The 4th of July celebrations were puny like never before in my town. We had maybe 1/5 of what we usually do in people setting fireworks. Almost no flags. No grill parties in my neighborhood. No block party. No neighborhood parades. It’s not the weather. Yes, it is hot but we had hotter weather on this day in previous years, and that didn’t impact the celebrations.
We went out to walk around and see the fireworks last night. Instead of dressed up crowds mulling around and celebrating, we were mostly alone in empty streets. Please understand that I’ve been going out to see the fireworks for 16 years in these streets, and if I see a contrast, there surely is one.
People think that weekly anti-American protests don’t have an impact but they do. They depress the mood in a town that holds them, and everything ends up being sadder and drabber. People have talked themselves into thinking that this is a terrible country and can’t even get themselves to take a day off this fake drama.
Clarissa's Blog 
On a bright side, our neighbors have gone crazy with setting off all kinds of fireworks, which my child enjoyed a lot. We heard (but did not see) the city fireworks as well. The area were we live was quite empty though, it looked like people are out for vacation.
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I’m on an international course of Spanish in Burgos, Northern Spain. When I wished happy Independence Day to the four US students in my class, the three younger ones laughed in my face while the retired history professor from Temple University -White, single, educated woman in her mid-60s – unleashed an avalanche of contempt on me, saying there’s nothing to celebrate, as under Trump the US is a dictatorship.
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I’m not surprised, my friend. This is the state of affairs in academia. My FB feed is filled with tragic, self-pitying posts by people with $100,000 salaries who feel cruelly dispossessed in America.
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It was fireworks till midnight here.
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Ours fizzled out by 9:45. And they weren’tuvh before then either.
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I sent husband and kids down to enjoy them with neighbors. Loved all that stuff when I was a kid, but now it’s just another flashy-light hazard to avoid– some parts of aging really do suck. Sounded like the whole town was having hours of fun though, and they’re out there doing a second round now– boom boom boom all over the place.
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I sent pictures of my kids in their home-painted 4th of July t-shirts and a group shot of them saluting to their grandmothers. One of them was covidian and the other one made more—measured choices. Guess which one responded with compliments on their work and our teaching and which one didn’t respond at all. It’s sad but I know what she’s listening to and it’s all US evil because orange man bad. No discussion of alternate perspectives or information available either. I’m willing to admit that I was pretty disillusioned about the ideals of the country after the way that people were treated during the pandemic but I’m starting to recover. It did occur to me to wonder if that treatment was a way to make otherwise patriotic people hate their country but that view is also giving a lot more credit for forethought and humanization of the other than is actually observable in practice.
There was a fair amount of fireworks in the neighborhood where we went, but they might not be legal and it has gotten harder to find places to buy them over the last few years as more municipalities have banned them. I don’t personally enjoy the big booming fireworks but I do appreciate what they represent and the dads and kids love them. Sparkling fountains forever!
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This is sad. People are talking themselves out of having a good time over scary stories on TV.
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I’m happy to report that I observed no change where I live and that people went nuts with the fireworks. You couldn’t even really drive through my neighborhood there were so many people setting them off in the street (residential area, not a huge nuisance.)
Definitely relevant to mention that I live in a black neighborhood.
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