Fireworks on the Fourth
Jul. 4th, 2007 12:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pallas_athenaHappy Fourth of July, everyone! Today it is our patriotic duty to MAKE THINGS EXPLODE. Here in DC, being the nation's capital, we have something of an obligation to make our explosions bigger, louder and generally more explodariffic than anyone else's.
Today, on the way to the Metro from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
speedlime's place, I ran across the neighbourhood Fourth of July parade. I haven't spent the Fourth in this country for so long, I was a bit taken aback by all the patriotic fervour. My US friends will know what these events are like, but I'll describe it for any Limeys and Canucks who care to read. As for the Aussies, they have their own traditions, which apparently involve complex ritual dances with large shaggy dogs, lop-eared rabbits and a baby alpaca.
Takoma Park, where Speedy lives, is DC's hippie enclave. It's where you hole up and refuse to admit that the 60s ended and you joined the bourgeoisie. If your house is painted purple and has windchimes on the front porch and signs on the lawn advocating Democratic candidates, same-sex marriage rights, pulling out of Iraq and/or legalising pot, then it's probably in Takoma Park. The main street has a traditional-musical-instrument shop, secondhand shops aplenty and cafés serving organic wholegrain fairtrade everything. Speedy and I, who'd be freaks anywhere else, barely rate a second glance here.
As such, the Fourth of July parade was a weird clash of irony and non-irony. On the non-ironic side, we had the usual fire departments (in their most highly polished vintage fire trucks with flags all over them), scout troops, veterans' groups, school groups and churches, all dressed in their best and marching proudly. There was a team of cheerleaders from a local school who stood on each other's shoulders and did flips as they passed along, drawing cheers from the crowd. Local politicians drove by in classic cars (I spotted a '56 Thunderbird, Speedy a '48 Cadillac.) But, this being Takoma Park, the Veterans of Foreign Wars were followed by a band standing on the back of a pickup truck singing Grateful Dead songs, and most of the church groups carried environmental or antiwar posters. The Vietnam veterans were quickly succeeded by activist groups of various stripes; the church marching bands by the Triple Goddess Belly Dance Troupe. Most entertaining of all were the Caribbean steel bands and dancers in carnival costumes. It was indeed a splendid parade.
Tonight I'm going down to the Washington Monument to see the fireworks, where I fear irony will be in short supply. But I'll go with friends and we'll bring a picnic, and when darkness falls there will be ... yes... EXPLOSIONS. Government-sponsored explosions, at that: finally, they do something sensible with our tax dollars.
So,orkamedies, wyte_phantom, rosenkavalier and anyone else who feels inclined: If you were to cause any explosions, say, tonight, you can always claim you were acting on the instructions of the U.S. government. I'll just leave you holding that thought, shall I?
Meanwhile, credit for my splendid patriotic icon goes toalbertbbun and myriadim, to whom I doff my mobcap in humble appreciation.
Today, on the way to the Metro from
speedlime's place, I ran across the neighbourhood Fourth of July parade. I haven't spent the Fourth in this country for so long, I was a bit taken aback by all the patriotic fervour. My US friends will know what these events are like, but I'll describe it for any Limeys and Canucks who care to read. As for the Aussies, they have their own traditions, which apparently involve complex ritual dances with large shaggy dogs, lop-eared rabbits and a baby alpaca. Takoma Park, where Speedy lives, is DC's hippie enclave. It's where you hole up and refuse to admit that the 60s ended and you joined the bourgeoisie. If your house is painted purple and has windchimes on the front porch and signs on the lawn advocating Democratic candidates, same-sex marriage rights, pulling out of Iraq and/or legalising pot, then it's probably in Takoma Park. The main street has a traditional-musical-instrument shop, secondhand shops aplenty and cafés serving organic wholegrain fairtrade everything. Speedy and I, who'd be freaks anywhere else, barely rate a second glance here.
