Under A Bohemian Moon

Mikulas, or St. Nicholas Day is a wild and crazy holiday here in the Czech Republic. In villages, a trio of people, costumed as St. Nicholas, an angel and a devil (really a lesser demon, more like a satryr crossed with Loki, than a real devil), travel to homes knocking on the door to see the children of the house. Each child must then tell St. Nicholas that he or she has been good all year and recite a poem or sing a song... if they are good the angel gives them sweets, if they are bad the devil gives them a lump of coal or a potato.. if they are really bad, he puts them in his sack and takes them to hell! The day really isn't complete without a crying toddler or two! Oh and the trio are paid with money that goes to charity and their personal reward is a shot of slivovice (homemade plum liquor that often reaches a level of 60% alchohol!). And the trio must visit all the homes in the village.... yeah it's a very festive day indeed. In the city, it's sort of a crazy Halloween...

my internal clock feels the need to go off at 7:15am no matter what time I went to sleep or which time zone I am in.. very annoying when travelling or staying up/out too late....  so after finally falling asleep about 4:30am I rose to a grey rainy day... the kind poets write about... clearly a sign it was to be a poetic day... thanks to the wonders of technology and more specifically, Skype, I was able to lie in bed, eyes closed, while a man, who about a 1000 choices ago could have been the love of my life, read me one of his favorite poems. Surely a fine way to start the day.... followed by Peter Gabriel and U2 in the misty rain.... walked into the restaurant where I planned to spend the day to be greeted by more of Mr. Gabriel... a big burger, nice and pink.... Celtic music, Czech style... looks to be a fine day for grading papers.... later tonight, my friend Gail, performing her mad and marvelous, Human Jukebox the perfect Sunday to follow a nearly perfect Saturday... 

Tuesday, November 17th 2009 -- 20 years after the Velvet Revolution brought freedom to Czechoslovakia and playwright Vaclav Havel to the presidency. Today's celebration started with a walk re-tracing the steps of the students that marched against the Communist Regime. I joined the march late but managed to end up in the front of the crowd. Thousands of people, all ages, all walks of life, peacefully walking together, waving flags, carrying banners, jangling keys.... the emotions were high and it was contagious. As I walked I thought about being American, and one born on July 4th.. which has always been ironic as I am not known for my patriotism. I thought about how lazy we have become as Americans, how we take our freedom for granted... while we talk about fighting to protect our freedom and fight terrorism, we don't show up at the polls--- when we don't understand why our children are fat and under educated, but we don't create a government and environment to fight tho...