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Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
Writer, blogger and Flosser-for-life John Green has a few things to say about this little holiday we just celebrated on the 4th. One of which is so obvious, it’s kind of profound: we celebrate America’s birthday every year by pretending to have a war. A recent transplant to Indianapolis, Indiana, John experiences the 4th’s warriness like never before:
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In The Magazine
Amazing. As a recent Indy transplant myself, I was struck by the number of people who possess and let-fly all manner of fireworks.
On the evening of 4th, I was sitting out on my patio reading when my wife came out to join me. I said, ‘Welcome to the warzone,’ as they exploded in the sky all around our neighborhood.
posted by Jerry on 7-6-2007 at 10:29 am
I live in rural Missouri and as I sat waiting for the city fireworks to begin I wondered if I was the only one that even realized what the fireworks were representing. I may have been in my little group there but am now glad to see there are others that still remember.
posted by Sarah on 7-6-2007 at 10:45 am
Hilarious. Awesome. Two thumbs up.
posted by Janet on 7-6-2007 at 11:03 am
The footage from the rooftop was brilliant - it could have been CNN from the middle east. I’m so glad someone else had the “we’re in a warzone” thought. I must say it is a little unnerving to have “bombs” going off from all directions in the middle of the night, too.
Welcome to Indiana from a native Hoosier!
posted by Trena on 7-6-2007 at 11:22 am
Hm. Once a friend and I almost got hit by a firework. We were both backing away from where it was being lit, and it went off sooner than expected, and flew straight at us. Luckily, as we were both walking backwards, we simultaneously tripped and fell over a line of monkey grass and the ‘work went over us.
posted by Aemi on 7-6-2007 at 12:39 pm
I was going to comment, but then I read the policy.
Speaking of moderators: We know the people who visit our site are generally a classy lot. That said, we do have moderators in place to keep the comments section free of SPAM, as well as offensive, derogatory or mean-spirited material. While we won’t edit your words, we’re trying not to approve anything that rubs us the wrong way. And if you feel like something is upsetting you on the blog, feel free to let us know. We want the land of mental_floss (.com) to be a happy one, where birds chirp, the trivia is plentiful, and bad jokes flow like water.
So never mind.
Well, worth a try…
John, you are a pussy.
posted by GoingLikeSixty on 7-6-2007 at 12:51 pm
That’s the kind of thoughtful and clear-headed analysis that makes me proud to be an American, goinglikesixty.
-John Green
p.s. I know you are but what am I?
posted by John Green on 7-6-2007 at 1:33 pm
Well Indiana has become one of my new favorite places. Rock on Hoosiers.
posted by Tom on 7-6-2007 at 8:27 pm
At least the Chinese fireworks that are sold in Indy are safer than the Chinese toys, toothpaste, and pet food that they try to export to us. I feel safer with drunk Hoosiers with bombs than the other American holiday tradition, Drunk Americans with cars. Atleast with the bomb, they usually maim or kill only themselves.
posted by Jim from Indy on 7-7-2007 at 8:18 pm
So does that mean we celebrate New Years with a pretend war as well?
posted by John Dough on 7-7-2007 at 8:45 pm
hmm, i think the army and government are the last people who should be allowed to have explosives. i can’t say i support either or them blowing anything up.
posted by ian on 7-8-2007 at 1:52 pm
They have the concert EVERY year. I remember when it used to be called Sky Concert and you would hear the same songs every year. Its kind of a big deal in Naptown. Rock on.
posted by Indiana Dave on 7-9-2007 at 6:05 pm
Fireworks scare you? Ummm okay. I guess the Chinese have been having “pretend wars” for a long time, eh?
“Oh, look at me… too hip and cool for these rubes in Indiana!”
posted by Steven Andrew Miller on 7-10-2007 at 12:55 am
Down here in Bloomington, there’s always been a fireworks store that pops up in an empty space in the strip with Borders, PetCo, Hallmark, and an assortment of restaurants and salons.
It always unnerved me that that amount of explosives were just yards away from my book-browsing self, and I always plotted escape routes, just in case it ever blew.
This year, there was an actual business in that spot, so the fireworks extravaganza was in a giant tent in the parking lot.
Everything’s on sale, now, so I have been treated to explosions (followed by drunken, “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”s) outside my apartment on a nightly basis.
Yee-haw.
posted by Mel on 7-10-2007 at 5:40 pm