Nancy Edmonds Hanson
nancy.edmonds.hanson@gmail.com
As shadows stretch across Moorhead lawns, a growing choir of all ages is getting ready to raise their voices … not in song, but in howls.
Gathering on their front steps and in back yards, a stay-at-home horde of pent-up frustration is about to be unleashed. When the clock strikes 8, the time is right. Howl like a wolf!
“When my friend Quin told me she was going out to howl – well, I was curious,” says former mayor Del Rae Williams, the unofficial mother of the pack. “It sounded kind of silly, but I googled it and found this is going on all over the country. We’re all inside our homes, not seeing friends, and we need something to do.
“It was a little outside of my comfort zone, but I thought, ‘Why not?’ And if we’re going to do it, let’s do it right.”
On April 12, she set up a Facebook group based on what had begun in cities all over the country and invited people look for a moment of whimsy … a moment of relief … to join her. At 8 p.m., she and husband Ron stood on their sidewalk and howled …
And heard others howling back.
Since then, nearly 1,500 people have joined her online group. Listen at your front door tonight at 8 p.m. Chances are good you’ll hear some of them.
The movement began with a couple, both artists, in Denver. Its spread has been – dare I say it? – viral. From coast to coast and top to bottom, rational people of all ages have begun taking a moment to raise their voices wolf-style. For some, it’s an expression of frustration; for others, a way to thank health professionals and all the other essential workers providing the services that allow the rest of us to comfortably shelter in place. For some – especially the youngest – it’s just plain fun.
Moorhead’s howlers aren’t limited to “owooo.” Several have posted videos online of saxophone solos and cowbell concerts. Dogs are happy to join in. In the Crystal Creek neighborhood on the north side, residents took part in a howling parade, duly costumed and spaced out at a safe social distance.
“I haven’t laughed so long and hard since the pandemic began,” one participant reported.
Not all who listen laugh out loud. One woman reported her neighbor hollered at her and her 8-year-old, “Shut up!” Few, though, fail to tolerate a few minutes of fun. Children who miss their classmates, worried and bored adults, dogs overstimulated by day after day of humans at home – are able to work off a bit of frustration in the nightly howls.
Even professionals support the ritual. “It’s a primal affirmation that provides a moment’s bright spot each evening ty declaring, collectively, ‘We shall prevail,’” Dr. Scott Cypers of the University of Colorado Medical Campus told the New York Times. “Just being able to scream and shout and let out pent-up grief and loss is important. Little kids, on the other hand, are really enjoying this.”
To join the Moorhead howl, go out the front door and join in. Then take a video of your best lupine vocals to share it on Facebook; search for “go outside and howl at 8 pm—Moorhead edition.”