All that glitters may not be gold, but I love it. I am a magpie for tinsel and colored lights. I think Santa hats are all adorable.

Only I’m not a holiday person. My parents eloped and haven’t been cool with a special occasion since. They would rather see their offspring any day of the year which does not fall on a holiday, birthday, or other special commemorative occasion. So I admit that the whole December freak-out thing misses me. Occasionally other people get me thoughtful gifts and I appreciate them. But mostly I enjoy the decorations and the eating a lot.

Many people believe that suicide rates climb through the roof during the Winter Solstice, Xmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, etc. season. Countless serious psychological studies and demographics analyses have entirely debunked the notion that suicides go up during Christmas. In point of fact, on average, fewer people either commit suicide or attempt suicide (parasuicide is the bonus vocabulary word of the day!) around the December 24 and December 25 dates and the month surrounding them.

The faulty theory is that lonely people are made more aware of their loneliness during a time of year when others can be visibly seen getting their connectedness groove on. There is also the Seasonal Affective Disorder concept that those afflicted with SAD (Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!) are more, uhm, sad during the less sunny months. Unless they get high end tanning beds under the tree.

The reality of Christmas suicide is that people socialize more in December. They eat more delicious food in December. They deny themselves less in December. They reach out and connect with their fellow man better in December. So they may be more stressed, but they are less depressed and kill themselves less often in December.

New Years, on the other hand, is a whole nother ball o’ death. Many studies have found a significant uptick in suicides and parasuicides as people ring in the New Year. I know I like to use the New Year as an opportunity for reflection and resolution, so maybe some people don’t like what they reflect on. Of course, more people kill themselves at the beginning of the workweek than on the weekends, so January 1 suicides may just be about the horror of having to go back to work.

At any rate, you can relax about Xmas because New Years Eve is actually the day you have to worry about. Aren’t you glad to get to procrastinate your self-harm another week? This will give you more time for shopping. I know I’m thinking about going to the Beverly Center mall and checking out Hunky Santa and the acrobat Xmas sluts later today.

Dana Dark is one of Blue Blood’s online OGs. It was after staying at her beautifully-appointed home in Houston for a week that Blue Blood launched its first membership site. Dana creates beauty and warmth in every little nook and cranny of her home. Like, if there is some tiny square of wall in the bathroom, she will think of the perfect antique frame or something like that to dress it up. There are now twenty-seven photo sets featuring Dana Dark in the Blue Blood VIP area.

I’ve spent more than one holiday with Dana and there is seriously nobody who does up holiday cheer better than she does. She really gets into the festive spirit, she is fabulous at decorating, she cooks, and she is starting her own clothing line. When my guy friends look at photos of Dana, she is always the girl they fantasize about marrying.

Amelia G: What are your favorite holidays?

Dana Dark: For me it would be Halloween, Christmas and Easter but I think holidays in general can help us forget about the worriments of our lives and connect us with others – even if it’s for only a day.

Amelia G: What are your favorite kinds of Halloween treats?

Dana Dark: As I look back of past young Halloween nights, longing of warm caramel popcorn balls and rice crispy treats still haunts me today. Another favorite of mine are homemade, moist, thick, Halloween sugar cookies with vivid icing and spooky sprinkles. Also a must have beloved treat for this season’s spell is a visit to my local Panaderia (a Mexican bakery) for Dia de Muertos Sweet Bread and autumn spiced pastries.

Amelia G: What kinds of Halloween decorations did you make this year? If you can even list off half of them all because nobody does up Halloween like you do!

Dana Dark: Now that I have my daughter Bella and a three year old niece, I find it very important to spend memorable time with them – and what better way then to do so making Halloween decoration! We have made glitter pumpkins, old fashion garland and a pumpkin and ghost lantern.

Amelia G: What Halloween outfits have you made this year?

Dana Dark: For Bella, I decided that I would make a Halloween dress, or more, each year for as long as she wishes. With the scraps I’m saving from each dress, I’m going to fashion a Halloween quilt for her to have as a keepsake. The first dress I made Bella for this year is an apron Victorian witch dress. I love how it turned out. The second dress I made (for my niece as well) is a glitzy spider number with a sweet touch. The third is a punky dress. Making these dresses for my Bella has inspired me to start a children clothing line called NaNa and Bell.

Amelia G: What Halloween-inspired tattoos do you have?

Dana Dark: Mostly all of them ;) One I would like to mention, my black cat, is from a vintage 1940s-50s Beistle Halloween diecut which I like to collect.

Amelia G: Can you share a Halloween recipe or two with us? Maybe one for something healthy and one for something nice and sweet.

Dana Dark: Well, for a non-grave related healthy dish, I made a delicious curried coconut pumpkin soup, which by the way is vegan if you fallow the original formula, vegetarian if you replace the rice milk with cow’s milk and carnivorous by replacing the tofu with chicken. A must for everyone! Another recipe I would like to share is Colcanno, traditionally made on Halloween, is an age old Irish fare. I’ve made colcanna for years and as part of my dumb supper – a feast for the dead prepared on Samhain. For a super sweet bloody bite, I’ll leave you with this, a family recipe and my ultimate favorite in this undead world – My Bleeding Sweet Cake.

