Starved to death in a land of plenty

I fell in love with My Chemical Romance as a mostly closeted Emo — I mean, I was absolutely all-in passion-wise but the outside world would never really know by my appearance. The typical emo would never have pegged me as one-of-their-kind off of the street, you know?

But I love them…their music, their angst, their unapologetic presence, their moody-to-the-extreme aesthetic that left me breathless and always wanting more (sometimes in tears, other times screaming out of vindication that “yes, I am seen”). Music in its rawest form is a love story. Our love for music is a never-ending love story. Music helps us understand the human experience when we’re lost for words. I don’t know about you, but I am so often lost for words in this world.

What’s with the skeletons?

Anyway, I’m often asked, “what’s with the skeletons?” It’s a valid question. Imagine putzing down a quiet mountain road and stumbling upon a ghoulish display of costumed skeletons in June — it would give most folks pause. My skeleton garden has been met with curiosity, amusement, disgust, adoration, and confusion. That’s art for you.

Obviously, what started as a Halloween display has grown into an ever-evolving story. From classic literature to popular culture, I adapt familiar (and sometimes obscure) stories to my troupe of skeletons. Sometimes, deeper meaning can be found within the story — and I always hope folks walk (or drive away) with a perhaps unintended lesson from my ghouls. Art at its core is subjective and I love learning more from people about how they interpret what I create. Even if that interpretation is absolute revulsion.

Starved to death in a land of plenty: The Black Parade

Now, Summer 2025 brings us my recreation of The Black Parade inspired by My Chemical Romance. This display is specifically modeled after the music video of the song, but The Black Parade is an album celebrating its 20th year this summer. This album is a story in itself — chronicling the experience of death in a dying patient. It’s a powerful story filled with emotion, passion, and human suffering. If you’ve not listened to it, I suggest you do. Tell me, how does it make you feel?

Along with the skeleton display, I’ve gone on to create an almost obscene amount of signage that includes some of the more meaningful-to-me lyrics (which, turns out, is essentially the entire song — go figure). Listen to the song. Watch the music video. Read the lyrics. Do they touch you?

While it’s a challenge to cherry-pick meaning from this ballad, I do gravitate towards one scene in the music video. In this scene, the character of “the woman” (with wild hair, wearing a dress, donning a gas mask) stands with a sign that says, “starved to death in a land of plenty.” It is stark, stunning, and thought-provoking.

As I planned this display, I did a little digging and found that this sign was inspired by an actual sign used in the Hunger Marches in London in 1908. During this time, unemployment was high, disparity between the working class and the ruling class was cavernous, and folks were quite literally starving to death in a land of plenty.

Starved to death in a land of plenty: the facts

Of course, this inspired me to research hunger in the United States. I found that 47 million people in the U.S. face hunger, including 1 in 5 children. More than 50 million people relied on food assistance for help in 2023. Every single county in the United States includes people who face food insecurity. Some communities experience greater disparity due to lack of resources and systems that limit the ability for people to climb out of the depths of poverty. While people of all races and ethnicities experience food insecurity in the U.S., these oppressive systems often affect minorities in higher numbers. Find sources for this information, here.

Indeed, it appears as though millions of people are starving to death in a land of plenty, doesn’t it? Also, as the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to grow, the number of people facing hunger in the United States will rise. I think it’s impossible to know this and not do something about it. Although I do think it’s sometimes difficult to know how to make a difference as one person out of billions on the planet, we can be change-makers.

What to do?

Clearly, I don’t have the answer to fix this problem. However, I do have suggestions on how to become an active part of a solution in a system that is broken:

Seek out your local food pantry. Google, ask your Chamber, check in with local social media and figure out how you can support the needs of your local food pantries. This might be donating food, money, or your time to food drives. Our family will be volunteering at local food drives — these are often opportunities for kids to get involved.
Consider donating to Feeding America. This organization has provided 5.3 billion meals last year, alone. Ninety-eight percent of all cash and non-cash donations go directly into the programs that serve people in need. Charity Navigator and the BBB have given Feeding America the highest ratings. This is an organization committed to making a difference in the lives of Americans facing hunger.
You can donate to Feeding America any time via the link above. Currently, I’m pledging to match all donations up to $1,000 through the month of June through the donation link in my Instagram. To automatically double your donation through my fundraiser, click here.
Join my Moody Mortals Making Change broadcast channel and use #moodymortalsmakingchange to inspire others to do good.

Being starved to death in a land of plenty is not the American Dream. Therefore, we have much work to do. May we all march to the beat of this song:

When I was a young boy
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band
He said, “Son, when you grow up
Would you be the savior of the broken
The beaten and the damned?”
He said, “Will you defeat them?
Your demons, and all the non-believers
The plans that they have made?”
“Because one day, I’ll leave you a phantom
To lead you in the summer
To join the black parade”