Columbus, Anyone?

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue...

Does anyone celebrate Columbus Day other than school children, who must
suffer again through the tale of how the sailors panicked, fearful that
the ship would sail over the edge of the world and drop into a void
during that voyage motivated by greed and the drive to conquer that
brought death and disease to the native peoples.

For me, it means I can spend the whole day at home, post offices closed,
no mailing of book orders. But for most working people it is just another
mark on the calendar, no three-day weekend for them.

Native Americans claim Columbus never "discovered" America, for the country
was never lost. Last year a tale was circulated about how some American
Indians were going to rent three ships and set out to discover England and
Spain. Nothing was said about whether they were to take along strings of
beads and other trinkets.

A Native American member of Biblio, the booksellers forum by listserv,
wrote that only the week before he had discovered New Jersey, but had
decided against making an offer for it, returning instead to the Canadian
province where he preferred to live.

The day after Columbus Day we had to resume mailing out books.