That was then. Two days ago, suddenly and without warning, it was hot. Like 82 degrees hot. People went back to wearing tank tops, shorts and flip-flops. As if that wasn't bad enough, the mosquitos returned, from where God only knows but it couldn't have been very far. My late-blooming geraniums and dahlias slumped in the unexpected heat and everything needed watering again. The dreaded You-Know-Who summer had arrived, and here it remains: temps today are expected to hit 82 degrees.
The worst thing about it is that we can't call it "Indian Summer" anymore, which had such a nice, descriptive, almost nostalgic ring to it. No, now it's Indigenous Peoples summer, which is just plain ridiculous but somehow not offensive to Native Americans, formerly known as Indians.
It's just not the same. I wonder, do little kids now play Cowboys and Indigenous People?
Cleveland's major league baseball team was, from its beginning, known as the Cleveland Indians. Now they are the Cleveland Guardians. I think that I would have enjoyed an alternative newer name, "The Cleveland Indigenous People." Not really. We live in a post-Modern naysaying, gainsaying, culture. Everybody is offended about something. And, subsequently, everybody claims his or her "rights" based on their identities, sexualities, political parties, teams, tribes, nationalities, color combinations. Incidentally, I once had a parishioner who lambasted, at the Sunday dinner table, preachers who wore the color combination of brown and blue. I like brown and blue together. She died. I did her funeral. Don't know what that has to do with "indigenous people," except maybe the focusing on people's biases held up as gold standards. Thanks for messaging me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim, I like it when we agree on something! AND BTW, I love brown and blue together.
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