The fourth

The Fourth of July is such a tricky thing since the Orange Menace took office. Had it been me on my own I probably would have just worn a black armband all day and otherwise ignored it, posting virtue-signaling protest selfies on FB all day. And reading the letters from the new civil war twitter feed, which is brilliant.

But I have kids. So instead we went to an old timey festival in El Segundo during the day and then went to the fireworks and Go Go’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Bobby was all in - Theo, not so much. But being as Bobby went there to see Kraftwerk as his first concert a couple of years ago, he’s kind of an old hand. 

I am torn between not wanting the right wing nut jobs to co-opt our flag and traditions and patriotism and just saying fuck it and letting them have it. I am torn between wanting to move all of us to Canada before the US becomes a totalitarian theocracy and wanting to stick it out and fight. And I also realize this country that I thought stood for peace and freedom is actually built on the backs of slaves and stolen from native people. What, exactly, do you do with that???

You dress in red white and blue and stuff your feelings with ice cream because you have kids and you want them to have a nice childhood. 

Some day they will know about the Trail of Tears and the atrocities of slave culture and all of the other terrible, brutal things that made the US what it is today. But right now all they care about is Batman and swimming and ice cream. They are innocent, and that is precious. I’ll miss it when that innocence is gone.