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This particular moment, this mid-point in August, feels like a confluence.
It feels like where the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean meet at Cape Horn, off the coast of Chile.
Where chocolate and vanilla touch in a box of Neapolitan ice cream.
Where yin and yang confab and seamlessly merge into one.
Where the lightness of summer combines with the substance of fall.
On the one hand we have the literal boys of summer working hard to extend their baseball dreams as, at press time, the Sweetwater Valley Little League plays for a chance to compete in the Little League World Series, on the other we have the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services visiting National City to share what is, in essence, a boot-straps policy toward addressing the substance abuse and housing crisis that shames the country.
Over here we have the siren call of Lemon Festival and HarborFest, communal gatherings in Chula Vista on consecutive weekends marking the unofficial end to summer, although the first day of Autumn is Sept. 22. (And to be fair, Southern California is fortunate enough to Summer 1 temperatures from May through September that call for shorts and flip-flops, and Summer 2 or Summer Lite from October to December where the dress code requires sliders and socks or Uggs and shorts).
Over there we have the announcement from a longtime politician, 70-something year old National City Mayor Ron Morrison stating he won’t seek another term as mayor while endorsing a city council member to be his successor, reminding us that while election day is Nov. 3, campaign season will begin in earnest in just a few short weeks.
Students across the county are back in classrooms, the studious ones having kept up with their summer reading. Parents meanwhile…
Parents and adults have long been free of the burden of homework. Reading and research are exercises of pleasure. But every two years, during the gubernatorial and presidential election cycles, voting-age adults are faces with the task of learning everything there is to know about upcoming issues and people on the ballot. Many of us cram at the last minute.
We are at that point in the summer where insouciance and responsibility collide
