There was a minor scuffle at the Saturday Production Meeting. There is a continuation of some family stuff happening for those in the group actually related to the Chairman’s genetic group which resulted in some staying abed late and arriving groggy at The Picnic Table.

DeMille was a little distant, since he had the interns from both Legal and Marketing plus a pitch about the products and launch-strategies for the book that just came out- “Cocktails with the Admiral,” the one in final process for release in a couple weeks, and the integration of pictures and cartoons into the new edition of the oldest one.

Which is filled with the mirth of morning about like the empty jug of Grand Mariner over by the refuse can by the door. Which is to say, it is like the images in the tablets strewn around the table from the Cowboy State Daily. They do the metaphors well, the dawn one in brilliant color captured by Betty Marquardt filled with joy, and the same colors in a man-made fire down by Sheridan in an effort to save the city’s water supply in a season of wild roaring natural fires.

So, you can understand why we took relief with news that Scientists have solved the 500-year-old mystery surrounding Christopher Columbus’ final resting place. It is the relief we needed, since a team has spent 20 years performing a DNA analysis on human bones found buried the Seville Cathedral in Spain. They have compared the samples collected from them with those of relatives and descendants. The have announced with ‘absolute certainty’ they belonged to the explorer who died in 1506.

Which leads to the controversy this morning about “Columbus Day,” a holiday now scheduled for the second Monday in October each year, although that is a little uncertain in this one. It commemorates the Oct. 12, 1492 discovery of the ‘New World’ for Spain.

That is one of the roots of the controversy now. Last week we saw a show about a low wall found out in California that looks like Chinese work prior to 1492. Or the one about the Vikings who waved to the Italian leading the Spanish sailors from their villages in what they called Vinland, while some previous inhabitants looked a bit cranky from the tree line.

So, there are modifications to the holiday in progress sparked by his treatment of indigenous peoples

We are pleased with the reporting about the certainty in the matter since there is controversy elsewhere. Chris was from Genoa, which is in what we currently call “Italy.” He led a Spanish maritime expedition composed of the little ships Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria across the Atlantic in search of an alternative route to China. Unfortunately, the New World, approximately the same age as the old one he had departed, got in the way. The voyage took about three months, but started a successful enterprise in the lands bounded by the Atlantic and Pacific.

Our celebration of the Day commemorating the voyage is much newer. In 1891, tensions between the U.S. and Italy had spiked after the lynching of 11 Italian immigrants in New Orleans. It was dramatic, the act being done by the largest lynch-mob in American history that stormed the local jail wielding torches, rifles and ropes to string up the eleven who had just been acquitted or falsely implicated in the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy the year before.

“Disorder in the streets.” Maybe we could just formalize a holiday for that. Stop us if you have heard a lot about other migrants lately- but the 1891 diplomatic crisis was cooled with the adoption of the first Columbus Day and the acceptance of a cultural celebration built on the notions of inclusion and assimilation.

Which having been adopted in the next century has now come to celebrate the elimination of the old world that had created the new one. The Knights of Columbus were at the root of the original effort to launch a day for Columbus, and the idea that anyone would celebrate their relation to a faith still based in Rome just adds to the merriment

The arrival of Columbus and his crew in the New World initiated the colonization of the America’s by Spain, followed across the next three hundred years by other European powers, like Britain, with whom we came to disagreement. That led to the founding of our nation that proudly welcomes newcomers without checking their IDs or criminal records while offering free hotel rooms and taxpayer-funded debit cards.

It is a good deal for somebody, but as you can see with sunrises and good fires set to contain bad ones, and old good guys expunged to honor former enemies as virtuous founders, this is a complex matter. Messaging claims it will all be settled in three weeks.

We are not sure who we are honoring on Monday, but whoever it is, we intend celebrate with vigor, since the findings about the bones were released just ahead of the U.S. holiday on Monday. Or, the former one. We will drink until the appropriate honoree is identified.

We think that approach is what the Indians- the indigenous ones- Chinese, Danes, Italians and Hispanics would prefer.

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra

www.vicsocotra.com