Yes, Cinco de Mayo. A "holiday" I think I first heard of maybe 12 years ago. In that time, Cinco has become a Latino St. Patrick's Day, a drink-drink day focused on Corona instead of Guinness, with tacos and salsa verde instead of corned beef and cabbage. Whoopee! Let's party!
And just like St. Patrick's Day, you've got bluenoses decrying the way the day has been turned into a marketing opportunity by breweries/food companies/everyone. This whining is typical; this is the one that actually set me off today. "Waaaah!" the chorus goes, "this isn't Mexico's Independence Day (I don't remember anyone actually saying that, they usually just say "Happy Cinco!" and hand me a beer), it's about Mexican peasants beating invading French troops (according to this much-more detailed account, they were actually Mexican troops in fortifications, armed with older muskets, not peasants with machetes fighting guerrilla-style). They don't even celebrate it in Mexico, you stupid Anglos. Don't drink beer!"
Hey, grow up. Where are you, as Mexican-Americans, when President's Day is a white sale, and Memorial Day is the day grill sales start in earnest, and July 4th is a chance to sell cars? Where are you for Christmas, which sells a hell of a lot more booze than Cinco? Where's your outrage then?
I'll tell you where. You're saving it for Cinco, because you're using the day too, using it for your agenda: Latino pride, anti-alcohol propaganda, getting a byline, whatever.
I'm not wild about any day being used as an excuse for stupid drinking. See the previous post: I like days dedicated to having a good time, while there's beer around, not just pounding down drink after drink with the aim being getting drunk. That's pathetic, and if you can't see the difference, well, come to the Goat Races next year.
As usual, it would be nice to find something in the middle. Binge drinking bad, history lesson-poetry reading-folk dancing boring. How about...we do all the fun stuff AND we have something to drink if we want. And if someone does get drunk and offensive, well, kick them out. Video the drunk and send it to the event organizers, tell them to shape up.
But don't give me this "Cinco is not about beer" crap. Reading the different accounts, it looks like most people don't really know what Cinco is about (which is about par for the course), but look on it as a day to have fun, celebrate their own Latino heritage, or get some good food and hear some music. Is that so bad?
Comments from whiners welcome.
Showing posts with label Responsibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Responsibility. Show all posts
Monday, May 5, 2008
Goat Races Every Day!
Cathy and I went to the Sly Fox Goat Races yesterday. We got there late -- we had a school event in the early afternoon for Nora and had to go to Sly Fox afterwards -- and missed the actual races and the tapping, but we were still there for the experience.
What experience? A very close thing to that great German beer garden experience, but with American personality. There were kids there, there was music, there was food, there was lots of beer, there were dogs, and people strolled about, talking to each other. It was convivial, and the beer was delicious (I did Jasper Maibock, a couple sips of eisbock, some Slacker Bock, and -- inevitably -- Pikeland Pils). We'd just come from a picnic, so I can't report on the food, but it looked good.
But the best thing wasn't the beer or the food, it was the beer being there with the families and dogs and all, showing that it wasn't necessary for beer events, beer-based social gatherings, to be binge fests. All of us were being reasonable in consumption and civilized.
Well, mostly: one stupid young feller was leaving and dropped his glass -- a shame, because they were nice Sly Fox willibeckers -- laughed like a boob and just kept walking. Nice, buddy: there's only dogs and little kids running around. Within a minute, though, four of us had converged and picked up all the shards. That's beer garden, too: the participants policing themselves.
It would be great to have this kind of thing every weekend. Beer gardens used to be common in this part of the country, but now they're hard to find. Relaxed atmosphere, friendly talking, mugs of beer (maybe something other than thin-walled glass, for safety and sturdy re-use), comfort food, and play time for the kids and dogs. The kids may see or hear some things the parents maybe wouldn't want -- I heard a bit of salty language and there was one instance of dirndl-flipping -- but I think the presence of children also has a moderating effect on that -- I saw examples of that, too, and people actually apologizing for their behavior, a great sign of civilization. Do this every weekend, and a code of behavior would come into being by itself.
Do we need the goat race part? Not really, though I'd be the first to back doing that every year, and bigger! But I'd love to see this kind of beer joy every weekend. It might teach us how to drink again: mindfully, joyfully, responsibly, together.
What experience? A very close thing to that great German beer garden experience, but with American personality. There were kids there, there was music, there was food, there was lots of beer, there were dogs, and people strolled about, talking to each other. It was convivial, and the beer was delicious (I did Jasper Maibock, a couple sips of eisbock, some Slacker Bock, and -- inevitably -- Pikeland Pils). We'd just come from a picnic, so I can't report on the food, but it looked good.
But the best thing wasn't the beer or the food, it was the beer being there with the families and dogs and all, showing that it wasn't necessary for beer events, beer-based social gatherings, to be binge fests. All of us were being reasonable in consumption and civilized.
Well, mostly: one stupid young feller was leaving and dropped his glass -- a shame, because they were nice Sly Fox willibeckers -- laughed like a boob and just kept walking. Nice, buddy: there's only dogs and little kids running around. Within a minute, though, four of us had converged and picked up all the shards. That's beer garden, too: the participants policing themselves.
It would be great to have this kind of thing every weekend. Beer gardens used to be common in this part of the country, but now they're hard to find. Relaxed atmosphere, friendly talking, mugs of beer (maybe something other than thin-walled glass, for safety and sturdy re-use), comfort food, and play time for the kids and dogs. The kids may see or hear some things the parents maybe wouldn't want -- I heard a bit of salty language and there was one instance of dirndl-flipping -- but I think the presence of children also has a moderating effect on that -- I saw examples of that, too, and people actually apologizing for their behavior, a great sign of civilization. Do this every weekend, and a code of behavior would come into being by itself.
Do we need the goat race part? Not really, though I'd be the first to back doing that every year, and bigger! But I'd love to see this kind of beer joy every weekend. It might teach us how to drink again: mindfully, joyfully, responsibly, together.
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