Happy Friggin' Dragon Boat Day

Ah, a holiday devoted to a suicidal drowned poet. We certainly don't have anything like that back in the states. There is no Sylvia Plath day, as far as I can remember.

Qu lept into a river as an act of political protest against a corrupt government. My favorite part of the Qu Yuan myth when his adoring followers throw rice into the river in an attempt to keep the fish from devouring his body. Perhaps if they had not been so busy throwing rice, we might not be commemorating his tragic demise today. And what's up with the vicious flesh-eating fish? If the the toxic sludge doesn't get you, just wait for the carnivorous fish and the rice throwing villagers. You're doomed either way.