A steelworker, a teacher, a dog and the Fourth of July.
For years Chicago celebrated the 4th on the 3rd.
This year the Supreme Court really knows how to kill a celebration.
I have always had mixed emotions about the Fourth.
Never more so than this year.
Our dog, Ulysses, has always had a hard time with it. He’s not good with thunder or fireworks.
And he doesn’t give a shit about patriotism. He’s an American dog but he knows that place of birth is pretty much a result of chance.
Chicago’s other big patriotic noise maker is its annual Air and Water show where the Thunderbirds fly right over our house.
For a couple of years when Rahm Emanuel was mayor there was so much gun violence that some in the media called Chicago “Chiraq.”
The Air and Water show provided the soundtrack.
And Uly is not fond of that either.
He turns 15 on Bastille Day, which is old for a Wheaton. Old age has its benefits. He has close to total hearing loss now and he can’t hear the M80s.
On the other hand, Anne loves fireworks. Once, for her birthday, our friend Peter and his son Max, who also love fireworks, orchestrated a massive fireworks display for her at a beach house we rented in Michigan.
It was memorable.
Chicago used to put on a big fireworks show on the Lakefront on the third of July.
I never understood why it was on the third.
Each year one of our friends would go early to Grant Park and stake out a spot and we would bring spicy Sonora chicken from a place on Chicago and Dearborn that is long gone.
I lot of years I missed the Lakefront fireworks show.
When I worked in the 96” plate mill at U.S. Steel’s South Works I was usually scheduled to work on the Fourth.
A steel mill runs three shifts, 24/7, 365.
Making steel plate has no respect for patriotic celebrations.
When I became a teacher and got active in the union, I would also miss the Chicago celebration on the Fourth
I started attending the union’s national convention in 1998.
The National Education Association always holds its yearly Representative Assembly the week of the Fourth.
You might think that July would seem like a good time to hold a teacher convention since school is out and big halls are usually available.
But it is also hot. I’ve been at Representative Assemblies in New Orleans, Washington D.C. and Atlanta, Philly and Orlando in July. All really, really hot.
My first RA was in New Orleans.
Really hot.
And humid.
That first year we were voting on whether to merge with the American Federation of Teachers, the other national teacher union.
I voted yes.
Most of the other delegates voted no.
The fireworks show over the Mississippi were pretty cool.
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