This is Life!: Revolutions Around the Cruciform Axis

Whigs and Tories

I had a good time yesterday evening, with the men of the parish (some fifteen or so) at the annual Fourth of July Whig and Tory party. This was an exclusively male gathering--explicitly stated so in the invitation, to wit: "No girls allowed"--and was all the better for such gendered segregation. I do not, of course, mean to say that men do not need women, or that somehow our lives would be better without women. No self-respecting man could ever believe such things. But it is the case that men need an occasion to find release from the domesticity that women wonderfully bring into our lives so that we may make political speeches, ridicule and mock our fellow man, drink beer, sing masculine songs, play bagpipes, smoke cigars, and blow things up. All but one of which we did last evening (for some reason it was a tobacco-less gathering and was the worse for it).

The speeches ranged from that of letters between Abigail and John Adams, the last speech of Jefferson Davis in the U. S. Senate in defense of the secession of Mississippi from the Union, and some ad hoc comments that ran more toward the conservative side of the political spectrum. (E. g.: in response to Bill and Hillary Clinton being caught napping side by side at Reagan's funeral: "That's the first time they've slept together in years.") We sang an immigrant song celebrating Ellis Island, as well as the state song of Illinois. One of our men played "God bless America" and some Scottish tunes on the bagpipes. Our priest brought forth a civil war era long sword. And we lit firecrackers and bottle rockets. Because even though these are illegal in Illinois, what would any self-respecting descendent of American revolutionaries do on the Fourth of July but stick it to the man?

I am, though but a neophyte, a swift convert to this sort of celebration, and have already committed my attendance for next year.