So yesterday was Columbus Day, unless of course you are a resident of one of the many states and territories that celebrate a different holiday, such as Discover’s Day in Hawaii, Native American Day in South Dakota, or possibly even Puerto Rico-Virgin Islands Friendship Day. I’m not sure what they celebrated in Minnesota, so I need someone to clarify if they officially observed Leif Erikson Day or just took the day off for no good reason.

Now I’m a pretty steadfast progressive, but even I am a bit confused about all the fuss over a holiday started by Italian-Americans as a celebration of their heritage and named after a guy who owes most of his fame to Washington Irving. Don’t get misunderstand my intentions, as there can be no doubt that European treatment (genocide, even) of the native people of North and South America was tragic and I understand the symbolic nature of Columbus Day, but I find that taking potshots at Irving for his lack of research far more interesting and less controversial than worrying about a guy who wasn’t even the first European in the New World. For me, it’s much more fun to talk about Martin Behaim, the geographer who constructed the first globe in 1492, thus proving that Columbus certainly wasn’t worried about falling off the edge of the map and that Irving made up this celebrated myth.

While I’m digging myself a hole, I also wanted to comment on two other Autumn phenomenon that, for me, have racist connotations. The first is the name “Indian Summer” for the weather pattern that most of us understand to be a period of unusually warm weather in late September and October. According to both Wikipedia and USA Today, the term itself probably does not have racist connotations. However, once Marta told me that Bulgarians call this time of year “Gypsy Summer” I knew that the term didn’t come from markings on merchant ships in the Indian Ocean. Draw your own conclusions.

Another important event (depending on your perspective, of course) in the Fall is the advent of football season and especially the start of play in the National Football League. This past weekend, the New York Giants, the NFL team that is my passion for 3 hours on Autumn afternoons, played (and soundly trounced) the Washington Redskins. We can talk about Columbus all we want, but in my mind, the blatant bigotry of this nickname deserves far more attention and energy than arguing about Columbus Day.