Some things never change

Fireworks.
Lots and lots of fireworks.
Then the occassional rounds of gunfire.
Then the car horns.
It's New Year's Eve in south Texas.
(This will probably go on until about 2 or 3 am. Glad i'm not going to work tomorrow.)

BTW, i (finally) saw Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather for the Very First Time. Now all those lines from You've Got Mail make sense - "Go to the mattresses", "Leave the gun, take the cannolis", "Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday". (You're thinking "Why does this guy know lines from You've Got Mail ?" Answer:My wife loves that movie.) And even though I had never seen The Godfather before, I always seemed to understand "he made him an offer he couldn't refuse". :-)

Happy 2008 !!!

Fireworks

After giving my little idea more thought I believe that, if I'm going to do any justice to this idea I'm going to have to take it in small pieces. There is just so much cool stuff to be patriotic about!

I like this - it turns out that I'm already learning more about my nation's history.

I was just about to tell you what I have heard all my life about the 4th of July and fireworks. You see, since I was a little kid I have heard it repeated that the tradition of fireworks had to do with commemorating America's victory in the War of 1812. You know - "... the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air..." and if I had told you that, then I would have been wrong. As it turns out (according to PBS) the idea of fireworks on the 4th of July are almost as old as the Declaration of Independence.

According to an article from PBS.org : "On July 8, 1776, the first public readings of the Declaration were held in Philadelphia's Independence Square to the ringing of bells and band music. One year later, on July 4, 1777, Philadelphia marked Independence Day by adjourning Congress and celebrating with bonfires, bells and fireworks."

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Two reasons for this particular post:

1)A couple different times I've had one friend or another ask me something to the effect of "Do you have to be so political?" or they've just come right out and said "You're too political." But it has been my experience that once people understand why I feel the way I do, then, oftentimes they no longer see me as being "too political". (This doesn't work 100% of the time but most people get it)

2) Several people close to me either are in the long process of legal immigration / naturalization or they have already come through the arduous process of legal immigration /naturalization to the USA. Interestingly enough, my acquaintances who are legal first generation immigrants rarely question my political zeal. Go figure.

So to remind myself (and for the benefit of my friends who may not understand) how our system of government is supposed to work here in the US of A, and why our system of government works so well (even though it doesn't look like it sometimes), I will be presenting a series of posts on the Constitution, traditions and some of the reasons behind our patriotic ideals.

Happy (early) Fourth of July!!

Tamales for Breakfast

The fireworks explosions lasted until after 3am last night. Somehow i find lying in the dark in a strange country, listening to the whine and report of rockets and the ¨BOOM¨ of homemade explosives a tad unsettling. Tonight will probably be more of the same, despite the fact that some of these folks have to go to work tomorrow.

Our Christmas celebration was really good - chock full of all the cheesy stuff holidays are supposed to be about - family friends and good food. i was even able to make the acquaintance of several people that i had previously only known from photographs.

As part of my own celebration, i took my dear sweet time getting out of bed. Then i had real, honest to goodness, homemade by my Mexican mother-in-law tamales for breakfast. Seriously, you are SO jealous.

Fireworks for Christmas

My family is staying in the front room of the building my in-laws live in and my in-law´s dear lovely sweet darling precious wonderful neighbors are REALLY starting to get on my nerve with their tradition of exploding fireworks in the street on the wee hours of any holiday.

At least i don´t have to work in the morning.