The Fourth of July

The Loser's Guide would like to wish everyone a happy Independence Day weekend! Like many New Yorkers, we celebrated by watching the fireworks. NYC doesn't mess around - it was the biggest fireworks display in the country, with 22 tons of pyrotechnics exploding over the Hudson. And for the first time since September 11th, the fireworks returned to the West Side of Manhattan. (Yes, that means New Jersey got to mooch off our show). The West Side Highway was closed off to car traffic and hundreds of thousands of people flooded the road for dozens of blocks.

We were just north of 72nd street when the show started. For the first ten minutes, the fireworks display was unreasonably far downtown and near impossible to see clearly. The crowd's American spirit was quickly replaced by the New York spirit of impatience and aggravation. A few people in the crowd started to walk away; others were grumbling over the city's horrible planning. Then, a wave of fireworks exploded their way farther uptown, reaching the 50's. The crowd was pacified. For the next half an hour, New Yorkers cast aside their apathetic spirit and allowed themselves a few Oooo's and Aaaah's.