This Month’s Film: Rice Rhapsody
Cuisine: Singapore

For several years now, I’ve been spending the Fourth of July by myself, since my son is usually with his dad and Rene always had to work. So I would spend the day in the kitchen or at the keyboard, and head up to the third floor landing of the old Victorian where I used live to watch the fireworks over the treetops in downtown Napa.

But this year, we spent it together, enjoying the festivities and watching fireworks in the lovely little town of Sonoma. The town is built around a small central park, with shops and restaurants around its perimeter. To the west is the vast estate and retirement villa of the legendary General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. It is on the surrounding acreage that the fireworks are staged each year.

Rene and I arrived around 6:30 to stake out a spot among the gathering crowd of spectators and found my son Will, looking like a young Jimmy Buffet in his Hawaiian shirt and khaki cargos, minding a giant slide at the kiddie carnival and peddling a variety of snacks and refreshments to help raise funds for the local pre-school. Rene and I set up our folding chairs on the new-mown field, where we indulged in a simple Independence Day repast of hot dogs, popcorn, watermelon and cold beer.

The fireworks display exceeded all expectations and certainly outdid any that I’ve seen in recent years. And while we waited in the gathering twilight for them to start, I pondered for a moment the meaning of Independence and what we were actually celebrating.

As a freelancer, independence is everything, and I declared mine in September, 2001, just a few days after 9/11. On that fateful day, I decided that life was too short and too precious to sell it for $12 dollars an hour under the tyranny of an unappreciative and undeserving boss. So I quit. I took a deep breath, tendered my resignation and never looked back.

Although I’ve been most fortunate in my independence, the world of freelancing is a scary place sometimes. As my sweetheart Rene, who is a freelance artist, so aptly puts it, “Every time I finish a project, I’m unemployed.” But I have a select group of wonderful clients, most of whom are entrepreneurial spirits themselves, intrepid individuals who have also declared their independence from the corporate machine. They keep me busy with a variety of creative, challenging and worthwhile projects, they sincerely express their appreciation for my services, and they always pay me generously and timely. Without them, there would be no independence, so I guess with independence, comes dependence after all.

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