Welcome to a Dancing in the Streets

 When I hear the phrase "dancing in the streets" my mind typically jumps to the David Bowie and Mick Jagger version of the song from 1993. However, the song is much older. Originally sung in 1965 by Martha & The Vandellas. 

The top comment right now on the video I linked is about dancing in the streets once the pandemic is declared over. I kind of hope it happens - especially after the past few days. 

I'm not gonna lie. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the US election was called. Things have been tense since 2016 and the past 10 months have only exacerbated the cracks that had formed in our country's foundation. There's a part of me that still can't relax despite the election being called because there are still three months before there's a transition of power. 

I wasn't dancing in the street, but I saw a lot of people out there. 

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the epic saga that was the battle between the "Trump House" and the rest of the wealthy residents of Lewinsville Road. Well yesterday, I can report that the saga somewhat ended when the residents of the Pride House took to the streets to dance and let everyone passing by know who won.

I didn't see many others in my area taking to the streets - at least not in person. 

Part of me did want to drive into DC to see the celebrations at Black Lives Matter Plaza. The sane part of me also remembered that there is pandemic and parking is a pain in the butt (especially with the new wall around the White House). 

But I haven't wanted to dance. 

Or maybe I don't want to dance yet. 

There's so much going on in the world right now and I've been feeling exhausted - even when I don't feel like I've been doing anything. The stress of the pandemic, making sure my family stays safe, and the monotony of spending everyday at home has started to get to me. I'd like to go out and meet new people (I did just move back to NoVa in March), maybe try dating again, take a trip overseas, or at least spend time with my old friends I haven't seen in years. 

So much has happened to me in a year. So much has changed. I like to believe that I'm doing alright, but there's always a slight worry that everything's going to fall apart if I let my guard drop too much.

The videos out of Philly, Detroit, DC, and LA have been amazing to see. So many people - particularly young people - outside celebrating. It's inspiring.

I'm not ready to dance yet, but I hope to someday soon.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Holidays All Around

Today is the last day of LGBTQ+ month. I hope everyone had a wonderful Pride Month. I only manged to get into New York City once this month, but I saw tons of rainbow flags and welcoming signs. I even managed to locate a nice cafe with a Pride Flag right on the corner of Gay St.

June wasn't just LGBTQ+ Pride Month. There were a few other whole month celebrations going on. Some are internationally recognized, but others are country specific:

• African-American Music Appreciation Month
• ALS Awareness Month (Canada)
• Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month (USA)
• LGBT Pride Month
• National Safety Month
• National Smile Month (United Kingdom, May and June)

Tomorrow begins every child's favorite month long celebration (if they know about it) National Ice Cream Month. I probably won't be celebrating - mostly because I can't eat ice cream - but it sounds like a great month for children on summer holiday.

However, don't just have month long celebrations. There are a few days set aside to celebrate any number of reasons. 

Most of us in the United States are familiar with the bank holidays (days where people with 9-5 jobs get a day off and schools and banks are closed). Days such as Memorial Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Labor Day, and Veterans Day. The next big one is coming up this week: Independence Day!

Then there are the religious and/or cultural holidays we learn through society, such as Christmas, Eid al-Fitr, Hanukkah, Halloween (Samhain), and Easter. We might not get a day off of school (with the exception of Christmas) or celebrate all of them, but most people in the United States at least know about them. 

By the way National Grinch Day (Grinch-mass) is December 1st

And of course there are the religious / memorial days which have been absorbed and slightly altered by our culture. These would be the Valentine's Days (a saint's day that's turned into a day all about love), St. Patrick's Days (another saint's day that's become a reason to celebrate the Irish heritage in America), and Cinco De Mayo (this isn't Mexican Independence Day, but it has been embraced as a day to celebrate Mexican heritage in America - when not stereotyped by drunk white people).

The Wiccan / Witch holiday of the Autumn Equinox

Then there are the just plain holidays for the sake of celebration. 

For example, while I was celebrating the summer solstice last weekend, my friend wished me a Happy National Onion Ring Day and Global Smurfs Day (I refuse to open the can of worms as to how people celebrate that one). Today happens to be International Asteroid Day and World Social Media Day (why? just why?). Again I don't plan on celebrating either of these events, but it is interesting and occasionally fun to know.

My personal favorites of these types of celebratory days are Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sep 19th), Star Wars Day (also known as May the 4th), Star Trek Day (Sep 8th), and Pi Day (March 14th). Pi Day in particular holds a special place in my heart because my math classes used to have huge parties with lots of different pie to eat. 

Pretty much if you can think of something to celebrate, there's likely already a day or month dedicated to it. When I was a kid, I was jealous that there was a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, but no Kids Day. There actually is. It's June 19th. The holiday just hasn't been embraced yet by those of us in the United States. 

More recently International Women's Day has been making waves. However, according to my European friends, it's actually celebrated in Europe rather than just acknowledged as a day. Women are often given flowers (or flower crowns...I'm not actually clear) in her home country of Hungry.

