Saturday, July 07, 2007

A Bittersweet Fourth

Being a great lover of sparkly things, I try never to miss the Fourth of July fireworks up in Evanston, our neighbor to the north. I know that the Chicago fireworks (always on July 3) are world-class... I just don't do crowds well, and literally millions of people cram themselves into Grant Park and onto Navy Pier for those things. Not for me. And Evanston does some mighty fine fireworks, as you will see.

Usually Jeff and I walk to downtown Evanston and grab dinner at one of their fine restaurants before we head over to Dawes Park for the annual conflagration and patriotic band concert, but this year we had all kinds of things to do (like, um, hooking up our new DVD player/recorder thingy--purchased because the old player stopped playing discs all the way through)... things that kept Jeff busy well into the dark hours of Independence Day. But it takes more than a recalcitrant piece of electronics to keep me from fireworks, so, after dinner, I hoofed it up the lakefront for the display.

Along the way, I passed several parks full of families having cookouts, playing frisbee and badminton and volleyball, just lolling around. In addition to English, these families were speaking in Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Polish, and a host of other languages, and I thought how wonderful and welcoming the place I live is. 'Cause all these folks were out to celebrate the birth of this great nation. As were all the folks who, like me, were starting to gather along the lakefront for the big show.



I got to the band concert about 2/3rds of the way through, but I easily found a place along the edge of the big fountain by which the band was playing (as you can see, the spray of the fountain had been turned off for the evening).



All around the fountain's pond, kids and dogs were playing, adults were lounging and listening, vendors were selling all kinds of flashy gear and glowsticks. The weather report called for thunderstorms, but over Dawes Park it was clear and pleasant.



People were waving American flags here and there in time to the music, which included a fair amount of Sousa (as you might expect). These kids clearly do not have the flag etiquette thing down, though:



It was when the band played "America, the Beautiful," and the director asked everyone to sing along, that the day lost some of its festive edge for me. I kept thinking about the words--especially the verse about patriot dreams and alabaster cities--and I couldn't help but wonder if we are seeing the end of our nation. The Bush administration is so corrupt and grasping. It has worked so relentlessy to strip our constitution of any power the Founders gave it... I used to think that the Founders had crafted the perfect document. A plan for a government that established certain rights as sacred, but that was able to change over time as times and circumstances required. Throughout it all, each branch of government would keep the others in line if they tried to take too much power for themselves. But now, now we have an executive branch that wants the powers of a monarch--no, of an emperor. And the handlers of our puppet leader (a puppet leader his handlers pulled all kinds of strings to put in power) have now rigged the highest echelon of the judicial branch to do their bidding. The only hope is the legislative branch, but they have, so far, been hesitant and cowardly in dealing with the threat of the unitary executive. I once thought we could recover from the presidency of Bush, fils, once he was out of office. Now I wonder if he will ever leave. All it would take is a well-timed, cleverly orchestrated "terrorist" attack, say, a week or so before the next general election... I worry. I really do. And, yes, once I would have chided myself for such thoughts and told myself to go fashion a shiny tinfoil tricorn. But not this Fourth of July.

Well... at least the fireworks were able to lift my spirits a bit--bread and circuses are effective, you know!

After the band's big finale (more Sousa!), people started to move from the fountain to gather on the rocks that separated the park from the beach:



Out on the lake, boats gathered in the darkening twilight to get a front-row vantange on the display. (I hope they show up in this very dark picture!)



And we waited. And waited. And waited. Then a lovely white and red explosion blossomed in the sky! It was beginning!

But no. More waiting... until everyone was getting a tad antsy.

Finally, it began for real, and we were treated to some quite lovely bombs bursting in air. Enjoy!











As the last cascade of sparks faded in the sky, I allowed myself to hope that the worst is nearly past, and that we can (and, indeed, must) rescue ourselves from the traitors who are intent on claiming our freedoms in the name of some specious guarantee of "safety."



Sic semper tyrannis.

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