Monday, October 13, 2003|
A few observations for today, Columbus Day. 7:11:27 PM | Spray-painted on the sidewalk around the corner from our apartment: "Is it true?" A man jogging down St. Charles Avenue, in the center where the street cars go, talking on his cell phone. His shirt was drenched with sweat; his hand held the phone securely to his ear. Another man on St. Charles Avenue, walking in the opposite direction as the jogging man, directed a remote-controlled toy Humvee. He, too, on his cell phone, giving his friend (or lover?) the intimate details of his toy's maneuvers. On the levee, two men walking together, their dogs in front of them, each on his cell phone. Presumably they were not talking to each other. Margaret Cho reminds us why Columbus Day is a day of mourning, regardless of what New York's Italian-Americans tell us. I wish I lived in New York just to see that Santa Maria replica being towed by a Hummer. Makes you proud to be an American. For another perspective on Columbus Day, check out this essay by Glenn Morris and Russell Means. While you're there, read about Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a true heroine. She was immortalized in a brilliant poem by Joy Harjo, "For Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, Whose Spirit Is Present Here in the Dappled Stars," featured in the collection Mad Love and War and on her CD with Poetic Justice, Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century. Anna Mae, you're in our thoughts today. 
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Last update: 8/24/05; 7:06:28 PM .
