Pre-4th Celebrations...

... in my neighborhood. There are crowds of kids, adults and in between in front of the houses all around my corner. Fireworks, food, chatter. But, they're pretty good about keeping it cool, the teenagers run out in the street between cars, place and set their Roman candles, and then retrieve the burned-out paper carcasses before the next car comes along.

Fairly normal. Most people would say, very American.

I would say that, too. In my neighborhood, though, the skins are brown, and the chatter is mostly Spanglish.

Do I think they're assimilating okay? If they're celebrating their independence and their lives here, they sure are.