Not another post about patriotism and July 4th

1976. The red white and blue year. Year every school kid in America could spell and define Bicentennial. Pop rocks in our mouths and fireworks in the sky year. Sneaking Dr. Pepper at Shelley's house because the rest of us weren't allowed to have it---I was never sure if it rotted teeth or stunted growth or both. The year of the rocket and the satellite---rockets in Ireland and satellites to Mars. Rocket fast airplanes shook the clouds and earthquakes and punk rock shook the world. Election year. Leap year. Equal rights. Women's rights. Vietnam was finally over, and back then over meant over to me.

We said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in school, and learned about the Constitution and why we should be proud of the USA. I played Betsy Ross in the school play. Back when schools had plays and social studies.

We shook shook shook our booties, which somehow in our minds meant the little socks we wore on our feet, the ones with balls on the back. This misunderstanding ripped through the neighborhood and no adult ever corrected us, until the aforementioned Shelley's teen brother made fun of us.

I loved Captain and Tennille and was proud my mother had that Dorothy Hammill haircut just like Tennille. Afternoon Delight. Fooled Around and Fell in Love. The Bee Gees. Paul McCartney. I wouldn't discover Queen and David Bowie until later.

I hoped Jimmy Carter would win because he seemed nice and people seemed relieved about him, after Tricky Dick and Gerry. Most of all, though, he had a daughter, Amy, who was practically my age. I loved the idea of a girl in the White House.

We had a gas crisis then, too. Prices had been going up. I knew what an embargo was. But there weren't long lines at least, not like a few years before---or like there would be again in a few more years. People talked about conservation and alternative sources of energy then, too.

In 1976 it seemed like the bad days were behind. There was hope, and year-long excitement about being an American.

On July 4th, I organized a musical and skit performance of neighborhood kids. The adults lolled happily in lawn chairs sipping beer from bottles and eating layer dip with chips. Kids danced and sang on a makeshift stage with pulled-together costumes. After our final bow, our audience of indulgent and biased parents applauded madly and wildly and we felt glowy inside. We felt proud that we did it, did it well(supposedly) and that we had honored our country on the most important July 4th ever.

We might not have been able to say, but we felt patriotic. We felt even more patriotic, later, up late at night, racing around the suburban yard with sparklers stinging our hands and arms, stinking of bug spray, faces burning from heat and too much sun, ankles itching from chiggers. What could be more American than this.

We screamed and shrieked for the fireworks, even the teenagers who were normally too cool. All of us had declared peace for the day, with each other, and we all got along and had fun. No bossing by Shelley, no wheedling by Charles, no excluding of little kids. It seemed like the whole world was at peace, under a rain of electric colors in the sky.

In 1976, on July 4th, I slipped out of my Dr. Scholls and spun in circles under the red, white and blue bursts of light. In the dark, I thought my blue jean cutoffs and red and white bandanna top blended with the colors. I felt like the spirit of the 4th.

In 1976, I never heard anyone ask whether a man running for President was a patriot. Back then, as far as I knew, anyone who endeavored to serve his country in any way was known to be a patriot.

In 1976, we might not have been able to say, but we thought patriotism was assumed, handed to each new baby with a birth certificate and citizenship. Wasn't everyone proud to be an American, wasn't everyone a patriot. It just was. Back in that time when illegal wiretapping brought horror and disgust, when the First Amendment became sacrosanct. Back when people re-enacted the famous tea party the first patriots threw by tossing packages labeled Exxon and Gulf Oil into Boston Harbor.

In 1976, on July 4th, we were uncomplicatedly, uncompromisingly, idealistically proud to be American.

In 1976, when Jimmy Carter won, I sent a note of congratulations. But I sent it to Amy Carter.

Dear Miss Amy Carter, Congratulations that your father won. I am very happy for your whole family, and mine too. You must be so excited to move into the White House. I have been there and it is very, very nice. I think it is pretty neat that a girl like me lives there now. It is good to have a girl in the White House. I hope you write me back.

Your friend, Julie

Julie Pippert still writes to politicians, but not their children, and she's really not sure if she'll ever see a girl in the White House in the way she wants, but she keeps hoping. For now all of her hopes are pinned on a man with an unusual name and heritage that might have sent shockwaves through 1976, but really shouldn't even be a blip in 2008. You can read her at Using My Words and Moms Speak Up.

Comments

[Daisy]

OMG, the memories! The Carters had a Siamese cat, too, just like I did. I owned a cute long skirt with a matching mob cap; I even wore the (retro) outfit to church!

