Archive for the 'Holidays' Category

A quick note on Veteran’s Day

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on November 11, 2004
in Christianity, Holidays, Men and Masculinity, Politics and War
. 14 Comments

Not much to post about this Veteran’s Day.  With the day off, I’ve got a bike ride planned for the morning, grading in the afternoon, and a run at dusk.  (I’m starting to taper for the November 20 Saddleback Marathon, so the distances involved today will be quite modest.)

It’s hard for me to blog about Veteran’s Day.  I’m quite confident that others are doing so far more effectively than I; Annika chose to post the "band of brothers" speech from Henry V, which can move even a latte-sipping, bike shorts-wearing, sushi-eating, NPR-listening Episcopalian blue-state liberal to tears.

What I am thinking about is this: within a year or two, my classes will surely be filled with young veterans.  I’ve already had four or five young men who served in Iraq last year; the numbers will surely go up.  For countless ex-GIs and Marines, the community college is the first stop when they return to civilian life.  (In the early to mid-70s, they say, PCC was a veritable haven for Vietnam vets.)  I am looking forward to meeting these young men and young women, to hearing their stories and learning from their perspectives.  It’s easy for me to be angered by war — but I have a healthy respect for those who, often against their will, go off to to fight.  I haven’t done what they have done.

On the other hand, I don’t think less of myself because I was never a veteran.  When Shakespeare writes:

And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day…

I can say, no, my manhood is not contingent upon the willingness to take other human life!  I will not denigrate the character of those young men and women, mostly from less fortunate circumstances than my own, who chose military service.    But while I honor their sacrifice, they are not my heroes.  My heroes are those like my friends in Christian Peacemaker Teams and the Mennonite Mission Network, who go into the same damn places our Marines and GIs go — but they go unarmed save for faith.  If I regret anything, it is that I wasn’t a missionary.

Something new for Hallowe’en

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on August 26, 2004
in Holidays, Photos, Sexual ethics and transformation and Youth
. 8 Comments

pimp_boychild_hoDavid Morrison at Sed Contra gets the hat tip for this particularly unfortunate development:  pimp and "ho" Halloween costumes for young ‘uns.  (Click to enlarge the photos).

These charming outfits are being sold on Yahoo; let’s send them a note today and see if we can make this particular ugliness go away.

The outfits are obviously caricatures of 1970s stereotypes about pimps and prostitutes.  Interestingly, the children shown modeling the costumes are all white, while the classic pimp of the popular imagination (and of these clothes) is black.  It’s interesting, too, that only one "ho" outift is displayed, while several variations of pimp suits are for sale.  David at Sed Contra only displays the photo of the little girl, but I find the idea of little boys dressing like pimps to be at least as disturbing as that of little girls appearing as sex workers. 

Raising just and moral children involves not only shielding young girls from premature sexualization, it also involves making certain that young boys are not idolizing and emulating sexually predatory men.

Off for the Fourth

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on July 2, 2004
in Family, Holidays and Sports
. 2 Comments

I’m off for the weekend. No blogging until Tuesday.

Growing up in my family, there were four holidays of roughly equal importance:

Easter, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

As a child, I came to my family’s Northern California ranch for all four, year in and year out. It took me years to realize that for most folks, the Fourth did not rank anywhere near the other three in importance! For us, the Fourth was and still is a major family get-together, involving extended family, safe and sane fireworks, and (most importantly) homemade banana ice cream. Tomorrow, in the afternoon, my mother and aunts will carefully concoct the batter, and then the men of the family will hand crank out several batches of sweet and perfect banana ice cream. (We’ve been making it in my family since the 1930s. We occasionally make other flavors, such as peppermint, strawberry, or cookies and cream — but banana is the heart and soul of the operation.)

Sunday, I’ll try and hog the Direct TV and watch Wimbledon, the Tour de France, and the Euro 2004 final all at once. Then, we’ll decorate the Ranch houses (indoors and out) with flags and bunting. I may have pacifist lefty leanings, but on the Fourth, I am a patriot to my core. In the evening, after everyone has had their burgers and their hot dogs and other goodnesses, my teenage cousins will put on a fireworks display — I shall be standing nearby, clutching a hose.

