This year, I put out almost the same patriotic decorations for Independence Day as for Memorial Day. Bright diffuse light when I decorated for Memorial Day was good for photography, but I did not have time to cull and crop before posting for that day. When I decorated for Independence Day, the heat and humidity were bad (and correctly predicted to soon be worse). Anyway, the rhododendron blooms were long gone. In the fading American tradition of pragmatism, I’ll post mostly anachronistic photos here. In the beleaguered tradition of full disclosure, I’ll fess up to the discrepancies with nods to old songs.
Tag: Memorial Day
Americanism on Memorial Day
The yard sign displayed in my post regarding No Kings 3.0 elicited two prompt and insightful comments (acknowledged at the end of this post). As my earlier post noted, I was uneasy about the sign’s assertion that fascism is “un-American” when far too many Americans are fascists or their enablers. In one important sense of the word [un-American], however, the sign’s assertion is still true and still worth declaring with fierce simplicity on Memorial Day (rather than with details that cannot fit in a readable yard sign).
As was true last year, Memorial Day this year is a time to fly the flag while calling out American fascists because they desecrate the memory of those who died to defend American values against a succession of tyrannies, from taxation w/o representation to slavery to 20-th century fascism to communism to 21-st century fascism to whatever abominations may lie ahead.
Memorial Quandary
Ordinarily, I would display my flag over the Memorial Day weekend and try to think of expressions of pride and gratitude not already ruined by repetition. This year is different.
Resilience Day
My flag honors the patriots’ resilience in the face of bungled battles on the rough road to reality for the independence nominally declared in 1776. Had to bounce back twice from my own bungling to get my current flag display.
Memorial Day and Sedition
I had nothing new to say for this Memorial Day. Disappointed when people trivialize the holiday with recycled platitudes or co-opt it for their own agendas, I had expected to observe this day only with my flag in 2023. Then I saw a post by Robert Reich and remembered a quote from Voltaire.
Memorial Day Colors
Lavender salutes
red, white, and blue of our flag.
Pride and gratitude.
– Gray button (upper left corner) reveals widgets, –
– above post (on phone) or beside it (on desktop). –
– above post (on phone) or beside it (on desktop). –
Memorial Day 2020
Originally a day to remember and honor the fallen in the American Civil War, Memorial Day expanded to include later wars. Now it should expand beyond the military. In the COVID-19 pandemic, essential workers risk their lives and sometimes die, defending the rest of us from the disease itself and the societal collapse it could cause.
(BTW, the [Menu] button atop the vertical black bar reveals the widgets.)
In wartime, ignorant and impulsive pols can somehow make horrendous situations even worse. So it is with the pandemic. Medical workers (including EMT-s and hospital support staff as well as doctors and nurses) have been sent into battle with inadequate personal protective equipment for themselves and inadequate intensive care facilities for their patients. Stockpiling such stuff would cost money. Might even need to raise taxes on those who can work from home, if they need to work at all. And so on.
It’s so much easier to claim that all is well until all Hell breaks loose, then claim that all will be well when the weather warms up, if we just go back to work and drink a little bleach.
The governors of some states have stepped up. Learning from each other and from countries (like New Zealand and South Korea) that took the threat seriously, they made tough decisions. They include a few Republicans (like Hogan in Maryland and DeWine in Ohio) and more Democrats. It is too early to be sure, but they just might have saved the USA from criminal incompetence in the White House. Federalism works.
The doctor in Wuhan who first sounded the alarm about COVID-19 was punished for “spreading rumors” and later died of the disease. Remember him also today, along with our essential civilian workers and those who serve in our military. Remember that dark money and gerrymandering and vote suppression have sickened American democracy but not yet killed it.
Remember in November.
Lavender Elegy
My lavender rhododendron contributes a visual elegy to the Memorial Day observances in 2019. Memorial Day is a time for sadness, along with the pride and gratitude that the same plant helped visualize in 2018.
(BTW, the [Menu] button atop the vertical black bar reveals the widgets.)
Memorial Colors
Lavender salutes
red, white, and blue of our flag.
Pride and gratitude.
Lavender and the Flag
Tho not a color many would choose for a flag, lavender goes well with red, white, and blue for Memorial Day.
(BTW, the [Menu] button atop the vertical black bar reveals the widgets.)
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Flags or Banners
Late May in my part of the USA is a time for blooming rhododendrons and several days of observing Memorial Day in various ways. On 2018-05-30, I found good conditions and a good angle for a composition with my new flag and old rhododendron. Tho not a color many would choose for a flag, lavender goes well with red, white, and blue for Memorial Day.
Memorial Colors
Lavender salutes
red, white, and blue of our flag.
Pride and gratitude.
Mellow Curmudgeon 