JACKSON — This autumn, I decided it was time to work on my relationship with pumpkins and yams.

There’s been a simmering tension between me and these icons of the fall season. Throughout my life, I’ve accumulated a wicker basket’s worth of pumpkin and yam traumas.

It was time for a reset.

First, let me come clean: I’ve never been my best self when it comes to carving pumpkins. My jack-o-lantern designs and overall aesthetic remain unoriginal and, at times, confusing.

Once while handing out candy on Halloween, I overheard a parent escorting his costumed child past one of my jack-o-lanterns remark, “Not sure what they were going for with that.”

The pumpkin I had recklessly carved had one eye and one pointy tooth. I really could have done better.

As a young man, I never developed a heal

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