Well, actually, it’s Casimir Pulaski Day. But if you don’t live in Chicago, you probably didn’t know that. And even if you do live in Chicago you might not have known it. Unless, of course, you’re a fan of Sufjan Stevens.

Today is Casimir Pulaski Day. In case you didn’t know, Casimir Pulaski was a hero of the American Revolution, up there with Lafayette, et. al. And since Chicago has the largest ethnic Polish population outside of Poland, his day is celebrated city wide: kids get a day off school and most city offices are closed–including the courts.

Well, my wife was going to file some motions today, forgetting it was Pulaski Day. When she got to the Court it was locked. There was another woman, walking away, so my wife turned to her and said, “Is it a holiday?”

The woman looked at her and said–completely seriously, “Yeah, it’s Roman Polanski Day. I don’t know what the hell he ever did to deserve a special day,” and walked off.