to our country's international good name severely damaged by the Bush misadministration.

It's a history making election on a lot of levels, and one which I and a lot of people around the world will be celebrating for a while. I cried when he hit the magic 270 mark at 11 PM EDT and thought about how my late grandmother would have loved to have seen this.

We African-Americans were dancing in the streets last night. We were joined by our fellow Americans and people around the world. We're standing a little taller and smiling a lot wider this morning.

It's a new morning on America. For the first time many of us have a reason to be proud of our country. I'm loving the fact that for the first time in a while I have a president I can be proud of and look up to.

I'm happy that on my niece's ninth birthday she'll get to witness the inauguration of our nation's first African-American president.

And so will I.

I've Voted-Now It's Your Turn

I've done my civic duty, now it's time for you to do yours. If you haven't voted, please do so.

If you need to know where your precinct is, click on this link

"There's no question that in the next thirty or forty years a Negro can also achieve the same position that my brother has as president of the United States, certainly within that period of time."

Robert F. Kennedy, May 1961

Depending on where you live, you'll have until 6 or 7 PM to cast your ballot. So let's do this. Get your vote on. There's history to be made today.

It's E-Day

It's E-Day. Election Day 2008. After two years of primaries, debates and a hard fought stretch run it comes down to peeps casting their ballots. The denizens of Dixville Notch NH, have already done so. At midnight they cast their ballots with the results being 15-6 for Obama.

I'm about to head out the door right now to my precinct to cast a history making presidential vote for Barack Obama. While I'm nervous about the outcome, I'm cautiously optimistic as well. The trends are breaking his way right now, but we'll know in a few hours whether he'll be our next president as this historic day wears on.

I was happy to hear the Redskins lost to the Steelers 23-6. So if the Redskins Election Predictor holds true to form there will be a very festive crowd in Grant Park tonight.

I also get a chance to weigh in on the McConnell-Lunsford US senate race as well along with other state and local races.

I've waited long enough. Time to get rolling to the precinct.

There Is No Oppression Olympics

I’m a little sick of this nouveau trendy slogan of ‘oppression Olympics'.

Stating facts about a minority group’s issues, struggles and being oppressed is simply that, stating facts about those problems and issues. It is not as some people derisively put it, engaging in a competition to pit one ethnic group's issues against another ethnic group's issues.

The 'oppression Olympics' moniker is as disrespectful and disingenuous as the 'race card' one.

Explain how in Hades you can solve the issues that divide us along racial lines if you don't know what they are, tiptoe around identifying them and refuse to discuss solutions to those problems?

Transgender On TV: Laverne Cox & Isis King Brings On New Reality

TransGriot Note: I didn't like the paragraph in which the writer confuses the androgeny on ANTM with Isis' appearance on the show as an open transgender contestant. Those are two different issues. However, the article is overall a good one.

By Bridget Bland
From BlackVoices.com

While androgynous images of entertainers have long appeared in movies and depictions of homosexuals on television are more present than ever, this season the new trend on reality TV may have been transgender contestants.

Until just a few months ago, transgender characters have been relegated to scripted television series like 'Boston Legal,' 'Ugly Betty,' 'Dirty Sexy Money' and 'All My Children.' Recently, two contestants have showcased the ups and downs of being transgender while vying for the top prize on two of TV's most popular shows.

For the new season of 'America's Next Top Model,' supermodel Tyra Banks decided to cast 22-year-old Isis King, the very first transgender contestant to be featured on the popular, fashion forward "dramality" series, which is in its eleventh cycle.

Although she was recently booted from the show, King, who was noticed by Banks when she first appeared as an extra in the background during a photo shoot in a previous season of the hit CW series, says she did not believe that Tyra chose her simply for ratings and controversy sake.

'Tyra picked me because of my performance and she picked me because I stood out in the background of a photo," King told BlackVoices.com last week. "I don't think that it's a trend...she picked me for that reason."

"I think the one message we always try to get out there, that Tyra always expresses, is you want to widen the spectrum of what is considered beautiful," 'Top Model' executive producer Ken Mok said in a recent interview with the 'Associated Press.'

Androgyny is nothing new to the show either.

