Civic/Community Writing: September

August isn't a good month. 



Good stuff happens in August, but August isn't a good month.
Reasons?  

• It's hot.  
• It's long.

The weather of August is atrocious.  On many days, the temperature inside a living human being is cooler than the temperature out of doors.  To make matters worse, the air doesn't do anything but stand there and bake.  There is very little wind chill, and the stagnant air becomes hard to breath.  Clouds are only seen on very special occasions.  Even then, they are either too thin, or too far from the sun to help much with the temperature.



August drags by.  Shorter months follow the ones with 31 days.  Exceptions: August and January.  January has a good excuse.  It's the reset month, and shorty-little-February makes up for it anyway.  August is long just because.



So why do we have August (other than 'cause Cœsar Augustus put it there)? Good things do happen in August, but I think the reason it's there is so that September can be well appreciated.  When Julius and Augustus bumped the seventh month out of its spot, I think it got a blessing-in-disguise.



Whether you like warm or cold weather, September is happy to accommodate you.  September hosts "Indian Summer," and the Autumnal Equinox.  By definition, September is where hot meets cold.  



On top of that, September is gorgeous.  The days get shorter, the bugs either die or hide, the scenery ignites with a fire that cools instead of burns.  But it still makes things satisfyingly crisp: crisp apples are eaten, crisp air is no longer a struggle to inhale, crisp leaves are stepped upon, often for their crisp sound.



To quote Regina Spektor (in 'Time is All Around'):

Leaves become most beautiful when there about to die,

When they're about to fall from trees, 

When they're about to dry

Up.

That happens in September.

Bad stuff happens in September.  Still:

September is a good month.