July 4th 2006

By the 4th of July, we had been here a couple of weeks. And just getting to know the place. We had, of course, visited Pike Place market, and it had already become our ritualistic Saturday haunt. We had temporary housing in Kirkland.

Our usual feelings on July 4th can best be described, depending on how energetic we feel on the day, as either completely indifferent and "couldn't care less", or something that provokes a bevy of philosophical questions - about the concept of a (ANY) nation state, and the acts that were committed in different parts of the world to make ordinary people believe in an artificial notion of allegiance and shared destinies, while really getting pushed into a homogenized and controlled version of their real communities and culture.

Not surprisingly, we were unsure about what to do that weekend. We finally decided to take in the atmosphere, since this was our first fourth of July here. So we headed to the Kirkland Marina, where there was going to be a parade. The only really interesting performance was by the Seahawks band, which was pretty good. The rest of the program was lacklustre. The sidewalks were filled with mostly very affluent-looking women of all ethnicities, wearing huge diamond rings and thick gold bands, clothing from the GAP, and pushing strollers with babies who were equally expensively outfitted, and who clutched tiny American flags in their fists.

In the evening, as we looked out the large windows of our apartment, we realized suddenly that we had a virtually undisturbed, though distant, view of the Kirkland Marina, Washington lake and the other side, Seattle city. Unbelievable! We were able to see the entire fireworks display on both the Eastside and in Seattle. And it was spectacular. That was unadulterated joy.