By Brendan Loy

I headed down to the Denver "Marade" for lunch. Lots of people honoring Dr. King. Also some miscellaneous protest causes, like these "Yes, Tunisia Can" folks. Love it. More pics at www.twitter.com/brendanloy.

By Brendan Loy

As regular readers know, it’s my own personal annual tradition to take 17 minutes every Martin Luther King Day and listen to the “I Have a Dream” speech in its entirety. I never know which part(s) will give me goosebumps, but I always get them at some point.

I haven’t listened yet this year — will probably do so via iPhone on my commute home from work — but here’s the video clip:

Dr. King would have been 82 years old this week.

P.S. At some point, I’ll sit down with Loyette (and, later, Loyacita) and watch the speech with them. But explaining its significance requires so much ugly context — and Loyette, even at 3, would be asking a million questions. She obviously needs to know the history at some point, but it seems like such an invasion of her innocence to explain it all now. She’s blissfully unaware of racial and ethnic differences at this point, and surely couldn’t begin to conceive of the concept of discrimination. I wonder what is the appropriate age to broach the topic and start teaching one’s children this crucial but complicated piece of our history as Americans?