J. Alexander (also known as Miss J) is one of the show's most popular judges and has garnered a cult-like following with his over-the-top wardrobe, colorful accessories and sharp-witted quips. Other cross-dressers, drag-queens and gay culture icons (Kevin Aviance, Benny Ninja, etc.) have graced the screen during some notable challenges.

Banks, who once praised the pre-operative transsexual saying, 'I tell my staff, 'This girl is absolutely amazing,'' made a point to express that the reason for King's dismissal was because of a difficulty to stand out in photos and not because of her sexual orientation.

In a swimsuit challenge, wearing boy shorts still proved uncomfortable for the Maryland native. "I would say that it was difficult for me," she confided. "I tried not to think about it because I did not want it to consume what I was doing. I think it was more mentally difficult but I went through and did what I had to do."

The leggy beauty is hoping that within three years she'll be able to afford to pay for the surgical operation that will make her a woman and continue to follow her dream of becoming a supermodel. "The finances are what are keeping me from doing it. If I could have had it already I would have," she said. "My goal is my 25th birthday [to] have it by then but hopefully I will get a job that will put me in a situation where I can."

Right now, King resides in New York City and continues to pursue her modeling career in addition to dabbling in fashion design.

Shortly after she caused a media splash on 'Top Model,' Laverne Cox gained attention for being another transgender person on reality television -- as a contestant on VH1's 'I Want to Work for Diddy' competition.

On the hip-hop savvy series, Cox's fellow contestants asked her to "tranny it up" in one of the challenges. And although she told us she didn't really know what that meant, she counts her time vying for the opportunity to work with Sean "Diddy" Combs as an "overwhelmingly positive experience [and] a really good time."

The camera ready cross-dresser, who referred to herself as a "strong black woman" on the show, particularly loved watching herself on television. "I think its huge and its so exciting for me to be a professional transgender person. To see a transgender person on TV, hopefully people will continue to see us as human beings,' she said.

Causing a stir and shaking things up on a popular TV show is nothing new (see: Omarosa Manigult-Stalworth, Tiffany "Miss New York" Pollard). But many wonder if mainstream TV viewers are really ready to embrace a transgender person –and not just use them as window dressing for shock value.

"I know that it was very important that we represented who we were openly from the very beginning," 'I Want to Work for Diddy' cast-off Rob Smith, who identifies as gay, wrote on his blog. "But let's not get too serious. We're all aware of how absurd reality television is."

"I honestly don't know whether they are ready or not but at this point it doesn't matter," Cox attested, before adding, "I am so passionate about it. There will be people that will go against it but I said, 'you know what I'm really passionate about breaking into the art so whether or not people are ready or not I am going to do this.'"

In addition to auditioning for more acting roles in the future -- already having appeared on 'Law & Order SVU' and MTV – she has also produced her very-own documentary series on transgender people called 'T,' which can be seen at www.BeingT.com.

Political Football

If both campaigns are showing a little more interest than usual in tonight's Monday night football tilt between the Washington Redskins and the Pittsburgh Steelers, there's a good reason for it.

Since 1940, the Redskins last home game before a presidential election has presaged the eventual winner in 16 out of 17 elections. If the Redskins win that game, the incumbent party goes on to win that election. If the Redskins lose, the party out of power wins the election.

The only time the Redskins Game Predictor has been inaccurate was in 2004. The Green Bay Packers marched into FedEx Field and beat the Redskins but Junior won(?) anyway. The other interesting twist in this game is that the Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin is African-American, mirroring the presidential race.

So McCain will probably be rooting for the Redskins, while Obama will be probably be doing the same for the Steelers. So will I and every other Obama supporter tonight.

Anybody from Pittsburgh have a Terrible Towel they can lend me?

Congratulations Again 'Number Two'!

TransGriot Note: Y'all know how much I love and admire Dr. Marisa Richmond of Nashville, who is one of my role models as to the type of Phenomenal Transwoman I wish to project to the world.

Well, 'Number Two', as Dawn and I call her (our inside joke about being the only African-American IFGE Trinity Award winners and the order in which the three of us received them) was recently honored with the 2008 Baltimore Black Pride Chairwoman's ICON Award for her years of work toward advancing GLBT-issues.

