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This Is Us
The Year Without ‘Summertime’
When the time to ‘sit back and unwind’ never arrives
Many years ago, I decided that I would no longer subscribe to the standard concept of “seasons” as we know them, choosing instead to simply determine my own. I’m aware that days of the year aren’t really up for interpretation or debate, but the seasons’ official start and end dates (at least here in the mid-Atlantic United States) never seem to have any real connection to anything anyway — much of winter remains fairly warm, spring is too cold, it’s all a big mess. With that in mind, I followed my own designations and never looked back. And my first change was by far the most important: Instead of following the “actual” definition of summer, that particular season began the first time I heard DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” on the radio. Forget all the lies that calendars and thermometers had been pedaling all these years — if you ask me, summertime starts the very moment the “Drums please!” intro and slowed-down record scratch begins. Once the track fades away, it’s time to sit back, unwind, and appreciate all the glorious season has to offer.
Since summertime begins whenever “Summertime” chooses to present itself, its debut feels like a momentous occasion every year. Until it naturally enters my life, I absolutely…
