squidpants

so I had the day off today because it's DC Emancipation Day, which is the day that Lincoln signed the law freeing the slaves in DC - about a year before he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. Apparently it's a DC holiday, though it only seems to effect city government offices and maybe schools and libraries. I think it's pretty interesting how there's a local holiday that is pretty important, at least important enough to not have work, but no one really seems to know about it - most people I talked to had never heard of it, and I didn't know about it until I heard I had the day off. The city had a number of events this week, but again, I didn't hear much about them. I think local holidays are pretty neat, they give more local flavor, something DC definitely needs. I remember when I lived in San Antonio there was Battle of the Flowers Day, which commemorated a battle in the Texas Revolution. It was interesting to hear about that time period and there was a big parade for it in downtown San Antonio. Maybe DC should have a big parade on Monday so people would hear more about it. Hopefully not during rush hour.

Actually, I spoke too soon, there is a parade. Well, maybe they should advertise it better.