Our Jam-Packed 4th of July Post!

Parade, patriotism, more! Have a great holiday!

Happy 4th of July! Below are columns by MaryAnne Brown and Al Cormier related to patriotism, but let’s start with details about Salem’s parade today.

Celebrate the 4th!

A long-standing tradition of Salem is the 4th of July parade and, thanks to the Historic Salem Courthouse, who are sponsoring the parade again this year, the parade will take place today, July 4, with the theme of “Food, Farms & Freedom”.

The Historic Salem Courthouse Community Center is proudly hosting Salem’s 4th of July celebrations that are made possible by the support of presenting sponsor Salem Farm Supply and the generous sponsorship of Hudson Headwaters Health Network.

Fourth of July festivities begin at 2pm at the Salem Town Gazebo on Main Street with a live musical performance by Phil Hoyt, followed by the parade stepping off at 4pm and progressing down Main Street. Portions of Salem’s Main Street four corners will be blocked off to allow safe, clear viewing areas for families and setting up of lawn chairs. Parking will be available nearby in the Community lot behind the Gazebo and other designated locations to be announced by the SHCH.

After the 4th of July Parade ends at the school, the celebration continues at the Historic Salem Courthouse where people can enjoy live music by the Rhythm and Blues Band, participate in lawn games, picnic (bring your own) on the grounds, and partake of free popsicles and refreshments provided by the Salem Food Pantry. Inside the HSCH, visitors won’t want to miss the opening of local artist Tom Kerr’s art show in the Great Hall Gallery.

More information on the 4th of July parade and activities following can be found at salemcourthouse.org.

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The soul of a nation

By MaryAnne Brown
Journal & Press

As Independence Day arrives, I find myself reflecting not on fireworks or parades, but on something quieter—something deeper. I’ve been thinking about the soul of America.

It’s an unusual phrase, perhaps, to speak of a nation’s “soul.” But we know what it feels like when that soul is stirred—by tragedy, by triumph, or by a call to conscience. Abraham Lincoln understood this. In his First Inaugural Address, on the brink of civil war, he spoke not with rancor but with a plea: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory...will yet swell...when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

That was 1861, but it could be today.

We are living through days of division, distrust, and distress. It seems harder than ever to talk across our differences, to find common ground, to remember that democracy depends not just on institutions, but on relationships—on how we treat one another. But as historian Jon Meacham reminds us in his study of Lincoln, “The good news is that we have come through such darkness before.”

Yes, America has been here before. In different ways, with different wounds, we have wrestled with injustice, conflict, and fear. And each time, there were people—ordinary and extraordinary—who chose to show up with courage and compassion, to repair what was broken, and to believe that something better was possible.

That’s the work in front of us again. And it begins not with grand gestures, but with the quiet resolve to live differently: to listen more, to judge less, to heal rather than to harm. Only by seeking common ground and engaging in respectful problem-solving can we begin to become what we have long aspired to be—a more perfect union.

With this in mind, I write this letter—not only to America as a nation, but to the people who make her what she is. To all of us.

Dear America,

It’s nearly the Fourth of July, and I find myself searching for the words to celebrate. You are beautiful and broken, resilient and struggling, full of promise and heavy with pain. I want to love you well, but I’m not sure how these days.

Every time I see the flag fluttering in the summer breeze, I remember the values you taught us to hold dear: liberty and justice, dignity and equality, neighborliness and courage. But lately, I wonder if we’ve forgotten how to live those values out—not just in policy, but in everyday kindness.

We are weary, America. Worn out by gun violence, by anger posing as patriotism, by shouting instead of listening. We feel the instability around us—in the news, in politics, in the rising sense that we no longer know how to be in community with one another. Many are anxious. Some are grieving. Too many are afraid.

And yet, I believe in you—not just as a nation, but as a people. I believe there are still quiet heroes here: teachers showing up, neighbors checking in, volunteers feeding the hungry, young people speaking truth, elders offering wisdom, and ordinary citizens praying and voting and caring.

I believe in the soul of America—not as something we possess, but something we must nurture. The soul of a nation, like the soul of a person, needs attention, humility, confession, hope. And most of all, it needs love.

So, this year, I won’t wave a flag in celebration alone. I will light a candle for peace. I will offer a prayer for wisdom. I will ask myself hard questions about what it means to be free, and how I might help others feel free too—free from violence, from fear, from hatred.