Congrats, sis. The story from Nashville's Out and About follows.


Marisa Richmond, president of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC), has received the 2008 Baltimore Black Pride Chairwoman's ICON Award for her years of work toward advancing GLBT-issues. She accepted the award in Baltimore, Md., on Oct. 11.

The Chairwoman's ICON Award is a special honor personally selected by the Chair of the Board of Directors. Cydne Kimbrough, this year's chairwoman, said she chose Richmond for the award because of her tireless dedication to the GLBT community.

The Chairwoman's ICON Award is a special honor personally selected by the Chair of the Board of Directors. Cydne Kimbrough, this year's chairwoman, said she chose Richmond for the award because of her tireless dedication to the GLBT community.

"It has been my personal goal to select individuals who are stellar examples of what we all can be, no matter our race, gender identity/expression , or sexual orientation, " Kimbrough said. "Dr. Richmond was a clear choice as she is educated, powerful, humble, kind and not only one of the best in the GLBT community of color - she is one of the best in the country and possibly the world."

The ICON awards are given to community members and allies who work to improve the lives of GLBT people of color in Baltimore and throughout the U.S. Icons are nominated by community members.

Richmond said the award reassured her of the importance of her work.

"I've started to realize that, especially for African American transgender people, I've become an important role model because they don't see a lot of positive role models out there," Richmond said.

Aside from her work with TTPC, Richmond also serves on the board of directors of the National Center for Transgender Equality and is on the Sexual Violence Prevention Planning Committee of the Tennessee Department of Health.

"The transgender community doesn't need to look far to find a leader that is always putting us first," said TTPC member Carla Lewis. "Many times Marisa Richmond stands for us when we won't stand for ourselves."

Richmond is a former Board Member of the Tennessee Vals in Nashville, and has also served on the Boards of American Educational Gender Information Service (Board Chair from 1996 to 1999), the International Foundation for Gender Education, National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, Tennessee Equality Project and Nashville's Rainbow
Community Center.

Since April 2006, she has been a regular panelist on Out & About Today on News Channel 5+ in Nashville and has been a columnist for Triangle Journal News in Memphis since February 2008.

Richmond said she has had a commitment to hard work since her childhood.

"I was raised to stand up for what I believe in and never to accept second class status," Richmond said. "My parents were politically active and they encouraged me to be so, too, because everyone can make difference."

Earlier this year, on Super Tuesday, Richmond became the first openly transgender person to win an election in Tennessee when she was elected to the Davidson County Democratic Party Executive Committee. One month later, she became the first African American transgender person to be elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from any state, and is currently one of two Tennesseans on the National LGBT Steering and Policy Committee of the Obama for America Campaign.

"She put a face on the transgender part of LGBT and has continued to drag the transgender community kicking and screaming into the open where the rest of the world can see that we deserve to be respected for our humanity just like everyone else," Lewis said.

Barack's Presidential Resume

TransGriot Note: Stumbled across this courtesy of the TheLadders.net website. it wrote sample resumes for John McCain and Barack Obama for president.

So the next time someone spots that 'he's not qualified' shade, send them to this link.

Lewis Hamilton Wins F1 Driving Title

Unlike my roomie Dawn, I'm not a rabid fan of Formula One racing, but I do appreciate it when anyone of African descent makes history as Lewis Hamilton did today.

After barely missing becoming the world driving champ last year in his maiden F1 season, British driver Lewis Hamilton not only became the youngest Formula One world driving champion at age 23, he is also the first person of African descent to do so. I thought it was also fitting that he won the title in dramatic fashion at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo.



Brazilian homeboy Felipe Massa won the race for the second time in his career (previous win 2006) and thought he'd clinched the world championship at his hometown Interlagos track with his sixth victory of the season. With Massa's win Hamilton's margin for clinching the title shrank from finishing no worse than eighth place to fifth.

Hamilton had won five races this year including the British Grand Prix, but unfortunately was languishing in sixth place on the final lap before he passed Germany's Timo Glock on the last corner to finish fifth and edge Massa by one point in the overall F1 standings 98-97.

