Counter-culture Journals (文革): What does the Fourth of July holiday mean to me?

By SJ Otto

This Fourth of July I know what is important. We need fireworks, plenty of meat to cook out with and lots of beer.

For the fireworks we have day time things, such as firecrackers, smoke bombs, snakes made of glowing ash and parachutes (Those are the tubes that explode and send up a paper parachute with a weight to make it fall and look like a man is parachuting).

We all love the sound of firecrackers in the morning and afternoon. By nightfall, we want to send up rockets. We want to hold Roman Candles and sparklers. We want all types of exploding showers of sparks and colored lights.

Then there is the afternoon Bar-B-Q. I really like the brats myself. Then there are hamburgers, hotdogs and maybe some filet mignon. They are all good with Bar-B-Q sauce. Other needed foods include chips, devilled eggs and potato salad.

Then a nice smooth beer seems in order. For those who want a little more alcohol we can have whiskey, rum or vodka shots. Wine coolers are a must for some women. Some guys like them too.

So now we are ready for a great day of cooking out and enjoying the hot weather. (A swimming pool helps with that.)

We are now ready for great Forth of July celebration. I'll be reporting with more on this later.