Tuesday

My mother had decided to repaint the bathroom in navy blue, unintentionally intensifying the claustrophobic feel as if the windowless room wasn’t tight and dark enough.  The blue walls matched the American flag shower curtain so the color choice made sense in that regard.  Some visitor upon leaving our bathroom had once commented, “I like the bathroom.  It’s very…um… patriotic.”

I hummed “Yankee Doodle” subconsciously as I brushed my teeth, being careful around the braces.  I was fifteen and pimply, with my carefully shellacked hair and Tommy Hilfiger shirt.  I wasn’t exactly popular but I wasn’t unpopular either.  I was likable, if not truly cool.

“… stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.”

Damn bathroom, filling my head with silly songs of nationalism.

My little sister Renee came into the bathroom and I yelled at her to leave.  I was only brushing my teeth and the door wasn’t shut or anything, but I still wanted her to leave me alone.  She wouldn’t, of course, so I think I might have pushed her.  I can’t remember.  I do remember shouting, “I’m going to kill you!”  I went back to my toothbrushing.

I hated getting ready for school.  The district I lived in was a little unorthodox, with the school week running from Tuesday to Friday.  We had three-day weekends, but paid for them with longer school days.  So the dreaded Monday for me was actually Tuesday.  I hated Tuesdays and that day was definitely a Tuesday.

Minty foam was dripping out the corner of my mouth when I heard my stepdad exclaim, “Oh my gosh!” in complete surprise.

He liked to watch the news while he was getting ready.  He had a little box of a television in the room he and my mom shared.  The door to the bathroom and the door to their room were at a perfect right angle in the hallway.  All I had to do was lean my head out, toothbrush hanging out of my mouth, and I could see the TV too.  It sat on a rolling cart in the corner near their closet.  The image was a little fuzzy.

That’s when I saw the news footage of a plane crashing into a building.  My knowledge of New York buildings was limited.  Even buildings as seemingly important as the World Trade Center were unfamiliar to me.  My stepdad was a history teacher though, and as he stood there with his chili pepper tie half tied, gawking blankly as the shot was replayed again and again, he understood what this meant:  history was being made.

“You know what this is, don’t you?”

“No,” I said.  I spit into the sink and stood by him in the room.  We both stared at the screen.  My mom was coming down the hall.  My siblings were laughing at the kitchen table.

“This is a terrorist attack.  We’re probably going to go to war.”

A second plane struck.  The Twin Towers collapsed before my very eyes on that small blurry screen.

Suddenly it wasn’t just the bathroom that seemed small and cramped.  The walls of the bedroom closed in on me, the lights dimmed, I felt small and stupid and scared.  Everything seemed painted in red, white and blue.  Red for the blood of innocent people, the whites of their eyes growing wider as they screamed out in terror, the blue of the smoke in the sky, billowing lazily upward as if nothing truly shocking had happened.  As if somebody hadn’t said “I am going to kill you” and meant it.

It happened on a Tuesday.

Legalize Love

 

Stadium of Fire

Last night Brian and I went to Stadium of Fire held at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo.  Stadium of Fire is a huge 4th of July celebration that features musical performers and some amazing pyrotechnics.  It's even broadcasted live to the American troops overseas.  Cool, huh?  Brian's family goes pretty much every year, but this was the first time since I've been dating Brian that we've gone with them.  And the best part is we didn't even have to buy our own tickets!  Thanks, future father-in-law!

Now, this event is so steeped in Americana that Boy Scouts handled the parking.  That's right.  Once we were parked and seated in the stadium, the show began in true Utah style with an opening prayer.  The host for the evening was Alex Boye, a popular LDS singer and member of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  The Girl Scouts led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of our National Anthem.  When the crowd sang "the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air," red fireworks went off accompanied by booming canons.  Very epic.  The finale of the song brought a flyover of a Hill Air Force Base 388th Fighter Wing.  The planes were so loud and I loved it!  Then the Stadium of Fire Dancers did a number to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and the featured musical performances began.

Scotty McCreery, winner of American Idol's 10th season, got the night started with several of his hits including "I Love You This Big."  Brian and I aren't huge country fans so we took the opportunity to sneak off to buy some food.  There was a stand selling New Orleans cuisine so we got some shrimp Po' Boy sandwiches.  Very yummy.  We also got some snow cones and headed back to our seats just as the Stadium of Fire Talent Search was going on.

