Martin Luther King Day

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Day here in the US.


Today is actually my favorite Federal Holiday. This is because of all the bank observed holidays on the calendar, MLK day is one that I can actually connect with. Maybe it’s just because Dr. King was more recent in our collective experience. His ideas and concepts were filmed; two clicks and you can hear his own voice echo through YouTube. You can see for yourself the pain and determination in his eyes. It’s more than just his life on film, it more likely the fact that he was the first man to stand in front of us as a country and state that we should judge ourselves on our character, not the color of our skin and mean this declaration.

It seems that my day will be quiet and peaceful; it makes me smile to see our local parade on the television. I can just sit back and enjoy the televised speeches. This hleps me remember that every year I would join in the parade in Civic Center Park, downtown Denver. They call it a “Marade” half march, half parade. This was never truer than the year that the Klan came to town.

There was a time when every elected official in this frontier town was a Klansman. The city was owned, stock and barrel by the KKK. On this most memorable MLK Day, I was amazed to see that from the 1930’s to the 1990’s we, as a people, had grown. The Klan attempted to demonstrate as the peaceful citizens gathered to celebrate Dr. King’s dream. What they didn’t realize was that the city itself gathered to make it clear that the white hooded hate mongers were not welcomed in our city.

As the demonstration progressed the police had to stop bussed in neo-Nazis from causing havoc. The tear gas clouds wafted through the park as riots were stopped. I attempted to make my way back to the front lines to take a stand, while the gas forced my eyes shut. Barely able to breathe from the fumes, I joined the hundreds of demonstrators as we linked arms and stood our ground. The KKK and neo-Nazis were not allowed to make any ground. On that day or any other.

Take some time today to watch some YouTube. Might I suggest this…

Stevie B's Big Day

I love a surprise day off from work.


All Federal Holidays for the US are posted, years in advance, for anyone to review. Whole branches of the Government, countless companies, banks, and intuitions plan their schedules off this master list.

Speaking on a conference call today, I proposed a plan for tomorrow. Giggles ensued. A common mistake by me, forgetting days off until I’m reminded. This had prompted my work-mates to start a betting pool. Will Steve forget Veterans Day? Yes. Yes, he will.

Guess I’ll take tomorrow off from work. Go hang out at the coffee shop and write a couple pages on the Protestant Reformation. Nothing quite like a surprise day off to motivate a guy in work on his term paper. I’ll have coffee with Martin Luther. Or.... Maybe it's time for an adventure, screw the Protestants and take my bike out to a nice long trail and see nature. It's a hard choice.

I always think I should print out the next couple of years of holiday and upload them to my calendars, yet somehow it takes the fun out of the surprise.

MLK

How did you spend your MLK day? I celebrated by not taking a shower until four in the afternoon. We left the house only to run out and buy a disco ball. Well, we needed a disco ball. Now we have one.

All day The Travel channel had a Most Haunted marathon on TV. Six hours of Yvette Fielding's bad hair. What's up with her? Does she not realize that she's on a TV show?