As such, the Fourth of July parade was a weird clash of irony and non-irony. On the non-ironic side, we had the usual fire departments (in their most highly polished vintage fire trucks with flags all over them), scout troops, veterans' groups, school groups and churches, all dressed in their best and marching proudly. There was a team of cheerleaders from a local school who stood on each other's shoulders and did flips as they passed along, drawing cheers from the crowd. Local politicians drove by in classic cars (I spotted a '56 Thunderbird, Speedy a '48 Cadillac.) But, this being Takoma Park, the Veterans of Foreign Wars were followed by a band standing on the back of a pickup truck singing Grateful Dead songs, and most of the church groups carried environmental or antiwar posters. The Vietnam veterans were quickly succeeded by activist groups of various stripes; the church marching bands by the Triple Goddess Belly Dance Troupe. Most entertaining of all were the Caribbean steel bands and dancers in carnival costumes. It was indeed a splendid parade.
Tonight I'm going down to the Washington Monument to see the fireworks, where I fear irony will be in short supply. But I'll go with friends and we'll bring a picnic, and when darkness falls there will be ... yes... EXPLOSIONS. Government-sponsored explosions, at that: finally, they do something sensible with our tax dollars.
So,
orkamedies, wyte_phantom, rosenkavalier and anyone else who feels inclined: If you were to cause any explosions, say, tonight, you can always claim you were acting on the instructions of the U.S. government. I'll just leave you holding that thought, shall I?Meanwhile, credit for my splendid patriotic icon goes to
albertbbun and myriadim, to whom I doff my mobcap in humble appreciation.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2007-07-04 07:11 pm (UTC)KTHNXBYE.
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on 2007-07-05 04:17 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-07-04 08:03 pm (UTC)And here's me thinknig you'd finally lost it and started wearing tin foil hats
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on 2007-07-05 04:18 am (UTC)*crinkle crinkle*
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on 2007-07-04 10:04 pm (UTC)May all the appropriate things go Kaboom.
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on 2007-07-05 04:19 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-07-04 10:24 pm (UTC)Wait, what country do I live in again? The minions keep telling me that this is the Kingdom of Bunstonia, but they're not the brightest bulbs.
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on 2007-07-05 04:20 am (UTC)/sings Bunstonian national anthem, "Goddess Save The Bunny"
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on 2007-07-05 04:37 am (UTC)Oops.
on 2007-07-05 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-07-04 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-07-04 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2007-07-05 04:22 am (UTC)Hugs to you and all the human and canine family.
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on 2007-07-05 08:15 am (UTC)Better still why not arrange it for next year so you and your mates can be dressed up as the "damn rebles that you are" and i am sure that i could drag the gang over to stage a wee War of Independence battle re enactment oh let's say on that nice green bit in front of that big white house thingy that you showed me last time i visited.
P.S i may be buying a Musketoon he he he......
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on 2007-07-06 04:02 am (UTC)Also, are you sure you're prepared to fight for mad King George and exorbitant taxes on tea? Doesn't sound quite your style.
Eleanor is sure to be delighted with 5kg of powder-- and a musketoon!! I've Googled for images, and they look lovely and lethal. KABOOM!!!
YES
on 2007-07-06 12:20 pm (UTC)As for Mad old King Geprge it was definatly a huge Imp of the Perverse moment to fight for him!
Got the Musketoon images sent but sadly it's a precussion lock so its to damn modern to be of use to me DAMN!
Anyway got the train tickets for London booked so Esdi and myself are set to descend upon you next friday if that's still okay?
Re: YES
on 2007-07-06 01:59 pm (UTC)I think the battle reenactment is a splendid plan and will amuse the Secret Service guys no end. With luck, they'll be laughing so hard they can't arrest us...
And hurrah!! You and Esdi will be very, very welcome next weekend. I'll be taking steps to make my flat into a nice cool refuge for her.
An earth-shattering KABOOM!
on 2007-07-16 03:08 am (UTC)Glad that the phone madness turned out to spare you from the fun of getting evacuated from the National Mall (which, for those of you who don't know DC, is not the place that we all shop at the GAP and buy TCBY but is the extended green-lawn-and-sand/gravel-paths area between the Capitol and the Washington Monument) due to thunderstorms/tornado touchdown potential, and spending two and a half hours in the Sackler Gallery when it shoulda been closed instead of housing Mall refugees... but hey, at least Mom & I got to see the exhibit she wanted to see (Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries: http://www.asia.si.edu/EncompassingtheGlobe/default.htm).
And thank you for being there to serve as a buffer/comic relief from said Mom: yes, it's a reprise of adolescent life, perhaps, but some things (alas!) never seem to change...
then again, since our friendship is one of them, maybe it's not so very "alas!" after all! :)