Letters: Raining on the Rose Parade

Re “A parade grows up,” Opinion, Jan. 1

While I applaud a Rose Parade with more diversity and variety, I was thrown off when Patt Morrison described the military heroes and astronauts who have served as grand marshals as “lagging behind the culture.” Sure, actors like John Wayne and Roy Rogers had had their best years behind them when they were the marshals, but they were each very accomplished. Would you rather have Kim Kardashian?

Despite a few uninspired and perhaps lackluster characters over the years, the Rose Parade deserves a little bit more credit for its choice of personnel. As Morrison noted, the tradition’s popularity over the last several decades has grown.

Lucas Klein

Claremont

In all the years my husband and I have watched the Rose Parade, we had no idea that this annual feast for the eyes and ears was just a cover for pernicious, retrograde conservatism. Now that Morrison has stripped the scales from our eyes, we understand that parades such as this should not just be fuzzy look-backs at childhood activities or wistful insights into foreign lands.

Dump the Marine Band and bring on the Occupy L.A. bongo drums. In fact, to capture the spirit of the times, let’s prohibit the destruction of millions of live plants and flowers, strike the Royal Court and limit floats to those powered by bicycles. Then billions of people around the world would leave their couches and find something else to do on New Year’s morning.

Lisalee Anne Wells

Long Beach

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