On this July 4th, since others are addressing the patriotic, political, and recreational aspects of the holiday in a major way---I'm going to go with a uniquely American pop-cultural moment I experienced some years ago. Like a hundred, give or take.
The revolution is officially underway; and it has been gasoline shock, of all things, that has propelled us headlong into the battle to restore stability---and quality---to our everyday lives. This nerve-jangling moment promises to transform virtually every aspect of U.S. life, from city planning, to house-hunting, to recreation, to what constitutes “the workplace” of the future.
Do we Americans still have what it takes to seize control in the heat of misfortune? Recent developments would suggest that we do! Folks everywhere have begun putting away the smelling salts. We’re starting to reshape our lives around the new reality of high gas costs, and in the process, benefiting ourselves in ways we had not anticipated back when the panic first hit. I don’t know from economic “bubbles”, a term experts have used to describe our harrowing housing-market situation, and the earlier dot.com explosion/bust. I’m no shrewd economic mind. But you don’t have to have a Nobel medal hanging from your neck to know that what goes up, in fact, is under no obligation to come down where the
A wedding will soon take place in Poplar Bluff, and, not surprisingly, the bride is busy seeing to the arrangements for the couple’s simple gathering for family and friends. The major bits of the ceremony are coming together nicely; but there are things apart from the wedding itself that require thought and action as well. Taking a husband’s surname---when you are already well-established in professional, medical, insurance, government, credit, banking, and bill-paying circles by another name entirely... That would be one of those things.
"My Star Trek wedding in Vegas...Too bad it wasn't that easy to get divorced." ---an unfortunate Ship's Ensign spied on a popular Internet video site (Other quirky-wedding links to be found at the end of this article) Weddings have become amazingly creative and unique in modern times. More and more ceremonies are bearing the very personal touch of the bride and groom involved, and the individual and cultural markers that have meaning in their lives.
