Other Celebrations

The following editorial message is offered to you in place of religious hierarchs unable to admit that they are human — and therefore fallible; not quasidivine — and therefore, at least by self-created internal definition not related to reality, infallible. This year, it's the Pope's turn to be the obvious hypocrite. Or maybe it's some evangelical TV preacher's turn; I've pretty much got the TV off today, so I don't know what any of those bigots are up to in anything approaching real time.

It's not about race, or nationality, or ethnicity. It's about Other. Today, I get to be Other, because here in East Central Redneckistan I can't go on with my life without associating with the Other. If a radiator hose blows, I can't get the part, or anyone to install it. If I need a prescription filled, almost all of the pharmacies in town that are ordinarily 24/7 are not for today, and/or understaffed; and there's no medical care available but for an ER.

So, instead, we're going to a Palestinian restaurant, followed by a trip to an Indian grocery. (But not the library, because that's closed.) Then we're going to sit around reading subversive literature and watching mildly subversive films (an annual event). And maybe, for the elder remora, doing some homework for a class devoted to understanding repression of the Other while we drink our tea.