Maybe between answering the doorbell for trick or treaters and helping yourself to the candy, you wonder about the history of Halloween. Not the long-ago stuff, the Celtic festival of Samhain and all that... but the way in which we Americans observe October 31st. Historian Ben Truwe of Medford has looked at the stuff we bought and used in Halloween celebrations past, and even wrote a book about it.

Seven BILLION dollars. That's not chump change, and it is what Americans spend on Halloween every year... decorations, costumes, candy, all of it. Sure, it's a party, but it's a party in part about scaring people. Why DO we like to scream, at least if it's followed by a good laugh? That's the domain of sociologist Dr. Margee Kerr , the rare academic who is considered a "scare specialist." She shares the findings of some of her research with us... and psychologist David Zald from Vanderbilt

Marijuana is now officially out in the sunshine in Oregon and California, legal to grow and legal to use. But that doesn't mean the practices that developed to make and market cannabis during the prohibition years have changed. Journalist Nick Johnson demonstrates how the industry continues to use old, environmentally damaging practices even though the purported reasons for them no longer exist. Johnson's book is Grass Roots: A History of Cannabis in the American West , from Oregon State

Massive die-offs of bees in recent years convinced many people that it was time to pull back on the use of the class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids. And while there is evidence that they are being used less, studies show neonics are still showing up where bees live... at levels above what is safe for them. Safe for people, perhaps, but bad for bees. Bee expert Dr. Dewey Caron gives us the basic science, Dr. Susan Kegley at the Pesticide Research Institute talks about the poisons; John

The images of devastation from the California Wine Country fires moved many of us. And they moved a few of our friends and neighbors into action. With fire crews stretched to the breaking point, firefighters from Oregon traveled south to help with the firefighting effort. Kelly Burns of Ashland Fire-Rescue was among the people who made the temporary move. He visits with details of what he did and saw, joined by firefighters Tim Hegdahl and Dave Roselip. And we visit again with Ashley Tressel,

Just because people are happy alone does not mean they're happy alone ALL the time. Introverts do fall in love, even with other introverts. Sophia Dembling speaks up for introverts in the column "The Introvert's Corner" at Psychology Today. She extended her writing into book form for Introverts in Love: The Quiet Way to Happily Ever After .

Maybe the band name "Chumbawamba" rings a bell. Try the lyrics to the group's best-known song: "I get knocked down, but I get up again..." You can take it from there. Danbert Nobacon (not his birth name) was a key figure in Chumbawamba, but an outspoken believer in anarchy and ecology before and since. He's also an author, with works including 3 Dead Princes: An Anarchist Fairy Tale . Nobacon visits Ashland for words at the Ashland Literary Arts Festival and songs at a pair of Rogue Valley

It's not quite the same thing as the "tiny house" movement, but Ashland is one city stepping into the cottage housing realm. As the name implies, the cottages are smaller houses clustered together, designed for more walkable urban environments. The high cost of land and housing in the city led to the program, at least in part.

The fire season just ending (we hope) was a subject for debate even while the fires were raging; in fact, BEFORE the destructive fires in the California wine country. Pretty much every fire season now resumes the debate over whether more work should be done to remove fuel from wild lands or whether they should be burned deliberately or BOTH. We take a look back at the season and its lessons with the help of several knowledgeable guests. Erik Christensen was National Fuels Program lead for the

When Charles Applegate moved into his house in Yoncalla , he probably was not thinking much about the year 2017. Because Applegate moved in in 1852, and that makes his house the oldest one in Oregon continuously owned by the same family. As you could probably tell by the many places named Applegate, the family has been an influential one in the state's history. That's why a team from the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon spent some time there recently, digging