Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

This week's mail included the City of Baltimore 2007 Department of Public Works Calendar. What was once upon a time a simple, one-sheet, tri-fold reminder of trash & recycling pickup days and government holidays, has for the past few years (I don't remember exactly how long) been a hang-on-the-wall, page-per-month with a photo on the facing page, tries-to-be-decorative calendar. And it includes various religious holidays and cultural events and stuff like "boat fishing season begins at Liberty and Prettyboy" and the start and end of DST -- it's a handy calendar to have around. Included among the various ethnic festivals (the persistence of which, by the way, supports the "tossed salad" metaphor over the "melting pot" one for describing cultural diversity as it exists here (but I digress)) and the handful of selected holidays for the Abrahamic religions, was ...

... Talk Like a Pirate Day, complete with a cute little cartoonish drawing (which I suppose puts it on equal footing, recognition-wise, with National Estuaries Day, the Baltimore Book Festival, HonFest, and Labor Day, which also get graphics that month. (Some of the religious holidays get graphics, but most don't. The ethnic festivals mostly do.)

Alas, Cheese Weasel Day does not yet enjoy the same level of recognition on the city's published calendar. *sigh* (Nor does No Pants Day.)