When Fireworks Feel Fake
Celebrate Your Way...Or Not
I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling festive this Independence Day.
The fireworks started early this year—literally and figuratively. My neighborhood sounds like World War III, and in many ways, it feels like the bombing has already begun as our freedoms are being exploded with reckless abandon.
With the Chump regime blowing through our rights like a fireworks show gone wrong, liberty feels like it’s on life support.
The chaos, the noise, the performative patriotism—it’s all starting to feel less like freedom and more like smoke and mirrors.
LGBTQ rights? Under constant attack.
Bodily autonomy? Legislated away in states across the country.
Voting rights? Gutted.
And the list goes on.
Ladies Justice, Karma, and Liberty all seem incapable of doing their jobs.
So no, I won’t be draping myself in red, white, and blue this year. I’m taking the next few days off—not to celebrate a nation that often forgets its promise, but to pack up for my new chapter, reconnect with my dears, nears, and/or queers, and rest.
NEWSLETTER NOTE
This weekend’s newsletters are all written and scheduled.
Hope you enjoy my tributes to two of my favorite LGBTQ heroes.
That said, I still believe in the fire inside us. The kind that refuses to be extinguished. The kind that fights for freedom even when the sky is dark. Pride didn’t end on June 30. For so many of us, it never ends.
So whether you’re waving a flag or sitting this one out, may you and yours find a way to celebrate to your heart’s content.
Celebrate your peace. Celebrate your people. Celebrate your power.
Even in a country that too often forgets who we are.
We remember. And we rest. For the next battle. For the next fireworks show.
Keep calm and keep lighting the way!
Clint 🌈✌️
COLLIDE PRESS is a reader-supported publication.
Please consider becoming a paid subscriber or patron.
Big thanks to all who’ve subscribed and/or supported!
FYC = RECOMMENDED SUBSTACKS
BOYSLUT // Coach Kevin Martin // Ford Knows Books // Gay Buffet // Okay McKay // PalCinema, Television, & Music // Qstack (The LGBTQIA+ Directory of Substacks) // Sitting Queerly // That Trans Friend You Didn't Know You Needed // The Caftan Chronicles // The Queer Love Project // Undividing with Karl Dunn
ON THIS DAY = JULY 4
BIRTHDAYS
1804 = Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer
1826 = Stephen Foster = American composer 🌈
1844 = Edmonia Lewis = American sculptor 🌈
1880 = Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher
1883 = Rube Goldberg, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer
1910 = Gloria Stuart, American actor
1911 = Mitch Miller, American singer and producer
1918 = Pauline Phillips, American journalist, radio host, and Dear Abby creator
1924 = Eva Marie Saint, American actor
1927 = Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actor and photographer
1927 = Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter
1931 = Stephen Boyd = British actor 🌈
1938 = Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter
1946 = Ron Kovic, American author and activist
1970 = Steven Cojocaru = Canadian fashion critic and tv personality 🌈
1995 = Post Malone, American singer-songwriter
EVENTS
1776 = The US Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.
1818 = US Flag Act of 1818 goes into effect creating a 13 stripe flag with a star for each state. New stars would be added on July 4 after a new state had been admitted.
1831 = Samuel Francis Smith writes "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities.
1845 = Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau's account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement.
1855 = The first edition of Walt Whitman's book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published in Brooklyn.
1862 = Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
1946 = After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the US.
1947 = The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan.
1960 = Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later.
1965 = Organized by the East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO), demonstrators picketed Independence Hall in Philadelphia. These demonstrations, known as the Annual Reminders, returned annually until 1969. They marked the commencement of a new era in Philadelphia LGBT culture, establishing a presence within the community. A small group of conservatively dressed lesbians and gay men picketed Independence Hall, representing one of the earliest public demonstrations for gay rights. The 1968 demonstration was subsequently featured in Lill Vincenz’s documentary short, The Second Largest Minority.
1966 = U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law.
1976 = Dykes on Bikes is founded by Soni Wolf as a group of lesbians on motorcycles who come together to lead the San Francisco Pride Parade.
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
Independence Day (US)
Republic Day (Philippines)
You are right my friend, Pride did not end on June 30th. We keep that fire going strong. I understand somber feelings of this 4th, when fireworks feel more like the shelling endured by our forefathers than the celebratory bursts of light an wonder in the night sky. For me though, even though we struggle to fulfill that original promise, and have since our founding, I see our nation as one guided and united by this idea, and our history a continual re-learning of this sacred truth. With every generation we widen who that promise includes. It is slow work, but this day always reminds me of how far we have come-and how far we still have to go.
Well Clint and all your fellow countrymen 🎇🎇🍷🍸🍹🍻🎂 for your Independence Day celebrations. Cheers DougT 🇫🇴🇬🇧