Happy 4th

“[Unless we form a constitution, a dictator], may hereafter arise, who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge.” Tom Paine

The Parade: What could be more American, more iconic and wholesome than a 4th of July parade through small-town streets?

Here in a princess-dream, she rides with Miss Vermont. Her girlish pleasure is lovely, but as fragile as the bubble that highlights and distorts her. Her joy plays into the draw of pageant competitions that reward conformity to traditional female standards of beauty and celebrate the willingness of girls and women to display and value that enduring and enduringly unfair measure of worth.

There is some solace that, along with the sash and sparkling tiara, she is wearing a T-shirt.

The Fireworks: When I was a kid I rode my bike to South Park and lay directly underneath the display, so that it exploded right above me. The smell of cordite drifted down in an intoxicating haze. Now, such intimacy with fireworks is banned as a too hazardous. So glad I wasn’t kept safe.

The distant view in this photo is because I was late for the show and shot from the road, not because safety is taken to crazy extremes. Yet.

July 4, 2023