Native American Day

Cinco de Mayo, Christmas, Columbus Day, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King Day, St. Patrick's Day, Veteran's Day, Yom Kippur. How is it that a day acknowledging the native people of this land of ours - with or without closing schools and the post office - has yet to enter the public conversation in any meaningful fashion?  

I'm as clueless about this long-running oversight as anyone. After all, on every August 1 since 2012 I've used my tiny spot in the blogosphere to promote the idea of celebrating something on this date to mark the otherwise barren month of August. But until earlier today the idea of a Native American Day did not occur to me.    

Reflections from the Bell Curve: Still Closing the Gap

In my meager defense, I can only offer the gaps in my education. And though I've tried to surmount some of those gaps in recent years - the subject of the 2023 post above - doing so will remain a work in progress for all the time left to me. 

I've had fun dreaming up ideas for a national holiday on this date for fifteen years. National Book Day, National Gratitude Day, and last year's National Technology Turnoff Day are a few of my whimsical favorites from earlier iterations. Today's notion to mark August 1 as Native American Day is more earnest. I know I'm not alone in thinking an acknowledgment of this kind is long overdue. Join me.