I remember that a few years ago, a very left-wing cousin of mine (from Colorado) remarked that he didn’t like coming to the Fourth because of all of the flag displays. I shared his politics, but I was indignant nonetheless: “It’s not about the flag, Terry”, I said, “It’s just about the family.” I don’t sing the National Anthem. I won’t say the pledge. But come every Independence Day, I sing “God Bless America” and wave the red, white, and blue with intense enthusiasm. And I eat lots and lots of banana ice cream.

A safe and happy time to all, especially to those who are traveling.

The curse of the golden egg

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on April 12, 2004
in Holidays, Money and Youth
. 6 Comments

Well, I am home from the Easter weekend. Yesterday morning, I ate four hot cross buns at one sitting, and followed it with obscene amounts of chocolate and jelly beans. As the sole hider this year for the family egg hunt, I hid no fewer than five dozen hard-boiled eggs (all colored, of course), and two dozen plastic Easter eggs filled with goodies.

But my real battle with my family revolves around the “golden egg”. Five years ago, in 1999, my beloved aunt decided that it would be fun to have a “golden egg” (a regular plastic egg filled with cash instead of chocolate) as part of the traditional hunt. Of course, the results have been predictable ever since. While the very small children (under five) remained enchanted by bright and shiny objects in the grass, the slightly older hunters (who range from six to twelve) are obsessed with finding this one particular egg. Once it has been found, they lose all interest in searching for the remaining hard-boiled or chocolate eggs. The other adults in my family seem to find the enthusiasm that the golden egg generates to be cute; I find it infuriating.

I know full well that Easter egg hunts (as they are conducted in this country these days) are an amalgam of a variety of pagan traditions. (Any detailed search on the web will provide you with all you need to know about the origins of the holiday). There is certainly nothing Christian about the egg hunt. But somehow, to me at least, hunting for a $5 or $20 bill seems, if possible, less Christian than hunting for other sorts of eggs. I suppose I am rapidly becoming one of those sentimental types who wants to avoid particularly crass displays of materialism even while participating in what is an inherently materialistic and crass event!

In any case, I was able to limit the number of golden eggs to one (some in my family wanted multiple golden eggs) and to limit the amount within to $5 (the lowest ever). Small satisfaction, yes, but satisfaction nonetheless!

Good Friday, blog allies, and the secular vision of these three days

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on April 9, 2004
in Blogging, Christianity, Faith, Family, Holidays and Traveling
. 5 Comments

I really hate to leave my blog for the weekend, given the quality of debate that is taking place below here. I’ve found an ally in Candace, whose words have been particularly inspiring to me. She has some very good stuff today, particularly this and this.

I’ve also discovered the joint history blog Cliopatria, which was kind enough to link to me and to provide me with lots more goodness to read. And I am now a fan of Russell Fox’s blog, which is here.

But it is Good Friday, and I am soon off to Burbank Airport for the short flight up to Northern California. It’s time for a brief visit home for the Easter weekend… the large and beloved family whom I fly to visit is a deeply secular one. (Both of my parents are retired philosophy professors; one a thoughtful atheist, the other a gently agnostic Unitarian). Even now, as a Christian, I struggle to tie together my deeply-ingrained, profoundly secular familial vision of this weekend with my nascent faith!

Growing up, Good Friday to me meant one thing: spring planting in my grandmother’s vegetable garden. (She was adamant that this was the best day of the year for planting bulbs). Saturday meant Easter egg dyeing; Sunday itself meant hot cross buns for breakfast and a huge family gathering for lunch, culminating in an intense post-prandial egg hunt. I still love hot cross buns; I love Cadbury Creme Eggs, I love being a lead “hider” for the egg hunt (the hunters this year will be my many young cousins)… But I need to remember to find time for He whom my family blithely, benignly ignores. On the plane, I’m going to re-read part of dear Richard Neuhaus’ beautiful Death on a Friday Afternoon. I will spend the weekend with a psalter close by. And Easter morning, before the rest of the family are up, I will climb Mission Peak (a half-mile from my family home in the hills) and say, softly, “he is risen, indeed.”

More on gender, sexuality, Anabaptism, and Wal-Mart next week. It will be Spring Break at the college, and I have midterms a-plenty to grade, but I’ll make time for the blogosphere.