Congratulation to Lewis Hamilton and may he win any future F1 driving titles with less drama.

2008 Amazing Philippine Beauties Pageant Winner

As Pinay TG can probably tell you, the Philippines, like the rest of Asia and the Pacific island nations loves pageants. It has hosted the Miss Universe pageant a few times back in the day.



One fast growing one that I have documented here as a pageant junkie is the Amazing Philippine Beauties Pageant. It started as a talent search vehicle for the Amazing Philippines Show, a Tiffany's style transgender cabaret revue show based in Manila now spreading out to satellite locations in various resort areas of the Philippines.

While the original intent was to find talented and beautiful transwomen for the show, it has quickly morphed into a popular event of its own garnering international publicity in just six years.






This year 25 women competed for the title during the finals held in Manila on October 24. The winner was crowned by 2007 Amazing Philippine Beauty queen Rianne Barrameda.





The winner was 27 year old Angelika Santillan, who beat out her 19 year old pageant rival Rosa Garcia for the crown. Garcia was first runner up.



Santillan will represent the Philippines at the 2008 Miss International Queen Pageant in Pattaya once they reschedule it. The pageant was postponed due to recent civil unrest in Thailand.

Halloween Politricks In Michigan

The GOP is becoming unglued as the election continues to trend Obama's way.

Somehow this doesn't (or shouldn't) shock me, but even this I have to shake my head at. Peep this story from Grosse Pointe Farms.

McCain supporter Shirley Nagle refused to give Halloween candy to children if their parents didn't support the McPalin ticket.



Ah, compassionate conservatism at its finest.

Obama Landslide?

Thanks to record breaking early voting turnout and historic turnouts of African-American voters, this election is turning quite interesting. Obama is competitive in states that haven't voted Democratic in decades and this election is being played save Pennsylvania on GOP turf.

<p><strong>><a href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/electoral-college/'>Electoral College Prediction Map</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the general election. Use the map to experiment with winning combinations of states. Save your prediction and send it to friends.</p>


The question is will Barack Obama have a blowout win on Tuesday, or will it be a narrow upset win (gag) for John McCain?

The map is interactive, so you can click on it and change states from one candidate to the other with the corresponding change in electoral votes.

Nightmare on Hillcrest Ave

Happy Halloween, peeps!

GLBT people aren't the only folks that like to celebrate what we jokingly call in the community the 'Gay National Holiday'

One fast growing tradition here in Da Ville is checking out a group of Crescent Hill homes by the reservoir on Hillcrest Ave. It's a must walk through destination for pint sized ghouls, goblins and costumed candy seekers of all ages.

For twenty years those homeowners in that stretch have done lavish decoration jobs for Halloween. It has grown so popular that they draw crowds of up to 20,000 people from all over the Louisville metro area to see them. Some of the owners bought their homes specifically so that they could participate in this annual neighborhood frightfest.

My favorite in that four block stretch of homes between Frankfort Ave and Brownsboro Rd is 'Dante's Disco Inferno'.

The owner of this house puts down an authentic flashing lights disco floor, has mirrored disco balls, has tombstones with death dates for disco and Tony Manero (John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever) and plays disco hits all night long. Usually people walking along that stretch will hear a song they like, stop and shake their booty's.

Themes range from the Peanuts gang Linus welcoming the Great Pumpkin to ghostly cemeteries. Freddie, Leatherface and various Hollywood horror monsters pop out from behind trees at inopportune times to scare you.

They spend tons of cash on candy, and sometimes to one up each other. One memorable Halloween Dawn and I stopped by this house that rented a 16 piece orchestra. They played Halloween and Christmas music as they served hot chocolate and passed out candy on a clear but cool night.

Others will show screenings of classic and current horror movies. The Peanuts themed one runs the classic 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' cartoon all night long.

Many of the homeowners say that the annual project has helped them get to know their neighbors and built a close knit community in the process. Neither they, the civic association or any group gives out an official prize for the best decorated home, but it's obvious there's a little bit of a competitive streak going when it comes to putting together these themed decorations.

And it's deeply appreciated by all of us looking for interesting stuff to do on Halloween night.