Recipes:

Curried Coconut-Pumpkin Soup

2 tablespoons light olive oil
1/4 cup minced red onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, ribs and seeds removed, finely chopped
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 1/2 cups peeled, cubed (1-inch), seeded pumpkin
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup rice milk
1 pound extra-firm tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds discarded, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
In large, heavy pot over medium-high heat, heat oil. Saute onion, garlic, jalapeno, and ginger until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add curry powder and pumpkin. Cook and stir for 1 minute.
Stir in coconut milk and rice milk; bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer; cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add more milk or water if needed.
Add tofu and red bell pepper. Simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes, uncovered, or until pumpkin is tender. Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Garnish with whole cilantro leaves. Serve hot.
Yield: 4 servings

Colcannon

2 pounds russet potatoes
4 slices bacon
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 leek, rinsed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1/3 cup butter
1 cup hot milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. white pepper
Peel potatoes and cube. Place in saucepan and cover with cold water. Place on high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.
Meanwhile, cook bacon in large saucepan until crisp and browned, turning often while cooking. Remove bacon to paper towels to drain; crumble. To drippings remaining in saucepan, add olive oil. Cook onion, garlic, and leeks until crisp tender, about 3-5 minutes. Then add cabbage, cover, and cook for 6-10 minutes until cabbage is tender.
When potatoes are cooked, drain and return potatoes to hot pot; shake over low heat for a few minutes to dry. Add butter and mash. Add milk and salt and pepper; beat until combined. Stir in bacon and cabbage mixture. Serve immediately, or place in serving dish and keep warm in 200 degrees F oven for 1 hour.
Serves 6-8

My Bleeding Sweet Cake

1 cup butter
1oz bottle red food coloring
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups flour
3 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoon vanilla
Combine butter, shortening and sugar in a super large bowl – cream (mix) until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time mixing well. Mix in Vanilla and food coloring. Combine flour and salt – add to creamed mixture alternately with milk beating well. Pour batter into a greased and floured pan. Bake at 325 about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Coll completely and frost witch choice of frosting. I prefer a butter powder sugar frosting.
Serves 16

Since 1992, Blue Blood has been about encouraging people to think critically and not just go along with the herd. My hair is purple and red at the moment. But the hair color is a signifier, not the endgame. What I mean by this is that all of us who fought the battle to convince the world that someone with primary-colored hair or tattoos could be beautiful or sexy, we can all pat ourselves on the back and go home, if that was all the whole thing was about. That battle is won. But the point is that the physical appearance was supposed to be about being a maverick and living on your own terms, about marching to the beat of your own drummer. If mohawks become trendy, then having one does not necessarily signify that one is a nonconformist. You can still aesthetically enjoy very tall hair, but the most important body part in the battle against conformity is slightly lower — your brain. You need to have an evolved intellect to avoid being a bah bah sheep conformist.

I’m about to tell you all the most important lesson of a liberal arts education and it is not even going to cost you a hundred grand or whatever higher learning is priced at these days. I was less enamored of the lessons I learned in school, while I was paying off the tab, so here is the most crucial stuff for free. My parents certainly deserve most of the credit for my brain, but my education really helped ingrain some of their lessons.

In order to have an intelligent and human approach to the world, you must learn to be analytical and think critically. Some people are born more or less disposed to having these abilities, but they are definitely learned skills. The direction culture is moving, driven by technology, does not nurture skills in analysis and critical thinking. First television advertisers, and then internet marketers, found that people respond most primally to sound bites and slogans, as opposed to actual data. As a result, a lot of modern debate, especially online, sounds like the old “Tastes great!” vs “Less Filling!” argument. A person capable of analysis and thinking critically would look at that argument and realize that a discussion of Miller Lite probably entailed a beverage which did not taste good at all to most people and which would indeed be less filling because fewer people would drink much of it.

Which is a tongue-in-cheek way of saying that you need to make up your own mind. When you are presented with a debate or controversy, you need to deconstruct what is actually being discussed. What are the sides of the issue? What is each side actually trying to accomplish? Who are the people presenting the sides of this issue? What, if anything, do these people stand to gain from one or another outcome? Are the people debating a particular side anonymous?

Politicians and salesmen will frequently present their own viewpoint as the side that all people of a certain type will be on. This is to induce everyone who is that type of person to side with them. For example, “if you care about children, you have to donate to my campaign.” Or, “if you are artistic and independent, you have to buy my product.” You need to analyze what the actual issues are and what the actual qualities of a product are. If you do not, then you are doomed to sheepdom.

Once you figure out what the actual issues and values being presented really are, as best you can discern, you need to think critically about them. You might love children and think of yourself as very artistic and independent. But that does not mean you need to buy what a politician or salesman is selling. Thinking critically means deciding for yourself, being able to process new data as it becomes available for your analysis, and determining for yourself how the real issues actually fit with your personal values. Thinking critically means not just wholesale swallowing whatever the last person you talked to told you to think. It means questioning authority and thinking for yourself.

I am often asked why I permit dissenting opinions on the Blue Blood boards. How can I permit people to disagree with me, with the only rule being that they have to be capable of explaining and supporting what they say, preferably without sloganeering or name-calling? So many forums online censor what can be posted in order to make sure as many people as possible will eat the sound bite argument and site owners will not have to back up what they say. So I try to provide a venue where people from many different walks of life can come together to exchange their varied points of view.

Thinking critically combined with being analytical means being able to find the real answers which are best for you, means being your own person. Even if some of your tastes and decisions end up being common ones, coming to your conclusions via critical thinking and analysis means being a nonconformist inside your own gray matter. Where it counts the most.

I believe there is nothing more important than individual liberty. Black eyeliner and glitter lipstick might be ways of expressing your love of freedom, but they will not make you free. Only application of your unfettered brain can do that.