Thursday, November 4, 2010

dont judge me, its derby.




One pop culture event that happens every year in my life is the Kentucky derby. It is the time of my life and I look forward to it every year. For me, it is the one week out of the year that I can let my wild side out and not be judged. It all started out as a few friends of mine would go every year, but as every year goes more and more people come with us and it gets just a little more interesting.
It all started out 2 years ago when I first had my Derby experience. I had seen people in costumes and decided to dress the part. So I wore nothing but a coconut bra and a grass skirt. I had a few "adult beverages" before, during, after, and everywhere else in between when I was there, but that is the norm at church hill down that time of year. My popularity at the derby started when there was a group of protesters standing outside the gate telling people," We are all sinners, we will all burn in hell, and that the military are baby killers." The last part of that did not sit with me well so I decided to do what do best, embarrass them. I started hula dancing on the street in front of them drawing a large crowd with people laughing and mocking the protesters. And that is where my nick name," The Hula Whore" came from.
The following year I felt like I had to top the first. As I was making the walk back to church hill downs last year. Many people recognized me from the years past. So I knew i had a reputation to live up to. It happened to rain this year and me and my friends were never more so excited. We pulled out the slip and slide in the middle of the mud pit and decided to wrestle as we had a very large crowd chant, " USA, USA, USA".
The reason the derby means so much to me is that it is not only a reunion of all my marine friends, but it is a moment that we all can for one day be ourselves and not have to worry about anything at all or the repercussions.

4 comments:

Kunal Joon said...

You are my Hero.

Doug said...

bro this is mad crazy i wanna go next time you have to hit me up. ill even wear the coconut brah and grass skirt.

Justin Gingery said...

Thats crazy so funny, and your my hero too.

Mike Lohre said...

Dan, I think self-expression is important and some people seem better able to do that with alcohol. But there is a limit, isn't there? I personally worry that we glorify heavy drinking too much in our culture, and because there is so much alcoholism in my family, I have seen what happens when people take enjoyment and partying to the abuse phase. Have fun, but stay safe, man!