I’ve been thinking a lot about patriotism lately — no, actually, I’ve been feeling patriotic. I’ve always loved America, but as a student of history and as a progressive, it’s been hard to express that love in a simple, succinct way. My love of country has always had a lot of shade and nuance, and I’ve shied away from the sort of loud patriotism that seemed to ignore America’s flaws. …
I grew up in a household that thought “America the Beautiful” should be our national anthem. My mom liked that it was a peace song instead of a war song; we all liked that it spoke more broadly about the country than narrowly to our success fending off the British in two wars in a row. Also we love landscapes: the Western US is like that. And if “America the Beautiful” has a bit of vocal range to it that makes it uncomfortable if you start too high…well, get back to me about the “rockets’ red glare” on that score.
I woke up the day before the Women’s March and felt a need to make a sign. I’d never done this before though, and the online resources I immediately found were pretty vague: “attach handle”, for instance. The whole reason I was googling was to find out what makes a good handle, guys!
Also, the forecast for Portland was rain. Loads of rain. (You can tell photos of our Women’s March from others by the high incidence of umbrellas!) So, I set out to make a rain-proof protest sign, and my improvised solution worked very well. Many marchers asked about…
Felicity Shoulders
Nebula-nominated spec-fic author, eclectic reader, myth collector, piemaker & dinosaur enthusiast. My stories have appeared in Asimov's & elsewhere.
