Getting Festive While Flying Solo

Or, a Glow-Paint, Reggae Music 4th of July

Holidays are a time for family and friends, reliving old traditions and enjoying the comforts of familiarity. Unfortunately, if you happen to be in a foreign country, especially one that doesn't celebrate that holiday at all, holidays can bring on a bout of loneliness and longing for home. Luckily, for the solo traveler, holidays are a great way to connect with fellow adventurers, so that you can celebrate your own traditions together while exploring somewhere new! And, hopefully, make some great friends in the process.

A few summers ago I was backpacking around South East Asia, and found myself in Ko Phangan, Thailand, for the 4th of July. This is an important holiday in my family; aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends, neighbors--you name it!--head to my grandmother's house by the seaside for a weekend of fireworks, cookouts, late night drinks, and, of course, red, white and blue. It's the one time a year that the whole family gets together, and has come to symbolize for me the importance of unity--as a family, and as a nation.

So I was a little disappointed to miss out on the festivities. Granted, I was at least at the seaside--a gorgeous, palm-tree lined, white-sanded seaside, bordered by rocky cliff faces covered in jungle. Not bad. But still, I was missing my New England roots. So, on the 4th, I put on a red and white shirt and my trusty blue sweat bandana (it was Thailand, in July, ok? Things got sweaty.) And you know what? Throughout the day, I noticed other American tourists doing the same thing, and when i heard an American accent, I wished them "Happy 4th of July!" As a fairly shy person, I wouldn't have usually approached random travelers, but hey, we needed to celebrate!

That night, I headed to my favorite bar on the island, an open-air hut with old-school reggae music, black lights hung up and free neon paint, so you could decorate the tables, chairs, walls, and yourself. And there I saw several of the Americans that I had spoken to earlier, replicating the fireworks at home with the brightly colored, glowing splatterings of paint! We weren't trying to be obnoxious Americans, and luckily everyone involved had the respect and taste not to come across that way; but it felt great to be acknowledging this holiday that was special to us--especially because we were abroad.

If you find yourself far from home on a special day, don't let it get you down! Take the initiative to use the holiday to connect with other people who hold it dear. In many countries, the American embassy holds celebrations for special days such as the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Yom Kippur. And in large cities, upscale chain hotels such as the Hilton, Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, etc. often host holiday celebrations for their guests that anyone can attend for a fee. If you're staying in a hostel, gather other backpackers to celebrate with you, regardless of nationality! If there is a specific tradition in your family, try and put together a make-shift recreation!

As always with traveling, safety and respect are the name of the game when celebrating abroad. Be sure that your festivities are not frowned upon in your host country. And especially for Americans, be extremely aware of your surroundings and company before advertising your foreign nationality. That said, remember that holidays, regardless of what they celebrate, are all about coming together and commemorating something special, so use them as a chance to share your traditions with others, learn about new customs, make friends, and have fun!

There's a new Pnin-up girl in town!

The November issue of Playboy de-robed cartoon character Marge Simpson, the first time the magazine has featured an animated model. In the next issue (December, set to hit newsstands in early November), the magazine will return to an old standard: Nabokov.

Don't worry, there will still be plenty of girls and not much clothing. But "Laura" is the one in this issue recieving all the media buzz; excerpts from Vladimir Nabokov's unfinished and previously unpublished novel, The Original of Laura, will appear in Playboy. According to various reviews, The Original of Laura centers around a corpulent scholar who is obsessively infatuated with his slender, promiscuous wife, who in turn resembles a young woman he was previously was in love with. As in much of Nabokov's writing, the themes of mortality, obsession, self-definition and self-erasure take prominence. This novel was still unfinished when Nabokov died on July 2, 1977. As Nabokov had given instructions that any unfinished work should be destroyed upon his death, his son Dmitri and wife Vera long deliberated as to the incomplete manuscript's fate. This spring, Dmitri announced that the text would be published, and soon Playboy revealed that they would have first serial rights. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Though perhaps initially surprising, the pairing makes sense. Besides the infamously sexual novel Lolita, many of Nabokov's novels--Pale Fire, Pnin, Ada, or Ardor--deal with themes of sexuality, whether focusing on desire, repression, confusion, or passion. In fact, Nabokov granted Playboy an extensive interview in 1964, and in 1969, Playboy excerpted Nabokov's novel Ada, or Ardor. Playboy even named the writer no. 22 on their list of the most important people in sex from the past 55 years.

So good news, guys! At least for the next month, you have a respectable excuse...even if you're really just checking out the cover girl, Joanna Krupa...

Happy (late) Birthday, Ezra Pound

October 30th was the poet Ezra Pound's birthday (with the modernist sensibility to time and memory, I'm sure he wouldn't mind this coming a few days late...) A controversial figure throughout his lifetime, especially due to his support of Benito Mussolini and his anti-Semitism, Pound was nevertheless one of the most influential literary figures of the 20th century. A central figure in the Modernist movement, Pound was actively involved in the careers of other writers, such as Robert Frost, Ernest Hemingway, and most famously T.S. Eliot. Much of his own poetry promoted Imagism--an aesthetic of clarity and precise language. The three poems below--some of his most famous--demonstrate the imaginative sharpness of his writing. Somehow I doubt Ezra was into birthday cakes. (AP Photo/Larry Crowe)

In A Station Of The Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

Meditatio

When I carefully consider the curious habits of dogs
I am compelled to conclude
That man is the superior animal.

When I consider the curious habits of man
I confess, my friend, I am puzzled.

Salutation

O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.