Dear America, I love you. Not with blind devotion, but with a steady, stubborn faith. The kind of faith that believes healing is possible. That the dream is not dead. That justice can still roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

And so I promise you this: I will keep showing up with open hands and a hopeful heart. I will keep speaking of justice, peace and truth, and the quiet power of goodness.

Because in the end, it is not just laws or leaders that define us—it is the daily decisions we make to love our neighbor, to befriend the stranger, and to become, together, the better angels we were meant to be.

In God we trust.

MaryAnne Brown, RN, BSN, MA is a music minister at St. Joseph’s Church and has a special interest in spirituality and health. She serves on the Retreat Team at Dominican Retreat and Conference Center in Niskayuna and provides grantwriting services.

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Extra DWI Patrols

Washington County Sheriff Jeff Murphy announced today that Washington County police agencies will participate in special efforts to bring awareness to the dangers of impaired driving.

The statewide STOP-DWI High Visibility Engagement Campaign began on July 3, 2025 and will end on July 6, 2025. The Fourth of July extended weekend is historically a deadly period for impaired driving. This year the 4th of July falls on a Friday so we expect heavy traveling to begin on Thursday.

Americans love to celebrate the Fourth of July with family, friends, food and fireworks, but all too often the festivities turn tragic on the nation's roads. The fact is this iconic American holiday is also one of the deadliest holidays of the year due to impaired-driving crashes.

STOP-DWI Coordinator Undersheriff John Winchell quote. “Please drive safely and enjoy the Holiday.”

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An historian’s look at patriotic songs: ‘I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy’

By William “Al” Cormier, Salem Historian
Special to Journal & Press

The 1942 biographical movie “Yankee Doodle Dandy” about song writer George M. Cohan featured the song “Yankee Doodle Boy”. This version was based on a song sung by British troops disparaging the revolutionary war soldiers at the start of the Revolutionary War. History tells us that over the ages military and patriotic songs were morale boosters for the troops and public of most countries.

While “Yankee Doodle Dandy” of the Revolutionary War was one of the first in the colonies, it was not the last for the USA. Many patriotic songs emerged over the years and continue to be sung today. Most well-known is “The Star Spangled Banner,” otherwise known as the national anthem, written by Francis Scott Key. It was based on his 1814 poem originally called “Defense of Fort McHenry” during the war of 1812. The melody was taken from a 1775 English drinking song, “Anacreon in Heaven.” During the Civil war in 1861, the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” poem by Julia Ward Howe was adapted to the tune from the soldier’s song “John Brown’s Body.” In World War 1, another Cohan song, “Over There” became the rallying song of the American public. In World War II, many international songs were written for radio and the movies. Americans rallied around “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” sung by the Andrew Sisters, and “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” based on the words of a Naval Chaplain at the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war, my friends and I used to sing these and other patriotic songs at the top of our lungs while swinging on the jungle gym in the back yard. Furthermore, each American military branch had its own song: the Army’s “The Army Goes Rolling Along;” the Navy’s “Anchors Away;” the Marine Corps’ “The Marines’ Hymn;” the Airforce’s “Wild Blue Yonder;” and the Coast Guard’s, “Semper Paratus.” Music, not limited to America, was an international morale booster during times of war.

WW II friends and foes also had patriotic songs. In Britain, a Noel Coward satirical song called “Don’t let’s be Beastly to the Germans” was a favorite of Winston Churchill, (There’ll Be Blue Birds Over) “The White Cliffs of Dover” was made popular by British songstress Vera Lynn, and “Kiss Me Goodnight, Sergeant Major” reflected the loneliness of those left behind. In Russia “Katusha” was a morale building song of soldiers in the trenches and “Stalin Wasn’t Stall’n” poked fun at Hitler and Mussolini. In Italy “Bella Chiao” rallied antifascist partisans against German and Italian occupiers. In France “Le Chant de Partisans,” was the song of the French resistance partisans against the German occupation. On a personal note, “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem, was sung each day in my high school French class even after the war. The Germans were not without their fighting song. “Panzerlied” was a German soldier’s fighting song made controversial by its affiliation with the German Wehrmarcht. One cannot ignore the fact that John Phillip Sousa wrote 129 band marches from 1873 to 1932 such as the popular “El Capitan,” “Stars and Stripes Forever” and others. They continue to be played by marching bands today.