After the winner was decided, the headline performers entered the stage:  The Beach Boys!  Yep, as part of their 50th anniversary tour they hit up Provo, Utah!  Apparently they performed Stadium of Fire once before in 1992 and the crowds went wild. You might think that The Beach Boys are way too old now to put on a good show, but that is far from the truth!  As America's oldest and most successful boy band--a true American classic--they kept the energy up with poppy, beachy tunes one right after the other:  "Surfin' U.S.A.", "Barbara Ann", "Don't Worry Baby", "California Girls," "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "I Get Around", "Good Vibrations" and "Fun, Fun, Fun".... just to name a few.  Their harmonies are still spot on and everyone of all ages knew the words to the songs and couldn't help but sing along.  Brian's mom and sister Amy got up and started dancing even! 

After The Beach Boys, the fireworks began!  First they did a firework show choreographed to James Bond music and then a choir led by Alex Boye sang "America the Beautiful."  The Patriotic Pyrotechnic Finale was phenomenal and I almost went deaf from the booming explosions of color in the night sky.  Such a fun night!!

Independence

by Brian Kesler

On July 4th, 1826, two men died, a few hours apart: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Thomas Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican who believed in the common man. He thought the nation should build itself on agriculture rather than industry. He favored a limited Federal Government and stressed States’ rights. He called for a “Wall of Separation” between Church and State. John Adams, on the other hand, was a Federalist. He believed in the power of centralized government, believed in a large and powerful Navy, and even made it a crime to criticize the government. Jefferson and Adams were known for their bitter rivalry, but they also came together at one point in their lives to create the most important document in the history of the United States of America: The Declaration of Independence. What a remarkable coincidence that their famous document was signed on July 4th 1776, fifty years – to the day! – before both their deaths.

You see, on such a historic day, politicians and politically minded people on all sides will try to sway you into thinking that the “Founding Fathers” believed such and such, or that the “Founding Fathers” obviously intended whatnot. The truth is that our Founding Fathers were not sustained on a collective heartbeat, but were individuals with vastly different ideas about the role of government. George Washington believed in a strong Federal Government; Benjamin Franklin opposed strong Federal Government and proposed we have three sitting Presidents at one time; Alexander Hamilton believed that intellectuals should rule the nation and created the National Bank, calling national debt a “blessing.”; George Mason opposed the Constitution; Morris believed Senators should be chosen for life and that only a select few citizens should elect the President; Roger Sherman opposed the Bill of Rights; James Wilson believed in Central Government and strongly supported Congress’ power to tax; Edmond Randolph was a supporter of States’ rights and refused to sign the Constitution, seeing it as a vast overreach of the Federal Government. In fact, the Constitution was known, at the time, as a bundle of compromises.

At a time when the political atmosphere has become so divisive, it’s easy for one party or the other to try to say they have a monopoly on American ideals, when the very nature of American Ideals have been fought over since the formation of our country. We are all Americans and we all deserve a say in how our country is governed. That is part of the reason the Declaration of Independence was written in the first place. Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July!

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence..." - John Adams

Happy 4th of July, everyone!  Last night Brian and I got into a patriotic spirit by inviting his family over for dinner and a movie.  We ate fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and a delicious cherry cobbler... all made by my terrifically talented chef of a man.  What's more American than fried chicken?  So good!

The movie choice was the '72 film adaptation of the musical 1776 starring William Daniels as John Adams (you might know Daniels as Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World).  If you haven't seen the movie, it's pretty fantastic.  It's funny in all the right ways and then really serious when it needs to be.  A bit of musical camp and a lot of political drama.  The movie centers around John Adams and his fight for American independence.  Being a rather opinionated man, he wasn't much liked in congress, except for his pals Benjamin Franklin (Howard Da Silva) and Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard) who Adams eventually coerced into penning the Declaration of Independence.  

The film shows how hard it was to convince all of the delegates that independence was necessary and achievable.  In fact, it's amazing to see how our nation's birth might never have come to pass if Adams wasn't so passionately invested in the revolution.  It's a fairly long movie (almost three hours), but so worth it at the end when they all sign the declaration on July 4th, 1776.  What a momentous occasion!

So today, as we all go out and have our backyard barbecues and shoot our fireworks, let's take a moment to recognize the men who laid the foundation for this great nation of ours.  I hope that we can continue to move forward as a society to ensure that every American citizen can have "liberty and justice for all."