Today is Victory Day, a Rhode Island state holiday. The only state to celebrate the day, it commemorates the victory over Japan in World War II. It is a state holiday only, meaning that the university is closed, but the post office is still open. The day used to be celebrated in other states as […]
Category: holidays
Although Columbus Day has its roots in 19th century secular fantasy — specifically, an odd blend of Anglo-American nationalism and Italian-American ethnic pride — since the Nixon administr
According to several of my students, today marks “Drink as Much Beer as Possible Day.” Among the various alcohol-themed holidays, the legitimacy of this one appears to hover somewhere belo
So yesterday was Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. During the afternoon break between the morning prayer service and Neilah, the concluding service, I attended a panel discussion (also at the synagogue). Led by Phyllis Rodriguez, whose son was killed on September 11th and who has since become active in the Forgiveness Project, and […]
Tom Hilton observes the occasion. Now, I consider myself something of an expert on weird holidays — tomorrow is Hobbit Day and Elephant Appreciation Day, by the way — but I hadn’t ru
I meant to post this yesterday, but I was remiss. Today and tomorrow are Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. I won’t be posting as I will be observing and doing a little celebrating. So, pretend
It’s International Lefthanders’ Day. Around here, Bean got a head start on the event by offering up one of her fingers to the gods. As for the rest of you, I expect to see some cars overturned and on fire by the end of the day. More rubble, less trouble.
I almost forgot it was Bastille Day. There’s still time to, like, destroy a prison or something. Just don’t cut anyone’s head off and parade it around on a pike, OK? Meantime, this c
Today, we celebrate the women who grunted us into being, nourished us to maturity, soothed our wounds, comforted us in sickness, confiscated our drugs, embarrassed us in front of friends, and unintent
A toast to all the people who keep the nation’s businesses, private agencies and public institutions from collapsing into a sinkhole of incompetence. If it weren’t for the administrative employees in the American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota and the good people laboring away in the Arts and Sciences at the University of […]
Season’s Greetings.