(Note: this post is a day late, owing to the below-mentioned thunderstorm)

Exactly one year ago, I had only been an intern at UGA for a week when I tried to plan a 4^th of July Barbecue.  I got the go ahead, after explaining to the admins that anyone was invited and assuring the two anxious British interns that we weren’t going to be burning the king in effigy.  We were just going to drink beer and cook meat outside.  The purpose, I told them, was not to celebrate our independence from Britain, or even to be especially Patriotic.  There would be no flag-waving, no God Bless Americas, no guns.  For me, 4^th of July is a day to not necessarily celebrate my nationality, but to reflect on it.  To recognize it, prides and shames combined.  And to drink beer and cook meat outside.

Which we did.  The…