For those of you who shied away from the fireworks and the humidity, here’s Bwogger Lydia DePillis’ dispatch from Washington DC’s 4th of July.
Washington DC on the fourth of July is the hothouse of American patriotism (in more ways than one). Having avoided it last year, this time around I thought I’d try immersing myself — kind of like seeing how long you can hold your breath underwater.
I didn’t actually end up doing the whole shebang. I only saw a section of the parade, and I skipped out on the Capitol Lawn extravaganza (complete with Taylor Hicks!). Perhaps that was why the whole thing never actually felt repellent: I hadn’t stuck around long enough for it to really sink in.
The parade, however, had a different twist than I was expecting. Sure, it had the blaring brass bands, the self-declared country western stars, West Virginia dairy princesses (okay, there was only one of those). But a good chunk was actually composed of immigrant groups asserting their love of America. (more…)