This, of course, prompted people to start asking why there wasn't an International Men's Day. Except that there is. If these people had done a quick Google search instead of griping about it on social media, they would know that it's November 19th. 

But let's be real, they didn't care about International Men's Day until International Women's Day became "a thing". 

So the next time you want a reason to celebrate something, check out what holidays are going on that day. There are several websites dedicating keeping up with this information including: nationaltoday.com/ and checkiday.com.

And if you run into someone complaining about how someone has an entire month to celebrate something, but the veterans only have one day. Feel free to let them know that if they actually cared about veterans, they'd know that May is National Military Appreciation Month - which includes celebrating veterans. 

Happy End of Pride Month my friends!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

See you guys in two weeks.

Welcome to St. Patrick's Day

"Everyone is a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day." - many a drunk person on March 17th.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! A day to wear green, get drunk, and feast on corn beef and cabbage...at least if you're in the United States. I can't speak for how the day is celebrated outside of the States.

Last night, I was at a friend's house to celebrate. We had traditional corn beef with potatoes and carrots dowsed in Irish beer and watched classic 80s fantasy movies (which isn't traditional so much as just plain fun).

Honestly, I didn't realize how big of a celebration St. Patrick's Day was until I moved to New Jersey. They take today very seriously. Growing up, St. Patrick's Day wasn't that big of a deal. I just needed to make sure I was wearing some form of green to avoid getting pinched and in college, it was an excuse to buy overpriced beer that was dyed green. Plus it was fun to watch the Disney Channel Original Movie "Luck of the Irish" every year. 

Heck, I got a text from one of my cousins laughing about how they forgot about the celebration - which shows how important St. Patrick's Day is to my family.

The difference from where I grew up and where I live now is likely ancestry. New York and New Jersey have a higher number of people of Irish decent. St. Patrick's Day became a way for the Irish immigrants to keep in touch with their roots. New York has a big parade and there are tons of websites letting people know where to go to get the most out of today's favorite drink: beer.

Though I think it's become more popular over the years with everyone because it's an excuse to party.

This history of St. Patrick's Day is a lot less about partying and more about religion. St. Patrick is the patron Saint of Ireland and March 17th was the day set aside in the catholic calendar as a Feast Day for him. Feast days are days to honor a specific saint's martyrdom for Christianity and, in some regions, for people who were named for that specific saint (in place of a birthday, people celebrated "name" days). 

St. Patrick was a Romano-British missionary to Ireland in the 4th century. He later became the bishop of the Emerald Isle and preformed many miracles in Christ's name, including banishing all snakes from the island. He was also known for using a shamrock as a visual symbol for the Holy Trinity and for having a walking stick which sprouted a living tree.

Though he did a lot of amazing things, partying wasn't one of them. 

So, enjoy the day or weekend and try to fit a few thought in about the real life St. Patrick. New York is an awesome place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day as is Boston and Chicago (I hear they dye the river green there) or find the nearest Irish pub (a few of my cousins swear there's at least one in every major city around the world if you look hard enough).

If you're interested in the Irish experience in America and are in New York City, you might want to check out the Tenement Museum in the East Village. They have a lot of different tours, but a few are specific to the Irish experience.

Erin go bragh!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Tis the Quiet Season

Tis the season for people and parties galore, that by the end of it all it might feel like a chore. I'm not one for many major social events. I prefer to sit by the tree with a hot drink, wrapping presents.

I'll visit with friends on a few weekends. I love to see everyone and never want for fun. It's just sometimes it gets overwhelming and I need to find a quiet dwelling. Thankfully my family likes to spend our holiday together, curled up inside because of the cold weather.

On Christmas mourning we wake up slowly. Enjoy breakfast, then presents, and finally a nap - nice and cozy. The dogs are happy for a few good pets. Even the cat is as pleased as she gets.

Later, as the sun goes down, the whole family likes to gather round. We might watch a movie or read a few books while waiting for Christmas dinner to cook. It's perfect and quiet and just right for us (plus it's great no one is around to raise a huge fuss). Though we do fight the dogs for a space next to the roaring fire in the fireplace.

It's beautiful at night with all the holiday lights. They twinkle and glow, standing out against the ever growing snow. We might drive around to the many displays, to see the whole world look ablaze.

After dinner we clean up and get ready for bed - happy to think of the New Year ahead.

Christmas is a grand occasion. One that everyone has a different celebration. Going to parties is tons of fun and holiday events are second to none. But I'm happiest to be with those I love most, even when we aren't physically close.

And as I watch the snow gently fall, I feel as though there's peace on Earth and good will for all.

Merry Christmas to my may many readers. I hope you enjoyed this post's rhyming features. And let's all give a great big cheer for a Happy New Year!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a message. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

I'll probably post again before New Years, but next week I'm off. Safe travels everyone!

Welcome to Coming of Age

Before I begin this week's post, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I will be taking next week off from all of my writing projects (both blogs, webcomic, and other personal projects) as I will be going on a crazy adventure with my cousin. So I'll be dropping off the face of the Earth for a long weekend.

