Rhapsodies

For whatever reason be it being obsessed with the need for ritual or being part of the community it just doesn’t feel right to treat national holidays like just another work day. (Trust me, when you’re self employed working out of a home office this is a really easy thing to do.)

This is very easy thing to do on the Fourth of July. Unless you’re invited to a picnic or if there’s a parade it’s pretty much just waiting for the fireworks. Sure there are parties but they tend to be overcrowded madhouses that while are fun for the people watching can be a bit overwhelming after say a half hour. So in the past I’ve treated it like a work day leaving the house at sunset so I could be there just in time for the fireworks. (Or leave a bit earlier and go to my favorite brewpub and have a few pints while waiting)

Raven welcomes new citizens.

This year I decided to do something different and went to watch the Naturalization ceremony. It’s one of those things thats always on the front page of every blog and newspaper on July 5th partially as a photo op for VIPs and part of reporting on the enduring traditions that make this country great. It’s also one of those things you always feel a little guilty about forgetting.

So I figured if, as I’ve often argued, the true American religion is America, than citizenship is our baptism, and going to watch was a good way to prove to myself I was  taking my faith seriously.

I arrived right on time for when my information said I should have, though actually the 11:00 time was for the festivities themselves, the actual ceremony was at 12:15. The festivities consisted of a band performing patriotic marches. A lot of Sousa and several others (I found myself feeling just a little guilty immediately thinking of “How I saved Roosevelt” from Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins when they performed Sousa’s Washington Post March instead of… Sousa’s Washington Post March.)  The people watching was interesting and a very nice crowd was there and I got given a flag by a veteran who was passing them out.

The ceremony finally arrived with just about everyone there, the Mayor, congressman, governor, both senators and several consulates. There were 429 new citizens from over 70 different countries. The Mayor had them stand up as countries were mentioned. The largest number were from india with the People’s Republic of China coming in a close second. I was very interested when the Judge had them give their oath. It seemed very dated almost archaic. (to spell it out I’m pretty sure there aren’t any principalities in the world left to renounce.) But at the same time it fascinated me that how high a standard of responsibilities it placed on the people making it and wondering how comfortable all of us people nor here would be taking the same oath. The ceremony ended with a Native American performance and I left soon after.

On my way home I checked out one of the celebration by the Center for Wooden Boats It was a little bit of everything Music, boatbuilding, National Guard PR and overpriced food. (It was almost  a shame I’d already eaten. The footlong barbecued sausages looked tempting.) Afterwards I got home for a few hours of downtime. My main reason was to stow my bike. From my past experiences the crowd are too thick to ride though until you get past the University District and now that I live in the U-District I felt it was better to walk.

For all a child’s bouncing needs.

I headed out the door again sixish. When I arrived the crowd was beginning to pick up. I walked around to people watch and listen to the music, in this case a surfer band. After a while I decided I wanted my traditional pint. I had been planning to try a new brewpub I had passed numerous times on my way to Fremont but it was too crowded and for whatever reason they weren’t serving full pints only those small plastic party cups. As I continued on my way to Fremont hoping to find the right place In most of the places I went to they were either serving the party cups or the bar was full (unless I’m with someone I prefer to drink at the bar it’s how I rationalize I’m not drinking alone.) I finally decided to try Hale’s which was a little far but probably worth it. When I finally got there they were closed. At that point I was annoyed and probably too picky to drink.

I arrived back at Gasworks with about a half hour to spare. I spent the time waiting in line at the Port-a-johns. Finally it was time. This year’s display was as good as always and a good chunk of the music was actually patriotic, (I especially liked the funk version of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Was Made For You and Me”) It still annoys me that they don’t play a lot of the “traditional” music. Perhaps that’s me nitpicking and obviously unfair of me to think even for a second that music isn’t patriotic if it doesn’t have brass.

It was exactly as crowded as I feared getting home probably even worse since I was walking I didm’t have access to the slightly less crowded cyclists’ exit and was sucked into the bottleneck of the regular exit which was a crowd of human traffic I hadn’t witnessed since I was in Venice during Carnival. I certainly slept well last night.

All in all a wonderful day with my only concern being that since this is the first year I’ve had an I-phone I was a bit worried that recording the display distracted from actually watching it. But I got some great footage.