Tea Party People Let Me Hear Some Noise!

By Amy Baranski

Somebody named me cookout coordinator. Maybe it was Mike or Carol Oliver...or Mike from down the block, or Mona...

I sloughed off the title for a few days. Figuring that we're just a rag-tag team of neighbors anyway.

Then I remembered my red cowboy hat.

And I was suddenly struck with the good sense to buy two American flags on sticks at the local Quality Food Center!

I just love parties with a theme. Get yerself a gettup and get on with it girrl. So after spending a good deal of time mentally assembling my Fourth of July outfit which went from star-spangled sexy, to country cute, to tomboy (and real quick), I thought about making a potato salad.

This cookout coordination is hard work.

Of course there had to be a moment to show off this hardworkin cookout coordinatin. What better than a good old soapbox to recite a classical piece from memory? And so it was the Declaration of Independence. But of course, after spending 4 hours in the morning dedicated to rote memorization of a few choice paragraphs I could barely recite the piece to Al (my congressman neighbor). He seemed amused though. "That's good stuff," he said.

It's still a mystery how I ended up half naked in bed with the overhead light on. Some things we'll never know. But, I did discover a gem of a text message exchange with my brother in which I thought he was reciting the Declaration of Independence to me. In fact, he said Happy Fourth. Same thing?

I was affirmed to see another Baranski had a line tucked away in memory.

Maybe I will join the damn Tea Party, for when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce [you] under absolute despotism it is [your] right, it is [your] duty to throw off your clothes and provide new guards to protect [your] future security.

Happy Birthday America!