Thank You For 13 Days 13 Shorts 2020

As the cool breeze blows past sun-bleached skeletons, and floating tree ghosts are brought down and put into boxes, and cauldrons of candy are poured back into bags, Halloween is over. Or so it seems.

Every holiday does something special for the world. Spreading peace, sharing love, …bringing attention to trees. But Halloween is so more special because the whole premise behind Halloween is to raise spirits. Children transform into Avengers. Houses transform into pirate ships. Anything and everything becomes possible, and so much happens. It’s encouraging. It’s inspiring. And of course, it’s a bit frightening!

This year itself has been pretty frightening though. So we needed that encouragement, that inspiration. With so much destruction, we needed a sense of making, building, growing. And at its heart, Halloween is a holiday dedicated to arts and crafts. That’s how we do the spooky fun! We make things! We show off character designs and decorations, and for one night of the year so many show off their hair and make up skills. Some even perform! Halloween is a celebration of artists.

Which is why 13 Days 13 Shorts exists.

This is a place where somber writers can hang out with comedians who can hang out with experimental painters who can hang out with poets who can hang out with yoga instructors and it all works. It all makes sense. There’s a community behind 13 Days 13 Shorts that is so supportive and rich and wonderful.

That’s all of you.

It’s truly an honor to get to run 13 Days 13 Shorts because all of you. The pieces submitted this year are EXTRAORDINARY. They’re as far from ordinary as possible. We had the classic 13 Days staples of gorgeous collages, we had the cleverest of album covers, we had heartfelt chapter books and lyrical poems and sketches and music and more, oh my. This is a gallery unlike any other because you are artists unlike any other.

This is very special because you all are very special and your pieces are so very special.

And as all those skeletons, ghosts and cauldrons deserve a bit of rest, so do all of you. So many of you submitted for all 13 days!! That’s nearly two weeks of daily art. That’s incredible!

But as you rest, as the leaves all fall and we enter winter and the sky gets darker as we turn closer to spring and summer, I want you to remember this year, this 13 Days, this Halloween and all the wonder you all brought to it. It’s here. It’s resting. And in a year, we get to do it all again. Because that’s the thing about Halloween, it’s never over.

Halloween is always on the way.

Happy 13 Days everyone. And Happy Halloween.

- Omar