DELIRIUM ABOUT DEAD DAZE

Just about time again, Halloween and Días de Los Muertos. In my novel Smoking Mirror Blues, I suggested that these holidays from both sides of the Mexamerican border be run together into one three-day celebration of the fantastic, our fears, and remembering those who have died.

I like traditions, but I love to mess around with them, the way I love to mess around with everything else.

I remember and preserve the past, but I can never bring myself to leave well enough alone.

Jack O'Lanterns are great, but why not do some variations on the theme?

As for the Mexican Calaveras -- those lovable living skeletons -- they're going through changes, too. People call them calacas these days, just as the traditional gingerbread piggies have gone from cochinitos to cochitos.

And after all, aren't we all skeletons under the skin? So let the good times, our Dead Daze, roll . . .