In more recent times, two wars in the 1950s and 1960s, involving American troops, were also reflected in song. During the Korea War “God Please Protect America” by Jimmy Osborne, and ”The Unknown Soldier” by the Doors were popular. In Vietnam, a most controversial war reflected in protest songs, such as, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” written by Pete Seeger in 1955 and sung by Johnny Rivers and others in 1965, lamented the loss of men in war; “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by Peter, Paula and Mary told about a man leaving on a jet plane and saying goodbye to his lover, while “Dear John Letter” by Freda Shephard and Ferlin Husky was a reminder of a soldier being jilted. Casting American Vietnam solders in a positive light in 1966 was “The Ballad of the Green Berets” by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. But back to Yankee Doodle.

Found in the book “U.S. Curious Facts Historical, Geographical, Political” by Malcom Townsend, 1890 are these references to the origins of “Yankee Doodle” and British at the start of the Revolutionary War. The story is that “’Yankee Doodle’” was composed by a British officer of the Revolution with a view to ridicule the Americans, who, by English bloods of that time, by way of derision, were styled Yankees. The song was created in 1765 at Fort Crailo in Rensselaer, New York by Richard Shuckburgh and was often played by the British fife and drum grenadiers.”

But where did the name Yankee come from? According to “U. S. Curious Facts,” one of the many explanations as to where the name came from is this. “A farmer of Cambridge, Mass., named Jonathan Hastings who lived about the year 1713, used it as a favorite cant [repetitious] word to express excellence as a Yankee good horse or Yankee good cider. The students of the college hearing him use it a great deal adopted it and called him Yankee Jonathan; and as he was rather a weak man, the students, when they wished to denote a character of that kind would call him “Yankee Jonathan.” Like other cant words, it spread and came finally to be applied to the New Englanders as a jocose pet name. Since then the term has been extended to any American of the Northern States.”

The song first used by the British contained these lyrics:

Yankee Doodle came to town

For to buy a flintlock

We will tar and feather him

And so we will John Hancock

Again according to “U.S. Curious Facts” This verse was in reference to a tar and feathering in Boston of a man who illegally attempted to buy a firelock and was arrested by British soldiers. Even though tarring and feathering had been repealed by 1775, the soldiers took it upon themselves to break the law. “After tarring and feathering him, they mounted him on a horse truck and surrounding the truck with a guard of twenty soldiers with fixed bayonets, accompanied with all the drums and fife of the regiment and a number of officers, Negroes and sailors, exhibited him as a spectacle throughout the principal streets of the town. The fixed a label on the man’s back on which was written “American liberty or a specimen of Democracy,” and to add to the insult they played “Yankee Doodle.” A later version’s opening stanzas that most of us remember from our school days, ridiculing the Americans was this:

Yankee Doodle went to town

Riding on a pony,

Stuck a feather in his cap

And called it macaroni

Yankee Doodle keep it up,

Yankee Doodle dandy,

Mind the music and the step,

And with the girls be handy.

Translation of the archaic words in the verses: feather refers to a foolish attempt to look fashionable, macaroni refers to fancy clothing and wigs; dandy refers to a man preoccupied with fancy clothing.

When the tide of war turned in favor of the Americans, the verses rewritten to ridicule the British, the tune was now played by the Americans. When a British officer was asked how he liked the tune now, he said, “Yankee Doodle” sounds less sweet in their ears.”

And the last popular revision of Yankee Doodle was a Cohan song. Jimmy Cagney, playing the part of George M. Cohan, sang and danced to the 1942 movie version “Yankee Doodle Boy.” Here are the first two stanzas:

I’m the kid that’s all the candy

I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy

I’m glad I am

(So’s Uncle Sam)

I’m a real live Yankee Doodle

Made my name and fame and boodle

Just like Mister Doodle did, by riding a pony

I love to listen to the Dixey (Dixie) strain

“I long to see the girl left behind me”

And that ain’t josh

She’s a Yankee, by gosh

(Oh, say can you see

Anything about a Yankee that’s phony?)

I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy

A Yankee Doodle, do or die

A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam

Born on the Fourth of July

I’ve got a Yankee Doodle Sweetheart

She’s my Yankee Doodle joy

Yankee Doodle went to London

Just to ride the ponies

I am the Yankee Doodle Boy.

And there you have it. The use of music in some of America’s wars. A modern-day Yankee would say the music was “wicked good.”

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And Now for the Comics — ‘9 to 5’ by Harley Schwadron

Have a safe and happy 4th!