Holiday Explosion

World Turtle Day? Really?

One of my frequent quibbles with society—I know not the real important stuff, but the things that bother me the most—include making every day a holiday. National Donut, National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, National Milkshake Day, International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day, etc. But June and July are full of legitimate holi-days if not holy days, which was the original intent.

Last weekend saw me celebrating a different holiday nearly every day on my 365scripts Facebook, X, and Instagram accounts. Saturday the 14th was Flag Day, in commemoration of the stars and stripes of Betsy Ross, et al. It was also a day of mass protesting and the 250th anniversary of the United States’ ground troops.

Anyone who knows me knows my love of flags. Besides books and percussion instruments, they are the only other items I collect. I don’t travel much anymore, so sometimes folks bring me flags from the countries they visit. Some of my favorites are the handmade ones from Mexico and Jamaica and those that bring me great memories of visiting cities like Victoria, British Columbia and my parents’ Caribbean escapades.

I’m not sure what it is about flags that makes me love them. I do love the American flag but probably not more than specific state flags, like the pennant of Ohio or even the simple beauty of Alabama’s flag. So, Flag Day for me is not just about Betsy Ross, but about the images we use to represent lands, states, nation-states, nations. What I thought was an original joke in my 2013 play Cry of the Native Children (about the Jamestown colony) had a wry Englishman asks the Natives, “You don’t have a flag? How uncivilized.” Turns out Eddie Izzard did a much better version onstage years before. Heck, I might have heard it and added it unconsciously.

The following day was Father’s Day, a day that is now more bitter than sweet. I lost Dad in 2021 (not to COVID) and I thought of ways I could honor him. It happened to be that the libretto I was reading Saturday was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s remarkable Hamilton, so I decided to watch it on Sunday on Disney+. A few years before, I had convinced Dad to watch it and I was so shocked when he loved it, particularly Daveed Diggs as Lafayette/Jefferson. I cried watching the first act, wishing he was in the living room with me.

Then Monday came with Bloomsday. I wish I had the time to re-read James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses every year. I do well enough to revisit it every three years or so. Besides Lolita and the work of Conrad, it is still the best piece of prose I’ve ever read—some sort of calling for newer ways to think that was never answered—and the cornerstone of the last great literary movement, Modernism.

Juneteenth, our most recent national holiday, and an appropriate one, came next. The only thing you can’t truly celebrate is being off on Thursday and then having to go back to work Friday. That needs to be fixed. In fact, all holidays should be on Friday. Can we do that?

Right around the corner, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in a country which has, perhaps, never seen so much division. I will do what I normally do—watch Peter H. Hunt’s 1776 and dream of a calmer country. And, I suppose, in between, scroll through social media to see who’s damning us and who’s thankful for the blessing, rough as it is.

Then comes August, the hottest month of the year where no legitimate holidays occur, at least in America. I have decided to take my vacation the last week of that month to bask in the air conditioning and the love of my chiweenie and tabby cat. (It also will lead into another holiday, Labor Day, so an extended vacation at that—ha ha). Labor Day sets into gear another holiday spiral that ends with MLK Day in January.

We definitely need days of rest and days of celebration. Heck, maybe even some people need a National Milkshake Day, I don’t know. I was about to write not every day is special, but the truth is it should be. This doesn’t necessarily warrant a “World Turtle Day,” but just the joy of seeing another day to spend with loved ones or the things you love. It’s not a bad deal.