11 22 pm pdt   [ the money holiday ]

This month's collab entry for On Display (which I have been sorely neglecting of late) is to create a holiday for August. Goodness, I could come up with quite a few. But there is one in particular I have been pondering for quite some time. I was no doubt inspired by International Buy Nothing Day. It was an idea that people would purchase nothing all day, and the campaign was scheduled for the busiest shopping day of the year (the day after Thanksgiving). I thought that was silly, but I did like the idea of celebrating money, or our obsession with commerce, by not buying anything all day. Can you imagine a day in which you couldn't purchase anything? We'd have to find some way to disable vending machines.

I'm also a big fan of having a national vegetarian day, though I'd be even more pleased if we all engaged in vegetarian Wednesdays. Unfortunately, this country doesn't celebrate much (though we do put on a good show for Christmas). Rather than creating a new holiday for August, I propose that every person in this country (and wherever else they celebrate it) spend all day on Halloween in costume, as I try to. It really makes life a bit more fun. I jump at any chance to get dressed up....