I write this just after Juneteenth, and in the midst of Pride Weekend. And, just a couple weeks before July 4th.

Now, the observation that follows is, I'd not be surprised to discover, unlikely to be original to me. Still, there's an interesting symmetry I see here, between these freedom celebrations and the 4th coming up.

Mardi Gras, Carnival, isn't a single-day celebration. Both actually begin at Twelfth Night. The balls begin, the celebrations, in ones and twos, building little by little, until the parades begin some two weeks before Ash Wednesday. Each ball, each parade, celebrates a different group, a different view, a different story.

Freedom has many aspects, she is no monolithic creature. My story is not yours, yours is not your neighbors. This is a beautiful thing, where I stand. And to have a celebration in many parts is, I say it, a wonderful thing. Let us tell stories, let us dance and sing and grill and drink and find out what this new world means. To those who've passed their stories on to us, and to those we tell our stories to.