One of the rarely discussed downsides of atheism is how you just don’t feel fully invested in the celebration of many public holidays. Sure, you might say, “how many people are really thinking about the saviour’s birth when Christmas rolls around?” Ok, not many and I know for many of my Jewish friends it brings out a range of mixed feelings. Give me Thanksgiving anytime. Gather up family and friends and engage in some serious gluttony, but still, not without the native peoples, looming like the elephant in the room who doesn’t want your cranberry relish and doesn’t view casino gambling on tribal lands as proper compensation for the destruction of their civilizations. New Years Eve? Kind of arbitrary, don’t you think? Labor Day? What am I a commie? Not really but thanks for throwing me that bone Daddy Warbucks, you can go back to guiltlessly jetting around in your Gulfstream now. I do love Boston’s own Evacuation Day, a day commemorating the departure of the British garrison in Charlestown, which conveniently falls on St Patrick’s Day thus enabling Brahmin pols to rub one in the nose of the Irish. Go ahead you Micks, get drunk…on our big day. Kind of backfired because the Irish don’t care, they just got pissed anyway and now so does everyone else. (more…)