[Julie Pippert]

Daisy, Oh WOW, we had long skirts, Little House on the Prairie outfits LOL, sort of gingham dresses. Do you remember the special Schoolhouse Rocks government series of 1976? "I'm just a bill, only a bill, sitting here on Capitol Hill..." and "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." The little swell of the sopranos on "do ordain and establish this Constitution..." enter altos...LOL

Next decade in college a professor yelled, "What is all that humming!" during an exam. We were writing out the preamble and all of us hummed the Schoolhouse Rocks song as a mnemonic. LOL

[Florinda]

I left a comment on the cross-post at your own blog, Julie, but reading the comments here reminded me of something else...my whole 8th-grade history class used that Schoolhouse Rock jingle to memorize the Preamble :-).

[Nicole]

Happy 4th, neighbours to the south! :)

I have to admit, I'm fairly jealous of the way you celebrate your national birthday. North of the 49th, July 1st is Canada day and it seems much more sedate, conservative, etc. than what happens in the US on July 4th. Sure we have fireworks, and celebrations, but it just doesn't seem the same.

Of course, you also have "We the people" and we get a rather dull "Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom" at the beginning of our Constitution.

Of course, we didn't have a tea party either :)

So happy 4th. Keep up the innovation and the patriotism. There's a great country there.

[Amy@UWM]

My Bicentennial was alot like that too except my first tooth came out as I wiggled that wiggly thing while I watched our community's July 4th parade. And I was excited about Amy Carter not only because she was almost my age, but because she had the same name as me!

What a great post. Felt like I was time-warped back to 1976.

[Julie Pippert]

Amy, I totally do not recall the status of my teeth in 1976. LOL And now I am curious because my daughter got her teeth really late and lost them late, so I wonder if I had lost any yet. I don't think so because I think a few years later they pulled a bunch prepping for braces. But how fun. A little detail like that brings it all back.

I wonder just how big Amy Carter's fan club was. :)

I got a note back but it was rubber stamped and typed. I was so, so, so bummed, even after my mom explained she got lots of letters from little girls like me and her hand would hurt to write back to all of them.

***

Nicole, we do a good big fun thing I have to say. Although last night's fireworks was a sad statement of elitism here.

***

Florinda, Schoolhouse Rocks was THE BEST!

[Daisy]

I loved Schoolhouse Rock. I now have the whole set on DVD; I use it in my classroom!!

[Karoli]

I graduated high school in the bicentennial year (yeah, now I've dated myself, but so what). My senior year was spent singing patriotic songs with the choir, playing the oboe parts to George M! which was a patriotic musical, and wearing a whole lot of red, white and blue.

I also wrote the Carters when they were elected, but for me, it was Rosalynn. His presidency ended up disappointing me but he's done so much since then that my admiration returned. Carter, like Gore, has been much more effective out of office than he was in office.

I have felt decidedly unpatriotic for the past 8 years. It began with the decision by the Supreme Court where they basically affirmed the idea of some voters' votes not counting. That feeling is only now beginning to wane, with the promise of a presidency that is not evil, self-serving and destructive.

Obama may not be perfect, but compared to what we've had, he comes damn close. Here's a toast to waving the red, white and blue proudly again.

[ilinap]

I love watching Schoolhouse Rock with my boys now! Here's my ode to an old favorite http://www.dirtandnoise.com/2008/03/principle-still-sticks-our-heritage-is.html. I can totally recite (rather, sing) the Preamble to this day.

As for being a proud American, take a look here at what my neighbor thinks of my citizenship. http://www.dirtandnoise.com/2008/06/everybodys-all-american.html

I too wrote letters to the Carters (Jimmy and Amy). In fact, we named our first son after him and had the joy of meeting him at a book signing. He was so incredibly gracious and even posed for photos, brushing away the Secret Service. We have the book, Little Baby Snooglefleger, that Jimmy wrote and Amy illustrated. Love it!

Thanks for the walk down Memory Lane.

[ilinap]

One more thing, I cannot tell you how irritating it is that Jesse Helms' death on Friday overshadowed all other news and acts of patriotism here in North Carolina. No mention of the fine people being sworn in as citizens. Helms lived just a few blocks from me, not that I'm boasting. His funeral was 2 blocks from my house today, and it was all I could do to just stay respectfully the hell away. My nanny (a 60-year old black woman who grew up in North Carolina) had some choice words for sure.

[cynematic]

Ilinap,
The only word I have upon learning of Jesse Helms' death is this one: Good.

I don't believe in insta-hagiography, where we suddenly get all pious about the dead, even if it was Reagan or Nixon or Buckley or Helms.

And yes, LOVED Schoolhouse Rock!