Is there life after Cubs home World Series games and candy corn? We think yes—in fact, there's plenty to do this week. Here's some of what we recommend:

Mon 10/31: More than 2,000 costumed Chicagoans march through Boystown during the 20th anniversary edition of the Northalsted Halloween Parade (Belmont and Halsted). It's preceded by the Ruby Red Relay, in which local business owners race in drag to raise money for the Legacy Project. 7:30 PM

Mon 10/31: The Chicago Sinfonietta haunts the Chicago Symphony Center (220 S. Michigan) with a Dia de los Muertos concert. They play skeletal classics: including Danse Macabre, Night on Bald Mountain, and Sones de Mariachi alongside screenings of silent films chosen by the Chicago Film Archives. 7:30 PM

• Mon 10/31: DJ Collective Porn and Chicken hosts its Halloween Banger, a hell and warfare-themed Halloween party with guest DJs Dark Wave Disco, Jaded Lover, and GoodSex. Fried chicken included. 10 PM
  
  Tue 11/1: Medea Benjamin, the cofounder of the feminist anti-war organization, Codepink: Women for Peace, comes to City Lit Books (2523 N. Kedzie) to discuss her book Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection. 6:30 PM
  
  Tue 11/1: At Tuesday Funk, a reading series held in the Hopleaf upstairs lounge (5148 N. Clark), patrons can wipe away beer foam mustaches while listening to the stories of local writers. This month's edition includes author and professional puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal. 7:30 PM
  
  

  • ThinkStock
  • NaNoWriMo

  Tue 11/1: It's November, and that means it's time to start your novel. Yes, it's NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. Volumes Bookcafe (1474 N. Milwaukee) does not want you to perish in alienated despair this month. Twenty-eight patrons will have the opportunity to hang out (with free coffee) all month and write a chapter for a collaborative book.
  
  Wed 11/2: The Rogers Park Business Alliance (7046 N. Clark) calls their food event, Taste of Clark Street, a kind of "taco crawl on steroids." We'll leave the steroids but we're down for tacos, beignets, injera rolls, and pizza. 5-8 PM
  

  

  • Fernando Aceves
  • Composer Philip Glass
  Wed 11/2: Minimalist composer Phillip Glass will be in conversation with Tribune critic Howard Reich at the Symphony Center (22o S. Michigan). The event ends with a solo selection played by Glass. 6 PM
  
  Thu 11/3: After he saw The Parade: A Story in 55 Drawings, Albert Einstein wrote a fan letter to the artist Si Lewen: "Our time needs you and your work!" The celebrated cartoonist Art Spiegelman believes that our time needs Lewen and his work, too. Spiegelman comes to Francis W. Parker School (2233 N. Clark) to discuss the drawings' 50th anniversary. 6 PM
  
  Thu 11/3: Young Chicago Authors presents Women of Louder Than a Bomb, an edition of the popular poetry slam focusing on issues facing women and girls. They perform at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center (9603 Woods) 7 PM