Did Hill’s Department Store Blow Up Your Sky Every Fourth of July? Don’t Read This Post.

Fourth of July

In 2014, I wrote a blog post about the Fourth of July, focusing on things we saw in movies but didn’t experience in real life. The thing most people take away from that post is my reference to the annual firework displays hosted by Hill’s Department Stores around the region. Something about that simple experience […]

What We Get Wrong About “Independence Day”

Martina McBride

Some folks whispered and some folks talked But everybody looked the other way And when time ran out there was no one about On Independence Day. Each year, I listen to Martina McBride’s song ‘Independence Day’ to honor the Fourth of July. There are some good lyrics and wordplay fusing our national independence themes with […]

Is The Fourth of July the Perfect Holiday?

Perfect 4th of July

I have a half-dozen blog posts started, but lack the energy and attention to detail necessary to complete and publish that content. But I feel like lack of posting, this lag, each time I glance at the blog. So here goes something. I remember quite vividly as a child that the 4th of July would […]

Five Things That Never Happened In Our Community on the Fourth of July

Fourth of July

When I was a child, I kept coming across passages in books about olden times that described how Independence Day was celebrated. It was nothing like my own experience in the 1970s’ and 1980’s Pittsburgh suburb of West Mifflin. Here’s an excerpt from a particularly vivid memory – Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder From […]