Week 1, part three, 4th of July (continued)

 

After the Parade which ran from mid-morning until mid-afternoon, we grabbed lunch, came back to where I'm living for a few hours out of the sun, and then headed to the Capitol building, specifically, to the West lawn where we knew the annual concert and firework display would be taking place.

 

 We left hours early because we knew it'd be insane, and we also spent an hour passing through security check points.Whilst we were in the queue (or LINE, because Americans don't seem to understand the work queue) they test-fired the cannons on the Hill. Luckily they warned us beforehand, because it was like standing next to a industrial-sized firework, the air seemed to vibrate, and given the current anxiety over terror attacks it would have been enough to have me leaping over fences and running for the exit, had I not already known it was going to happen.

 

I should mention that before we went out again, we watched an event of epic proportions on the television. It was the annual hot dog eating competition, held on Coney Island, New York. What amazed me was not just the amount of food consumed (the winner ate 69 hotdogs in 10 minutes, including the buns and everything) but the amount of coverage it got. Wimbledon, by contrast, was a sidenote, displayed in a tiny bar at the bottom of the screen, right under where the "dogs per minute" rate was recorded for each contestant. Watching men stuff their faces with hot dogs, whilst being drapped in their own flag, and justifying their activities as "FOR FREEDOM" and "to reprsent the struggle for human dignity" has got to be one of the most bizarre things I've ever watched. But I didn't turn it off.

 

 

Once inside we found a place to sit, amongst thousands of other people, and were able to listen to the likes of Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow and Darren Criss, in a free concert which was broadcast live, nationwide. Before the concert, the national anthem was played, and complete silence fell over the lawn. It was one of the most uncanny things I've experienced, considering there were so many people, who at once got to their feet, held their hand over their heart, and recited The Star Spangled Banner. No one moved. Everyone stood. Grown men cried. This was nationalism in its most pious form.

 

Fireworks followed the concert, to the tune of Thaikovsky's 1812 overture. The fireworks themselves exploited into more little stars, red, white and blue. There was even a good attempt at spelling out USA with fireworks, which was at least discernible.

 

 

Finally, as we left the fireworks we admired how nice the Capitol building looks when it's lit up at night. It's almost so grand it's almost intimidating, but at the same time it's strangely familiar. Either way it's so iconic we had to photograph it.

Week 1, part three, 4th of July

 

"America's Birthday", complete with a special edition "flavor" in Baskin Robbin's ice cream parlour. Being British and observing the 4th of July is a strange experience in itself, but it seems especially ironic as a history student. However, I still found the events of the day extremely entertaining, and even more enlightening for being an "outside" observer on the scene. We decided to watch the Independence Day parade along Independence Avenue, close to the Washington Monument. Shops were closed, street sellers had set up to sell American merchandise, ice cream, hot dogs, and other fast food. Roads were closed, Metro stations full, and there was a general carnival atmosphere around the Capitol.

 

There was a heavy military element to the parade, with all parts of the Armed forces represented. I would say the soldiers and other army personnel attracted the loudest applause, and once again I was reminded that this nation's identity comes very much from their historic debt to their troops, who helped to win independence.

 

There were also colourful floats like these, someone said that they were supposed to represent each state, and I think this was somewhere rural, maybe Kansas, if had a lot of balloons on it and then some fields.

 

The American Eagle

 

One of many marching bands. Each "College" here has it's own colours and marching band, especially to perform at sports matches, which are taken at least as seriously as academia, and in some places more seriously. I think this is one of the biggest contrasts between U.S and U.K tertiary education.

 

More interesting floats. The people holding up the giant Tweety bird balloon had a routine in which they ran in a circle to spin the balloon, whilst keeping the strings untangled.

 

At first I thought that this was just another case of flag overload. Actually each flag on the float is one of the individual state's own flags, carried together with the flag of the United States on top. I don't think I knew that each state had its own flag, although the Italian states etc. have their own flag, so I probably just didn't think of it.

 

 

The stars & stripes are a central part of the parade. Strange, in Britain, although the flag is seen at events, e.g. Diamond Jubilee (some Americans don't know what the word "Jubilee" means, I guess that should have been obvious, but I found it an amusing concept to explain to them, that people should celebrate being ruled over by a monarchy) or the Olympics, it would never be a central focus of celebrations. Apparently (if my American housemates are being serious) it is illegal to leave the flag out in the rain, or to set it on fire, or to leave it on the ground for  more than 3 days.