July 4th holiday in 2023

Today is a USA national holiday. I would've had the day off, but someone asked for help, so I volunteered to take one of their 2-hour shifts today. I worked 6am-8am local time and finished already. I don't really "celebrate" any holidays in the usual sense, so it's mostly just a welcome relief from the stress of figuring out what I do or (mostly) don't know at work.

Here's the view outside the window where I have my gaming computer. Sure, it could easily be an unkempt eyesore to some. But... just look at it. Yesterday afternoon I noticed bees, small toads, and grasshoppers everywhere. This morning I hear birds all around. I strongly recommend #LawnsToLegumes or whatever habitat is native to your area.

• bergamot with light purple flowers
• dutch clover with white flowers, although it's hard to see the path from this viewpoint
• yellow flowers atop huge celery everywhere
• and many native wildflowers

It's because of holiday fireworks and this related image that I use this day (2018, 2020) as a checkpoint for "kids in cages" and measuring if we're living up to our collective promise as a nation of immigrants. If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly recommend Episode 1 of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" (YouTube playlist, or Max). There are longer reviews of our current situation, but the essence seems to be this:

"In 2018, Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policy shook liberals and conservatives alike as they learned about terrified children being ripped from the arms of parents who were now being prosecuted... Biden, by contrast, has stopped holding migrant families in Ice detention, so far... Yet even as Biden tries to clean up Trump’s mess, de facto family separations continue. Unaccompanied children are exempt from Title 42, so some parents make the difficult choice to send their kids across the border alone, even when that means indefinite time apart.
- The Guardian, 2023 Jan 22

The fireworks haven't started yet today, but they went on past midnight last night. The cat ran into bed seeking comfort then ran away scared soon after to hide for a few hours. I'm quite short on sleep already, and tonight will be even worse. This holiday might be the most annoying one, simply because of the fireworks.