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Jul. 4th, 2007 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaI don't usually do much of the Fourth of July thing, but we decided that we wanted to take Alex to a parade. Oddly enough, Baltimore doesn't have one - perhaps because, most years, the weather on the Fourth is so scorching hot that the last place you want to be is walking down the street in a marching band uniform. Catonsville (a close-in suburb centered on the Baltimore Beltway) was having a parade, though, and the weather was overcast and not especially hot - so off we went.
It was a remarkably small-town parade to be the only one going on in a big city: fire engines were prominently featured, for example, and there was a contingent of children who had decorated their bikes with crepe paper. The floats were distinctly homemade. Oddly enough, there were drum and bugle corps from as far away as Ontario, Atlanta, and North Carolina. Maybe there's some kind of competition being held locally? And then we were back to kids from a local preschool riding in the back of a truck, followed by moms pushing crepe-decorated strollers.
In the midst of all of these homemade festivities: an open car containing the governor and lieutenant governor of Maryland, followed, a few minutes later, by open cars containing each of Maryland's U.S. Senators. Huh. Interestingly enough, the governor had highly visible security agents surrounding his car and looking intently into the crowd, but Mikulski and Cardin didn't even have a police escort.
Most surprising marchers: the Women in Black, with multiethnic puppets labeled "Peace" in different languages, and a massive red-white-and-blue puppet emblazoned, "Peace is Patriotic."
Most thoughtful parade loot: a tie between the St. Agnes Medical Foundation (bottles of ice-cold water), and kids from a local school (frosty Flav-R-Ice.)
Strangest parade loot: a little baggie of candy with a "Jesus loves you" toy and the most unconvincing tract I've ever seen.
Alex's favorite moment: her first lollipop (hard candy is a choking hazard, so we've held off), which promptly dyed her tongue bright blue.
Best marketing tie-in: Liberty Tax Preparation, which distributed thousands of cheap foam Statue of Liberty crowns. Alex looks marvelous in hers.
It was a remarkably small-town parade to be the only one going on in a big city: fire engines were prominently featured, for example, and there was a contingent of children who had decorated their bikes with crepe paper. The floats were distinctly homemade. Oddly enough, there were drum and bugle corps from as far away as Ontario, Atlanta, and North Carolina. Maybe there's some kind of competition being held locally? And then we were back to kids from a local preschool riding in the back of a truck, followed by moms pushing crepe-decorated strollers.
In the midst of all of these homemade festivities: an open car containing the governor and lieutenant governor of Maryland, followed, a few minutes later, by open cars containing each of Maryland's U.S. Senators. Huh. Interestingly enough, the governor had highly visible security agents surrounding his car and looking intently into the crowd, but Mikulski and Cardin didn't even have a police escort.
Most surprising marchers: the Women in Black, with multiethnic puppets labeled "Peace" in different languages, and a massive red-white-and-blue puppet emblazoned, "Peace is Patriotic."
Most thoughtful parade loot: a tie between the St. Agnes Medical Foundation (bottles of ice-cold water), and kids from a local school (frosty Flav-R-Ice.)
Strangest parade loot: a little baggie of candy with a "Jesus loves you" toy and the most unconvincing tract I've ever seen.
Alex's favorite moment: her first lollipop (hard candy is a choking hazard, so we've held off), which promptly dyed her tongue bright blue.
Best marketing tie-in: Liberty Tax Preparation, which distributed thousands of cheap foam Statue of Liberty crowns. Alex looks marvelous in hers.
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Date: 2007-07-04 10:27 pm (UTC)You're right about it being an interesting experience. I'm glad it was pleasantly cool for you today.
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Date: 2007-07-04 10:29 pm (UTC)GIF! GIF! GIF!
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Date: 2007-07-05 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-05 01:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-05 02:05 pm (UTC)Hmm. A plush (huggable) Jesus? What sort of toy is this?
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Date: 2007-07-05 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-05 02:54 pm (UTC)Is it bad that I read "tract" and thought "GI or urinary?"?
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Date: 2007-07-05 04:54 pm (UTC)Either one of those things would've made more sense than the reality. It was a trifold pamphlet about a little boy named Billy who makes a toy boat with his own hands. When he tries to sail it down the stream, it gets away from him and is lost. But the next day, he sees his homemade boat in the window of a toy store! He tries to reclaim it, and the store owner tells him he'll have to pay $10 for it. So he works and works to save $10, buys his OWN FREAKING BOAT, and then thinks happily, "You're TWICE mine! I made you AND I paid for you!"
We are like the boat, and little Billy is like God, and this is supposed to be deeply inspirational in ways that I totally failed to understand even though the tract spelled them out for me.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-05 05:37 pm (UTC)That makes no sense at ALL. And I would try to pursue the weirdness of the allegory, but I'm afraid my head might explode.