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I was eating Indian buffet with some old friends when the topic of this column came up.
I broke the news.
The last column in “series one” will be published right after Memorial Day weekend.
No summer columns.
Why?
Well, for one thing, I have written so many of the heckin’ things.
Breaks are natural, normal and needed.
I am sure I have repeated myself more than once, contradicted myself more than once. This is the price of frequency and velocity. Better to bring this endeavor into port now for maintenance. My hope is that “series two” will begin on or around Labor Day.
For another thing, I find it best to keep it positive.
And, despite being a native, I do not like the Mid-Atlantic summer. At all.
It is possible that no one truly does, what with the excessive heat, high humidity, and an ever-growing number of “Code Red Extreme Heat Alert” days. But with this shift comes a shift in the scene. I have encountered more than one person in cap and gown roaming around town recently. The colleges let out, and large numbers of folks take off for elsewhere.
The focus in the scene becomes more on finding places to swim, not places to play. “Where is the next barbecue?” versus “where is the next poetry reading?” That is fine and natural and what people who are not me do. Me? I wish to dwell in eternal darkness, give or take enough light to read a book or two.
Shows still occur, of course, but at a certain point, certainly by late July, that non-air conditioned warehouse space gets beyond my capacity to endure. It is a hard reality, this lessened ability. As many in Southeast Baltimore have advised me, “Don’t get old.” But I did. I can’t ignore it. I just do my best to be a peace with it.
So, one more column, with feeling, before I take a break.
Let us make a pledge to meet again in September? Thanks for reading!
IG: @kim_tabara