This past weekend I was invited to the Bat Mitzvah of a family friend's daughter. It was my first time going to a Bat Mitzvah and I thought it was a beautiful ceremony as well as a fun party. Our friends were extremely proud of their daughter and were thrilled to celebrate with family and friends.

A Bat Mitzvah is an important religious coming of age. Our friends' daughter had to attend Hebrew School and devote a lot of her free time to get ready for it. The closest I have ever experienced (and I don't feel it compares as much) was my confirmation. It was my religious coming of age in the church.

I think all kids both crave and fear adulthood. Adulthood is the freedom to do whatever you please (at least to a child it seems that way), but there are a lot of complicated feelings that come with growing up. There are many different religious and cultural events that indicate when a child has reached adulthood, but just because society deems someone an adult doesn't mean that that someone feels like one.

I know I sometimes still don't feel like an adult and I'm in my mid-twenties.

Someone please right a story based on this image...

Society has set the bar high when it comes to these events too. Shows like My Super Sweet 16 or the insane prom stories that pop up on Facebook in April and May have caused many teenagers to want big over-the-top parties and try to out do their friends. It can make a person envious.

Then there are the coming of age novels or movies that adults love to show teenagers. I remember having to watch Now and Then as well as Stand By Me when I was going through my confirmation classes and reading To Kill a Mockingbird  and House on Mango Street in school. These books and movies were meant to help us understand that there would be a point were you just couldn't be a child anymore. The loss of childhood innocence was inevitable.

What all of these stories, movies, and shows didn't mention was that coming of age wasn't necessarily one event in your life time.

Some days I look back and don't feel I ever went through a coming of age event. There wasn't one moment that I instantly knew I wasn't a kid anymore.

Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of moments where I lost that "childhood innocence" adults try to protect. But I didn't have that big adventure that spanned one amazing summer that was a popular narrative in these stories.

I think that's true for a lot of people, especially people my age.

We're stuck in a weird limbo where we still feel like kids and wish we didn't have to face the cold world of adulthood. Childhood was fun and carefree, even if our parents and teachers had final say on everything. Adulthood is a mess of never ending responsibilities, so many uncertainties, and mixed emotions.

Childhood was full of possibility. Adulthood just feels overwhelming.

However, I couple of weeks ago, I was at a guest lecture event for one of my writing groups. While the author was describing the book he had written (The Ferryman Institute by Colin Gigl), he said that it was sort of a coming of age story for adults and that anyone can go through a coming of age story no matter how old they are.

It was a message that I think I needed to hear.

There are a lot of different adventures that I can go on throughout my life and I can learn and grow during each of them. Coming of age stories aren't just for children becoming adults, they're for everyone.

I hope everyone has a fun Halloween. Get dressed up, eat a ton of candy, and act like a little kid. I have several costumes picked out for the next couple of days.

Until next time!

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Welcome to Fresh Picked Apples and Pumpkin Spice

Fall official starts next week guys! Who's excited? I know I am. Fall is my favorite time of year. There are bright colors everywhere, so many delicious things to eat, and of course Halloween! It's both nostalgic and a look towards the future.

It might drive me a little crazy how early somethings for fall start going up. Walk into any store that sells beer in August and you'll find an entire wall dedicated to the pumpkin beers (not that I should complain, so many different flavors). I started seeing ads for Halloween decorations in July. And pumpkin spice lattes are inescapable by Memorial Day weekend. It can be a bit of an overload.

So many different types of food in different shades of red and yellow.

Some days I want to stand on a corner handing out pumpkin flavored food. "And you get a pumpkin spice latte! And you get a pumpkin bread! Everybody gets pumpkin flavored things!"

It's amazing how we as a society have hyped up these fall foods and flavors. Sure all things Christmas are also inescapable (even before Thanksgiving) for a solid two months. I may occasionally want to bang my head against something when I hear the Christmas Shoes song one too many times.

Then it all suddenly ends. Banished into our attic spaces and closet storage until it is socially acceptable the next year to pull them out (roughly two months in advance of the actual holiday).

It's not that I don't think the celebration should go on forever, but sometimes the hype for the holiday detracts from the actual day for me. By the time I'm ready to celebrate, it's over.

I also might be a little guilty of celebrating too early. Making the first pot of pumpkin flavored coffee is always a treat and I love getting my first butternut squash of the season. Sleepy Hallow and Practical Magic are back on Netflix. I dig out all of the Vincent Price movies I can find. Suddenly ghosts and goblins are just as real as Santa Claus.

Maybe I like celebrating early because it seems so short. The time it takes the leaves to change their colors and fall to the ground isn't very long. The weather in the Mid Atlantic that allows the prefect balance of not too hot and not too cold seems to last even shorter.

Life is short and the things we enjoy in life can be even shorter. We all live busy lives that don't allow a lot of time to enjoy the things we love most. Maybe that's why we need Halloween and Christmas to last for nearly two months each (with a small detour for Thanksgiving in the US). It's to find that one moment where we can enjoy what we love most, even if it's not quite the right date.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. I'm off to eat some fresh made apple sauce (my first attempt, hope it's good).

Until next week.