Word: patriotic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...start of the successful War of Independence is warmly cheered in Massachusetts and Maine, its former annex, on the third Monday in April, with re-enactments, fairs and a marathon to mark the event. The towns of Lexington and Concord plan their year around Patriot's Day. Even people beyond New England sometimes join in the fun: when Patriot's Day falls on April 15, accountants in New York also cheer, because the federal government allows the taxes of New Yorkers as well as Bay State residents to be filed a day later...
...Patriot's Day is an unquestionably meritable, full-fledged holiday. Holiday merit can be an issue in Boston, where Evacuation Day is also on the calendar. Sure, Evacuation Day marks when the English left Boston for good, but something tells me that a dutiful Irish student blessed those Tories when he discovered they had left on March 17, just in time for a shamrock-laden celebration of another British Isle...
Being from California, all of this was once as new to me as it must sound to you. But I was lucky enough to be here for Patriot's Day as a pre-frosh. My father and I took in the sights from the shots in Lexington to the sea of mylar heat blankets that marked the finish line at Copley. My favorite Boston memory is walking to Kenmore Square from Fenway in time to see the camera truck zoom by, inches in front of Moses Tanui, one mile and 385 yards from victory...
...nothing seems to be further from the Harvard mind than this April holiday. The students with whom I discussed Patriot's Day either had no idea what I was talking about or were nostalgic for high school when this holiday was observed. Some charged that Harvard, insular as it can be, does not consider itself part of Massachusetts, but that is profoundly untrue. Not only does Harvard appear in the state constitution (exempting itself from taxes, but that is another story), but the University is a proud part of Cambridge, relying on and contributing to the community is ways that...
Students and administrators alike had no idea why we don't observe Patriot's Day. I spoke with a number of deans to ask why Harvard, unlike practically every university in the state, did not observe the state holiday. They called the question "interesting" and one was "surprised" to find Harvard does not take this chance to celebrate. Some seemed vague on what Patriot's Day even was--maybe they too were asking what Patriot's Day was when they put me on hold...