Sweltering Summer: Cooling Effect on Lives and Wallets

Summer in the city is a litmus test. Cities trap in the heat and become ovens. There are those who leave and those who stay. The sweat that the rich can't bear filters them out. Those who stay, whether by choice or not, are left to have a summer that is largely stifling but also a little sticky and sexy.

Summer as a season fills up my videogame-green-energy-bar that I live off of the rest of the year, creatively, mentally, and physically. I like being able to see and stroke my skin—to hug my body in the morning when it’s not drowning in layers. To be forced to move slower so as not to overheat. Interactions with strangers play out differently; the heat cuts out some small talk—people jump quicker into the thick of what’s really on their minds. Layers are shed in multiple senses.

I thrive in this season and struggle in the winter so much. Someone could just put me to sleep through winter. I yearn for the appearance of a leaf on a tree so bad that I’ve started to fetishize the color green. I’ve tried writing down quotes from books about the beauty of winter, getting excited about cooking stews, and how to be with fewer hours of daylight, but nothing does it. I have yet to hack it.