Saginaw PRIDE Christmas Parade: Reflections

The Saginaw (Michigan) Christmas Parade, which has just transpired in wonderful fall sunshine on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, passed down a main drag that's a block from my family's home. The following thoughts on the Saginaw Christmas Parade may seem random, but I am just experiencing and digesting them. Therefore, this is sort of a Christmas Parade stream-of-thought piece.

-- Often I describe Saginaw as "Little Detroit," one-tenth the population but the same troubles, but in terms of Christmas parades, Detroit beats Saginaw hands-down. Saginaw doesn't even have airborne floats, much less television cameras. Our highpoint is nicely decorated motor vehicles. The televised Detroit Thanksgiving Day Christmas Parade down Woodward Avenue, in contrast, is almost a rival to the Macy's Christmas Parade in New York City. Detroit still has some life.

-- Saginaw attendance was way down. This seems odd, but maybe not. Let me ponder this quandary. Saginaw is in major distress, with unemployment at 20-plus percent within the city limits. Therefore, one would think that with family finances so tight, that families would jump at the opportunity to enjoy a free-of-charge Christmas Parade in a place like Saginaw. ??? But that didn't happen. Maybe folks are feeling so depressed these days, they don't even want to see a Christmas Parade.

-- Attendance was so sparse, Christmas Parade participants sometimes tossed candy toward the curbsides and there were no little children to scramble for the candy. This is so sad.

-- Still, the Christmas Parade was worth doing, comparisons to Detroit and New York City aside. Here comes my pride in Saginaw, population 56,000, formerly population 101,000 before General Motors went in the tank. We're still fighting. We still care. Times are just so tough.

-- In fact, speaking of pride, this officially was the Saginaw PRIDE Christmas Parade. PRIDE is an acronym for a 40-year-old local civic group that stands for "Positive Results In a Downtown Environment." However, the downtown is so abandoned that while the PRIDE Christmas Parade may begin in downtown, the route quickly moves across a bridge that spans the Saginaw River and into a different area where there actually are people. Again, this is so sad.

-- I was thinking of political stuff at the Saginaw PRIDE Christmas Parade, rather than simply enjoying the event. Probably I think too much about national politics. But for real? Congress is in extended session on this Saturday before Thanksgiving to debate national health care, which one news source describes as a referendum on President Obama's prestige and power. This is important, and C-SPAN is in my background as this stream-of-thought is composed. I can't stop thinking about it. Maybe instead of me being too political, others need to be more political. This is like a huge day in Congress, sort of like the Super Bowl for football. (That's where the cliche "political football" may have emerged?)

-- On the other hand, local politics was on display in the PRIDE Christmas Parade. City Council members rode on a tow truck that was sponsored by a local tow-truck enterprise that had recently received a favorable exclusive contract to remove stranded vehicles from municipal roadways, during snowstorms, at about "$100 per pull." Hey, Tow Truck Company, thanks for sponsoring our City Council's Christmas Parade entry prior to ripping us off this winter.

-- Furthermore, while our City Council waved in unison to Christmas Parade viewers, their recent behind-the-scenes infighting has been horrific. Witness the closing words from the ousted Mayor Joyce Seals in my interview with her, click here. Just the closing words of Mayor Seals on Page 7; feel no need to read the whole thing. For this bunch, the PRIDE Christmas Parade was a charade. And what's in store during future months for our local government?

-- As the Christmas Parade came to a close, one local politician whom I have known for 35 years passed by me with a perfunctory, "Hi Mike." Another local politician whom I have known for 25 years passed by in the opposite direction with a perfunctory, "Hi Mike." I'm thinking, have I become out of touch where these folks barely acknowledge me? So I started the one-block walk back home, and the second one came back and approached me, asking could I "believe!" that the first one had become such a jerk? So that's what was up. Neither wanted to greet me in front of the other. All the troubles we have in Saginaw, and the local people can't get along.

So, those are my random streams-of-thought from today's Saginaw PRIDE Christmas Parade. In fact, I've left a few out. Such as, why were the five local high school bands marching almost entirely with drum rolls, rather than playing music? Such as, why did the parade organizers seem to group all of the Mexican-American entrants all in one place? (However, one had a tape player with a really great jazzy rendition of "Feliz Navidad.")

Final Question: Should this author even post this piece on Associated Content? Or, should I sort of edit the piece for perspective? I'm not sure. Something tells me that the immediate words above shed some insight on what things are like in a poor, desperate, even lonely community such as My Saginaw. Send!

SOURCES

(1) A very recent personal experience

P.S.: Right this minute at 2:25 p.m. EST on Saturday, November 21st, Republicans on C-SPAN are trying to talk down health care for poor people. Meanwhile, many among us are watching parades and college football games.