Happy Independence Day! July 4th, woo! I love the fireworks and do not eat burgers that often. But they always taste the best on July 4th, don’t they?

I have always had friends who can’t get into a holiday like this as it goes against their ambivalent-at-best feelings vis a vis American imperialism, etc. I myself prefer to not dwell on personal experience (including how messed up my Dad was for a long time by his tour in Vietnam) or stuff I learned in books (yeah, I read ‘Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,’ Chomsky and Zinn as a kid, too).

Instead, I choose to remember that the American experiment is still that — an experiment, a living and breathing thing that’s still changing, daily. It can always get better — in fact, it seems to have in the last half a year, right? This year I’m heading to a small town in Oregon to see a real small town parade, too! How cute is that? I’ll wave the flag and listen to this song and have a grand old American time.

Hope you have a great July 4th, whatever it is you do — or indeed wherever you live!

—DJ Yeti